PERSONALITY TYPES - University of Surrey



PERSONALITY TYPES

• Are you:

| | |

| |With a tendency to: |

| | |

|A strong achiever? |Act first and think later |

| | |

|A logical thinker? |Think a lot and delay acting |

| | |

|A friendly helper? |Do almost anything if instructed |

| | |

|An interesting mixture of all three? |? |

• Each one of us is, of course, unique and our behaviour reflects the innate preferences with which we were born, subsequently modified by life’s experiences – both pleasant and unpleasant

• Self-awareness on these matters varies widely in the population, between the two extremes of:

- believing that everyone sees (or should see) the world as I do

- understanding that differences of perception, of wants and not wants, provides a basis for creative interaction (as well as antagonism)

• There have been many systems, over the centuries, to describe basic personality types, or factors, including:

| | | | | |

|Hippocrates |Phlegmatic |Melancholic |Sanguine |Choleric |

| | | | | |

|Hersey & Blanchard (1976) | | | | |

| |Telling |Delegating |Selling |Participating |

| | | | | |

|Jung (1971) |hinker |Intuitor |Sensor |Feeler |

| | | | | |

|Myers-Briggs Type Indicator| | | | |

|(1985) |Extravert/ Introvert |Sensor/ Intuitor |Thinker/Feeler |Judger/Perceiver |

| | | | | |

|Social Styles (Merrill & | | | | |

|Reid, 1981) |Analytic |Expressive |Driver |Amiable |

| | | | | |

|Keirsey (1998) |Rationals |Idealists |Artisan |Guardians |

• One example in more detail – from Keirsey’s book: Please Understand Me II:

Temperament Summary

| | | |

|Temperament |Emphases |Neglections |

| | | |

| | | |

|Artisans |Troubleshooter/fixer |Impatient with theory ( impatient with planning |

| | | |

| |Gets things done – now |Not good at follow through |

| | | |

| |Lives for the moment |Yesterday’s commitments quickly gone & forgotten |

| | | |

| |Everything is negotiable |Can appear unpredictable |

| | | |

| | | |

|Guardians |Makes the present system work |Will not notice new things which need to be done |

| | |- resists change outside existing routines |

| | | |

| |Likes rules, routines, structures and policies |Impatient with complications and the unfamiliar |

| | | |

| |Good at follow through |A blamer ( tensions in people relationships |

| | | |

| |Hardworking and reliable | |

| | | |

| | | |

|Rationals |Good at designing/planning/ improving |Less interested in consolidation and maintenance |

| | | |

| |Focused on the future |Can be insensitive to people’s feelings – seen as|

| | |cold |

| | | |

| | |Can be restless, unfulfilled, impatient |

| | | |

|Idealists |Good with people – communic- ating, enthusing, |So committed to his people – looses sight of own |

| |persuading |priorities |

| | | |

| | |May fail to give guidance to his staff |

| | | |

| | |All things to all men |

| | | |

| | |May seek the easy way out to avoid unpleasantness|

Victor Serebriakov in Self-Scoring Personality Tests, presents the results under four headings:

| | |

|Extroversion/introversion |Creativity |

| | |

|Emotional stability |Strong-Mindedness |

Extroverversion: outward looking, friendly and uninhibited; enjoys company, feels comfortable in a group and tends to form many friendships of varying depth

Introverts: keep their feelings to themselves; often prefer to be alone; tend to form just a few deep attachments

Most people are somewhere in the middle between the two extremes of extroversion and introversion

Emotional Stability: self possessed or easily upset?

Creativity: new ideas, new combinations of ideas – relevant to the situation

Strong-Mindedness: a spectrum between assertiveness (emphatic, tough-talking, manipulative, dogmatic, adventurous) and weak-willed, submissive

• Remember:

• Individuals are rarely just one ‘type’: we are each mixtures in different proportions

• By examining types we are trying to establish what kinds of behaviour come naturally and

comfortably to a person.

• Then, in industry, if we are aware of this we are more likely to put such a person in a job which is suitable to his temperament. Thus if someone is good at analysis and figures, but does not enjoy meeting lots of new people, then the accounts department rather than the sales force would seem the natural home for such a person.

• Every personality type is a mixture of strengths and weaknesses: know them and then use the strengths and avoid the weaknesses

PDA

November 2002

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download