The Power of Personality

Debra Wood, RN

Personality and temperament affect how we perceive the world and get along with others.

What makes one person rush forward, eager to experience the world, while another holds back? Personality. Unraveling the mysteries of your behavior patterns can help you discover ways to enrich your life and relationships and work more effectively.

Great minds have pondered the complexities of personality, temperament and health for centuries. As far back as Hippocrates in 400 B.C., theories of personality have been of interest to people who study human behavior.

Forty years ago, doctors noted a link between personality and health, dubbing competitive, rushing and angry types who often experienced heart problems as Type A personalities. Those with a more laid-back style were designated Type B. A few years later, a California psychologist described typical behavior of cancer patients holding in negative feelings and anger and called people who exhibit those traits Type C personalities.

Personality and temperament also affect how we perceive the world and get along with others. Therapists, leadership development gurus, and other professionals use type and temperament models to help people learn more about themselves, appreciate differences in others, and improve family and work relationships. Two popular methodologies are Myers-Briggs and Enneagram.

Myers-Briggs

During the 1950s, Isabel Myers and Katheryn Briggs developed a method of personality identification based on Carl Jung's theory of psychological types. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator relies on a series of questions to determine which of 16 classifications best fits the respondent. The type patterns correlate with pairs of personality preferences:

• Extroversion vs. introversion- Working with others energizes social extroverts, while solitude pleases introverts.
• Intuiting vs. sensing- Intuiting types tend to anticipate the future and read between the lines, while reality and facts ground those with a preference toward sensing.
• Thinking vs. feeling - Thinking types favor logical and impersonal decisions, while a preference toward personal or value-based judgments characterizes feeling types.
• Judging vs. perceiving - Following through on deadlines and plans rather than keeping options open and letting things evolve are the characteristics that distinguish judging from perceiving types.

People don't fall neatly into categories, nor can they depend solely on a test to accurately determine personality type. A certified trainer can facilitate the evaluation, often using multiple models from different perspectives.

Self-discovery

"What's important is the self-discovery process," says author Linda V. Berens, Ph.D., director of the Temperament Research Institute, a professional training and organizational development company in Huntington Beach, California. "Most people find value in learning their [personality] type, because it helps them acknowledge they are okay."

Many find that acceptance energizing. In addition, knowledge of predominant patterns gives people the ability to call on nondominant characteristics. Berens explains: "In my experience, it works out best to lead with your preferences and work out the others," she says. "You have to use them all, not just your preferences."

Myers-Briggs in Practice

"We've found that most effective leaders use all 16 personality types based on the needs of the situation," says Peter Hammerschmidt, Ph.D., a professor at Eckerd College Management Development Institute in St. Petersburg, Florida. Once students understand the traits, he helps them learn to move in and out of all 16 types as needed.

"When we're not aware, we move toward what makes us comfortable, not necessarily effective," Hammerschmidt explains. "Stepping into another person's Myers-Briggs type is like traveling in a foreign culture. But when you do step in, things work out better. You communicate better and value what others bring to the team." For instance, the logical person who needs to become more approachable might schedule time walking around the office getting to know others.

The Enneagram

This ancient symbol offers another framework for interpreting personality type. Origins of the Enneagram date back 500 years and have roots in Christianity's Seven Deadly Sins and Judaism's Kabbalah.

The Enneagram has evolved into a system of human development that maps nine different personality types and their interrelationships to the nine points of the symbol. Each type has developed an effective way of living in the world and each differs in its world view. People of each type have their own habits of behavior that may have an impact on their choices and limit the possibilities available within their relationships, work, and self-development. Each type has a different set of distinctive talents and traps of automatic behavior. Each has its own way of falling into imbalance and subsequent realignment.

Although every human might have all the talents and traps of all nine patterns, each type specializes in certain behaviors that become an automatic way of being. One goal of the Enneagram system is to help us understand all types so we better appreciate differences in each other and reduce unnecessary conflicts. It enables us to relate to one another with understanding, compassion and effectiveness and significantly reduce misunderstanding and confusion.

The Enneagram groups the nine personality types into three triads, though practitioners differ in their Enneagram interpretation. Don R. Riso and Russ Hudson of the Enneagram Institute in New York identify the triads as:

• Feeling: types two (The Helper), three (The Motivator) and four (The Individualist)
• Thinking: types five (The Investigator), six (The Loyalist) and seven (The Enthusiast)
• Instinctive: types eight (The Challenger), nine (The Peacemaker) and one (The Reformer)

Your basic personality type doesn't change, but most people's personality combines their instinctive type with elements from adjacent types and includes many subtle variations. There are no better or worse personality types. Each has its strengths, weaknesses and blind spots. By gaining insight into your instincts how you will generally react to life and what motivates your type you can learn to control acting in a negative style and break self-defeating patterns.

Learning from the Enneagram

Knowing Enneagram types has other practical implications. Corporate boards and management teams benefit from a blend of types. For instance, "eights" tend to be entrepreneurial and good bosses, but not always collaborative. "Twos," on the other hand, are helpers, concerned about making staff and customers comfortable. Each brings a different perspective to the table.

Discovering your Enneagram type offers opportunities for spiritual and psychological growth. Some people can read descriptions of the types and quickly discern what they are, while others need help from a teacher. Catherine Tornbom of the International Enneagram Association in Mountain View, California recommends sticking with one teacher, who you can easily talk with, before exploring other interpretations.

Increasing Awareness

"Each personality type experiences the world just a little bit differently," says certified instructor Jane W. Hollister, of Tampa, Florida, who follows the Riso-Hudson Enneagram Institute model. "Many of our disagreements with other people are a result of our not experiencing the world in the same way."

Like Myers-Briggs experts, Enneagram proponents stress the acceptance of each individual personality. "You begin to have a real respect for differences and diversity," Hollister says.

Start Your Exploration

Investigate personality type methodologies and select a certified guide who has experience working with type in the context of your goals, whether career or personal. The organizations listed below can help you find a qualified teacher in your area. Then delve in and let the knowledge of personality type increase your insight, enhance your communication and enrich your relationships.

RESOURCES:

Eckerd College, Management Development Institute
http://www.eckerd.edu/mdi/

The Enneagram Institute
http://www.enneagraminstitute.com

Enneagram test* on-line:
http://www.ling.rochester.edu/~duniho/det.html

Temperament Research Institute
http://www.tri-network.com

 Addational resources: