Temperament and Type
So… Type’s been around for nearly 100 years now, with its curious and fascinating history. It’s based, of course, on Carl Jung’s ground-breaking book, Psychological Types, which was published in 1921 after his falling out with Freud.
An American woman named Katharine Briggs found Jung’s material and, along with her daughter, Isabel Briggs Myers, began developing the popular MBTI instrument which, as Isabel wrote, was intended to (quote) “…make the theory of psychological types by C.G. Jung practical and useful.” Isabel obviously made no pretenses about her sources. She even sent an early version of the instrument to Jung himself. (Whilst he praised the assessment, he declined to complete it.)
It’s interesting (and not too many people know this); Isabel put her greatest effort into the indicator right about the time it looked like Germany was going to win the war. She really believed it could help create world peace. She completed the instrument in 1945, and it was used by the U.S. Government to help find jobs for returning servicemen.
Curiously, there is a second model of personality type that is often combined with Jung’s model. It is considered by many to be a second-rate or inferior model. This is to be expected, because the way it is typically presented in most type programs makes it seem like an afterthought.
A man named Dr. David Keirsey was doing his own research on personality types by sourcing the work of Hippocrates, Paracelsus, Kretschmer, and Spranger (among others) – reaching back over 2500 years. Keirsey came across the MBTI tool in the 1970s and quickly recognized its overlaps with his own extensive research. He became fascinated by the correlations — where the models displayed similarities and differences. Keirsey analyzed the two models in depth, and detailed the comparisons he observed in his book, Please Understand Me, which he eventually self-published.
Keirsey’s book caught on, and people started buying it all over the place. Folks were going into bookstores around the country and asking for it (mind you, it wasn’t backed by any big publishers), and the booksellers had to try to find it and stock it to keep up with the demand. Apparently, people really liked its message! Over 2-1/2 million copies were eventually sold. Thus, Dr. Keirsey virtually launched the self-help book industry and Please Understand Me helped the MBTI gain mainstream popularity. This is amazingly ironic, given how often people complain that Keirsey’s ideas on temperament are a copycat of the MBTI. (Which triggers some obvious questions: if the Temperament model is that inferior, why does it persist? Why doesn’t it go away? What gives it its staying power? What does it contribute that type doesn’t adequately contribute on its own?)
Over the last 20 years, there’s been a movement afoot in the type community to return to Jung’s original work, initially driven by Dr. John Beebe promoting his 8-function model. Dr. Beebe emphasizes that Jung wanted us to type processes not people. He claims that Jung’s book was actually intended to be about “psychological types” of consciousness, not “psychological types” of people.
Beebe’s model has now been adopted by many type experts, not the least of whom is Dr. Linda Berens, coincidentally a former student of Dr. Keirsey. She integrated Beebe’s ideas into her MBTI Qualifying Programs early on as she emphasized the need for self-discovery over assessment “test-and-tell” methods. It is thanks to her efforts that we have the “multiple model” approach to type, relying on both Keirsey’s and Jung’s work combined.
Accordingly, when I say my prayers at night, I say “thank you” to Dr. David Keirsey for popularizing the MBTI, and then I say “thank you” to Isabel Briggs-Myers for popularizing Jung’s ideas. And then I say “thank you” to Dr. Berens and Dr. Beebe, who keep both models alive and current and cutting-edge.
There’s still a great deal yet to be learned, and for me these are the leading thinkers who are lighting the way. God bless them all.
I coach people to identify and develop their natural personality strengths in order to maximize their potential.