Anyone who has dealt with other people for any reasonable amount of time knows that we have different personality types. I have found studying personality types to be extremely helpful to me in my pastoral ministry. There are many different approaches to classifying personality types. I am most familiar with the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), so most of the this page will be dedicated to it and other closely related personality classifications.
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (hereinafter referred to as MBTI) is a way of classifying people based on the idea that there are 4 distinct aspect of personality, each of which reflects one of two possible orientations:
- Extrovert (E) / Introvert (I)
- Sensor (S) / Intuitive (N)
- Thinker (T) / Feeler (F)
- Judger (J) / Perceiver (P)
This results in a total of 2 X 2 X 2 X 2 or a total of 16 basic personality types. For a more in depth explanation of what this means, please check out the following links:
The Keirsey Temperament Sorter
The Keirsey Temperament Sorter was developed by David Keirsey by examining the traditional 4 temperaments (Artisans, Guardians, Idealists, and Rationals) and subdividing them in a way that corresponds to the 16 MBTI personality types. The Keirsey Temperament Sorter is the personality test that I use the most. Checkout the following links for more information:
- Keirsey Temperament Sorter Wikipedia Article
- Keirsey Temperament Website
You can take the Keirsey Temperament Sorter online at this web site. It will calculate your basic temperament (corresponding to 4 of 16 possible MBTI personality types) for free, but you must pay a fee to narrow the analysis down to your actual personality type.
- Please Understand Me II by David Keirsey
This book IS NOT a sequel to Keirsey’s earlier book “Please Understand Me” – it is an updated and greatly expanded edition of the original book. It also contains a questionnaire that can be used to evaluate your personality type. I have used this book extensively in counseling.