David Keirsey
Encyclopedia
David West Keirsey is an internationally renowned psychologist
, a professor emeritus at California State University, Fullerton
, and the author
of several books. In his most popular publications, Please Understand Me
(1978, co-authored by Marilyn Bates) and the revised and expanded second volume Please Understand Me II (1998), he laid out a self-assessed personality
questionnaire, known as the Keirsey Temperament Sorter
, which links human behaviorial patterns to four temperaments and sixteen character types. Both volumes of Please Understand Me contain the questionnaire for type evaluation with detailed portraits and a systematic treatment of descriptions of temperament traits and personality characteristics. With a focus on conflict management
and cooperation, Dr. Keirsey specialized in family and partnership counseling and the coaching of children and adults.
, and his master's and doctorate degrees from Claremont Graduate University
. In 1950, he started his career dealing with youth as a counselor at a probation ranch home for delinquent
boys. Subsequently, he spent twenty years working in public schools, engaged in corrective interventions intended to help troubled and troublesome children stay out of trouble. Over the next eleven years at California State University, Fullerton
, he trained corrective counselors to identify deviant habits of children, parents, and teachers, and to apply techniques aimed at enabling them to abandon such habits.
s (Artisan, Guardian
, Idealist
, and Rational
) and sixteen role variants. Much of the internet literature about types has been derived from Keirsey's descriptions in Please Understand Me. His research and observation of human behavior started after he returned from World War II, when he served in the Pacific as a Marine fighter pilot.
Keirsey traced his work back to Hippocrates
, Plato
and Aristotle
. Among his modern influences he counts the works of William James
, John Dewey
, Ernst Kretschmer
, William Sheldon
, Jay Haley
, Gregory Bateson
, Max Wertheimer
, Wolfgang Kohler
, Raymond Wheeler, Erich Fromm
, Alfred Adler
, Rudolf Dreikurs
, Milton Erickson, and Erving Goffman
. He considers himself the last living Gestalt Psychologist
.
In 1921, Carl Jung
published the book Psychological Types, which proposed a concept of psychological types
based on introversion versus extraversion, thinking versus feeling as rational functions, sensation versus intuition as irrational functions, and the coexistence of principal and auxiliary functions. Isabel Briggs Myers
and her mother, Katharine Cook Briggs, subsequently extended and codified Jung's ideas into a test for sixteen personality types, called the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
. In a two-page chart of "Characteristics of Types in High School" (Myers Briggs Manual, Form E 1958), Isabel Myers described the sixteen types briefly. Keirsey recognized these very brief sixteen descriptions as being accurate, mirroring his observations as school psychologist, and used these descriptions as a basis in a greatly expanded and modified form of his own. Keirsey's critical innovation was organizing these types into four temperaments and describing observable behavior rather than speculation about unobservable thoughts and feelings. Keirsey provided his own definitions of the sixteen types, and related them to the four temperaments based on his studies of five behavioral sciences: anthropology
, biology
, ethology
, psychology, and sociology
. While Myers wrote mostly about the Jungian psychological functions, which are mental processes, Keirsey focused more on how people use words in sending messages and use tools in getting things done, which are observable actions. Keirsey performed an in-depth, systematic analysis and synthesis of aspects of personality for temperament, which included the temperament's unique interests, orientation, values, self-image, and social roles.
While Keirsey's main strength may be his accuracy regarding differences in overt behavior, perhaps his most important contribution is his synthesis of Myers' model of "sixteen types" with Ernst Kretschmer's model of four "temperament types," which Keirsey traces back to Greek mythology
.
Myers grouped types according to dominant cognitive function, as follows:
Keirsey, however, influenced by Kretschmer's types (Hyperesthetics, Anesthetics, Melancholics, and Hypomanics), grouped the types differently, arguing that the four NFs (iNtuitive/Feeling types) were Hyperesthetic (oversensitive), the four NTs (iNtuitive/Thinking) were Anesthetic (insensitive), the four SJs (Sensing/Judging) were Melancholic (depressive), and the four SPs (Sensing/Perceiving) were Hypomanic (excitable). At the time (mid-1950s), Keirsey was mainly interested in the relationship between temperament and abnormal behavior, finding that Ernst Kretschmer and his disciple William Sheldon were the only ones who wrote about this relationship.
Keirsey has asserted Attention Deficit Disorder was an altogether different matter, in that these children were inactive and paid no attention to the teacher's agenda, and that ADD was defined exclusively by stating what they do not do, and in no way defined their observable behavior. Thus, in his opinion, ADD was a misleading label assigned to children who ignored the teacher while bothering nobody, unlike the children who are actually disruptive. Keirsey refers to the current practice of medicating children with ADHD "The Great ADD Hoax". His main claim is that children labeled ADHD or ADD, typically, have an SP, or Artisan, temperament (concrete in thought and speech/utilitarian in implementing goals).
Psychologist
Psychologist is a professional or academic title used by individuals who are either:* Clinical professionals who work with patients in a variety of therapeutic contexts .* Scientists conducting psychological research or teaching psychology in a college...
, a professor emeritus at California State University, Fullerton
California State University, Fullerton
California State University, Fullerton is a public university located in Fullerton, California. It is the largest institution in the CSU System by enrollment, it offers long-distance education and adult-degree programs...
, and the author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
of several books. In his most popular publications, Please Understand Me
Please Understand Me
Please Understand Me: Character and Temperament Types is a psychology book written by David Keirsey and Marilyn Bates which focuses on the classification and categorization of personality types. The book contains a self-assessed personality questionnaire, known as the Keirsey Temperament Sorter,...
(1978, co-authored by Marilyn Bates) and the revised and expanded second volume Please Understand Me II (1998), he laid out a self-assessed personality
Personality test
-Overview:There are many different types of personality tests. The most common type, the self-report inventory, involves the administration of many questions, or "items", to test-takers who respond by rating the degree to which each item reflects their behavior...
questionnaire, known as the Keirsey Temperament Sorter
Keirsey Temperament Sorter
The Keirsey Temperament Sorter is a self-assessed personality questionnaire designed to help people better understand themselves and others. It was first introduced in the book Please Understand Me...
, which links human behaviorial patterns to four temperaments and sixteen character types. Both volumes of Please Understand Me contain the questionnaire for type evaluation with detailed portraits and a systematic treatment of descriptions of temperament traits and personality characteristics. With a focus on conflict management
Conflict management
Conflict management involves implementing strategies to limit the negative aspects of conflict and to increase the positive aspects of conflict at a level equal to or higher than where the conflict is taking place. Furthermore, the aim of conflict management is to enhance learning and group outcomes...
and cooperation, Dr. Keirsey specialized in family and partnership counseling and the coaching of children and adults.
Education and professional experience
Keirsey earned his bachelor's degree from Pomona CollegePomona College
Pomona College is a private, residential, liberal arts college in Claremont, California. Founded in 1887 in Pomona, California by a group of Congregationalists, the college moved to Claremont in 1889 to the site of a hotel, retaining its name. The school enrolls 1,548 students.The founding member...
, and his master's and doctorate degrees from Claremont Graduate University
Claremont Graduate University
Claremont Graduate University is a private, all-graduate research university located in Claremont, California, a city east of downtown Los Angeles...
. In 1950, he started his career dealing with youth as a counselor at a probation ranch home for delinquent
Juvenile delinquency
Juvenile delinquency is participation in illegal behavior by minors who fall under a statutory age limit. Most legal systems prescribe specific procedures for dealing with juveniles, such as juvenile detention centers. There are a multitude of different theories on the causes of crime, most if not...
boys. Subsequently, he spent twenty years working in public schools, engaged in corrective interventions intended to help troubled and troublesome children stay out of trouble. Over the next eleven years at California State University, Fullerton
California State University, Fullerton
California State University, Fullerton is a public university located in Fullerton, California. It is the largest institution in the CSU System by enrollment, it offers long-distance education and adult-degree programs...
, he trained corrective counselors to identify deviant habits of children, parents, and teachers, and to apply techniques aimed at enabling them to abandon such habits.
Development of Keirsey's temperaments
Keirsey has written extensively about his system of four temperamentTemperament
In psychology, temperament refers to those aspects of an individual's personality, such as introversion or extroversion, that are often regarded as innate rather than learned...
s (Artisan, Guardian
Guardian temperament
The Guardian temperament is one of four temperaments defined by David Keirsey. Correlating with the SJ Myers-Briggs types, the Guardian temperament comprises the following role variants : Inspector , Protector , Provider , and Supervisor .-Description:Guardians are concrete in communicating...
, Idealist
Idealist temperament
The Idealist temperament is one of four temperaments defined by David Keirsey. Correlating with the NF Myers-Briggs types, the Idealist temperament comprises the following role variants : Champion , Counselor , Healer , and Teacher .-Description:Idealists are abstract in speech and...
, and Rational
Rational temperament
The Rational temperament is one of the four temperaments defined by David Keirsey. Correlating with the NT Myers-Briggs types, the Rational temperament comprises the following role variants : Architect , Fieldmarshal , Inventor , and Mastermind .-Description:Rationals are abstract in speech...
) and sixteen role variants. Much of the internet literature about types has been derived from Keirsey's descriptions in Please Understand Me. His research and observation of human behavior started after he returned from World War II, when he served in the Pacific as a Marine fighter pilot.
Keirsey traced his work back to Hippocrates
Hippocrates
Hippocrates of Cos or Hippokrates of Kos was an ancient Greek physician of the Age of Pericles , and is considered one of the most outstanding figures in the history of medicine...
, Plato
Plato
Plato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...
and Aristotle
Aristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
. Among his modern influences he counts the works of William James
William James
William James was a pioneering American psychologist and philosopher who was trained as a physician. He wrote influential books on the young science of psychology, educational psychology, psychology of religious experience and mysticism, and on the philosophy of pragmatism...
, John Dewey
John Dewey
John Dewey was an American philosopher, psychologist and educational reformer whose ideas have been influential in education and social reform. Dewey was an important early developer of the philosophy of pragmatism and one of the founders of functional psychology...
, Ernst Kretschmer
Ernst Kretschmer
Ernst Kretschmer Prof. Dr. med. Dr. phil. h.c., was a German psychiatrist who researched the human constitution and established a typology...
, William Sheldon
William Sheldon
William Herbert Sheldon was an American psychologist and numismatist.- Biography :Born in Warwick, Rhode Island, in 1898, William Sheldon distinguished himself in two fields....
, Jay Haley
Jay Haley
Jay Douglas Haley was one of the founding figures of brief and family therapy in general and of the strategic model of psychotherapy, and he was one of the more accomplished teachers, clinical supervisors, and authors in these disciplines.-Life and works:Conceived in a log cabin on his family's...
, Gregory Bateson
Gregory Bateson
Gregory Bateson was an English anthropologist, social scientist, linguist, visual anthropologist, semiotician and cyberneticist whose work intersected that of many other fields. He had a natural ability to recognize order and pattern in the universe...
, Max Wertheimer
Max Wertheimer
- External links :* * * * *...
, Wolfgang Kohler
Wolfgang Köhler
Wolfgang Köhler was a German psychologist and phenomenologist who, like Max Wertheimer, and Kurt Koffka, contributed to the creation of Gestalt psychology.-Early life:...
, Raymond Wheeler, Erich Fromm
Erich Fromm
Erich Seligmann Fromm was a Jewish German-American social psychologist, psychoanalyst, sociologist, humanistic philosopher, and democratic socialist. He was associated with what became known as the Frankfurt School of critical theory.-Life:Erich Fromm was born on March 23, 1900, at Frankfurt am...
, Alfred Adler
Alfred Adler
Alfred Adler was an Austrian medical doctor, psychotherapist, and founder of the school of individual psychology. In collaboration with Sigmund Freud and a small group of Freud's colleagues, Adler was among the co-founders of the psychoanalytic movement as a core member of the Vienna...
, Rudolf Dreikurs
Rudolf Dreikurs
Rudolf Dreikurs was an American psychiatrist and educator who developed psychologist Alfred Adler's system of individual psychology into a pragmatic method for understanding the purposes of reprehensible behaviour in children and for stimulating cooperative behaviour without punishment or...
, Milton Erickson, and Erving Goffman
Erving Goffman
Erving Goffman was a Canadian-born sociologist and writer.The 73rd president of American Sociological Association, Goffman's greatest contribution to social theory is his study of symbolic interaction in the form of dramaturgical perspective that began with his 1959 book The Presentation of Self...
. He considers himself the last living Gestalt Psychologist
Gestalt psychology
Gestalt psychology or gestaltism is a theory of mind and brain of the Berlin School; the operational principle of gestalt psychology is that the brain is holistic, parallel, and analog, with self-organizing tendencies...
.
In 1921, Carl Jung
Carl Jung
Carl Gustav Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist and the founder of Analytical Psychology. Jung is considered the first modern psychiatrist to view the human psyche as "by nature religious" and make it the focus of exploration. Jung is one of the best known researchers in the field of dream analysis and...
published the book Psychological Types, which proposed a concept of psychological types
Psychological Types
Psychological Types is the title of the sixth volume in the Princeton / Bollingen edition of the Collected Works of Carl Jung. The original German language edition, "Psychologische Typen", was first published by Rascher Verlag, Zurich in 1921....
based on introversion versus extraversion, thinking versus feeling as rational functions, sensation versus intuition as irrational functions, and the coexistence of principal and auxiliary functions. Isabel Briggs Myers
Isabel Briggs Myers
Isabel Briggs Myers was an American psychological theorist. She was co-creator, with her mother, of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator ....
and her mother, Katharine Cook Briggs, subsequently extended and codified Jung's ideas into a test for sixteen personality types, called the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator assessment is a psychometric questionnaire designed to measure psychological preferences in how people perceive the world and make decisions...
. In a two-page chart of "Characteristics of Types in High School" (Myers Briggs Manual, Form E 1958), Isabel Myers described the sixteen types briefly. Keirsey recognized these very brief sixteen descriptions as being accurate, mirroring his observations as school psychologist, and used these descriptions as a basis in a greatly expanded and modified form of his own. Keirsey's critical innovation was organizing these types into four temperaments and describing observable behavior rather than speculation about unobservable thoughts and feelings. Keirsey provided his own definitions of the sixteen types, and related them to the four temperaments based on his studies of five behavioral sciences: anthropology
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
, biology
Biology
Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...
, ethology
Ethology
Ethology is the scientific study of animal behavior, and a sub-topic of zoology....
, psychology, and sociology
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
. While Myers wrote mostly about the Jungian psychological functions, which are mental processes, Keirsey focused more on how people use words in sending messages and use tools in getting things done, which are observable actions. Keirsey performed an in-depth, systematic analysis and synthesis of aspects of personality for temperament, which included the temperament's unique interests, orientation, values, self-image, and social roles.
While Keirsey's main strength may be his accuracy regarding differences in overt behavior, perhaps his most important contribution is his synthesis of Myers' model of "sixteen types" with Ernst Kretschmer's model of four "temperament types," which Keirsey traces back to Greek mythology
Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...
.
Myers grouped types according to dominant cognitive function, as follows:
- Introverted Thinking: INTPINTPINTP is an abbreviation used in the publications of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator to refer to one of sixteen personality types. The MBTI assessment was developed from the work of prominent psychiatrist Carl G. Jung in his book Psychological Types...
s and ISTPISTP (personality type)ISTP is an abbreviation used in the publications of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator to refer to one of sixteen personality types. The MBTI assessment was developed from the work of prominent psychiatrist Carl G. Jung in his book Psychological Types...
s - Introverted iNtuition: INFJINFJINFJ is an abbreviation used in the publications of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator to refer to one of the sixteen personality types. The MBTI assessment was developed from the work of prominent psychiatrist Carl Jung in his book Psychological Types...
s and INTJINTJINTJ is an abbreviation used in the publications of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator to refer to one of the sixteen personality types....
s - Introverted Feeling: INFPINFPINFP is an abbreviation used in the publications of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator to refer to one of sixteen personality types. The MBTI was developed from the work of prominent psychiatrist Carl G. Jung in his book Psychological Types...
s and ISFPISFPISFP is an abbreviation used in the publications of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator to refer to one of sixteen personality types. The MBTI assessment was developed from the work of prominent psychiatrist Carl G. Jung in his book Psychological Types...
s - Introverted Sensing: ISTJISTJISTJ is an abbreviation used in the publications of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator to refer to one of sixteen personality types. The MBTI assessment was developed from the work of prominent psychiatrist Carl G. Jung in his book Psychological Types...
s and ISFJISFJISFJ is an abbreviation used in the publications of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator to refer to one of sixteen personality types. The MBTI assessment was developed from the work of prominent psychiatrist Carl G. Jung in his book Psychological Types...
s - Extraverted Feeling: ENFJENFJENFJ is an abbreviation used in the publications of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator to refer to one of sixteen personality types. The MBTI assessment was developed from the work of prominent psychiatrist Carl G. Jung in his book Psychological Types...
s and ESFJESFJESFJ is an abbreviation used in the publications of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator to refer to one of sixteen personality types. The MBTI assessment was developed from the work of prominent psychiatrist Carl G. Jung in his book Psychological Types...
s - Extraverted Thinking: ENTJENTJENTJ is an abbreviation used in the publications of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator to refer to one of sixteen personality types. The MBTI assessment was developed from the work of prominent psychiatrist Carl G...
s and ESTJESTJESTJ is an abbreviation used in the publications of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator to refer to one of sixteen personality types. The MBTI assessment was developed from the work of prominent psychiatrist Carl G. Jung in his book Psychological Types...
s - Extraverted iNtuition: ENFPENFPENFP is an abbreviation used in the publications of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator to refer to one of sixteen personality types. The MBTI assessment was developed from the work of prominent psychiatrist Carl G. Jung in his book Psychological Types...
s and ENTPENTPENTP is an abbreviation used in the publications of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator to refer to one of sixteen personality types. The MBTI assessment was developed from the work of prominent psychiatrist Carl G. Jung in his book Psychological Types...
s - Extraverted Sensing: ESFPESFPESFP is an abbreviation used in the publications of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator to refer to one of the sixteen personality types. The MBTI assessment was developed from the work of prominent psychiatrist Carl G. Jung in his book Psychological Types...
s and ESTPESTPESTP is an abbreviation used in the publications of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator to refer to one of sixteen personality types. The MBTI assessment was developed from the work of prominent psychiatrist Carl G. Jung in his book Psychological Types...
s
Keirsey, however, influenced by Kretschmer's types (Hyperesthetics, Anesthetics, Melancholics, and Hypomanics), grouped the types differently, arguing that the four NFs (iNtuitive/Feeling types) were Hyperesthetic (oversensitive), the four NTs (iNtuitive/Thinking) were Anesthetic (insensitive), the four SJs (Sensing/Judging) were Melancholic (depressive), and the four SPs (Sensing/Perceiving) were Hypomanic (excitable). At the time (mid-1950s), Keirsey was mainly interested in the relationship between temperament and abnormal behavior, finding that Ernst Kretschmer and his disciple William Sheldon were the only ones who wrote about this relationship.
ADHD controversy
As a clinical psychologist, Keirsey regards the prescription of psychotropic stimulants as a treatment of ADHD, where activity or temperament of schoolchildren is considered disruptive to classroom proceedings, as not only unnecessary but harmful to these children. He is an ardent critic against what he sees as an "epidemic abuse of children", and claims to be successful in the management of such children by applying what he calls the "method of logical consequences".Keirsey has asserted Attention Deficit Disorder was an altogether different matter, in that these children were inactive and paid no attention to the teacher's agenda, and that ADD was defined exclusively by stating what they do not do, and in no way defined their observable behavior. Thus, in his opinion, ADD was a misleading label assigned to children who ignored the teacher while bothering nobody, unlike the children who are actually disruptive. Keirsey refers to the current practice of medicating children with ADHD "The Great ADD Hoax". His main claim is that children labeled ADHD or ADD, typically, have an SP, or Artisan, temperament (concrete in thought and speech/utilitarian in implementing goals).
See also
- Anti-psychiatryAnti-psychiatryAnti-psychiatry is a configuration of groups and theoretical constructs that emerged in the 1960s, and questioned the fundamental assumptions and practices of psychiatry, such as its claim that it achieves universal, scientific objectivity. Its igniting influences were Michel Foucault, R.D. Laing,...
- Biological psychiatryBiological psychiatryBiological psychiatry, or biopsychiatry is an approach to psychiatry that aims to understand mental disorder in terms of the biological function of the nervous system. It is interdisciplinary in its approach and draws on sciences such as neuroscience, psychopharmacology, biochemistry, genetics and...
- Chemical imbalance theory
- Myers-Briggs Type IndicatorMyers-Briggs Type IndicatorThe Myers-Briggs Type Indicator assessment is a psychometric questionnaire designed to measure psychological preferences in how people perceive the world and make decisions...
External links
- Keirsey.com - David Keirsey's homepage (includes comprehensive background on Keirsey temperament sorter)
- CAPT.org - 'The Story of Isabel Briggs Myers', Center for Applications of Personality Type
- Pomona.edu - 'Sorting Temperaments' (interview), Mark Kendall, Pomona Alumni Magazine
- http://professorkeirsey.wordpress.com - Dr. Keirsey's Blog on Dark Escape