Psychology and Spirituality
Pastoral Ministries Program, Santa Clara University
(last taught Winter 2002)

Lecture 5: Personality Types

  1. Romans 12:4-6a:

    For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, {5} so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. {6} We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us... (NRSV)

  2. Personality types
    1. As we noted in first lecture, psych theory gives different "cuts" on experience; personality theories value different aspects and define "personality" differently
    2. Brainstorm: what is personality? What do we mean when we say pets have personality? Objects?
      1. A relatively consistent way of dealing with the world, behavior
      2. Something unique to the person
      3. Websters:
        1. the quality or fact of being a person
        2. the quality or fact of being a particular person; personal identity; individuality
        3. habitual patterns and qualities of behavior of any individual as expressed by physical and mental activities and attitudes; distinctive individual qualities of a person, considered collectively
        4. the sum of such qualities as impressing or likely to impress others; as in "she has personality"
  3. Other theories of personality:
    1. Galen: 200 BCE -- the four humors: personality affected by the balance of bodily fluids. Although his physical theory has been discarded, his general grouping of personality types seems more enduring
      1. sanguine- blood
      2. melancholic- black bile
      3. choleric- yellow bile
      4. phlegmatic- phlegm
    2. Freud: psychodynamics of ego, superego and id (chariot, driver and horse)
    3. Trait theory/ phenomenology— Eysenck 1950's (see chart)
    4. Astrological types (signs); palmistry (lines on the palm); phrenology (reading bumps on head-- Nazis experimented with this, believed that certain personality traits were linked to "Jewish" physical features); somatology (body types-- ectomorph, endomorph, mesomorph)
    5. Enneagram: nine types based on early coping styles. Philosophical system, introduced to West by Gurdjieff. Not a psychological system; not empirically tested.

    6. Other psychological tests: Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) (used to diagnose pathology), Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) (telling stories about pictures) and Rorshach Ink Blot test. Mostly used to identify personality problems, not to understand interactions.

  4. Jung Personality Types (1971)
    1. Two kinds of people ("there are two kinds of people; those who divide people up into two kinds of people and those who don't")
      1. Freud's "reality principle" and Adler's "ego strength"-- why different? Freud concerned with outer world; Adler with inner-- Freud is extravert, Adler introvert
      2. Tested this difference with reference to wide range of material: philosophy, literature, psychology, theology, etc.
      3. Discovered other relatively consistent aspects
    2. Definitions of "attitutes" and "functions"
      1. Attitutes (basic orientation to the world): introvert/extravert
    3. Functions (ways of taking in and evaluating information):
      1. Thinking/Feeling (rational- having to do with judging or valuing)
      2. Sensing/Intuiting (irrational-- having to do with perception)
    4. Developed theory further, describing effects of introverted and extraverted aspects. Jung often difficult to grasp.
  5. Myers-Briggs Type Inventory (MBTI) (Myers, 1980)
    1. Worked with journals and individuals to refine a reliable test for types; had already begun to outline her theory before she read Jung
    2. Test questions carefully developed and validated against known personalities. (Goldsmith test is an effor to begin a similar test, but has not been validated as yet.)
    3. Took Jung's perceiving/judging functions and made them into fourth factor; allowing clearer understanding of interactions of type factors
    4. Type factors:
      1. Introvert/ Extravert: the data that is important; characteristic relationship to outer or inner world; describes direction of energy flow
        1. introvert- concerned with inner facts/ experience/ reality
        2. extravert- concerned with outer world
      2. Sensing/ Intuitive: perception; the mode of processing information;
        1. sensing- based on sensory data- sight/ hearing/ taste, etc
        2. intuiting- based on grasping wholes, interrelationships, "hunches"
      3. Thinking/Feeling: valuing and judgement
        1. Thinking- measures information in relation to logic
        2. Feeling-- measured in relation to people and relationships (not the same as emotion; Jung considered this a rational function)
      4. Judging/Perceiving: preferred relationship to the outer world, the extraverted function
        1. Judging- needing closure, completion, decision
        2. Perceiving- looking for new information; keeping the question open
  6. Class Discussion: (see chart of types)
    1. Discuss:
      1. What drives you crazy about the other type?
      2. What would you like the opposite type to understand about your type?
      3. What do you value about the other type?
  7. Other Models using the functions:
    1. Kiersey's Temperaments (1984, 1998): four basic types NF, NT, SP, SJ. Based on how the person uses words (Abstract/ Concrete) and how they work on tasks (Cooperative/ Utilitarian) (see chart)
    2. Gary Harbaugh (1990): From Image to Likeness: A Jungian Path in the Gospel Journey.:
      1. ST: Gift of Practicality: Living in the Here and Now
      2. SF: Personal Helpfulness: Reaching Out and Lifting Up
      3. NF: Possibilities for People: Keeping Hope Alive
      4. NT: Looking Ahead: Letting the Future Guide the Present
    3. Peter Richardson (1996): Four Spiritualities (see chart)
      1. NT: Journey of Unity
        1. Key issues:
          1. Organizing principles operating throughout life and nature
          2. Truth that can be global, honest and clear
          3. Social justice as the aim and context for involvement (opposing ignorance with education)
          4. Clarity as the basis for spiritual enlightenment
        2. Mentors (12% of population):
          1. The Buddha, Buckminster Fuller
        3. Gifts: researchers, literature, peacemakers
      2. SF: The Journey of Devotion
        1. Key issues:
          1. Importance of pilgrimage
          2. Attraction of heroes
          3. Agency of stories
          4. Hands-on approach to spirituality
          5. Appearance of archaic forms
          6. Orgiastic mysteries; incarnational presence
          7. Centrality of Personal experience
          8. Importance of simple things
          9. Direct service
        2. Bhakti yoga: the path of devotion
        3. Mentors: (38%)
          1. Mohammed, St. Francis
          2. Stress: Problems arising from NT bias; SF seen as common or anachronistic; Need to find mutual support
          3. Gifts: traditionalists; continuity
      3. ST: The Journey of Works
        1. Key issues:
          1. Law, Covenant, and Order
          2. Strong sense of right and importance of righteousness
          3. Sense of responsibility and stewardship for personal, social and natural resources
          4. Clear-cut identity as essential
          5. Work itself as life's aim
          6. Realist orientation
          7. Proclivity to administration
          8. Sense, often tragic, of justification
        2. Mentors (38%):
          1. Moses, Confucious
        3. Gifts: practicality; definition, plans and rules (often resistant to psychologizing religion)
      4. NF: The Journey of Harmony
        1. Key issues:
          1. Quest toward authentic, actualized selfhood
          2. Mystical harmony
          3. Life attitude of expectancy
          4. Importance of openness to healing and place of the dream in this process
          5. Social idealism
          6. Focus on process in relationships, familial and social.
        2. Mentors:
          1. Rabindranath Tagore, Jesus of Nazareth
        3. Gifts: carriers of tradition from one culture to another: common in neo-pagan, hindu and native American religions; peacemakers
  8. Dominant Functions:
    1. Functions can be either introverted or extraverted; they will take different forms depending on the orientation
    2. Each person has a preferred function- most developed, secure; this is known as the Dominant Function. (Conscious)
    3. A secondary, less-developed function is the Auxiliary Function. It must be from the other polarity from the dominant (S/N or T/F, thus, if the dominant function is S, the auxiliary must be T or F; if the dominant is F, the auxiliary must be S or N)
    4. The Tertiary Function is the opposite from the Auxiliary; both the Auxiliary and Teriary functions are partly unconscious
    5. The Inferior or least-preferred function is the opposite of the dominant.
    6. To determine the dominant and auxiliary functions: [see chart]
      1. Look at the last letter of the type (J or P); this indicates the characteristic relationship to the outside world, and thus will indicate which function is extraverted
        1. If it is J, then the judging function (T or F) is extraverted
        2. If it is P, then the perceiving function (N or S) is extraverted
    7. Now look at the first letter. This indicates whether the dominant function is introverted or extraverted
      1. If it is E, then the extraverted function (indicated by the fourth letter) is the dominant function, and the other (introverted) function is the auxiliary
      2. if it is I, then the extraverted function (indicated by the fourth letter) is the auxiliary function, and the other (introverted) function is the dominant
    8. Examples: [see chart]
      1. E S F J
        1. last letter is J, therefore the judging function is extraverted: that is F
        2. first letter is E, therefore the extraverted function (F) is the dominant; the auxiliary will be introverted S
        3. the inferior will be the opposite of the dominant; thus introverted T
      2. I N T P
        1. last letter is P, therefore the perceptive function is extraverted: that is N
        2. first letter is I, therefore the extraverted function (N) is the auxiliary; the dominant will be introverted T
        3. the inferior is the opposite of the dominant; in this case, extraverted F
      3. [ see chart of dominant functions for all types ]
  9. Importance of knowing dominant and inferior functions
    1. It is possible for people to act out of both sides; goal of growth is unity and balance; knowing your characteristic ways of functioning can point you in new directions
    2. The inferior function can sometimes come up (much like the Shadow) and affect one's attitudes and behavior
    3. For more detail see Naomi Quenk's Beside Ourselves (1993) [ see chart of inferior functions ]
      1. for each type of inferior function there are:
        1. characteristic attitudes
        2. typical sensitivities-- areas of weak self-confidence and insecurity
        3. typical projections
        4. triggers for eruptions of the inferior function
        5. "grip" experiences-- the feeling of being "possessed" or "gripped" by the inferior function
        6. ways to regain equilibrium
  10. Implications of Personality Type:
    1. Understanding differences between people
    2. Task orientation and different working styles
    3. Marriage relationships and intimacy
    4. Teaching styles and methods
    5. Prayer styles (we will return to this in a couple of weeks).

Further reading on Personality Types:

  1. Next time:
    1. Primary Speech, preface and chapters 1-7

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