Personality Blog

What is Mariah Carey like? Idol, Diva, Butterfly?

Posted May 16, 2013

Mariah Carey, American Idol judge and singer is promoting new single #Beautiful and (not uncharacteristically) Mariah is surrounded by intrigue. So what does characterise Mariah?

We can see Mariah is comfortable speaking, openly and unscripted in public and with being the focus of attention. Both clear signs of an Extravert.

She speaks out how she feels about people and things and what they mean to her:

"Miguel is one of my favorite new artists…"

 "Very me…"

"This business that we all love so much"

"I feel like …"

And she is very people oriented:

"The best part of making music is collaborating with new people"

"Get people excited"

So we think she is a Feeling type

She is focused on the big picture, ideas, the new, possibilities and being excited and she most certainly doesn’t want to be constrained by current trends.

"Fresh sounds"

"Different, fresh, unique" 

"It’s bigger than me, it’s bigger than us"

"It's not following a trend and that’s the best thing"

"Having to follow trends, that's not what's fun about making music."

Which together indicate INitutive and Perceiving preferences

So we think Mariah Carey is an ENFP! What do you think? Do you see any other examples of her personality? Or perhaps you see her as a different Jungian Type? We'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

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Three Common Misconceptions often made about Feeling Types

Posted May 14, 2013

The ‘Thinking vs. Feeling’ (T vs. F) dichotomy is an interesting one, as it’s all about how we make decisions. Thinking types (Ts) make decisions with their head: logical, factual, and more direct. Feeling types (Fs) make decisions with their heart: based on their values, feelings of people (including themselves) and emotion. This does however lead to a few very common misconceptions:

Feeling types are soft

Because Fs make more emotional decisions, people often think that they’re soft, friendly and sometimes even a ‘bit of a push-over’, but this is just not the case. In fact, Fs can be quite crusading, striving to do the ‘right thing’ in the face of all sense and logic. If someone’s being bullied in the workplace, you can bet that a strong F will step in and put things right, even if it means sticking their own head out. In fact, they won’t even see it that way, as that would be too logical, and for an F someone’s values being trodden on would transcend all logic. You might actually be quite shocked when your gentle, quiet friend that you thought would turn away at this type of situation jumps in and makes a hard push to put things right.

Feeling types can’t make tough decisions

The crusading side of Fs may drive them to make decisions which are logically difficult to weigh-up. Motivated to ‘do the right thing’, an F will still take into account data, but this will be quickly overridden if there is a strong sense of right or wrong according to their values. In this sense they may be seen as full on or full off depending on how strong their values are. Breaking up with someone or quitting a job may seem like a difficult decision to make, but if you’re an F and it’s the ‘right thing to do’, you’ll probably hit a point and just go with it.

Feeling types are all friendly

Being seen as ‘friendly’ is all about how you communicate and how you leave people feeling. In fact, you can be an F that is selfish (whose values mostly relate to themselves) and quite the opposite will occur. The same is often inversely true for this misconception; people may think because someone is warm and friendly they’re an F, but actually there’s more at play. Remember, the T – F scale is about how you make decisions, not how much warmth you exude. Warm Ts may shock Fs every so often by making logical and cold decisions, while remaining friendly, leaving the F in a state of “but I thought they liked me?”. For a T it isn’t about like or dislike, which is more common for an F, but more about logic and reasoning. 

What do you think? Are there any other common misconceptions about feeling types? We'd love to hear your views in the comments.

Photo credit: ‘Prickly heart.’ by ‘Leonardini’

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A Character Analysis of Gatsby

Posted May 10, 2013

The charismatic, enigmatic, introvert

An analysis of Gatsby reveals one of the most charismatic characters but we only truly learn about him as the story unfolds. His charisma shines even before anyone knows or has even met him, enigmatic and difficult to know. In retrospect that author describes him this way: “If personality is an unbroken series of successful gestures, then there was something gorgeous about him, some heightened sensitivity to the promises of life, as if he were related to one of those intricate machines that register earthquakes ten thousand miles away.”

He leaves a void which others are desperate to fill with their own subjective assumptions: “Well, they say he’s a nephew or a cousin of Kaiser Wilhelm’s. That’s where all his money comes from.” “It’s more that he was a German spy during the war…I heard that from a man who knew all about him, grew up with him in Germany.” “Oh no, it couldn’t be that, because he was in the American army during the war.’ 

The stuff of legends: everyone has a view, but no-one ‘knows’ him. Although Gatsby appears later he has already permeated the set just by the sheer fascination people have for him. ‘”I’m Gatsby,’ he said suddenly.” Despite all the build up, conjecture and gossip, Nick didn’t realise it was Gatsby he was speaking with. Those who accepted Gatsby’s hospitality “…paid him the subtle tribute of knowing nothing whatever about him.” Our character analysis of Gatsby suggests an enigmatic introvert.

The patient visionary

Gatsby, despite his modest background, perhaps because of it, transforms all his dreams into reality. He desires three things: wealth, acceptance and the driver in both of these: Daisy. His idealistic nature invests Daisy with qualities that do not match up with the reality of her selfish, shallow and condescending personality. Gatsby has great ideals and tremendous passion but these were subjugated to the relentless single-minded task of acquiring wealth, just so he could feel worthy of Daisy’s love. Our character analysis of Gatsby suggests an intuitive visionary.

The love-struck ingénue

All Gatsby’s lies and deception is all to win Daisy’s heart. He refuses to leave Daisy behind, all he ever wanted was for Daisy to see him as worthy of her even though she is a selfish, shallow individual. In chapter five he displays an uncharacteristic nervousness and clumsiness when he is about to meet Daisy again. Even though it is what he wants most in the world, even though he has planned everything for this moment, his nervousness is apparent. With everyone else Gatsby projects cool and in control, but with Daisy he reverts to the love-struck kid she first met in Louisville. Our character analyses of Gatsby suggests an emotional, feeling type. 

The relentless planner

Gatsby is a man who makes things happen, a true visionary but with a relentless ambition: a man with a plan. Everything he has done is all part of the plan to re-enact the ideal, his relationship with Daisy. At Gatsby’s funeral his father shows Nick young Gatsby’s self-improvement “SCHEDULE” which even indicates what time he should get up each morning and includes some “GENERAL RESOLVES,” ie general principles, the ‘dos’ and ‘don’ts’ about how he should live his life. Our character analysis suggests a Judging, relentless planner, driven by a single goal.

So we see Gatsby as a charismatic, enigmatic, patient, visionary, a long-range planner who does all this for the idealistic love of a woman whom he both idolises and idealises; he does not see her for what she really is. So what character type do we think Gatsby is? INFJ. What do you think? Do you see any other examples of his personality? Or perhaps you see him as a different Jungian Type? We'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

Photo credit: By Filaos (Own work) [GFDL or CC-BY-SA-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0], via Wikimedia Commons

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Building your Personal Brand around your Personality

Posted May 7, 2013

Personal branding has become a key part of personal development. Most of us now have a wide-ranging online presence; Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, a personal website - and these each paint a picture of us as individuals and as professionals.

When building our personal brand it’s important to be authentic, not just because we’ll get found out if we’re not, but because we’re more likely to be happy and successful in areas in which we are strong. Part of our personal brand will be based on our skills and interests. For example, if you work in a technical field, such as a web developer, you might want to be seen socialising and blogging around new technology, programming, security and other web related areas. But all of this only paints half a picture. Our personality shows how we use our skills and interests, how we’re different from others, and maybe most importantly, why we do what we do.

Start with your Personality

Personality isn’t about good or bad, right or wrong, but more about contrasts and differences in the way we do things and interact. Using a tool such as the Character Analysis can help us start to see ourselves as others may see us. If we are more of an Introvert, we may be seen as a deep thinker, someone who takes things seriously. Extraverts may be seen as more naturally charismatic and great at networking. This does not mean that if you’re an Introvert you’re not going to be charismatic, but you may want to focus on your natural strengths, as these will be far more powerful and genuine.

We don’t necessarily have to write a personal branding statement; it can all start with a realisation and awareness of we really are, and then we can weave it through our CV, social media profiles, and the way we introduce ourselves.  Think of your personality as a skill, or another tool in your tool belt. Are you good at helping others (even if you’re not a teacher)? Do you enjoy solving problems? Are you great at organising and getting things done? Are you flexible and quick at making decisions ‘on the hoof’? These aren’t things we’re taught or have certificates for, but they are things that drive us to enjoy what we do and be great at it.

Let us know your personal branding tips in the comments. How are you using your personality in your job? Does your personality fit well with what you do? Or perhaps not? We’d love to hear your views.

Photo credit: ‘cereals’ by ‘klarissa’

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You Know Someone is an Extravert When...

Posted May 2, 2013

They think out loud

“Where’s my… oh there it is” is a common phrase for the extravert. They say things as they think them and they need to talk through their thoughts to make sense of them. The upside is you’ll know the context, what’s happening, why they think things, how they got to their decisions. The downside is you’ll know and experience all the mind-changes and irrelevances too; like that they momentarily misplaced… something (they never finished that sentence)! If they are extravert ‘N’ they will go through their future ideas and plans, if they are extravert ‘S’ they will take you through the details.

They interrupt you

They don’t always mean to but they will talk over you. If they think of something to add to the conversation they will be bursting to say it and will jump in on the smallest of gaps in the conversation, even though you just paused for breath. It’s a bad habit but it’s because they are so keen to join in the discussion.

They are happy to talk openly

Small talk, introductions to new people, impromptu meetings are much more natural for the extravert who’s happier to just talk it out and then reflect and think later, if at all!

They can’t be on their own too long

A defining feature of an extravert is that they need a ‘feed’ in; people, noise, information. That’s not to say they don’t need quiet and their own space but it won’t be long before they need to feel connected and tuned in to the world and the people around them to reenergise. Without action and buzz around them their battery runs flat.

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