The Beginning Of The ‘You’ Means Them Too
By: Dr. Conor Hogan Ph.D.
Tags: Personality Types, Personality Development, Empathy, Personality Disorders, Personality Tests

Finding Yourself Through Personality, Interests, and Becoming The Person To Be

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I think all answers lie in you, but if you don’t know what’s in you then you need to see what others see first.

If you are not interested and don’t have noteworthy possessions you at least need to know yourself before you can begin to understand your interests. There is an old saying that ‘if you`re not interested then you’re not interesting’ and there is a huge amount of truth to this too. All answers to our problem lie within us but if you don’t know yourself how can you solve your problems? You can’t, well at least not fully.

By using the world as a mirror you`ll begin to make judgments of who you are. A well-known strategy for doing this is by becoming aware of our personality type. By testing ourselves against all other human personalities we can begin to see who we really are. This is how the Myers-Briggs Personality test attempts to define personalities of people.

What is the Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator (MBTI)?

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is widely known as the world’s leader in measuring personality types of people. Using a questionnaire, it allows people to understand their motivations in life as well as their internal motivations within groups.

Although the questionnaire enables every person to understand themselves, it also gives power to businesses to understand employees and the specific differences that are in each type of person. In turn, this can, of course, provide a company to develop a competitive advantage.

How many personality types are there according to the MBTI?

Although there are more complexities and intricacies that the experts of the Myers-Briggs Personality Type utilize, when it’s boiled down to its simplest form the questionnaire labels people with having one of 16 different personality types.

Based on the psychological theories of Carl Jung, the MBTI attempts to identify your personality across four different dimensions. Each one of these dimensions tends to be a real personality entity that is identified in the majority of all human beings. These four dimensions are:

1. Attention: whether there is a likelihood of being more extraverted (E) or introverted (I) as a person and where your attention goes towards things.

2. Information Processing: how you sense (S) things or use intuition (N) to process information.

3. Decision making: whether you are more a thinker (T) or feeler (F) regarding your approach to an issue.

4. Dealing with the world: as the world is a big place, in general, you either judge (J) things or perceive things as being (P).

What are the 16 different personality types?

The 16 different personality types of the Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator (MBTI) are the following:

Introverted, Sensing, Thinking, Judging (ISTJ), Introverted, Sensing, Feeling, Judging (ISFJ), Introverted, Intuitive, Feeling, and Judging (INFJ) Introverted, Intuitive, Thinking, Judging (INTJ), Introverted, Sensing, Thinking, Perceiving (ISTP), Introverted, Sensing, Feeling, Perceiving (ISFP), Introverted, Intuitive, Feeling, Perceiving (INFP) Introverted, Intuitive, Thinking, Perceiving (INTP), Extravert, Sensing, Thinking, Perceiving (ESTP), Extraverted, Sensing, Feeling, Perceiving (ESFP), Extraversion, Intuition, Feeling, Perception (ENFP), Extravert, Intuitive, Thinking, Perceiving (ENTP), Extraverted, Sensing, Thinking, Judging (ESTJ), Extraverted, Sensing, Feeling, Judging (ESFJ), Extraverted Intuitive Feeling Judging (EIFJ), Extroverted Intuitive Thinking Judging (ENTJ).

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1.Introverted, Sensing, Thinking, Judging (ISTJ):

The Introverted, Sensing, Thinking, Judging (ISFJ) are often referred to as the ‘inspector’ personality.

2.Introverted, Sensing, Feeling, Judging (ISFJ):

The Introverted, Sensing, Feeling, Judging (ISFJ) personality is often known as a personality that can be compassionate. They tend to be trustworthy, kind, and reliable.

3.Introverted, Intuitive, Feeling, and Judging (INFJ):

The Introverted, Intuitive, Feeling, and Judging (INFJ) personality is often known as the advocate” or the “Idealist.

4.Introverted, Intuitive, Thinking, Judging (INTJ):

The Introverted, Intuitive, Thinking, Judging (INTJ) is often known as the “Architect,” or the “Strategist”.

5.Introverted, Sensing, Thinking, Perceiving (ISTP):

The Introverted, Sensing, Thinking, Perceiving (ISTP) personality likes to be able to think alone and can very independent.

6.Introverted, Sensing, Feeling, Perceiving (ISFP):

The Introverted, Sensing, Feeling, Perceiving (ISFP) personality likes to be tolerant and nonjudgmental.

7.Introverted, Intuitive, Feeling, Perceiving (INFP):

The Introverted, Intuitive, Feeling, Perceiving (INFP) personality is an “idealist” or “mediator” type of person.

8.Introverted, Intuitive, Thinking, Perceiving (INTP):

The Introverte, Intuitive, Thinking, Perceiving (INTP) usually has a small or nonexistent social circle and likes to think about their world by themselves.

9. Extravert, Sensing, Thinking, Perceiving (ESTP):

The Extravert, Sensing, Thinking, Perceiving (ESTP) like to be outgoing and take action in life.

10. Extraverted, Sensing, Feeling, Perceiving (ESFP):

The Extraverted, Sensing, Feeling, Perceiving (ESFP) are considered the class clowns of personalities.

11.Extraversion, Intuition, Feeling, Perception (ENFP):

The extraversion, Intuition, Feeling, Perception (ENFP) are creative and charismatic.

12.Extravert, Intuitive, Thinking, Perceiving (ENTP):

The Extravert, Intuitive, Thinking, Perceiving (ENTP) is known as “the innovator” and the “the visionary” type of person.

13. Extraverted, Sensing, Thinking, Judging (ESTJ):

The Extraverted, Sensing, Thinking, Judging (ESTJ) personality is the ‘director’ type of personality and like laws and traditional standards.

14.Extraverted, Sensing, Feeling, Judging (ESFJ):

The Extraverted, Sensing, Feeling, Judging (ESFJ) is the ‘caregiver’ and are outgoing in personality.

15. Extraverted Intuitive Feeling Judging (EIFJ):

The Extraverted Intuitive Feeling Judging (EIFJ) have an idealist streak and like top organize.

16.Extroverted Intuitive Thinking Judging (ENTJ):

The Extroverted Intuitive Thinking Judging (ENTJ) personality is the commanding personality.

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Ultimately then, Who Am I?:

Before you decide on who you are, why not use me as being your test subject so that you trust your judgment?

After all, if you can figure out another person correctly then you can surely begin to figure out yourself and go on to solve your issues, right?

Of me, right now, it’s easy for you to begin to look back at the above list and pick out things from it that suit my personality. As I`m the one who’s been writing then surely I`m going to show, among other things, signs of organization and creativity in my personality. Then you can look me up or ask around and you`ll get other people’s views of me too that will stabilize your overall judgment of my self.

After a while, you`ll begin to see a picture of who you feel I truly am.

But if I am, to be honest, although I admire the Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator (MBTI) and all that it has given people, I wonder at how it truly defines us through a set in time test that uses a questionnaire based on only 16 types of humans in a world of billions of people. As we are fluid, move, and develop as beings I wonder if there are constants that define our specific traits.

For me, life and change that arise in my ways come not just from how I feel, but, from the feelings of other people and how they are going through life also. Even with my passion for sport, I often wonder how competitors feel and how this affects me as a person. I guess what I’m getting at is that we all have to realize that the real answer to being your own person is not just in the interests or possessions you hold right now because they may change with time.

But, it’s the people that you meet throughout life that will teach you of the changes that will come as you journey on this earth with your self.