Understanding Personality Type
The following is adapted from Linda V. Berens and Dario Nardi, The 16 Personality Types: Descriptions for Self-Discovery (Telos Publications, 1999) *Used with permission.
What Is Personality "Type"?
Personality typing has been around for over twenty-five centuries. It seems we have a natural tendency to categorize so that we can understand and remember. When we were infants learning to talk, we called every furry animal a dog or a cat, depending on which name we happened to learn first. Later, we were able to see the differences between a dog, a cat and a bunny. These categories and names became our models for the world and shape our perception and thus our expectations. We make assumptions and inferences about the nature of things based on these prior learnings.
The following graphics can help you understand important principles of personality type;
Look at the three ovals below.
What do they represent?
Ovals or manholes or shadows or ???
If we tell you they are shadows,
what are they shadows of?
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