Self Help & Personal Growth

Personality Types

There is nothing more important than knowing yourself. Having an understanding of different personality types can help you in this process ...

There are many different personality types, according to the Myers-Briggs test, and it is easy to find out yours if you just have a few minutes to sit down and to answer some multiple-choice questions. The Myers Briggs personality types are based on the work of Carl Jung, a pioneering psychologist, and an early disciple of Sigmund Freud. Although these personality type tests do not tell you all of the details of your personality, such as your likes and dislikes, your taste in people or music, they do provide some basic guidance as to what kind of person you are. This may seem useless to you, and I don't blame you if you feel that way. How could a personality types test tell you something that you don't know already?

The answer is that it can not, but it can help you find a new way of looking at your own personality, and perhaps lead you to consider some things that you had not even noticed before. Everyone has their own take on the world, and it is easy to not even notice that what you think is not a matter of fact, but one of opinion. For example, an analytical mind might see everything as a matter of components, and think that by taking them apart, it could understand the whole. By contrast, a more holistic thinker might be more likely to start with the big picture, and then work their way to the details from that. Finding out personality types can help you understand how you work, and therefore, your own strengths and weaknesses.

Not all of the personality types tests are Myers Briggs tests. Some are modified from the original Myers Briggs form, while others are completely different. There are even some tests which exist purely as a form of amusement, so that you can sit down with your friends and compare your personalities. Some of these attempt to asses which characters you are most like in a popular tv show, for example, and are good for nothing except straight forward fun. But all of these tests of personality types do have one thing in common: they provide food for thought. In my opinion, anything that gets you thinking about who you are, be it a test of personality types, or a book about knowing yourself, is really useful for people. There is nothing more important than knowing yourself.

For more information about personal growth, see the "resources" section of this website, or go to articles about personal growth.