Personality Types

by breal 24 Replies latest social relationships

• 

  breal

  Recently I have run into a few people that wanted to discuss this topic. I believe I am a type A or Driver personality although I know it goes alot deeper than this but confused as I took two tests and came out as ESFJ and ISFJ. IMHO and based on human nature I have felt that people tend to romantisize there own perceived personality type.

  I am interested in this from the standpoint that perhaps what we perceive as our personality type may not be how we come accross to others?! Has anyone experienced this? For example two people recently called me a romantic and I have always felt myself to be more of a realist.... Or perhaps our generalization of personality types causes us to automatically miss out on opportunities to relate to diverse or opposite personality types?

  I know of a person who considers themselves a thinker or introspective type - but this person comes accross as one with a barely concealed rage and very opinionated but attempting to control it with a distate for those who are not necessarily more opinionated but more comfortable expressing or discussing opinions. I think this person takes there self imposed personality type a little to far and tries to stifle natural diversions into other personality types tendancies that this one finds negative. One person seems to be passive aggressive and comes accross as believing that it is better to subtly or not so subtly be argumentative and then not stick around for the debate or discussion...and then blame it on the other individuals conversation style or personality type...

  I am interested in how our personalities change depending on the situation and the relationship with the one we are interacting as I believe these factors weigh heavily. Do you think that someones conversation style can be different than there personality type or is it all linked or situation dependant?

  I searched and found some good links posted in the past but does anyone also know of any good books on this? Are there personality types that just do not mix? As it seems there are certain personality traits/types that I cannot stand and others I am drawn too. However there are even exceptions to those generalizations.
• 

  jgnat

  I love taking these kind of tests. I think I am an INTJ. Here is the first link I found.
  

  http://www.typelogic.com/

  Hear it from the horses' mouth,

  http://www.keirsey.com/

  A free test ...well sorta free. Gotta give out your e-mail, and you only get two letters.

  http://www.advisorteam.com/temperament_sorter/register.asp?partid=1
• 

  Valis

  You may find this of interest..

  Development of Personality in Early and Middle Adulthood: Set Like Plaster or Persistent Change?

  http://www.apa.org/journals/psp/press_releases/may_2003/psp8451041.pdf

  Sincerely,

  District Overbeer
• 

  jgnat

  I can't open the .pdf, ever since I upgraded to Adobe 6.0. I read the preface, though, and I would go along with the theory that some aspects of our personality change over time. For instance, I notice that young adults depend on dogma more than experience. I rely on experience and observation more and more, as dogma after favored dogma failed the "test" under fire. Besides, I have so much more experience to draw from.

  I have such arguments with my daughter.
  She: "All killing is wrong!"
  Me: "I still like bacon!"

  Do you think that someones conversation style can be different than there personality type or is it all linked or situation dependant?

  Oh certainly. I am a natural introvert, and I always will be. I have learned to act like an extrovert, and I enjoy teaching and presenting. I think I am a pretty effective communicator. How do I know I am still an introvert? Because I head for the "cave" as soon as I have some down time. Give me a hot bubble bath and a good book any day. People who don't know me well outside of my public persona often don't realize that a lot of my friendly behavior is governed by a set of internal rules I have built for myself (a very Thinker thing to do).
• 

  Valis

  For jgnat...a very basic synopsis of the paper I linked to...

  Personality Is Not Set By 30; It Can Change Throughout Life

  May 26 2003

  WASHINGTON -- Do peoples' personalities change after 30? They can, according to researchers who examined 132,515 adults age 21-60 on the personality traits known as the "Big Five": conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism, openness and extraversion. These findings are reported in the May issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, published by the American Psychological Association (APA). From this large sample of volunteers recruited and examined over the Internet, lead researchers Sanjay Srivastava, Ph.D., and Oliver P. John, Ph.D., working at the University of California at Berkeley, found that certain changes do occur in middle adulthood. Conscientiousness increased throughout the age range studied, with the biggest increases in a person's 20s; this trait is defined as being organized, planful, and disciplined, and past research has linked it to work performance and work commitments. Agreeableness increased the most during a person's 30s; this trait is defined as being warm, generous, and helpful, and has been linked to relationships and to prosocial behavior. Neuroticism declined with age for women but did not decline for men; this trait is defined in people who worry and are emotionally unstable. It has been linked to depression and other mental health problems. Openness showed small declines with age for both men and women. Finally, extraversion declined for women but did not show changes in men. Both neuroticism and extraversion scores were higher for younger women than for younger men. But for both of these traits -- and most strikingly for neuroticism -- the apparent sex differences diminished with age. Of the 132,515 participants, 54 percent were female, all lived in the U.S. or Canada, 86% were White and 14% were Asian, Black, Latino or Middle Eastern. A subset of the sample -- 42,578 -- were asked about their socioeconomic status. Of these participants, 405 (1%) said they were poor, 7,614 (18%) said they were working class, 23,024 (54%) said they were middle class and 10,718 (25%) said they were upper-middle class. This study contradicts an often cited view that personality traits are genetically programmed to stop changing by early adulthood. There is considerable evidence against it, say the authors. In the study, "average levels of personality traits changed gradually but systematically throughout the lifespan, sometimes even more after age 30 than before. Increasing conscientiousness and agreeableness and decreasing neuroticism in adulthood may indicate increasing maturity -- people becoming on the average better adapted as they get older, well into middle age." Article: "Development of Personality in Early and Middle Adulthood: Set Like Plaster or Persistent Change?" Sanjay Srivastava, Ph.D., and Oliver P. John, Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley; Samuel D. Gosling, Ph.D., University of Texas, Austin; Jeff Potter, B.A., Cambridge, MA; Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 84, No. 5. Full text of the article is available at http://www.apa.org/journals/psp/press_releases/may_2003/psp8451041.html The Web site where the data were collected is still active; individuals interested in knowing how they stand on the Big Five can complete a self-scoring questionnaire at http://www.outofservice.com -- The American Psychological Association Articles in The Science of Mental Health are written by the originating institution. This article was originally posted to Newswise. Newswise maintains a comprehensive database of news releases from top institutions engaged in scientific, medical, liberal arts and business research. The friendly interface allows you to search, browse or download any article or abstract.

  Sincerely, District Overbeer
• 

  plmkrzy

  Personality Is Not Set By 30;

  30?

  I thought it was set by 5! lol!
• 

  caligirl

  We did this test in my Organizational Behavior class. I was the only one in the class with the same personality type as the professor, which explains why I liked her so much I think! Of course I don't remember which letters, but I know that it was a combination that only about 2% of people fall into.
• 

  Ghost of Esmeralda

  I love this topic!

  I'm an INFJ myself, and the Keirsey book "Please Understand Me II" addresses all kinds of issues about the way different personality types interact, etc. Try putting that title into Google and see what ya get. I ordered my copy from their website, it's fascinating to me to look at the results of the test of my husband and of others close to me and see how they interact with mine. I can tell you from what I've seen, those temperament tests are dead on (if you answer the questions 100% honestly!)

  ~essie

  edited to add: I just saw this:

  I am interested in how our personalities change depending on the situation and the relationship with the one we are interacting as I believe these factors weigh heavily.

  Interesting, I thought that my results would certainly be different after five years, (I took the test the first time when I was still in my first marriage, and still in the Borg.) I thought surely, the results would be different after going through so much. But they were exactly the same. Guess the 'me' I really am was in there, underneath it all, all along! So I think that people are, underneath it all, who they really are no matter who they're interacting with. Even if they are on 'best behaviour" around some folks...essentially, if they've got big personality flaws, they're always there.
• 

  larc

  Valis,
  
  Thank you for that reference. I am going to e-mail the reference to my research collegue.
  
  I found an article in Pscyhological Bulleton that shows the test-retest correlation for personality traits over different ages and over different periods of time. From this data I was able to calculate that the average rate of change is 7% per year during childhood, 3 1/2% between the ages of 20 and 50, and 1% for those over the age of 50 (yes, us old geezers are stuck in your ways). As far as I can tell, no one has figured out how to make these calculations before now.
  
  The above information along with related data is in a manuscript, which my friend and I are about to send off to a research journal
• 

  Aztec

  Well, I am an ENFP...

  ENFPs have a great deal of zany charm, which can ingratiate them to the more stodgy types in spite of their unconventionality. They are outgoing, fun, and genuinely like people. As SOs/mates they are warm, affectionate (lots of PDA), and disconcertingly spontaneous.

  But I am not yet 30 so who knows how this will change...

  ~Az