Personality Types
During my adolescent and partially my adult life, I would get extremely frustrated with people. I was unaware that personality conflicts were the cause. Being introverted, I only had a select group of friends, and thus I had no exposure to many different personalities. As a result, I believed that everyone thought exactly like me because I knew no different. Based on this false premise, I concluded that others should behave in situations just as I do, and when that didn't happen, arguments would ensue.
Only after a friend introduced me to astrology that I realized that others think and behave differently than I do. Though I never put much faith in associating people with their astrological signs, I used the descriptions of the signs as a tool to help me understand different personality types.
With a basic understanding of personality types, I am able to deal with others better. Based on their reactions and behaviors, I can begin to predict how they would approach a situation. Additionally, I can also understand how my personality could conflict with theirs. During an argument, I can adapt how I portray my side of an issue. As long as the other person's personality allows her/him to admit defeat, I have a better shot at winning the argument or defusing the argument with a mutual agreement.
As I said previously, I have to understand how my personality could conflict with others. To understand that, I have to know my personality inside and out. Determining my personality type was easy with quick, online tests. What I have spent most of my adult life doing is analyzing why my personality is as it is. Events in my childhood have affected my personality, and to this day I'm still discovering new things about myself.
My Stats
From an astrological point-of-view, I fit my sign very well: Cancer. It describes how I feel secure at home, how I'm empathic about others' feelings, and how I can be clingy about my past. This description of Cancer is fairly accurate, but there are some details that don't fit me.
Using a more scientific approach--the Myers-Briggs Typology Test, I discovered I am an INTJ. Here's the breakdown showing relative strengths of each category:
Extroversion | Introversion (100%)
Sensing | iNtuition (33%)
(11%) Thinking | Feeling
(22%) Judging | Perceiving
Just because my Introversion level is at 100%, that doesn't mean I'm curled up into the fetal position in a social situation. It simply means I get my strength from internal forces versus external.
Content updated: 18 Jul 2004