ESTP

Using the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), I have identified my antagonist Name To Be Determined as an ESTP. ESTP stands for Extraverted Sensing Thinking Perceiving.

Key Characteristics

ESTPs are very observant and impulsive. They find solutions to problems quickly, without a lot of planning, and take immediate action. This behaviour is often seen as reckless, but ESTPs just make quick decisions based on their impressions and logic.

Cognitive Functions

Dominant: Extraverted sensing (Se)
ESTPs are realistic and learn through experience.

Auxiliary: Introverted thinking (Ti)
ESTPs combine their excellent observation skills with logic to determine solutions that they can immediately apply.

Tertiary: Extraverted feeling (Fe)
ESTPs enjoy being the centre of attention, but may suppress their own needs and feelings to keep others happy.

Inferior: Introverted intuition (Ni)
Although ESTPs may experience the occasional "gut reaction" to situations, this reaction is inaccurate enough times to lead them to believe that they do not have good instincts.

Personal Relationships

ESTPs enjoy being around other people. They are skilled at interpreting nonverbal communication.

Career Path

ESTPs need to work with other people. They are action-oriented and resourceful. They thrive in a fast-paced job that offers variety. Strong communication skills make ESTPs great candidates for jobs in sales and marketing. Careers favored by ESTPs include salespeople, first-responders, and police officers.


[Cherry, Kendra. (August 8, 2019). "ESTP: The Persuader (Extraverted, Sensing, Thinking, Perceiving)." Very Well Mind. Retrieved from https://www.verywellmind.com/estp-extraverted-sensing-thinking-perceiving-2795986]

INFJ

Using the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), I have identified my character Alina Lehrer as an INFJ. INFJ stands for Introverted INtuitive Feeling Judging.

Key Characteristics

INFJs use their intuition and empathy to act on their strong beliefs and help other people. They are idealistic, although they are able to view the world objectively, and want to make the world a better place. They take personal feelings into account, rather than objective facts, when making decisions.

Cognitive Functions

Dominant: Introverted intuition (Ni)
INFJs focus on their internal insights and hold fast to their initial perspectives.

Auxiliary: Extraverted feeling (Fe)
INFJs tend to be more aware of other people's feelings than their own.

Tertiary: Introverted thinking (Ti)
INFJs make decisions based on their intuition when alone and the feelings of other people when around others. Wanting to please other people influences their decision making.

Inferior: Extraverted sensing (Se)
Being aware of their surroundings helps INFJs live in the present moment.

Personal Relationships

INFJs maintain a small circle of very close friendships. They are excellent listeners and care deeply about other people.

Career Path

INFJs tend to work in jobs where they can express themselves creatively. They tend to avoid jobs that involve a high level of routine or strict adherence to rules. With their strong sense of morality, they gravitate toward careers that support their values. Although INFJs have good leadership traits, they often have difficulty exerting authority. Careers favored by INFJs include artists, actors, musicians, counsellors, psychologists, and writers.

[Cherry, Kendra. (August 30, 2019). "INFJ: The Advocate (Introverted, Intuitive, Feeling, Judging)." Very Well Mind. Retrieved from https://www.verywellmind.com/infj-introverted-intuitive-feeling-judging-2795978]

What's Your Personality Type?

If you google "What's your personality type?" more than likely a Myers-Briggs personality test will show up in the search results.

In developing the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), Isabel Briggs Myers and Katharine Briggs adapted the insights of Carl Jung's theory of psychological types into an accessible form.

Carl Jung's Theory of Personality

Jung identified two different attitude types: introverts and extraverts. Then he further classified those types by the functions that controlled the way introverts and extraverts viewed the world through thinking, feeling, intuition or sensing. This resulted in eight possible personality types.

There are a lot of resources to be found on this subject, and I'm not a psychologist, so I'll focus on the Myers Briggs adaption.

Myers Briggs

Expanding on Jung's theory, sixteen distinct personal types were identified based on how one views their world, takes in information, makes decisions, and deals with the outer world.

1. How do you view your world? Introvert (I) or Extrovert (E)

2. How do you take in information? Sensing (S) or Intuition (N)

3. How do you make decisions? Thinking (T) or Feeling (F)

4. How do you deal with the outer world? Judging (J) or Perceiving (P)

Based on your selections, you will identify with a particular personality type. If you are an outgoing person (E) who absorbs information through your senses (S), makes decisions that feel right (F), and approaches the outer world with an open mind (P), your personality type is ESFP.

How does a personality test relate to writing?

A writer can use the Myers Briggs personality types in developing characters. In creating a character, a writer already answers many of the questions that arise in a personality type test.

For #preptober challenge questions, I recently analyzed one of the characters in my work-in-progress. The questions for October 2 and 3 related to identifying the character's dominant (1st) and inferior (4th) functions; and presenting possibilities for the middle functions (auxiliary and tertiary). I was familiar with the Myers-Briggs personality test, but I had no idea that each preference (noted by two letters) was classified as a specific function (dominant, auxiliary, tertiary, and inferior) and assigned according to the level of its development. For instance, your dominant function is the mental function (thinking, feeling, intuition or sensing) that is the most developed within yourself, coupled with whether you are Introverted or Extroverted.

If your head is spinning right now, then maybe the following tables will help. As I mentioned earlier, these function concepts were new to me so I organized the information in the way most logical to me.

The Functions:

Extraverted sensing (Se)

Introverted sensing (Si)

Extraverted thinking (Te)

Introverted thinking (Ti)

Extraverted intuition (Ne)

Introverted intuition (Ni)

Extraverted feeling (Fe)

Introverted feeling (Fi)

Dominant	Auxiliary	Tertiary	Inferior
S	T or F	F or T	N
T	S or N	N or S	F
N	T or F	F or T	S
F	S or N	N or S	T

Inferior is opposite of the Dominant.
Tertiary is opposite of the Auxiliary.
Plus Introverted or Extraverted. If Dominant or Auxiliary is Then thetype is Si SJ Ti TP Ni NJ Fi FP Se SP Te TJ Ne NP Fe FJ See the The Myers & Briggs Foundation website at https://www.myersbriggs.org for more information.

A Practical Application

Last week, I described my character Alina Lehrer. I identified her dominant function, based on her psychic abilities, as Introverted intuition (Ni) and her inferior function (opposite to the dominant) as Extraverted sensory (Se). As a Ni, the auxiliary function could be either thinking or feeling. I identified her as requiring Extraverted feeling (Fe) to balance her decision making. Her tertiary function, opposite of the auxiliary, would be Introverted thinking (Ti).

Since her dominant function is Ni, then her type is NJ. Since her auxiliary function is Fe, then her type is FJ. I concluded Alina's personality type is INFJ.

Stay tuned... More on Alina's personality type INFJ next week.