IF SOMEONE ASKED YOU TO
DESCRIBE YOURSELF, WHAT WOULD
YOU SAY? Perhaps you might list a
series of facts; name, age, job title.
Or physical attributes; height, hair,
colour, body shape. Maybe you’d
describe your skills and hobbies; likes
to cook, good at art, expert knitter.
Cook Briggs and her daughter, Isabel
Briggs, during World War II. It defines
four pairs of qualities and uses
psychometric testing (in oter words,
a survey of carefully constructed
questions) to assess where each
respondent falls within the 16
possible combinations.
But who we are goes much deeper
than that. To truly understand
someone, you need to know their
character. Character is not just how
we perceive ourselves, though that
comes into it, Instead it is the
combination of psychological
features that make up our very
nature – the core facts of who we are
as individuals.
The four pairs are:
Introversion (i) /Extraversion; This
looks at where you get your energy
and your focus lies.
Sensing(s)/Intuition (N): This is
based on whether you prefer to be
pragmatic and look simply at facts, or
to interpret them and add meaning.
Thinking (T)/Feeling(F): This applies
to decision making, and whether
logic and consistency trump the
people and circumstances involved.
Judging (J)/Perceiving (P): This looks
at how you deal with the outside
world, either getting things decided
or leaving them open to change.
Finding out about our characters is
important for one simple reason;
because knowledge is power. When
we understand ourselves, we are
better equipped to manage our
behaviours, to reduce stress and
ultimately, to improve well-being.
Which is not only good for us, but or
those around us. So how do we get
started?
INTROVETS VS EXTROVERTS
There are a number of tools that
various psychologists over the years
have developed in order to help us
analyse, categorise and understand
our characters more fully.
One useful and widely used analytic
structure is the Myers-Briggs Type
Indicator. Developed by Katherine
.
“Whatever the
circumstances of your
life, the understanding
of type can make your
perceptions clearer,
your judgements
sounder, and your life
close to your heart’s
desire.”
JASMINE'S PLACE
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