1 CLASSIFYING TRAITS (I) TAXONOMIES & TYPOLOGIES JUNG’S TAXONOMY 3 dimensions YORK & JOHN’S TYPOLOGY

2 How can we best organize & classify the thousands and thousands of existing traits ? que lio !

3 TAXONOMIES 8 Groups of Basic Elements

4 PERSONALITY TAXONOMIES ? Can psychologists reliably identify a basic set of trait categories (dimensions) upon which all personality dispositions can be placed on or understood?

5 YES! …….. Jung’s 3 basic & broad trait dimensions: Extroversion-Introversion Thinking-Feeling Sensing-Intuiting ‘Big Five’

6 JUNG’S TAXONOMY Rationally (vs. empirically) derived 3 basic dimensions (elements): Extroversion-Introversion Thinking-Feeling Sensing-Intuiting Both poles of each tendency exist in each of us but one pole tends to predominate in our personality.

7 Extroversion Introversion Energy directed toward outer objective or inner subjective world Directionality of our psychological energy

8 …… plus 2 psychological processes: Thinking-Feeling Sensing-Intuiting

9 Sensing Intuition Preference for sensual perception (literal: what you see, touch, hear) vs. unconscious perception (symbolic: vibes, impressions, intuitions) How is information gathered (perception): ‘seeing is believing’ ‘follow your intuitions’

10 Thinking Feeling Information is dealt in a logical, objective way vs. in a personal, emotionally-oriented way How is information used (processing): ‘be objective’ ‘passion is everything’

11 SN Search behavior (acquiring information) sensingintuition TF Making decisions (using information) thinking feeling EI Managing relationships (energy) extroversionintroversion In summary...

12 MEASUREMENT OF JUNG’S DIMENSIONS? Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI; 1962) Perhaps the most widely used test in the world (particularly for personnel selection)

13 TYPOLOGIES Mineral Types: particular combination of elements

14 PERSONALITY TYPOLOGIES ? Can psychologists identify a manageable set of personality types (groups of people) representing unique combinations of basic traits?

15 JUNG’S TYPOLOGY 8 types based on all possible permutations of 3 basic traits: Extroversion-Introversion Thinking-Feeling Sensing-Intuiting 2 x 2 x 2 = 8 types (or 16 if order is considered) Rationally-derived (vs. empirically) Moderate empirical support from applied psychologists (but not popular among researchers)

16 Learn from textbook about 8 types (e.g., thinking extrovert vs. thinking introvert, etc.)

17 ‘NEW AGE’ TYPOLOGIES: EXAMPLE: THE ENNEGRAM Take the understanding of the East, and the knowledge of the West... and then seek. G. I. GURDJIEFF ( ) Rationally-derived (vs. empirically) Dubious (no empirical basis whatsoever) Other popular ‘typologies’: Chinese and Western Horoscopes

18

19 YORK & JOHN’S (1992) 4 PROTO-TYPES Empirically-derived (ie., types naturally emerged from statistical analyses of women’s self-descriptions on a wide selection of personality measures) IndividuatedConflicted Traditional Assured DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TAXONOMY & TYPOLOGY ? - TAXONOMY: Looking for basic dimensions -->identify groupings of variables (traits) that share certain properties - TYPOLOGY: Looking for basic types -->identify groupings of people that share a unique combination of variables (traits)

20

21 Question for the class: For most of us, it would be hard to memorize traits within each of these four types, why?

22 Because within each type there are different kinds of traits related to sociability, intelligence, warmth, etc. It would help to know how predominant on each type are particular categories of traits … the ‘Big Five’ does exactly that!