Understanding MeIn this paper I will reflect on my personality as it

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Understanding MeIn this paper, I will reflect on my personality as it is shown in the Myers-Briggs Personality Assessment. Using the Myers-Briggs test, I discovered my typology and further exposed the aspects of my personality. Myers-Briggs Personality Assessment In class, I was given the opportunity to take the Myers-Briggs Personality Assessment. This activity is a great way to better understand your personality and make sense of why you are the way that you are. I was really interested to see how I performed on this test, because I feel like I know my own personality very well. I was excited to see if the Myers-Briggs assessment proved that my personality was different than I had originally thought. After taking the Myers-Briggs Personality Assessment I was not surprised by my results. I answered the series of questions and was given the result that I was a “Protagonist.” My personality type of ENFJ described the majority of what I feel my personality traits are. I was forty-seven percent extroverted, six percent intuitive, twenty-two percent feeling, and thirty-one percent judging. Not only are the traits thought-provoking, but also the degree to which I identified with each trait over its dichotomic counterpart.Summary of Myers-Briggs Personality AssessmentIn this personality assessment I discovered the degree to which I identify with each of the traits. The first dichotomy, relating to the mind, is “Extroversion” vs. “Introversion.” In my assessment I scored a forty-seven percent affinity to extroversion. This statistic means I am much more extroverted than introverted. This scale involves more than just being social, talkative, and outgoing. It is more about how one behaves with their outer world. Extroverts are not as sensitive to stimuli in the world outside themselves. They thrive on other people’s energy and use it to maintain their own energy. Introverts are more sensitive to the same stimuli and feel drained after spending too much time with other people, even if they are in a comfortable environment. Introverts yearn for solitude, peace, and quiet to revive them and refill their exhausted energy reserves. Since I show a forty-seven percent affinity to extroversion, I still maintain some introverted qualities. I appreciate quiet alone time, personal space, and sometimes need to be enticed to go to social events. However, once I am in a social atmosphere, I rarely have the desire to leave or be alone. I enjoy having people around, and only feel productive and happy if I leave my living space and spend time with others. Something I was interested to learn, is that introversion and extroversion do not determine how introspective or reflective we are. Some people would assume that introverts are more introspective because they spend more time alone, although this is not necessarily the case. It is very possible to have introspective extroverts or non-introspective introverts. The next dichotomy of traits, relating to energy, is “Intuition” vs. “Sensing.” This dichotomy is significant because it determines how one sees the world and which information about it one focuses on. When I was first trying to discover what this dichotomy was really aiming at deciphering, I asked myself this question; Upon first instinct, would I say, “I think…” or “I feel…”? I use the terms interchangeably, however people with extreme intuition “feel” while extreme sensors “think.” I have a six percent affinity to intuition over sensing, which means that I can combine feeling with thinking. In another instance when I had taken this test, I was an ESFJ rather than an ENFJ. The intuitive energy style is generally more open-minded, curious, and like to overthink. Sensing types focus on facts, and let those observations guide their feelings. Sensors focus on the present and notice the things happening around them. Intuitive types can be more oblivious to facts and rely on feelings, while sensing types can rely less on feelings if an observable fact is proving something else. The third dichotomy of traits, relating to nature, is “Feeling” vs. “Thinking.” This scale helps us make decisions and cope with the emotions that follow those decisions. Although on this scale it may seem otherwise, everyone has feelings. Some people are simply more expressive of those feelings than others and allow them to play a significant role in their behavior. These traits are connected to how we interact with other people. People who are thinkers, seek logic and practice lots of rationalization. Thinkers typically make decision with their head, not their heart. I can relate to the fact that most thinkers subdue or supersede their feelings with rational logic. People who are feelers follow their emotions and don’t hide them. Feelers are more likely to cry or share feelings. They are not afraid of their innermost feelings and enjoy being sensitive and highly emotional. The final dichotomy, relating to tactics, is “Judging” vs. “Perceiving.” This scale determines how we view certainty and structure. People who have the judging trait make a plan, and then a backup plan. Judgers have a mental checklist and a strong work ethic. They put duties and responsibilities first, and typically try to follow the rules. In contrast, perceivers are more relaxed and easy going. They are flexible, enjoy surprises, and are more willing to go with the flow. They are also more likely to focus on what brings them happiness in the moment rather than what is better for them in the long run. My personality type is ENFJ. My personality typology shows that I am an extroverted, intuitive, feeling, judger. By basic definition, I am energized by spending time with others, focus on ideas and concepts, makes decisions based on feelings and values, and prefer to be organized over spontaneous. During my research, I began to discover more about my personality. ENFJ’s are idealist organizers that strive to create the best environment for humanity. They can act as catalysts for growth, because of their ability to see potential in other people and their charismatic character that can stimulate change. ENFJ’s are driven by a strong sense or altruism and empathy for others and can act this way towards friends or complete strangers. They are typically good at relating to others through words; usually the connection is formed through speaking and not writing. A positive aspect about ENJF’s is that they see the best in people and encourage others in their endeavors. Unfortunately, this means that they find themselves disappointed when others do not treat them with the same genuine intentions in mind. Some other strengths of ENFJ personalities are that they are natural leaders, perceptive, reliable, charismatic, and fun. Some downfalls are that they are too selfless, overly idealistic, too sensitive, and struggle with making decisions. For ENFJ personality types, there are a few qualities that make them exceptional candidates for certain careers. For one example, ENFJ’s are empathetic and want to help other people. they are often health educators, marriage and family therapists, social workers, nurses, or rehabilitation specialists. I am planning on pursuing a career in nursing or occupational/physical therapy; this test confirmed that I am following a path that is fit for my personality.Reflection on Myers-Briggs Personality Assessment. After taking the Myers-Briggs Personality Assessment, I was eager to see if my personality typology was consistent with how I would describe myself. For the most part I fully agreed with the results of my assessment. I even would agree with the degree to which I fall into each dichotomy. I fully understood my affinity for extroversion and intuition. The majority of the time, I thrive off of being surrounded by other people. However, I still find myself on the introverted spectrum because of my appreciation of alone time and a quiet space to recharge. I feel like I make decisions about people, things, and places based the “vibes” I get from them. It is easy for me to understand how I could be more intuitive than sensing, however I do have moments where I try to rationalize my feelings with logic and reason. I am very close to being a sensor, and I believe that this is due to my inclination to justify my thoughts with observable facts. When it comes to judging or perceiving, I had no doubt I would be a judger. I like to keep organized, have a clean living space, avoid surprises, and get closure. My day feels chaotic or unproductive without at least a basic schedule, and I like to plan ahead. Although I can go with the flow and have spontaneous moments, I definitely relate more to the judgement aspect of this dichotomy. Of my four traits, I was most surprised by Feeling vs Thinking because I don’t think of myself as an emotional person. I was twenty-two percent more disposed to feeling, even though I expected to more like a logical thinker. What I didn’t realize, is that this scale can also take influence from feelings of empathy and your attitude towards other people’s emotions. I enjoy sharing feelings and caring for other people, even though I may not necessarily get emotional very often.I found it useful to uncover these personality traits and learn more about myself through my typology. It can be hard for me to self-reflect, so this activity forced me to look deeper into my thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. I feel more connected to my own sense of self and understand why I have certain priorities. This activity has allowed me to assess how I handle personal relationships in my life. It would be extremely difficult to dissect your relationships without first looking at your own personality. It is vital that we come to terms with who we are before starting a relationship of any kind with someone else.Integrating Genetic and Cultural Factors. It is interesting to consider the effects that genetics and culture can have on our personalities. I convinced my own family to take the personality test and was excited to learn the results. I was expecting to be the most like my siblings, considering that we grew up with the same conditions with similar childhood experiences. My sister was an ENFP personality, only differing from me on perceiving over judging. My brother was an ESFJ, only differing from me in sensing over intuition. To me, this makes perfect sense and I can see the ways in which we express these traits differently. Despite our similar background, we differ in minute ways. I then compared my personality type to my parents. If I had to guess, I would have said I was more similar in personality to my mom over my dad. I was most surprised by my mom’s personality typology, which was ISFJ. We had the least in common out of anyone in my family. In many ways my dad and I are similar, though I wasn’t expecting to be the same personality type. He is also an ENFJ, which was exciting for me to discover. We also shared the same percent of preference for both intuition over sensing and feeling over thinking. After reflecting on our similarities and differences I came to some conclusions. After seeing our results, I began to wonder if I had an impact on the personalities of my siblings considering that I was born first. My dad and I share every trait; could it be because we were both first born children? My mom and brother are both middle children and are the only ones in my family to share a preference for sensing over intuition. It is interesting to consider if certain characteristics are more likely for specific children in the birth order. As far as cultural factors are concerned, I believe that they do have an impact. I think that my family being so similar and sharing the majority of our personality traits, is likely due to growing up with each other, rather than our surrounding culture. I think that our traits may reflect being openly religious our whole lives and being a part of a spiritual community. I’m not sure that gender had an explicit influence in my family, as we share traits with members of our family of the opposite gender. It is harder to consider social class or race/ethnicity, because we have only experienced being one social class and one race as we grew up. It was very interesting to dissect my own personality using the Myers-Briggs Personality Assessment. My favorite part about this assignment was comparing my own personality to those of my family members. I would be interested to know the personality typologies of the other close people in my life.