Personalities

I've been fascinated for years (all right, decades) with the Kiersey Personality Sorter. It was based on the MMPI, which is a comprehensive test, something like 600 questions. The MMPI is used a lot in dealing with mental illness, but for people trained in what to look for it tells a lot more about the people taking it than they would ever dream.

The Kiersey is much shorter and has many practical uses. They give it to department heads at work. There are no right or wrong answers to the questions, but merely give insight into how the taker views the world.

Here's a real life example from the business world. I used to work as the lead secretary for a department that oversaw physical facilities--buildings, etc. My old boss developed a health issue and retired. He was a detail oriented person when it came to the budget and was very hands on. His replacement, however, was a big picture kind of guy. The finance director commented after the first budget meeting with the new director that he wished he'd known this about the new boss because he'd have prepared his presentation completely differently.

People's personalities change a lot as they mature, but settle in somewhere around twenty-five. So for young people under that age, their results are . . . questionable. Once you reach twenty-five, your scores aren't likely to change much. Now, there can be traumatic things people go through that would impact how they answer the questions, but eventually things settle down again.

Some people also answer the questions differently if they're looking at them as they are at home as opposed to at work. When I had a coworker mention that, it floored me because I am what I am. I'm the same at home or at work. With me, what you see is what you get.

What does this have to do with writing? When you're creating characters, their personality traits are important if you don't want them to be flat. But what characteristics fit which personality types? The Kiersey would be a great tool for that.

So over the next few blog posts, I'm going to be talking about different aspects of the Kiersey and what it has to say about people. It separates people into sixteen different personality types. I'll start with me. 

I'm an EXFJ.

The E means I'm an extrovert. (the other option is introvert, of course)

The X is going to be confusing because it means that I test dead even between the two options: S (sensing--dealing with information from your five sense) and N (intuitive).

The F means I'm a feeler. (the other choice is a thinker--don't even say it!)

The J is for judging. (the other option is perceiving).

If you have the time, I suggest you go and take the test and find out what you are. I'll start with the introvert/extravert topic next week.

Have you ever taken a personality test? If so what kind was it? What did you think of the results?