Understanding
Personality
continued...
The following
is adapted from Linda V. Berens and Dario
Nardi, The
16 Personality Types: Descriptions for
Self-Discovery (Telos Publications,
1999) *Used with permission.
Personalities cannot be measured, they
can only be mapped. You cannot describe
a person in any definite and specific
way since the person is constantly changing,
adapting, and evolving. Any one perspective
or shadow shape will give only one data
point. When mapping a personality, we
can make only approximate measurements,
so we “triangulate,” or see
where several indicators from multiple
models meet. Then we have a good idea
of what the personality is like.
If
we can see both shadows instead of just
one, we can more accurately infer which
shape is making the shadows. So to really
understand someone’s personality,
we need multiple perspectives.
Humans are very complex
and cannot be understood in terms of a
few simple formulas, yet there are some
simple, easy-to-comprehend principles
or dynamics that help us understand ourselves
and others. Fritjof Capra* has said that
to understand any “living system”
you have to look at the pattern, the processes,
and the structure of the system. To Capra’s
principles we add purpose.
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Personality
can be seen as a living system.
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Pattern—The
interrelationships within a system. Every
system, including personality, is defined
by essential characteristics. These are
the qualities that must exist, such as
the trunk, roots, or branches of a tree.
The characteristics are interrelated,
and the configuration of relationships
is the pattern, like the way the trunk,
roots, and branches of a tree are related.
Processes—The
activities the system engages in as it
functions in day-to-day life and as it
grows.
Structure—How
the pattern is physically expressed.
Purpose —The
holistic theme of the pattern.
When all of these perspectives
intersect in the same “place,”
we can be more sure we have accurately
described the true self.
What
Is Best-Fit Type?
The
following is adapted
from Linda V. Berens and Dario Nardi,
The
16 Personality Types: Descriptions for
Self-Discovery (Telos Publications,
1999) *Used with permission.
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