Author Spotlight
Maddie Hise
The Myers-Briggs Personality Test is an analysis of people’s personality. There are 16 combinations of personality types, none better than the other. The parts to this include: the way you prefer your outer world and interaction with others (extraversion or introversion), the way you take in and interpret information (sensing or intuition), the way you make decisions (thinking or feeling) and how you structure your life (judging or perceiving).
Extrovert/Introvert
It’s been a long week, and you’re exhausted. You’ve got big plans tonight and you need to get pumped. What do you do? Do you go home and take a quick nap? Or do you go meet up with friends and waste some time before your plans? If the former sounds like something you would do, you are most likely an introvert. If the latter describes you, you’re most likely an extrovert.
Extroverts (also known as E’s) can be characterized as people who are go, go, go. They draw their energy from outside of themselves and are often referred to as hyper by friends. Extroverts can often be identified at an early age. E’s think out loud. To process a situation, they have to talk it out to themselves are others.
“It’s easier to stay organized, at least for me, when I say things out loud,” junior extrovert Clark Doerr said.
Introverts (also known as I’s) draw their energy from inside themselves. They need a quiet place alone to acquire their energy. They are often characterized as good listeners. I’s think before they talk, which often times can bother extroverts.
“It affects the way I react around other people like I like to have my alone time,” senior Faith Connelly said. “I have a lot of siblings so I think that’s a big thing that affects it. Every once in a while I like to be alone and re-energize. Most of my friends are extroverts which is a really good dynamic. When I want to go home and be alone for a little while they keep me going.”
Intuitive/Sensor
You are handed a piece of paper and asked to explain what you see. Would you say a blank piece of paper? Or would you say a canvas, paper airplane, etc.? A sensor (also known as an S) would tell you straight what it was: a blank piece of paper. An intuitive would give you examples of all the things the paper could be.
Sensors like facts. They want all the details and information and are realistic. They are practical about their choices.
“I like knowing all the steps I will need to take in the assignment,” senior Dara O’Connor, an S, said. “Teachers like it just because I follow their directions well. I just like have a hard time with concepts, I’m more of a facts person.”
Intuitives like possibilities; however, they are not always realistic about these possibilities. They see the big picture and things in the future.
“I wouldn’t read the directions,” junior Afton Apodaca, an N, said. “So I’d do the whole worksheet without the directions. And the teacher would always get mad at me because you were supposed to read the directions and do exactly what they say. I always had a problem with that.”
You want to break up with your significant other and you know they do not want to. How would you approach this? One, you would tell them straight up the way you feel. Two, you would be worried about the way it would affect the other person and try to explain it in the way that would hurt them least. If you answered one you are a thinker (otherwise known as a T). If you answered two you are a feeler, or F.
“I’m a feeler, so I’m much more likely to go with my gut action,” psychology teacher Kelli Kurle said. “If I feel like it’s right or I feel like this is what I’m supposed to do, [I] jump into things and be like, ‘let’s do this.’”
Thinkers are likely to view feelers as sensitive since they tend to take things personally. Likewise, F’s are likely to think T’s are cold-hearted because they make their decisions with their head.
“Thinkers are more likely to think things through — long term consequences,” Kurle said. “Thinkers are more likely to look at multiple perspectives, multiple angles. Long term results, that sounds fun, but what would happen if…”
Perceiving/Judging
It’s a fall Friday night. The air is crisp, leaves falling. You walk outside school at 2:40 looking forward to the evening. Do you already have a plan or are looking forward to planning it by ear and seeing where the night takes you?
This is known as the outer life function, how you carry on your life. Judgers, otherwise known as J’s, like to have plans. Perceivers’, otherwise known as P’s, would rather not have a plan.
Judgers are big planners. They feel stressed if their plans get interrupted or, heaven forbid, they don’t have one. J’s prefer to be punctual, if not early.
“Plans are important to have a good time,” senior Gunnar Troutwine, a judger, said. “I like to plan out everything: the day, my outfit for the next day, what I’m going to have for lunch. The only thing I don’t like to plan out is vacations.”
Comparatively, perceivers feel confined by plans. They prefer to not have a plan and instead to be spontaneous. Procrastination is a common trait in P’s; often P’s even work better under pressure.
“I kind of like winging things in general,” junior thinker Akshay Dinakar said. “I consider myself pretty spontaneous, it’s hard to predict what I’m going to do. I try to have plans but they don’t usually work out.”
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