Personality type refers to the psychological classification of different types of people. Personality types are distinguished from personality traits, which come in different levels or degrees. According to type theories, for example, there are two types of people, introverts and extraverts.
According to trait theories, introversion and extraversion are part of a continuous dimension, with many people in the middle. The idea of psychological types originated in the theoretical work of Carl Jung. — Wikipedia
Now for a good quote to set the scene:
"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler." - Albert Einstein
A personality type is simply explained by defining Jung's eight cognitive functions1. They have been revised in Socionics and I will refer to them as "attitudes" here because it seems more appreciable to me this way.
Let's first look at the four irrational (or interpreting) attitudes as follows:
| Type Elements | Short Descriptions | Personifications |
|---|---|---|
| Extroverted Sensing | An attitude that the environment requires a no-nonsense and obvious response in the here-and-now. |
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| Introverted Sensing | An attitude that the environment is an endless jumble of sensory experiences which need stabilising. |
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| Extroverted Intuition | An attitude that there are infinite possibilities in the unknown universe, there is always more to something than just-is. |
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| Introverted Intuition | An attitude that the interpretation of the world requires the mind’s eye in seeing through any distortions in reality. |
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And now for the four rational (or reasoning) attitudes as follows:
| Type Elements | Short Descriptions | Personifications |
|---|---|---|
| Extroverted Ethics | An attitude that every person has a role to play and to thus maintain harmony in a socially networked world. |
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| Introverted Ethics | An attitude appreciating that souls are intrinsically opposed and different thus keeping a watch on their harmony. |
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| Extroverted Logic | An attitude to find and provide the best ways to gain predictable and reliable results in the external world. |
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| Introverted Logic | An attitude to seek a deep understanding of anything of interest to uncover its fundamental and causal structure. |
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Building blocks of personality types
Socionics uses the standard Model A to describe a conceptual model of the mind.
This is where you can see how Jung's functions (or attitudes) come together laid out in accordance with Freud's structural and topographical models of personality2. The information metabolism3 idea from Kepinski adds further appreciation to why some people engage us more than others due to weak and strong attitudes.
The following grid of personality types illustrates the sixteen personality types at-a-glance where the different coloured columns represent the various quadras which usually act as one of the main "umbrella" small groups.
Personality types in Socionics may look the same as those found in the MBTI® model of personalities but they are however not the same from the perspective of the standard Model A and the functional orderings therein. A lower-case letter is used to represent that we're talking about types in Socionics despite any superficial similarities.
Explore the 16 personality types
The following list links you to the various personality type descriptions, their corresponding small groups, general moods, Model A overview and type of informational metabolism (as a more scientific way of referring to them making them quite distinct from the MBTI® model): -
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