Book Summary: Gifts Differing: Introduction

"For many Extraverts, 'hell at a party' is 'not being able to get in'. Many introverts see it as 'being there.'
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I cherish a personal conviction that much of the nonphysical pain and stress in our world is the result of misunderstandings among generally well-intentioned people and is not occasioned by irreparable disagreements."
--Peter Briggs Myers, co-author of Gifts Differing.

In my first fall in Toronto, I was puzzled by the question what I should do in my life, and frustrated by how little progress I have made in answering that question. A workshop offered by career center titled "Career Choice and Your Personality" caught my eyes, so I went to the workshop and learned about Myers-Briggs personality type. From then on, I became more and more interested in this personalty type theory, not only because it helps me know more about myself, offering perspectives that I have never thought before, but also because it helps me understand more about other people, especially those people that are totally different from me.

The type theory derives from the seemingly obvious observations of how the mind works: It perceives to collect informations; it judges to make decisions. By dividing the ways we perceive into sensing(S) and intuition(N) and the ways we make decisions into thinking (T) and feeling (F), it arrives at four basic traits of personalty: sensing/intuition and thinking/feeling. Adding two other dichotomies, Extroversion/Introversion and Judging/Perceiving, completes the description of types.

The book, Gifts Differing, has been the "preeminent source" for understanding the theory. Besides its authoritative explanation of the theory, it also provides valuable applications of the theory to issues such as occupation, marriage, learning, and growing-up. Consequently, my summary will be divided into five parts, with the first part explaining the theory and the rest four parts on applications.

The beauty of Myers-Briggs Type theory is its non-judgmental way of knowing oneself as well as understanding others, as you will see soon.