Jj is for Jottings 110.  Personality Type in Addition to Intelligence.

Intelligence isn’t the only factor when considering how people operate.  We need to consider personality type in addition to intelligence.

In the previous post, we discussed the 8 types of intelligence, which is a broader view of intelligence than is tested by conventional IQ tests.  This helps us to see ourselves, our children and other people in a more understanding light.  If you are strong in one particular area, it can be difficult to understand why others don’t “get” what is obvious to you.  But knowing that there several types of intelligence allows us to be more accepting of differences between people.  And the person who doesn’t cotton on to this apparently obvious thing?  They may be thinking the same thing about us in a different area of intelligence.  Quite humbling, really.

PERSONALITY TYPES.

But that isn’t the whole story – personality type also plays an important part in the overall picture of a person’s functioning.  The Myers-Briggs scale asks questions and categorises people in 4 areas:  extrovert/introvert; sensor/intuitor; thinker/feeler; and judger/perceiver.  With extrovert/introvert they are asking what is the behaviour (external behaviour).  For sensor/intuitor they are asking how you process things internally (internal process).  With thinker/feeler they ask why i.e. your internal state and what motivates you to act.  For judger/perceiver they are talking about time – what if.

Be aware that this is not the only way of categorising personality types and how people perceive the world, make decisions and behave.  Nevertheless, it is a very useful tool.  When we are aware of them, we have a chance to make some choices as to which characteristics would be more resourceful in a particular situation.  Here is a brief outline of each of the categories:

INTROVERT/EXTROVERT.

Extroverts make up about 75% of the population, while introverts are the other 25%.

When an extrovert wants to recharge their batteries, they will want to be with a lot of other people, whereas an introvert would rather be alone or with a significant other.

Western culture values extroversion more highly, but there are times when being more inward-looking and introverted would be more resourceful.  And at other times extrovert behaviour would work better.

The introvert, rather than being sociable, is more territorial, desiring space.  This includes private spaces within the mind and private environmental space.  Introverts draw their energy from solitary activities, such as working quietly alone, reading, meditating, participating in activities which are solitary or involve just a few close friends.  These are the things which recharge an introvert’s batteries.

While extroverts feel alone when they aren’t with people, introverts can feel alone in a crowd.  Being with people drains their energy rather than giving them energy.  They tend to have a few close friends with deeper relationships, whereas extroverts tend to have many friends, but the relationships aren’t so deep.

I have often noted that we become concerned about children who play on their own at school, and we feel the need to encourage them to play with other children.  Of course they need to have the social skills to interact with others, but do they really need to always play with somebody if they are happy on their own?

Introversion/extroversion is a spectrum.

Introversion/extroversion is a spectrum, so you can be extremely introverted or extroverted, or somewhere in the middle.  I am way up towards the introverted end of the scale, and if it happens to come up in conversation (which isn’t all that often) most people are really surprised.  But I am an introvert who has learned extrovert skills.  It is quite tiring to turn on the extrovert skills, but certainly a more resourceful option in many situations.

The downside of extroversion is that extroverts tend to be less in touch with what’s going on inside because they are so externally oriented, and they need people more than introverts.  In that sense they are more dependent on outside contact to feel good.

 

SENSOR/INTUITOR.

The sensor/intuitor category is about how people process things internally.  Sensors tend to be interested in facts, trust facts and remember facts.  They consider themselves to be practical, and they trust experience (which is the past).

Intuitors are more interested in the future, in possibilities. They are dreamers and visionaries, and live in anticipation – trying to make the state of things now even better.  This tends to lead to a sort of general dissatisfaction.  Intuitors tend to skip from one activity to another, but not necessarily with the drive to attend to the details to complete the task.  Sensors see intuitors as having their heads in the clouds, while intuitors see sensors as left-brained, plodding, unimaginative and boringly realistic.

A Note on Chunking Up and Chunking Down.

We call going from the details to the big picture chunking up; going from the big picture to the details is chunking down.  Sensors are very chunked down, and become bogged down in details.  They don’t like chunking up.  Intuitors are very chunked up, looking at the big picture, and don’t like to bother with details.  Of course, the most resourceful thing to do is to be able to chunk up or down as the situation demands.  This is a big part of how people who are intelligent and aware use their minds.

Sensors want to get the details information of whatever is being discussed, while intuitors tend to get quickly overloaded by too many details.  Instead, they look for relationships between whatever facts are being presented, and remember the relationships rather than the facts themselves.

The geniuses of this world tend to be intuitors and, what’s more, they tend to be paid more.  They deal with the big picture and delegate the details.  Think world leaders, CEOs, heads of the armed forces.  About 75% of people are sensors and 25% intuitors.

THINKER/FEELER.

This is the internal state.  The thinker evaluates the external world by what they think about it, using logic and reason.  The feeler evaluates the external world based on feelings, sentiment and values.

Feelers see thinkers as being impersonal, rule-governed and heartless.  Thinkers consider that feelers are being muddle-headed, illogical, fuzzy-thinkers, too soft-hearted and unable to be firm.  Feelers maintain that thinkers are less emotionally sensitive than feelers, but that is not actually the case.  Thinkers don’t allow their emotions to be seen, and don’t use them to make decisions.  That doesn’t mean that they don’t feel as much.

Thinkers and feelers tend to be fairly evenly distributed.  55% of men and 45% of women are thinkers, and 55% of women and 45% of men are feelers.

JUDGER/PERCEIVER.

This category relates to time.  Judgers are interested in the future, and making the future turn out the way they want it to be.  They plan and make lists.  They feel anxious when things are not settled and feel at rest once they make a decision or complete a task.

Perceivers are more interested in the present moment.  They don’t like to plan, and would rather wait and see how something turns out.  They like to keep their options open, and feel anxious about having to make a decision.   There’s always more information to gather, so they don’t want to make a decision in case there is more to find out or other options present themselves.

Judgers get more done than perceivers, but may not enjoy themselves as much.  Perceivers often have trouble accomplishing anything because they’re waiting for more information.

Judgers see perceivers as indecisive, procrastinating, foot-dragging, aimless, purposeless and resistant.  Perceivers think judgers are driven, pressured (and pressuring), rigid and inflexible and too task-oriented.  In fact, not very much fun.

IMPLICATIONS 0F PERSONALITY TYPE.

Just as we can be more accepting of how other people operate within the 8 types of intelligence, personality type is also important.  Knowing how other people perceive the world and make decisions helps us understand why they behave as they do.  It also gives us the opportunity to consider how resourceful it might be to adopt other strategies which may be foreign to our nature.  For example, consciously learning to chunk up and down is a good starting point, so we can apply whichever we need in a given situation.  Similarly, with the awareness this knowledge of how different people operate brings, we can guide our children to see other ways of looking at things and other people’s points of view.

The more we stand back and become aware of how we operate, the greater the chance we have of tweaking weaker areas and broadening our horizons.    Remember that the brain remodels itself according to the stimulation it receives.  So, when we consciously set out to learn new strategies, we are laying down new brain pathways in the brain (neuroplasticity).  In turn, this will reinforce our learning.  (For articles on the effects of technology use on the brain see here   and here .)

 

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