A.J. Drenth - The 16 Personality Types: Profiles, Theory, & Type Development

Copyright 2013

Published by Inquire Books

ISBN 978-0-9792168-3-1

A.J. Drenth

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, electronic or mechanical, except for brief quotations, without written permission from the author. Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, Myers-Briggs, and MBTI are trademarks or registered trademarks of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Trust in the United States and other countries.

We come to personality typology seeking clarity about who we are and how we should live. If the world is a stage, home to innumerable acts and actors, we want to know our role and the story we are living out. Typology helps us understand our natural roles and strengths. It also provides valuable guidance and insight with respect to our careers, relationships, and personal growth.

Historically, most typologies have focused exclusively on conscious personality traits, such as being warm, friendly, quirky, analytical, etc. And while understanding our conscious personality is certainly useful and important, it really only gives us half the story. The other half, explored by Freud, Jung, and others, is home to our less conscious or subconscious personalitythe beliefs, attitudes, needs, and desires that live beneath our conscious radar. It is only through understanding both halves, our conscious and less conscious personality, that we ascertain a more comprehensive grasp of who we are and how we can grow and develop.

Carl Jung, a pioneer in the field of typology and author of the 1913 classic, Psychological Types, always kept at least one eye on the unconscious. For Jung, the conscious personality was really only the tip of the iceberg. In this vein, Jung devoted much time and energy to exploring subconscious symbols and archetypes, as well as what he dubbed the personal and collective unconscious.

Despite Jungs heroic and trailblazing efforts, he would not have the last word on the unconscious personality. Jungs successors have further illuminated the less conscious personality functions, granting particular attention to the inferior function. This can be seen, for instance, in Marie-Louise Von Franzs exploration of the inferior function in Jungs Typology (1971), as well as Naomi Quenks 1993 book, Beside Ourselves (later renamed, Was That Really Me?).

For the last decade or so, my colleague Elaine Schallock and I have continued to refine and develop type theory, giving careful consideration to the conscious as well as the less conscious features of the personality types. In My True Type, I provide in-depth analyses of each of the personality preferences (E, I, S, N, T, F, J, P) and functions (Ti, Te, Fi, Fe, Si, Se, Ni, Ne), which lay the foundation for this books personality profiles.

Before diving into the profiles, however, we need to do some preliminary groundwork, some of which is excerpted from My True Type. This is to ensure that readers have the necessary tools and background for understanding the underlying theory and language employed in the type profiles.

According to Myers and Briggs, each personality type has four basic preferences: Introversion (I) or Extraversion (E), Sensing (S) or Intuition (N), Thinking (T) or Feeling (F), and Judging (J) or Perceiving (P).

For example, INFJs prefer I, N, F, and J more than E, S, T, and P. This does not mean that INFJs never utilize E, S, T, or P, but when given the chance, they prefer to use I, N, F, or J.

To illustrate what a personality preference is, I like to compare it to handedness. As we all know, a right-handed person will prefer to use her right hand for the majority of tasks, especially those requiring fine motor skills, such as writing. This of course doesnt mean that she never uses her left hand, but only that it tends to play more of a supportive, rather than a dominant or leading, role.

The same is true for our personality preferences. While we may at times use our non-dominant preferences, in most situations we prefer to lead with our dominant ones. Not only does this feel more comfortable and natural, but typically produces better results.

Of the eight preferences, four of themSensing, Intuition, Thinking, and Feelingalso double as functions. Extraversion and Introversion do not qualify as functions because, according to Jung, they primarily represent our preferred direction of energy and attention. Extraverts direct their energy and attention outwardly, toward people, objects, events, possibilities, etc. Introverts, by contrast, direct their focus inwardly, toward themselvestheir own thoughts, feelings, intuitions, sensations, etc.

Not only did Jung believe that individuals were characteristically Introverted or Extraverted, but also that each function assumes an introverted or extraverted direction. Thus, when S, N, T, and F are directed inwardly (I) or outwardly (E), we end up with eight functions (Si, Se, Ni, Ne, Ti, Te, Fi, Fe).

But what about Judging and Perceiving? Why arent they considered functions? The answer is they do play a role in the functions, only less explicitly. Namely, Sensing and Intuition are considered to be Perceiving functions. They are in charge of absorbing, extracting, retaining, or synthesizing information. Thinking and Feeling are Judging functions. Their purpose is to evaluate information and make decisions that contribute to structure, order, and predictability. Hence, the eight functions can be subdivided into Judging and Perceiving functions as follows:

The Judging Functions:

• Introverted Thinking (Ti)
• Extraverted Thinking (Te)
• Introverted Feeling (Fi)
• Extraverted Feeling (Fe)

The Perceiving Functions :

• Introverted Sensing (Si)
  
• Extraverted Sensing (Se)
  
• Introverted Intuition (Ni)
  
• Extraverted Intuition (Ne)

Each personality type uses four functions that comprise its functional stack. These functions are ordered according to their relative degree of strength and development, as well as their availability for conscious employment. The most developed and conscious function is called the dominant function, which is followed by the auxiliary, tertiary, and inferior functions respectively.

The dominant function represents the core strength and defining characteristic of each type. When engrossed in an activity that fully engages the dominant function, we tend to feel alert and alive, doing what we were born to do. The auxiliary function, which can also be useful and readily developed, might be viewed as the co-pilot or sidekick to the dominant. Falling toward the bottom of the functional stack, the tertiary and inferior are less conscious and less developed than the top two functions. However diminutive their conscious presence, the less conscious functions cannot be ignored. As we will soon discuss, the inferior function, in particular, plays a prominent role in each types personality dynamics.

Dominant Function: The Captain; the signature tool and strength of the personality type

Auxiliary Function: The Sidekick; chief assistant to the dominant function

Tertiary Function: The Adolescent; relatively unconscious and undeveloped

Inferior Function: The Child; the least conscious and developed of the four functions

Here is the INTP's functional stack, which well use an example:

Dominant Function: Introverted Thinking (Ti)

Auxiliary Function: Extraverted Intuition (Ne)

Tertiary Function: Introverted Sensing (Si)