Myers-Briggs Part 6: What's Your Type?

For the last 6 weeks I have posted once a week about my experiences with the Myers-Briggs Personality Types. 

 

This is something that helped me not only as a teacher, but as a person, learning about the world around me. 

 

Tonight, we're summing it up!

First, I told about my master's program and my first introduction to the Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator. 

  Explore the image below for the link to that post:

 

The next week, I posted about the difference between Introverts (I) and Extr0verts (E). I even listed famous Introverts and famous Extroverts, and suggested possible careers for both. Of the four preferences, this is the one I personally struggled with the most. I've learned much more about it, and now I'm proud to be an Introvert. There are many successful Introverts in our world, including teachers! 

 

Explore the image below to get to the post about Introversion and Extroversion.

Next up was Sensing (S) vs Intuition (N). This one is quite important to us as teachers. People process information in different ways, and it's essential that we respect both preferences. Most teachers teach to their own preference, which leaves out many students. 

 

Explore the image below to read more about how people process information.

A week later, I posted about the third preference: How we make decisions. The two preferences are Feeling (F) and Thinking (T). 

 

Explore the image below to read about Thinkers and Feelers.

Finally, last week posted about how people live their outer life. That's Judging (J) or Perceiving (P). This was another area where I struggled, until I realized that Judging didn't mean Judgmental. It just means I prefer structure and order. Understanding who I am really helped me appreciate the Ps in my life! 

 

Explore the image below for more information about Judging and Perceiving.

Although I recommend taking the official Myers Briggs Instrument (See HERE for information.) However after some thought, you might have a guess on where you land on some of the preferences.  

There are a total of 16 different "types".  

Here they are! (See HERE or explore the image below.)

If you explore the image and go to the Myers Briggs website, there is a link for a description to each of these 16 personality types.

I'm an ISFJ. They call me The Nurturer. If you google ISFJ and read the  description, you'll see a perfect description of me. It's almost as if someone who knew me very well wrote a detailed description of my personality.

Here's a summary of my type: ISFJ

and a more detailed summary here: ISFJ

What's your type?

Myers-Briggs Part 5: How Do You Live Your Outer Life?

The fourth and final scale that's part of the Myers-Briggs Personality Types deals with how people live their "outer life".   

There are two sides to this scale:

• Judging types prefer organization and planning.  

• Perceiving types like to improvise and explore options.

• Judging types value punctuality and completeness of tasks. 

• Perceiving types value spontaneity and flexibility.

• Judging types prefer decisions made. They are task oriented and love to make lists.

• Perceiving types prefer to multitask. They mix work with play, and love variety.

• Judging types can be accused of being "too structured".

• Perceiving types can be accused of being "too loosey goosey."

As I've mentioned in previous posts about Myers-Briggs, there is no right or wrong preference. We need both types in our world.  

Please don't confuse Judging types with the term "judgmental". They are not related.  

I'm a Judging type. I keep all my school supplies organized by the month I use them. I have tubs of activities for each month of the year.  All the clothes in my closet are in order by color. I have all the tops in hanging in one section, facing the same way, of course, starting with red, and going through the rainbow. Black and brown come at the end. The bottoms are on the other side of the closet. In color order, of course. All the money in my wallet is in order of denomination, all facing the same way.

I realized very early that my daughter was also a judging type when she lined up all her dolls around her by height. (She did this all the time, it was scary!)

Once a friend of mine told me I needed to be more spontaneous. I told him I'd put it in my plans.  

Of all four scales of the Myers-Briggs, this is one scale where I'm nowhere near the middle. I'm a strong "J".  

However, understanding personality types has helped me from becoming too extreme. I no longer panic if I don't know what's coming up. I'm ok if plans have to be changed.  

One of the things I appreciate most about understanding the different personality types is that I've learned to be tolerant and appreciative of the other types.  

I know and enjoy people who are Perceiving types. I admire spontaneity. I appreciate those who are good at improvising.  

For more information on the Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator, click the links below.

Part 1: The Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator

Myers-Briggs Part 2: How do you find your energy?

Myers-Briggs Part 3: How do you process information?

Myers-Briggs Part 4: How do you make decisions?

Myers-Briggs Part 5: How do you live your outer life?

Myers-Briggs Part 6: What's your type?

Have you figured out your own type?

Myers Briggs Personality Types

I got my master's degree in the late 80s in Creative Arts in Learning. It was a fabulous program with some incredible instructors, and fantastic content. We had classes in music, visual arts, acting, storytelling, and movement. We also had a great class called Arts in Society which helped us develop a deep understanding of what Art is and the importance of Art in our world. 

We met one weekend a month for a couple of years. We were lucky to go through the whole program with the same group of teachers. It was a variety of educators, from classroom teachers, to art teachers, music teachers, and even a school nurse! We came from all over New England to a little seminar house in a small town in New Hampshire. When we were done, we not only had a masters degree, but we had a core of deeply trusted friends in education.

Although these courses were 25 years ago, they left a profound impact in my teaching as well as my personal life. I draw on these experiences daily in my teaching. 

 

Probably the most valuable thing I got out of this masters program was learning about the Myers-Briggs Personality Types. It was one of the first things we learned in the program, and it kept coming back through the whole 2 year process. It helped me understand myself, and it helped me understand my students. It helped me accept differences in people and realize that all different kinds of people are valuable and important in our society.

It's based on 4 different scales, or preferences. It is important to remember that these are just preferences. It's not an IQ test or aptitude test in any way. Just like you might prefer to write with your right hand, because it's more comfortable for you. If you had to, you could use your left hand, but it's just not as comfortable. Using your right hand (or your left) is your preference.

The first scale is about how a person interacts with their world. Some think of this scale as how a person gets their energy. These preferences are Introversion (I) and Extroversion (E.)

The next preference is how a person prefers to process information. These preferences are Sensing (S) and Intuition (N.) 

The third preference is about how a person makes decisions. These preferences are Thinking (T) and Feeling (F.)

The fourth preference is how a person organizes his life. These preferences are Judging (J) and Perceiving (P.)

Since each of the 4 scales has 2 preferences, there are a total of 16 possible personality types.

The word scale is appropriate here. Some people land all the way on the edge of a scale, and some people land close to the middle of a scale. My own scales have some extremes, and some scales where I land almost in the middle. (Almost like ambidextrous, with the dominant hand analogy.)

There are links to more information about the Myers-Briggs Personality Types all over the internet! Just google it, and you'll find plenty of information!

Here are links to the other posts in this series:

Myers-Briggs Part 2: How do you find your energy?

Myers-Briggs Part 3: How do you process information?

Myers-Briggs Part 4: How do you make decisions?

Myers-Briggs Part 5: How do you live your outer life?

Myers-Briggs Part 6: What's your type?