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Type Dynamics Survey: MBTI Personality Type & Mental Preferences
By Ross Reinhold, INTJ

Enter Your 4 Personality Type Letters

       

Introduction
This survey will deal with the middle two letters of your Type Code, what Myers and Jung called the "mental functions" (Sensing, Intuition, Thinking, and Feeling). Although your code only shows two of these functions, everyone has and uses all four functions. Examples. Those who prefer Intuition (second letter is N) will use or rely upon their Sensing nature in some specialized way - complimenting rather than conflicting with their more preferred Intuition. Those whose preference is Thinking (third letter is T) will value and use its opposite, Feeling, in certain ways and sometimes will let this function be their guide even though normally the person favors Thinking.

Part 1.
The following are some characteristic ways1. people use the four mental functions. They are arranged in pairs of polar opposite concepts and under the particular mental function they are associated with. Your first task is to determine which of the opposites of each pair is most inherently (your natural bent vs. what wisdom or experience may have taught you) characteristic of you. Remember it is OK and normal to have "some" characteristics that are opposite your favored preference ( as is it is OK and normal to have none that are opposite). Click the radio button of the opposite of each pair that best fits.

Sensing Intuition
Concrete - depend on verifiable, factual information and direct perceptions. literal, mistrust fuzzy information Abstract - comfortable with and inferring meaning from ambiguous and non-literal information. Perceptive.
Realistic - value being practical, cost-effective, and exercising common sense. Imaginative - enjoy being ingenious, clever and novel . . . for its own sake.
Pragmatic - highly values the usefulness or applications of an idea - more interesting than idea itself. Intellectual - learning, acquiring knowledge, mental challenges are valued as an end in itself.
Experiential - heavily grounded by first hand, past experience. Reluctant to generalize beyond direct experience. Theoretical - conceptual, automatically search for patterns in observed facts, comfortable with theories and inventing new ones. Resourceful.
Traditional - trust what is familiar, support established groups and methods, honor precedents. Original - values initiative and enterprising, inventive, and novel solutions. Often mistrusts conventional wisdom.

Thinking Feeling
Logical - values and trusts detached, objective, and logical analysis. Affective - trusts emotions and feelings, values human considerations, in touch with feelings.
Reasonable - is clear-thinking, objective, reasoned, and logical in everyday decision-making. Compassionate - makes decisions on overall impressions, patterns, and feelings (including emotional likes and dislikes).
Questionning - intellectually independent, resistant to influence, self confident. Accomodating - seeks consensus, deferential, conflict avoiding, seeks harmony.
Critical Analytical - comfortable making distinctions, categorizing, making win/lose choices, being in adversarial situations. Accepting - tolerant towards human failings, see positive side of others, instinctually seeks win/win resolutions of problems.
Tough Minded - results oriented, ends justify the means, stick on task. Firm Tender Hearted - use gentle persuasion to influence, reluctant to force compliance..

Part 2.
Review the selections you've made and consider which of the four mental functions (S, N, T or F) may be your most fundamental guiding preference. Some may find it helpful to talk over these considerations outloud and/or with another person.

If you are an Extraverted type (first letter E), then this guiding preference is most typically used in an open/easily apparent manner, dealing with the outside world. If you are an Introverted type (first letter I), then this guiding preference is most typically used internally and more privately in reflection and consideration.

In the Myers MBTI model, your most fundamental guiding preference is called the Dominant preference. It is either one of the two Perceiving preferences (Sensing or Intuition) or one of the two Judging preferences (Thinking or Feeling). Your second most fundamental guiding preference is called the Auxiliary preference. In the model, it belongs to the opposite classification of your Dominant. If your Dominant preference is one of the two Perceiving preferences, then your Auxiliary preference is one of the two Judging preferences. If your Dominant preference is one of the two Judging preferences, then your Auxiliary is one of the two Perceiving preferences. The second letter of your Type code is your Perceiving preference; the third letter of your Type code is your Judging preference. One is your Dominant preference; the other is your Auxiliary. Myers believed that mastery and comfort with incorporating one's particular Perceiving-Judging pair of mental functions is critical to personal well being and productive interactions with others.

Some people, through life experiences, have developed a pattern in the use of preferences that doesn't square with the model just described. Such a unique pattern may have helped the person cope with a particular environment they found themselves in. However in other cases, it may create some personal stress or interpersonal problems. Imagine a person whose first preference is Thinking and their second is Feeling. There will inevitably be situations where these two opposite ways of Judging will create personal ambivalence or vacillation in decision-making. In relationships with others, people would tend to see such a person as "schitzo" or perhaps untrustworthy because they often present contradictory ways of forming conclusions. So while Jung presented his model as "describing" an aspect of the normal personality, Myers went one step further and "prescribed" it as important to healthy psychological development.

Taking into account which is the Dominant preference (Dominant bolded in the following two letter codes) creates 8 different Perceiving-Judging pairs: SF, ST, NF, NT, ST, NT, SF, & NF. These are the classic Jungian Archetypes. Their longhand designation would be as follows: Dominant Sensing with Feeling (SF), Dominant Sensing with Thinking ( ST), Dominant Intuition with Feeling ( NF), and so on.

One model of Personality Type development extends out this Perceiving-Judging combination to additional levels, forming a hierarchy of sorts. For example, an iSTj would have his other two mental functions - NF - as his second set of pairs with Feeling being third (called Tertiary) and Intuition being fourth in the hierarchy. An eNFp would ST as her second set of pairs, with Thinking being third and Sensing being fourth.

What has been just described are some important parts of the Type Dynamics model. Models may work well in general but may miss the mark in a number of specific instances. It is with this latter concern, that you can help me. I'd like to verify how accurately the model reflects how people see themselves.

You can help me with this research investigation by completing the following online survey:

Enter your 4 Personality Type Letters here: 

Which do you consider is your most fundamental, guiding preference?

Sensing
iNtuition
Thinking
Feeling

Which do you consider is your Second most fundamental, guiding preference?

Sensing
iNtuition
Thinking
Feeling

Which do you consider is your Third most fundamental, guiding preference?

Sensing
iNtuition
Thinking
Feeling

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Clicking the above "submit" button will automatically send your results to me. Thanks for your participation.     --Ross Reinhold

 

 

 

1.The above material was adapted from the work of David R. Saunders, Ph.D. who performed the initial psychometric research on trait correlates of the MBTI from "test" questions that Myers employed over several years in her endless quest to broaden the base of Type knowledge. Saunders research eventually resulted in the development of the "Type Differentiation Indicator" and the "Expanded Analysis Report." His work was later extended by others, re-constituted, and updated into what is now known as the Step II and Step III MBTI Instruments published by CPP, Inc.

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