Feb 24, 2008

Book Summary: Gifts Differing: Part 2 Type Dynamics and Growing-up

"...sensing to gather the relevant facts, intuition to see all measures that might usefully be taken, thinking to determine the consequences, and feeling to consider the impact of these consequences on the people involved. The pooling of their respective perceptions and judgments offers the best chance of finding a solution valid for them both."

"...Sensing types want the 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."

-- Gifts Differing

Myerses endorse Van der Hoop's description of the three stages of type developments. The first stage is the beginning of the differentiation of a prevailing process, be it sensing, intuition, thinking or feeling. At the second stage, the prevailing process dominates, and the rest processes are suppressed in order for the dominant process to reach its full development. For a few people, there is a last stage, in which previously suppressed processes are permitted to develop, thereby unfolding "a fuller and richer expression of human nature".

Van der Hoop's description of the three stages does not include the ages these stages occur. And I think for people like me who have already graduated from college, the last stage is where efforts should be, and that's where this post will focus on.

It is always enlightening, sometimes annoying, and every once in a while amusing and entertaining to see people act unconsciously according to their types. However, the last stage of type development requires CONSCIOUSLY exercising what people are not good at, and as Myerses put it "The recognition that one process is more appropriate than another in a given situation is an important milestone in type development." One not only needs to first see the difference among the four processes and realize the merits of each one of them, but also needs to be aware of which process he/she is using at a given time. For example, "Gosh, it is freezing cold out there" is a sensing perception, and "I'd better not to go outside" is a thinking judgment, and "Only if I had a car" is a intuitive perception, and "I'd better still go, otherwise my friends will keep waiting" is a feeling judgment.

In order to practice the less developed processes during the last stage of type development, Myerses suggest to use problems encountered in life to develop those skills. All the four processes have to be used, and have to be used in the following sequence, in order to arrive at a good solution.

"When confronted by a problem to solve, a decision to make, or a situation to deal with, try exercising one process at a time, consciously and purposefully, each in its own field, without interference from other processes, and in the following order:

  • Sensing to face the facts, to be realistic, to find exactly what the situation is and what is being done about it. Sensing can help you avoid wishful thinking or sentiment that may obscure the realities. To activate your sensing process, consider how the situation would look to a wise, impartial bystander.

  • Intuition to discover all the possibilities—all the ways in which you might change the situation, your approach, or other people’s attitudes. Try to put aside your natural assumption that you have been doing the obviously right thing.

  • Thinking to impersonally analyze cause and effect, including all the consequences of the alternative solutions, pleasant and unpleasant, those that weigh for and those that weigh against your preferred solution. Consider the full costs involved and examine misgivings you may have suppressed because of loyalty to someone, liking for something, or reluctance to change your stand.

  • Feeling to weigh how deeply you care about the things that will be gained or lost by each of the alternatives. In making a fresh appraisal, try not to let the temporary outweigh the permanent, however agreeable or disagreeable the immediate prospect may be. Consider as well other people’s feelings, reasonable and unreasonable, about the various outcomes, and include your feelings and theirs among the facts to be considering n deciding which solution will work best.

The final decision will have sounder basis than usual, because of your consideration of facts, possibilities, consequences, and human values. "

Though Myerses put the dynamics of type development at the end of the book, I move it ahead because this dynamic view of types opens the door to personal growth over a life time, thus preventing any deterministic misinterpretation.

Feb 10, 2008

Book summary: Gifts Differeing : Part 1 Theory

Myers-Briggs personality type theory describes sixteen personality types using four dichotomies: Sensing(S)/iNtuition(N), Thinking(T)/Feeling(F), Extraversion(E)/Introversion(I), and Perceiving(P)/Judging(J). The FIRST four of the eight characteristics are based on the seemingly self-evident difference of how human mind functions, and each person has one, and one only, dominant process and one auxiliary process among these four characteristics, namely S, N, T and F.

The first dichotomy Sensing/iNtuition is about the preferred way one's mind gathers information. S type person prefers gathering information directly through five senses: Smelling, seeing, tasting, hearing, and touching. On the other hand, N type person prefers gathering information through “indirect perception by way of the unconscious, incorporating ideas or associations that the unconscious tacks on to perceptions coming from outside”. This fundamental difference in the preferred way of gathering information, or in perceiving, creates a basic easily observable difference: S type person favors actuality, facts, and present, whereas N type person favors possibility, abstracts, and future.

The second dichotomy Thinking/Feeling is about the preferred way one's mind makes decisions. Thinking type (T type) person prefers arriving at conclusion through objective, impersonal, logic means, whereas feeling type (F type) person prefers personal and subjective approaches. Myerses put the difference between T and F types in an ingenious way: “a reader who considers first whether they (the theory) are consistent and logical is using thinking judgment. A reader who is conscious first that the ideas are pleasing or displeasing, supporting or threatening ideas already prized, is using feeling judgment”. Ordinary people do use both way of judging, but each of us PREFERS one of them to the other.

The third dichotomy Extraversion/Introversion describes whether the person focuses on external world of people and things or internal world of concepts and ideas. Normal people deal with both external and internal world, but only one is their focus. And the final dichotomy Perceiving/Judging is about preferred way one deals with the outside world. People have to use both perception (S and N) and judgment (T and F) to deal with the outer world, but cannot use both at the same time. Those who are more curious are usually more comfortable with perception attitude, whereas those who are more decisive are usually more at home with judgment attitude.

Out of the four basic functions of mind (S, N, T and F), only one is dominant for each person. The dominance is developed through exercising the favored function from the moment of birth. Because the use of one function requires the shut-down of all the other processes, the dominant function develops at the expenses of the other function. However, one auxiliary process must be developed to give balance in a person’s life. If the dominant process is a judging one, the auxiliary process is a perceptive one, and vice versa. The role of auxiliary process is to provide balance between judgment and perception. If a person doesn’t develop adequately the auxiliary process, their lives are unbalanced. Myers put it this way: “An extreme perceptive with no judgment is all sail and no rudder. An extreme judging type with no perception is all form and no content.”

Up to now, the post has outlined the most salient features of Myers-Briggs personality type theory. However, several interesting but less important aspects of the theory, such as the balance between extraversion and introversion, and the shadowy side, have been omitted to keep the length of this post readable.

The most intriguing aspect about a theory is its application/prediction to real life. And it is what will come next.