Just a little diversion from the current nutrition related themes. And because it’s my blog after all, I can throw in whatever interests me, I just hope that what fascinates me might be useful or interesting to you too!
There are many different personality profiling tools, and this is a topic that has always fascinated me. Some years ago I was introduced to the Myers Briggs Type Indicator. It was one of those discoveries that when I found out how I operated in the world as compared to others, gave me light-bulb moments. It forever changed how I saw myself and made a big difference in how I understood myself and how to understand and work / live / deal more successfully with the people in my life.
You see – I’m rather a rare type when it comes to personalities (at least in the MBTI model) and seeing myself so clearly, at least I for the first time saw myself how others had always perceived me – was a wow moment for me. “So that’s how come I am the way I am!” “That’s how others view me!”
Here’s the test – give it a go and see if the profile / description fits.
http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp
And in case you wondered – I am an INTP (Introvert, iNtuitive, Thinking, Percieving)
INTP:
“Seek to develop logical explanations for everything that interests them. Theoretical and abstract, interested more in ideas than in social interaction. Quiet, contained, flexible, and adaptable. Have unusual ability to focus in depth to solve problems in their area of interest. Skeptical, sometimes critical, always analytical.”
So now you know me! (Although – there is more to me than this!) But don’t take this as truth, it is just one tool – but one of the more useful personality typing tools / models I’ve found.
Careers for different MBTI personality types
And it wouldn’t surprise me at all if many of the more science orientated nutrition blogs were written by NT’s (intuitive thinkers)!
INFJ here!! I like solving puzzles in people, looking for patterns and connecting dots!
INFJ
Seek meaning and connection in ideas, relationships, and material possessions. Want to understand what motivates people and are insightful about others. Conscientious and committed to their firm values. Develop a clear vision about how best to serve the common good. Organized and decisive in implementing their vision.
I am INFJ too! I think we are drawn to good ideas and searching for better ways to do things. It is funny since now that I mention Paleo to others I realize they do not have the ability to be open to new ideas nor seek them like I do. It doesn’t matter what age they are either. Another perfect example of this how I learned how to fix computers to over come the fear of the box and my daughters who should be more computer savvy always bring their computers to me to fix. They have no desire to learn this. As an INFJ I love the internet because of how helpful it can be to tracking down helpful information I need in a introverted way.
About 3 decades ago I realized I was intuitive and decided to test it at work. I had a fast past job that required fast thinking based on little information and I decided that I would track the problem based on my first gut feeling rather than analyzing it too much. See which way was more effective. What I found was my gut was right and when I analyzed it too much I would talk myself out of the best decision.
That taught me to heed my first impressions and take them into consideration. If something doesn’t seem right but on it’s face it seems perfectly plausible, be careful. I think you gut feelings are your subconscious immediate assessment of the situation that has tons of information filed away. Sometimes judging is seen as being “judgmental” but I see it as a way to understand things from past experiences and using that understanding in future similar situations. We all do it to some extent.
I think our hunter and gatherer ancestors were very much intuitive in their approach to survival. They probably were not deep thinkers but reacted in how they felt, like I am hungry lets go find something to eat. Instead of going right they just went left based on no information but they just knew it was a better way to go to track down food.
My oldest daughter works for health care and they make their employees do this same sort of thing but instead of doing the letter thing like INFJ it calls it a color. So if you are a red then this is how they think and how to approach them for example. I think that is a good short hand version of the same thing to help in the work place which makes a lot of sense. They also had them place the color at their work stations so others will know. It has made my daughter get more out of herself and consider how others feel and it was a very useful exercise. More companies should consider this trying this out.
Deanne – have you read ‘Blink’ by Malcolm Gladwell? – it is all about that intuitive gut reaction, great book.
I’ve have to often override my ‘thinking’ side and let my feeling gut reaction come to the fore. When I ignore it – I’ve got into trouble – like trusting people I shouldn’t for example.
Understanding that I run on logic and intuition as my primary way of operating, and understanding that many more (by far the majority of people) operate out of looking at details and responding to feelings was a big eye opener for me when I first did the Myers Briggs course. Very useful at work as most of the people I worked with at the time were not NT’s like me.
Also useful as a parent. My daughter is I think intuitive but on the far end of the scale as a feeler. I can really understand her, even if I don’t always empathise! She has the biggest heart, and strongest feelings, and the most speedy reader of others feelings of anyone I’ve known. She just ‘gets’ people and can read them so incredibly accurately. She operates so strongly from feeling how other people feel – yesterday she asked to be subbed off a waterpolo game so her friend who hadn’t had any game time could get some. Even though she loves playing and was doing a good job playing at the time!
Jamie, I’d already guessed N, (intuitive) and J – your tidy office gave you away! My darling sister is also an INFJ.
No I haven’t, but I just checked it out on Amazon and that is right up my alley for sure. Thanks for the heads up on that one. I see he wrote two books here that are interesting.
For me I now can look back and say exactly at one point I questioned a person’s motivations and I can remember it decades later and then it turns out many years I was right. I forget so many things but not those moments. So I knew and still knew even years later and remembered it until it was proven right many years later. Not small stuff. Big stuff and not normal so you can’t just shrug it off as well eventually everything comes up and it finally came true. No. Sociopaths and worse play on those who can be very logical and if you feed thinkers a story they will logically accept it. Did it feel right? No.
One of my daughter can be very spot on about people and the other is completely oblivious. So very different. The oblivious one I try to get her to listen to her gut more. I am her personal 911. She likes to run things by me to get my take on it and finally she is aware she isn’t so aware and needs to take more time to be present in the moment and be aware.
Maybe that is what it is. Being present in the moment and focusing on what is happening at the moment could be a way to explain it. Clear head no mind chatter.
Eckhart Tolle is a great author. Being present and he talks about not believing whatever you are thinking since it may be very wrong. Just cause you think it doesn’t make it true. My oldest always thought”if I think it is right then it is right”. Wrong. Our minds drift all over the place and I think create drama or whatever as a past time much like dreams that make no sense. Random thoughts shuffled about. My oldest is just now getting that she has to step back and look at what she thinks is right and assess if it is right or if is false or illogical, full of wrong assumptions. Again another reason why when we think it out too much, it comes out wrong compared to what your gut tells you.
Cognitive psychology is great in this area, looking at our automatic interpretations vs what is really happening. I’ve had great benefit doing work in this area also i.e. dealing with what is happening or what has been said to me vs my interpretation which is invariably coloured by past experiences.
I’ve read Malcolm Gladwell’s other books and enjoyed them too.
Another book I’ve really enjoyed and found useful was Carol Dweck’s Mindset
http://mindsetonline.com/ I found it has useful tools for teaching children that your brain is like a muscle – and the more you work that muscle the stronger it gets – rather than the way kids generally look at abilities as being fixed in stone and if you are not smart enough you’ll never be good.
The new lingo for the way we per sieve things seems to be “filters”. We all have filters we use to block out certain things to focus on others. I don’t think they are necessarily bad and can be helpful if used in the right way. We filter stuff like when we watch an advertisement we are a bit more skeptical of the truth of it all. I think getting your filters set in a healthy way is just a short cut way to assess things as they are. A bit slower than our gut feelings. I agree that are filters are constructed by past experiences and biases we have created for ourselves.
Never heard of Mindset and checked it out. I think she has something here. I also do not think it is healthy to praise kids or make excuses for them when things go wrong. It just reinforces bad behaviors. My oldest would love for me to do that. She is the very social one and loves to bath in compliments. She hates reality check from mom.
I have always told them to ask for extra credit in school. Why? Because of many variables can play out and this strategy will help when things do not go as planned. It also shows the teacher you are making extra efforts to learn. Trying is important even if it isn’t an outcome. I remember this University professor saying that in class. Trying is not an outcome. You either do it or your don’t. There is a lot of truth to that. Whining about it gets you nowhere. Either do something about it or don’t, but for gods sake don’t whine about it endlessly. It gives them the feeling that they do have control over the outcome and have strategies that will help get them through it. You could have a bad day on a test. It may take you longer to understand it all. You could end up with not a great teacher and how do you work around that? It is more like giving them survival skills to deal with the issues that we all confront at some time and how to deal with it. Find a tutor, work with a classroom buddy, ask the teacher before or after school, ask us, check the internet etc. If it doesn’t go well, what did we learn from it? What could you do differently next time this comes up? Picking better teachers and how do you find out which Professors are better or one that would work better with your learning style? Asking the right questions puts it back on them and how they will take control of the situation. Nothing worse than feeling helpless and hopeless.
My husband is a second grade teacher and he is a good one. I have seen horrible teachers and they exist and the chance of ending up with one at some point is very likely and you have to know how to work around it much like a bad boss and it has nothing to do with your ability to learn. Basically if you can get through it and learn from it and move on that is the goal. Having a bad teacher can be a big learning experience.
I think the wrong praise sets kids up for big disappointments as they get older and also robs them of the knowledge that they do have control over the situation and can turn it around and to set realistic expectations. I think that is the biggest thing is to learn how to set healthy expectations that don’t cause anxiety, depression etc. Go for it and do your best and enjoy the journey while you can. The destination is secondary. My husband has this banner in his classroom that says “Shoot for the moon even if you miss you land among the stars”. I will ask him if he has already heard of this book. Sounds like a worthy book for sure.
We have personally watched kids that others had given up on and the student has turned it around. Some kids need more time than others. We are not all on the same time line. Some kids start reading early and others take off later. Our brains do not all work the same and are ready for reading at the same time. I had home schooled for awhile many years earlier and I learned that some kids will not want to read until they are 9 yrs old and then it is like a switch and then go from zero to high school reading in a year. The trick is finding something they are interested in and that is the carrot to reading many times. Don’t worry if they like to read comic books or whatever. As long as they get hooked on reading to find things out they are interested in then adding in the better books will come.
My youngest daughter loved the Aminorphs book series where kids turn into animals or something like that the summer after 3rd grade and she read them all summer with little interest in anything else. She was hooked big time. Before that she was not a great reader at all. In fact they had to put her in a special reading class to get her up to class reading level for a short time in second grade. After the Aminorph summer her reading exploded. She then tested high at reading. I think she was like at the top 10% in the nation for reading scores. All we did was we made sure she got all the
Aminorphs she wanted and any other book like the Harry Potter books too. My husband has a reading endorsement and library media endorsement too so having lots of books around is what we are all about. In fact my husband has a very nice library in his classroom we have put together from garage sales and Scholastic Book Clubs and donations from students and parents. In fact the PTA was so impressed with our classroom library they spent thousands of dollars and bought a whole bunch of books for the second grade teachers to rotate in their classrooms. The kids can check those books out everyday and bring them back the next day or whenever. Yes they have a library but that is once a week and this fills in the other days. I am the Queen in figuring out how to work Scholastic points for books. Last month I think I was able to get 67 free books for the classroom and this month like 29. Unfortunately Scholastic has a new campaign to get parents to order the books online and it looks like they want to bypass the teacher and no points for the teacher and getting all the free books for the classroom. This is a huge mistake on Scholastic’s part and some parents get what is going on and ask what way is best for the classroom. So far all the parents seem to be ordering with teachers for the most part. Anyway how did I get on this jag?
Home schooling is very open way of learning and takes a lot and I realized after while my skill set was not able to provide what my daughters needed and they went back to regular school but they learned that they are in the drivers seat in learning and they felt empowered. They still remember that whole experience. If you find something they are interested in and integrate that into a curriculum of sorts they really learn about how fun learning can be. It becomes more of an opportunity than a requirement.
I’m an INTP too, (though sometimes I score INTJ).
Emily – interesting, I haven’t really met many women like this. That J bit is useful – I wish I had more of that! I have to force myself to finish things and be on time.
Yes, I believe the INTP woman is quite rare – 1-2% or something like that. A precious commodity!
Just out of curiosity – what is your husband?
My cousin who is a Myers Briggs educator says we get on best with someone who has the same middle bits, in our case NT. Mine’s an ENTP (but more J than me).
Actually – no idea. He likes spending time in the basement tinkering on carpentry projects. Does that help?
Haha, no not really! I made my husband take the test, I was too curious! I’ve figured out my kids too now that they are older, just can’t help myself!
ENTJ (the executive, 12 year old son who likes to order everyone around and has ideas on how to sort the out the world, in fact a great manager, used to stage / sound manage school concerts when he was 10!)
ESFP (14 year old daughter who just loves to organise her social calender and everyone elses for as much of the day as others will go along with her)
My oldest must be an extrovert – but not sure where she gets it from. Youngest seems to be more like me.
INFJ married to an INTP (him) leads to an interesting life! do not always see eye to eye. And by the way, why so many INFJ -ish people following this blog?!
Good question, I think introverts are more likely to communicate on the web and blogs, and maybe I just appeal to INFJ types – interesting!
I’m and INTP married to an ENTP, in fact my 2 kids are also extroverts. Makes for an overwhelming and noisy house at times!
Hmm, an old post but I was googling away and came across it. Had to comment, since I find it interesting that there are a prevalence of INFJs posting (INFJ here as well …). I find the MBTI quite interesting as well, I’ve learned a lot more about people by studying their cognitive styles. 🙂
That is interesting! I’m somewhat jealous of INFJ, my sister is one, so much tidier and better organised than me, and makes so much more effort to connect with people in her life!
Haha … yeah … tidy … I don’t think that characteristic applies to me. My room is a mess, always is, and I think always will be. It bothers me … but I think it’s a prime example of the law of entropy. Floor = on giant shelf. XD And, INTPs are grand as well!
Maybe that ‘J’ is not so strong 😉
I wish I had a walk in wardrobe for this reason. Instead I have a big box, and this has solved the ‘floordrobe’ problem. I make an effort to empty it once a week and put things away.