Understanding Yourself and Others

In a previous blogpost entitled "Don't Scrutinize the Girl by the Cover" I addressed personality traits and how people can be frowned upon, scorned or isolated due to others misjudging, scrutinizing and not taking the time to understand them because their personality traits were dissimilar to their own. This topic is one that is very close to home for me since I myself have many times been misjudged due to my own personality. I'd like to continue the discussion on personality traits and how a small study of it can lead to an understanding of ourselves in a way that empowers even the most insecure among us.

In my own quest to understand myself, while doing some research on introverts and extroverts I discovered something called MBTI or the Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator. You may or may not have heard of it before. The first time I heard about it I dismissed it as just another personality test which will tell me all the things about myself I already know. On conducting my own research, however, I discovered that this was very different from a mere test. It is a way to discover things about myself that I never knew. In fact anyone who takes the MBTI may discover things about themselves that can be life changing. According to psychology expert Kendra Cherry, the aim of MBTI

              ...is to allow respondents to further explore and understand their own personalities 

              including their likes, dislikes, strengths, weaknesses, possible career preferences, 

            and compatibility with other people. No one personality type is "best" or "better" than 

            any other one. It isn't a tool designed to look for dysfunction or abnormality. Instead, its    

            goal is simply to help you learn more about yourself.

The MBTI is a questionnaire made up of four different scales:

1. Extraversion (E) - Introversion (I)
2. Sensing (S) - Intuition (N)
3. Thinking (T) - Feeling (F)
4. Judging (J) - Perceiving (P)
        




1. The Truth About Extraversion and Introversion

Many already have their own preconceived  ideas about what they think makes someone an extrovert or an introvert. Some people may think that introverts are shy people who never socialize and live like hermits all their lives. While they think extraverts are the opposite - party animals who can't stand to be alone for any period of time. Of course I've given very exaggerated ideas of how these two terms may be perceived (although I don't think it's too far from what some people think). According to an article

written by Kendra Cherry mentioned above, "Introverts are "inward-turning" and tend to be thought-oriented, enjoy deep and meaningful social interactions, and feel recharged after spending time alone." (Cherry) In other words, introverts do enjoy social activity. In fact they down right look forward to it but they do need time by themselves to reboot, recharge, store energy for the next socializing session. If you are friends with an introvert, please keep this in mind the next time you invite them somewhere and they decline. Cherry also stated that "Extraverts are "outward-turning" and tend to be action-oriented, enjoy more frequent social interaction, and feel energized after spending time with other people." (Cherry) They need more social time. This is the major difference. After having researched the subject of Extraversion and Introversion from all angles I have come to see that everyone shows signs of both types to some measure but we all lean to one type more than the other.

2. Sensing Versus Intuition

This scale deals with how people gather information from the world around them. People who tend to be sensing are the realists of our world. They are the practical, solid, evidence seeking individuals who won't trust anything beyond what their senses are telling them. People who tend to use intuition are those who prefer to use their imagination to make sense of the world around them. They depend on patterns, impressions and abstract theories. As with Extroversion and Introversion, most individual use both but lean to one more than the other.

3. Thinking Versus Feeling

"This scale focuses on how people make decisions based on the information that they gathered from their sensing or intuition functions". (Cherry) The thinkers prefer to focus on facts and are detached and indifferent in their approach. Those who prefer feelings allow their  emotions to guide the decision making process. They are very empathetic and often deeply regard the feelings of others before making decisions.

4. Judging Versus Perceiving

This scale shows how people handle the outside world. "The judging-perceiving scale helps describe whether you extravert when you are taking in new information (sensing and intuiting) or when you are making decisions (thinking and feeling)." (Cherry) People who tend to be judging tend to be systematic in approach. They are definite in their decision making. Those who are perceiving tend to be more adjustable. They leave lots of room for options and change.

At the end of the test you get to tally the results to see which side of each scale you fall under. This will be represented by four letters. Eg:

ISTJ - Introvert, Sensing, Thinking, Judging
INFP - Introvert, Intuition, Feeling, Perceiving
ESTP - Extravert, Sensing, Thinking, Perceiving 
ENFJ - Extravert, Intuition, Feeling, Judging

Once you figure out which four letters represent your personality, you can then read a thorough breakdown of that personality type and the positive aspects it holds. Added bonuses take the form of a list of famous people with the same personality type and a list of careers in which that personality would be most useful and most successful. I must say it is incredibly liberating to find something like this. It is a powerful and beautiful feeling. It can also be a strange feeling because its like seeing yourself for the first time in a totally larger than life way. Your sense of purpose in life and your self-esteem goes through the roof.


The other good thing about this is if you do this together with other people, you get to see them in a new light as well. A new understanding takes hold. If you approach others based on your new understanding of them, you are more likely to develop a better relationship with them, whether this person is a relative, a work colleague, a spouse, etc. You can find out more about the Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator by clicking here and let me know how it affects you in the comment section.While judging and scrutinizing can be annoying, understanding yourself and others is extremely satisfying and definitely something to enjoy. 


Source:

      Cherry, Kendra. "What Is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator?." About Education. N.p., n.d. Web. 28

 Oct. 2014. <http://psychology.about.com/od/psychologicaltesting/a/myers-briggs-type-indicator.htm>.