Type Talk Essay example -- essays research papers

Type Talk: The 16 Personality Types That Determine How We Live, Love, and Work by Otto Kroeger and Janet M. Thuesen Dell Publishing, October, 1989 Type Talk is a primer on personality preference typing centered on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (â€Å"MBTI†). The MBTI is a widely-used â€Å"test† that helps a person begin to understand why people perceive situations differently, communicate different from others, and opt for different activities. The book’s authors, Otto Kroeger and Janet Thuesen, husband and wife, have long been in the forefront of adapting the MBTI for use in everyday life and coined the phrase â€Å"Typewatching† as a descriptor for their work. Kroeger and Thuesen open the book with a chapter on â€Å"name-calling†. They use this phrase, not in the derogatory sense as is often the case, but to show that name-calling is used by everyone as a means of â€Å"cataloging people† based on their unique, identifying characteristics. If we’re to do this inevitable â€Å"name-calling† the authors believe it should be done in an objective and constructive manner and when elevated to this higher level it becomes â€Å"Typewatching† In the early 1920’s the Swiss psychologist Carl Jung developed a theory of personality types where he said behavioral differences were â€Å"a result of preferences related to the basic functions our personalities perform throughout life† (p. 8). Jung’s theory was published in his book titled Personality Types in 1923. Meanwhile, earlier in the century, Katherine Briggs was researching human behavior and through her observations had developed a way to describe it – that due to different life styles, people approach life differently. When Briggs read Jung’s work she found it to be very similar to her own work and set hers aside to focus on Jung’s. Shortly thereafter, Briggs’ daughter, Isabel Briggs Myers became involved and the mother-daughter team sought to assimilate their work with that of Jung. In the 1940’s Myers created an inventory based on her mother’s observations and Jung’s theory. The two women theorized that, with the offensive of the Second World War so near, if people were more aware of their psychological type they could be assigned to wartime roles that best fit their preferences. The MBTI was slow to gain acceptance by the psychological community. Few psychologists signed on to Jung’s obscure theories and even Jung himself felt his theor... ...Another benefit from the style of this book is that it prompts us to laugh at ourselves as I did when I read the traits of a (P)erceiver who is â€Å"easily distracted and can get ‘lost’ between the front door and the car† (p. 21). The foreword to the book comes from Dr. Charles Seashore, a faculty member at Santa Barbara’s Fielding Institute. In his foreword he presents what I feel is a major premise of this book where he says â€Å"impossible conflicts, unreconcilable differences, and personality conflicts are amenable to new types of solutions when seen through the lens of Typewatching. Our hopeless dilemmas are turned to the light in such a way that vivid colors soon replace dull and draining grays. The differences that block us can be translated into differences that empower us.† I find the views expressed in Type Talk offer a perfect complement to the humanistic perspective on personality where the humanists emphasize free will and the innate goodness of humankind. Typewatching seeks to move us beyond the simplistic good/bad, right/wrong approach to behavior by leading us toward an appreciation of the gifts and strengths of ourselves and others and a celebration of our differences.