Book Summary: Gifts Differing: End Note

Of all the ideas presented in Gifts differing on understanding oneself, this is the one I like the most:

"With a few people there follows a still further stage, in which the other functions are permitted more development, to compensate for any one-sideness, and the pronounced typical pricture is again modified to some extent by the unfolding of a fuller and richer expression of human nature. "

Regarding understanding others, I like this description the most:

"Sensing types want to solution to be workable, thinkers want it systematic, feeling types want it humanly agreeable, and intuitives want a door left open for growth and improvement. These are all reasonable desires. Given understanding and good will, they should be achievable.

When people differ, a knowledge of type lessens friction and eases strain. In addition, it reveals the value of differences. No one has to be good at everything. By developing individual strengths, guarding against known weaknesses, and appreciating the strengths of the other types, life will be more amusing, more interesting, and more of a daily adventure than it could possibly be if everyone were alike."

It took me almost a year to finish reading this book, and I've felt strongly the urge to move on. As mentioned in the introduction, the beauty of this theory is its nonjudgmental view on personality, so it offers an unbiased view to understand people. However, since personality is only part of what makes a person unique, understanding a personal requires much more than just understanding of his/her type.

Furthermore, the type theory doesn't account for the difference in culture, religion and other factors that contribute to the spiritual aspects of life, so its description on personal values only stays at surface level.

Also worth noticing is that though the theory is nonjudgmental on personality, we do need judgment on people whenever a decision related to people is made. The author also acknowledge the pivotal importance of judgment, and report that judgment is most difficult to develop.

One final note, the personality theory doesn't account for everything in human difference, but it does provide us a glimpse of the seemingly incomprehensible variety of human natures.

Book Summary: Gifts Differing: Part 5 Type and Marriage

Among 375 couples married between 1910 and 1950:

Alike on all preferences: 9%
Alike on three: 35%
Alike on two: 33%
Alike on one: 19%
Alike on none: 4%

The most frequent similarity was on SN, which suggests that seeing the things the same way, ...

Among the couples who were different on all preferences, nearly all the husbands were thinkers.

Understanding, appreciation, and respect make a lifelong marriage possible and good.

Even the best of qualities tend to have inconvenient side effects, which may annoy those who do not see the reason for them, but the side effects are trivial in comparison with the good qualities from which they spring.

When I was a child we had a neighbor who complained a great deal about her husband's faults. One day my mother asked her what she would really like to have changed in him. It took her some time to find an answer. Finally she said, "You know, there's that deep scar on his cheek. It doesn't bother me, but it bothers him."

Likeness on TF should be hardest to achieve because there are more feeling women than thinking women in our culture, and more thinking men than feeling men...

they can acknowledge that each is justifiably and interestingly different from the other---and be amused. Their amusement may be warm or detached, wry or tender, according to their types, but it will help in working out the situation and keeping intact each partner's dignity and the precious fabric of their marriage.

-- Gifts Differing

Absolutely no experience, so only quote what's interesting to me.

Book Summary: Gifts Differing: Part 4 Type and Occupation

1. Accountants:64% ST; 23% SF; 4% NF; 9% NT;
2. Bank employees:47% ST; 24% SF; 11% NF; 18% NT;
3. Sales, customer relations:11% ST; 81% SF; 8% NF; 0% NT;
4. Creative writers:12% ST; 0% SF; 65% NF; 23% NT;
5. Research Scientists:0% ST; 0% SF; 23% NF; 77% NT;
   

--Gifts Differing

Much of what I have learned from books, speeches and workshops on career choice can be summarized into this one idea: an ideal career enables one to use his best skills to do what he values the most. Personality plays a role in career choice by shaping one's interests, values and skills. The above quoted data prove exactly this point. For example, the S types, who prefers the concrete and facts occupy a high percentage of accountants and bank employees; by contrast, none of the S types shows up in research scientists, who deal with theories and the possibilities. By similar analysis, it's no surprise that sales people are dominantly SF type. Also, creative writers, who sees possibilities more than facts, are mostly N types.

E/I preference and J/P preference also influences one's job choice. We would expect that I types favors quiet workplace while E types loves the opposite; J types enjoys planning well ahead while P types prefers to response to what requires the attention at the moment.

This type theory was originally developed to guide one's career choice, so a lot more can be said about one's type and occupations. Not to bore you with all those detailed descriptions, I will simply stop here with one important reminder from I.B. Myers: "People should not be discouraged from pursuing an occupation because they are 'not the type'......they may be valuable as contributors of abilities that are rare among their co-workers."

Book Summary: Gifts Differeing: Part 3 Type and Learning

THE MOST CONSPICUOUS relationship between type and education lies in the apparent advantage enjoyed by intuitives in most academic fields. They gravitate into higher education...

-- Gifts Differing

Words, being symbols, are abstract. The translation of words into meaning is therefore easier for intuitive type children than for sensing type children. And consequently, intuition type children enjoys schools more. One way to help sensing type student is to introduce the sound-symbol relationship explicitly early in school.

The type theory states that the sensing type students prefer actuality and facts, whereas the intuitive type students prefers abstract and theory. In other words, their interests are different. And because interest is the vital driving force of learning, sensing type students and intuitive type students tend to focus their attention on different subjects. It is no surprise that the majority of science and liberal arts students are of N type, and the majority of finance and commerce students are of S type.

The difference between S and N type students presents a challenge to teachers. Any subject is a combination of facts and theory, and the way a teacher presents a subject is likely to bore half of the audience half of the time. One way to get around this problem is to create interests in all students about both the facts and the theory, which is by no means an easy task.