Do you want to understand yourself and others better?
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI®) and the Enneagram can help.
The MBTI® measures four different aspects of personality, each divided into a pair of opposites, and combines the results into 16 different 4-letter “types.”
The four pairs are Introversion/Extraversion (I/E), Sensing/Intuition (S/N), Thinking/Feeling (T/F), and Judging/Perceiving (J/P).
Introversion and Extraversion deal with the way a person “recharges.” For instance, after a hard day at work, are you more likely to want to be alone (I)
or go out with friends (E)?
Sensing and Intuition deal with ways people take in information. Do you prefer “just the facts, ma’am” (S), or do you tend to notice the possibilities in a situation rather than what is actually in front of you (N)?
Thinking and Feeling deal with the ways people process information once they have taken it in. Do you tend to base decisions on impersonal criteria (T)
or personal ones (F)?
And, finally, Judging and Perceiving deal with a person’s preference for planning or lack thereof. Do you like to have a plan and be able to predict what is ahead (J), or do you prefer to “wing it?”
Once your four preferences have been determined, they are combined into a four-letter “type” such as “ISFJ” or “ENTP.”
The Enneagram deals with the ways people adapt to the world and keep themselves psychologically “safe.” The Enneagram divides people into nine types, numbered One through Nine (these numbers are not to be seen as “rankings”—higher or lower numbers are not considered “better” or “worse”). Each person is considered to have a “Wing,” as well, which is one of the types that is adjacent to the main type according to the Enneagram diagram (for instance, a One can have either a Nine wing or a Two wing). So, essentially, you might say that there are actually 18 different Enneagram types.
The Enneagram complements the MBTI® nicely; combining the understandings offered by one’s MBTI® and Enneagram types offers a more complete picture
of a person than does either by itself.
If you would like to take the MBTI® and/or the Enneagram, please email me at jenniferbeall.lcpc@gmail.com .