聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 The other day in the office we had a conversation about personalities and the Myers-Briggs test. The test points to your personality type out of 16 different ones classifying you as either introverted (I) or extroverted (E), intuitive (N) or sensing (S), Thinking (T) or Feeling (F), and Judging (J) or Perceiving (P). The 16 personalities come through the different combinations of these four different aspects.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 These four personalities are split into four personality types: Analysts, Diplomats, Sentinals, and Explorers.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 I鈥檝e taken a free online version of the test at different times in over the last couple of years and I typically come out as INFP called the 鈥淢ediator,鈥� although I have came out as INTP 鈥淟ogician鈥� as well. My thinking and feeling scores the last time I took the test was 46 Thinking and 54 Feeling.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 The conversation in the office went to similarities and differences of each of our types. I find that knowing someone鈥檚 personality type actually helps you understand them better because it鈥檚 oddly accurate in stating how people think and will react in certain situations.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 My friend, who is an INFJ originally asked me to take the test 鈥� that personality type in particular is drawn to these tests and knowing about people. She explained that it is something they actually did in school to determine what career path they should choose.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Oddly enough, my personality type is drawn to becoming an author鈥� so, somehow with all of my uncertainties through what I wanted to do with my life in high school and university, I fell into a job that fits my personality according to this, which I find quite interesting.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 One of the biggest things we discussed was after first taking the test and reading about our personalities how we didn鈥檛 really realize things. For example, one of my coworkers stated that they hadn鈥檛 realized not everyone spends time in their head; it鈥檚 not that she鈥檚 daydreaming, to be honest I spend a lot of time in my head too, it鈥檚 that she鈥檚 constantly thinking and questioning things, asking herself questions and seeking answers. A lot of life can be figured out by simply thinking on things, but to others it looks like people who do that are daydreaming and are not in the now.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 That鈥檚 not quite the case, although you can travel quite a ways in your own head.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 It鈥檚 an interesting way to understand people, if you know their type essentially you can get along better with any type of person.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 A couple of years ago, Shelley Slykhuis did a smaller version of this test which separated personalities into four general types: orange 鈥� risk takers, green 鈥� thinkers, gold 鈥� task oriented, and blue 鈥� heart or feelings.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 When I first walked into the gym she asked if I would like to participate and I physically backed away from her unconsciously saying, 鈥淣o, that鈥檚 quite alright.鈥� Afterwards she came over and asked if I would be interested to fill the test out and figure out my colour. I agreed and she smiled, she said that she suspected I was green because of my reaction when she offered me the test. I had been given no time to prepare for the test and I needed time to think about if I wanted to do it. Sure enough once I completed the test I was green.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 So, I find it quite interesting to think about the numerous differences between people and how the world is made up of so many different people with vastly different personalities.
