Personality types and their characteristics

In modern psychology, socionics, conflictology, there are many different classifications of psychological types of personality. This topic is quite popular today. Some authors focused on narrowly focused and very specific areas of application of these concepts and published books on topics on how to understand female types or how to conquer a man of a certain psychotype.

A deep understanding of your personality, your strengths and weaknesses contributes to a more conscious and therefore more successful management of the realities of your life, including its romantic component.

The history of the development of the theory of personality types

The well-known Swiss psychologist C. Jung came to the conclusion that human actions can be foreseen, taking into account the thought processes that determine them and the manner of behavior chosen by people. In 1921, his work “Psychological Types” was published, where he described 8 types of personality based on 3 dimensions of personality preferences.

In 1923, the American researcher C. Briggs became acquainted with this theory, who for a long time was interested in typing people. She accepted the model proposed by Jung, and subsequently began to work with her daughter I. Briggs-Myers. In the course of many years of research, K. Briggs and I. Briggs-Myers came to the conclusion that there are not 3, but 4 dimensions of personality preferences, and then, accordingly, it turns out not 16, but 16 psychotypes.

Around 1940, C. Briggs and I. Briggs-Myers began to develop a test system to determine the type of personality - MBTI. They spent more than one year on this. After the test was ready, data were collected and analyzed, which subsequently brought the scientific justification of the MBTI tests. The test consists of 93 questions.

Based on the work of C. Jung and I. Myers-Briggs, in 1956, a professor at the University of California, D. Keyrsi, developed a questionnaire for diagnosing personality type. This test is a shortened and revised form of the Myers-Briggs Questionnaire and contains 70 questions. This technique is widely used in professional and psychological counseling, as well as in the study of interpersonal relationships.

In 1992, the first edition of the book by the authors P. Tiger and B. Barron-Tiger, “Do what you were born,” was published, in which these 16 types of personality, methods for determining them, successful areas for self-realization and ways of organizing work are described in detail. . The book contains a huge number of examples, which allows you to get a detailed idea of ​​the features and various nuances of psychotypes.

Preferences as criteria

The structure of a personality type is based on its four fundamental aspects - dimensions, and two opposite values ​​for each dimension - preferences, which is reflected in the table below.

Of course, in ordinary life, a person uses all of these preferences. And yet, for each dimension, he will resort to one of the two preferences more naturally, more often, and with greater effect than the other.

Psychological type determination

To determine the type of personality, psychology uses the MBTI questionnaire or the D. Caircy test. In turn, P. Tiger and B. Barron-Tiger offer to familiarize themselves with a detailed description of the preferences for each dimension, then think about the usual patterns of behavior and determine which characteristics are most appropriate.

It is important to remember that these preferences describe extremes and are generalizations. Therefore, to determine the type of personality, it is the tendency toward one of them that is more important than its severity - strong or weak.

Extraversion - Introversion

According to the concept of extraversion - introversion created by C. Jung, each person, being present both in the external and internal worlds, has a natural tendency to stay mainly in one of them. People who prefer the outside world are called extroverts, the inner - introverts.

Extroverts direct their attention and energy to the outside world. They are much more public than introverts. They seek communication, prefer to be in the company of other people and interact with the world of objects. They tend to be active. So they comprehend this world.

Introverts, on the contrary, try to understand the world before they touch it, which takes time, solitude and intense mental activity. They are already less likely to need to interact with other people. Usually they are more restrained and more closed than extroverts.

Sensory - Intuition

Sensory means collecting information through the five senses. Therefore, the attention of sensors is focused on what is concrete and real. Confidence is what can be fixed, measured. For them, it is important that you can touch, see, taste, smell, hear. Sensors believe that the senses will provide them with accurate information about the world around them. They are currently oriented.

Intuitives listen to the so-called sixth sense, read between the lines, find hidden meanings in everything. For them, inspiration and insight are important. imagination. They are attracted to new ideas and approaches. They are focused on the future, try to anticipate it and change the state of things. Sensors are especially good at memorizing a large volume of facts, while intuition interprets them especially well.

Logic - Ethics

The way a person makes decisions and comes to conclusions says a lot about him. Logicians use a detached, impersonal analysis, the same approach to everyone. They have well-developed critical thinking, which makes it easy to identify errors. Truthfulness for them is a priority over tact, therefore they may seem heartless. Feelings are recognized only if they are considered logical. They are motivated by the desire for achievement and success.

Ethics make decisions based on important criteria for themselves and the surrounding criteria. Consent and participation are valuable to them, tact is more important than truthfulness. They are able to notice exceptions to the rules, therefore they tend to apply an individual approach to each. Feelings recognize without asking questions about their rationality. They are motivated by the desire for recognition and positive evaluation from the outside.

Rationality - Irrationality

The main differences between these preferences reflect the conceptual differences between the two sayings: “Cause time, fun time” and “Work is not a wolf, he won’t run away into the forest”. Rationalists perceive time as a limited resource. Focused on the result. They prefer to set goals, set deadlines for them and work hard to turn their plans into reality. Feel satisfied when completing projects. Feel comfortable when decisions are already taken. They tend to control life, regulate it. Rational-type people need a structured, planned, regulated world. It is important for the rational to control everything that happens to him.

Irrationals perceive time as a renewable resource, and set deadlines as elastic. When new information arrives, they quite easily adjust and change their goals. Process oriented. They like to adapt to new conditions. Enjoy starting projects. Feel comfort in the case of a choice open to them. They build their lives mainly on the principle of spontaneity, value flexibility and fluidity. They tend to understand life, and not to rule over it. Irrationals prefer to perceive the world as volatile, replete with options for spontaneous choice. Rigid structure, clear frames connect them. Free swimming is what they prefer.

Psychological types

According to I. Briggs-Myers, each person can be attributed to one of the 16 types presented in table 2. At the same time, bringing together a hundred people of the same type, you can see that they are very different. And this is not surprising, because each of them has different interests, life experience, parents, genes and so on. But at the same time, they will manifest extremely much in common. The table below presents 16 psychological types.

The type of personality does not determine intelligence or life success. There are no better or worse types. All of them are equally valuable, and each of them has both strengths and weaknesses. Depending on what type of personality a person has, one can talk about his individual motivations, sources of energy. Knowing your psychotype allows you to understand how to take advantage and compensate for weaknesses, and it helps a lot when choosing the field of professional activity.

D. Keirsi, after getting acquainted with the works of I. Briggs-Myers, noticed that 4 combinations of personal preferences correspond to 4 temperaments that have been distinguished by different researchers throughout the history of mankind. He divided 16 types of personality into four main groups, which he called the type of temperament, which is reflected in the second table. People with the same types of temperament have many similarities and, as a rule, share the same fundamental values.

Characterization of types of temperament

Traditionalists are decisive people, firmly standing on the earth. Their motto is: "He who rises early, God gives to him." They are serious and hardworking, reliable and responsible, more than others are committed to tradition. Respect authority, hierarchy, well-functioning management systems. They value rules, property and security. Mainly adhere to conservative views. They strongly expressed the need to serve the interests of society. They have a strong sense of duty. Try to do the right thing.

Empiricists are people who respond quickly, adapt easily, and are prone to spontaneous reactions. Their motto is: "Eat, drink and have fun." Relative to others, they are the most entrepreneurial. They live in the present moment, impulses, actions. Rarely choose situations or activities if the dictates of the structure are strongly felt in them or if many rules are to be followed. They have a tendency to risk, some even look for thrills and love to be on the edge of the abyss. At the same time, they are sincere and pragmatic, they like to solve complex problems. They value skill and professionalism highly, respect heroism.

Idealists are people who are characterized by concern for personal growth, the desire to understand themselves and others. Their motto is: "Be true to yourself." More than others they are prone to spiritual and philosophical searches. They seem to be in an eternal search for the meaning of life. They have good communication abilities, are able to understand others, enter their position, and take into account their needs. People value integrity, authenticity and potential. Often endowed with the gift to assist others in growth and development, to act as catalysts for positive change. From this kind of activity they feel a sense of satisfaction. They tend to idealize people.

Conceptualists are people with a thirst for knowledge and high demands on themselves and others. Their motto is: "Strive for heights in everything." They value a high level of intelligence and competencies. Their strengths are curiosity, the ability to see different facets of phenomena, strategic planning, the creation of systems to achieve goals. From activities of this kind, they experience a deep sense of satisfaction. Representatives of this type of temperament are most independent.

Socionics development

The presented typology of Jung-Myers-Briggs is related to the socionics popular in Russia. Socionics - the definition of the type of personality, its social roles, characteristics of relationships and interactions with other people.

This trend appeared thanks to the initiative of the Lithuanian researcher A. Augustinavichiute, who simplified the system of scientific names of 16 psychotypes in the years 70-80 and made the concept publicly available. With its submission, personality types in socionics were supplemented by literary and historical pseudonyms. In the future, we paid attention to this topic and made additions and improvements to I. D. Vaysban, A. L. Panchenko, V. I. Stratievskaya.

New areas of application of socionics

Interest in the study of psychotypes does not fade. Interesting areas of their practical application are found. So Yu. I. Simonov and A. A. Nemirovsky released the book “How to Look for a Life Partner”, which described 16 female personality types, and L. A. Beskova, E. A. Udalova - “The Way to the Heart of a Man and Back”, which contains a number of recommendations on how to make the right impression and how to build relationships with any of the 16 types of men.

Conflict

A person bears great emotional and physical costs of participating in conflicts. Between the parties, confrontation and hostility intensifies, the desire for good relations disappears, the problem becomes more important than its solution. If this is a frequent occurrence in a person’s life, then he is almost constantly in a stressful state, which negatively affects his health, appearance, mood, and effectiveness.

In conflictology, by conflict is understood a character trait that facilitates frequent involvement in conflicts, and a person who suggests increased production of conflicts is called a conflict. S. M. Emelyanov identifies the following types of conflicting personalities :

• Demonstrative - overly emotional, wanting to be in the spotlight, rational behavior is very weakly expressed.
• Rigid - with an overestimated self-esteem, not wanting to reckon with others, straightforward, inflexible, constantly requiring confirmation of its significance.
• Uncontrollable - impulsive, aggressive, uncritical, often ignoring generally accepted norms of communication.
• Ultraprecise - too demanding, suspicious, suspicious, inclined to attach too much importance to the comments of others.
• Conflict-free - seeking to please everyone, unnecessarily seeking a compromise, not possessing sufficient willpower and a sufficiently good vision of the future.

As a rule, a person does not realize that he himself is the cause of frequent conflict situations in his life. Having identified the character trait that generates such a tendency, he will be able to direct his life in a more calm and peaceful direction.

Character accentuation

Situations are common where a person, because of a series of troubles, hangs the label of a loser and decides that he should go through life under this “banner”. However, knowledge is power. If you identify your weaknesses, you can change them - because it’s just a habit to think, act and choose in a certain way. And habits can be consciously controlled - eliminate old ones and inculcate new ones.

In psychology, based on examples of pathology, a system of character accentuations was developed, by which we mean extreme variants of the norm. They reflect excessively enhanced character traits that cause selective vulnerability to certain types of psychogenic influences, despite good resistance to others.

They usually arise and develop during the formation of character, and in the process of growing older they smooth out. They can be intermittent and practically do not appear in ordinary conditions, but only in some situations, in a certain environment. With accentuations, periods of social maladaptation are either absent altogether or they are short-lived. In 1977, A.E. Lichko proposed the following classification of character accentuations:

• Schizoid type of personality - characterized by isolation, fencing off from other people.
• Hypertensive - constantly elevated mood and tone, prone to uncontrollable activity and thirst for communication, tend to disperse and not finish the work that has been started.
• Cycloid - mood changes are cyclical, depression is replaced by enthusiasm, hobbies are unstable, in periods of recession tend to abandon their affairs.
• Labile - an extreme degree of mood variability is noted. The sensual sphere is strong. Very vulnerable to emotional rejection by loved ones, separation from them or their loss. Often reside in the role of the ward.
• Astheno-neurotic - a tendency to hypochondria, increased irritability, show high fatigue when the activity is competitive in nature.
• Sensitive - a strong impressionability, characterized by timidity, shyness, a sense of inferiority. In adolescence they often become objects for ridicule.
• They are capable of displaying calmness, kindness and mutual assistance.
• Psychasthenic - prone to introspection and reflection. They do not endure high demands on themselves; responsibility burdens them, whether for themselves or for others. Often hesitate at decision making moments.
• Epileptoid - characterized by excitability, tension and a tendency to dominate others.
• Hysteroid - have a pronounced egocentrism and a desire to be in the spotlight.
• Unstable - laziness, lack of desire to engage in labor or educational activities are characteristic, the craving for idle pastime, entertainment, idleness is pronounced.
• Conformal - they strive to think "like everyone else", to be in the familiar environment, to avoid sudden changes.

Given the degree of severity, distinguish between hidden and explicit forms of character accentuation. The first reflects the norm, and the second - the extreme version of the norm, and speaks of the stability of these traits in character.

Knowing one’s personality type, strengths and weaknesses, tendency to a particular field of activity and the way it is organized, degree of conflict, existing accentuations of character gives a person the opportunity to deeply understand himself and, thus, tools to consciously manage his life.