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How different types of personalities react
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Published: November 6, 2008
Carl Jung, the famous Swiss psychiatrist, studied human interaction for most of his life. He developed a series of personality profiles for how individuals function in the world. He boiled human behavior down to two basic questions, "What is going on?" and "How do I respond to what is going on?" One is intake and the other is output.
Jung contends that the world is made up of personality types who respond differently to both questions. Some people, he proposed, use the five senses (sight, hearing, tasting, touch and smelling) to answer the first question. He calls these persons "Sensing Types." Others approach the question in a more internal/reflective process, tapping into the world of imagination and associations. These people he calls "Intuiting Types."
In dealing with the second question, he discovered thinkers and the feelers. The "Feelers" filter what is happening through their internal value system and ponder how her/his response will affect others involved. Feeling Types are concerned about the quality of relationships. The "Thinkers" respond to a situation with cold, logical and objective reality. Thinkers look for the facts and take them to a logical conclusion, regardless of the outcome or the feelings of others.
Let's apply Jung's theory (made popular by Myers and Briggs) to a married couple. In a marriage, both individuals daily approach these two questions of "What is going on?" and "How do I respond?" The best scenario would be a husband and wife who were both "Sensors" and "Thinkers" or both "Intuitors" and "Feelers." But isn't it normally true that opposites tend to attract?
Actually there are four combinations. You could have the following mixes: (1) one Thinking Type and one Sensing Type; (2) one Feeling Type and one Sensing Type; (3) one Thinking Type and one Intuitive Type; or (4) one Feeling Type and one Intuitive Type.
Let's look at the couple where one is a Thinker and one is a Sensor. The Thinking Type Personality Partner (TTPP) is not big into the world of feelings, neither her/his own feeling nor the feelings of others. Rather than feel their feelings, the Thinker thinks their feelings. That is why the "Sensor" gets angry, because no feelings are visible. They are inside the head of the Thinker and can't be observed.
The Sensing Personality Type Partner (SPTP) is initially attracted to the Thinker because the Thinker appears to be cool, controlled and logical. Sensing Personalities who face the world with all the five senses tend to be overpowered by the myriad of emotions that invade their bodies and minds.
However, after a while, the attraction wears off and the Sensor may wish for a more personal than logical response from their mate. Suddenly the cool is perceived as insensitive and uncaring.
It is important for Thinkers to understand Sensors and use their thinking skills to discover ways to make the sensing spouse feel more loved. Since Sensors take in information through their senses, a smart thinker will give more loving touches and express words of tenderness and care.
Sensors need to understand Thinkers and develop a thicker skin, not taking personally the Thinkers' inability to feel as deeply as the Sensor. Smart Sensors will use logic to communicate with their spouses.
Next week we will look at "When a Feeling Type Marries a Sensing Type."
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