In search of personality

"Your visions will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes."

- Carl Gustav Jung

Carl Gustav Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychologist who introduced many important concepts in the field of psychology and psychotherapy. In the field of personality research, he distinguished two main dimensions:

1. Introversion and Extraversion - two opposing mental orientations that determine where a person draws energy from. Introverts focus more on their inner world of thoughts and feelings, while extroverts get their energy from interacting with people and the world around them.

2. Four mental functions - thinking, feeling, intuition and perception. According to him, each person prefers one of these processes as dominant, which affects the way they think, make decisions and perceive reality. Thinking and feeling are judging functions that help in decision making, while intuition and perception are perceptive functions that influence how a person gathers information about the world.

Based on these two dimensions, Jung distinguished eight psychological types that combine different combinations of introversion/extraversion and mental functions. Jung's typology was the inspiration for the MBTI test, created by Katharine Cook Briggs and her daughter Isabel Briggs Myers.

The MBTI uses four pairs of bipolar dimensions that together make up 16 different personality types:

1. Extraversion (E) versus Introversion (I) - determines whether energy is directed outwards (towards other people and the environment) or inwards (towards one's own thoughts and feelings).

2. Intuition (I) versus Sense (S) - describes a person's preference for gathering information, i.e. whether a person relies more on intuition, patterns and possibilities, or on concrete facts and experience.

3. Thinking (T) versus Feeling (F) - concerns the decision-making process, i.e. whether a person is guided by rationality, logic and objective criteria, or by values, feelings and subjective perceptions of the situation.

4. Judgment (J) vs. Perception (P) - relates to planning and organising, i.e. whether the person is decisive, structured and orderly, or rather flexible, spontaneous and open to change.

According to the results of the MBTI test, my personality has changed over the past three years. When I first took the test three years ago, I scored as an ENFJ (Extravert, Intuitive, Emotion-based, Judgemental). It is worth noting that I was going through a turbulent period in my life at the time. Perhaps the ENFJ score reflected my greater focus on other people and making quick decisions in difficult situations. Recently, I decided to take the test again to see if my personality type had changed.

To get the most reliable results, I took the test on three different websites: mypersonality.net, truity.com, and 16personalities.com. On each of these sites, the result showed me that my current personality type is ENFP (Extraverted, Intuitive, Feeling, Perceiving), which means that there has been a change in my approach to planning and organization.

A change in personality type can be influenced by numerous factors, such as life experiences, emotional development, or shifts in values and priorities. Although the MBTI test offers valuable insights into our preferences and behaviors, it's crucial to remember that human personality is complex and dynamic, and tests of this nature have their limitations. After all, how many questions would be necessary to truly determine someone's personality?

Considering these limitations, relying solely on such a test is insufficient. Instead, we should strive to continuously learn about ourselves, adapt, and work on our development, rather than treating the result of a personality test as an unchangeable label that defines us forever. Let's use test results like the MBTI as a starting point for a deeper understanding of ourselves, our strengths, weaknesses, values, and goals. It's important not to confine ourselves to test results but to remain open to ongoing change and personal growth.