Personality Part I

By Jonathan Hodge

Upfront confession:  I have an obsession.  Anyone who knows me will tell you it’s true…I can’t stop talking about personality typology.  I discuss it at conferences, I talk about it to my work colleagues, and I will chat about it with anyone who will listen – and even some who won’t.  I’ve studied it for years now, and I still devour any material about it that I can find: books, articles, interviews, etc.  I’ve even emailed experts (who have no idea who I am by the way) asking for extra resources and materials.  Whenever I meet someone new it’s always running in the background – observing, calculating, and investigating.  Am I a nerd?  Most definitely.  But this is nothing new…and if I’m going to be a nerd, it might as well be about cool stuff.

You see, I’ve come to believe that there is no single tool that is more helpful than an understanding of personality temperament and typology.  Keep in mind that we also have attitudes and approaches to life that are more important than any tool.  But if I had to pick just one tool to help me in life, personal relationships, and business…I would pick an understanding of personality typology.

 

Why would I pick this one above all others?  How does this actually help someone?  Put simply:

  1. It’s a unique lens for viewing partners, students, parents, etc., and gives us a different perspective than what we would normally have.
  2. It gives us context.  No behavior, action, or way of being can be truly understood outside of the context (or environment) in which it exists.
  3. It allows for more meaningful communication and deep understanding between the communicators.  I often see clients for marriage therapy in my private counseling practice, and personality typology has consistently ranked in the top 3 most helpful things that took place over the course of therapy…for every couples client (this is a big deal – notice that I underlined it for affect).

Some caveats and basic guidelines:

  1. Personality is not an exact science…but it’s amazing how much you can actually discern from just a few questions.
  2. Personality typology is descriptive, not prescriptive – it gives us insight into how people typically communicate; not how people will or should communicate.
  3. Remember that people are still individuals – personality descriptions do not describe them, but rather their already established patterns of behavior and communication.
  4. For a type and description to be accurate – 80% of the description should be true of this person 80% of the time (more on this in later posts).
  5. Anyone is able to benefit from this kind of understanding – not just us psych nerds.

That’s it for now.  Our next discussion will be on the first category of personality – extroversion and introversion.