Just a bit of fluff for the psychologically minded...
Troy's therapist wanted us to take the Myers-Briggs type test to help him (the therapist) better understand our family dynamics. So I (Lon) decided to write them up to share with friends and family.
For those of you who don't already know this, the Myers-Briggs type system is a way of measuring personality based on Carl Jung's types. It is primairly useful in helping to analyze how people communicate and learn. The types describe a person in terms of four sets of opposing traits:
That aside, the Myers-Briggs types of the Rabbit Warren are:
Dawn: ENTJ (extravert-intuitive-thinker-judge), meaning that she is at her best when dealing with people, theory, logic, and the end/external results of a process. The book "Please Understand Me II," (PUM2) a textbook on M-B typing describes this type as "the Fieldmarshal," the personality type that works best when organizing people and resources toward a tangible goal.
Interestingly, she scored equally on the Sensate/Intuitive scale. Standard M-B testing defaults ties in this category to Intuitive, although PUM2 allows ties. In which case, Dawn is equally a ESTJ, a type the book calls "the Supervisor," who is most herself when making sure others follow the rules (as she understands them) and play fair.
Troy is solidly INFP (Introvert-Intuitive-Feeling-Percieving), a type PUM2 calls "the Healer." No surprises there. Troy works best alone or one-on-one, in the abstract, by empathy rather than logic, and with process rather than results. As a "Healer," he seeks to calm, to placate, to heal rifts in relationships and to make everyone feel better.
Lon: I also tested as INFP on the standard Myers-Briggs. On the M-B variant included in the book, however, I scored as equally Extraverted and Introverted. So, as you probably already know, I'm either a people-person or a loner, depending on my mood. So, I'm either a solitary healer like Troy (hense my therapeutic calling) or (in Extravert mode) I'm what PUM2 calls a "Champion."
"The Champion" sees everything as signifigant, every word and event loaded with profound meaning. And I hate to be left out of it. I have to be in the middle of the energy, bathing in the juice of the situation. In fact, if I don't get it, it throws me into my introvert mode, usually unhappily. No doubt many of you have seen this happen already.
Another thing about M-B types... according to PUM2, everyone has a dominant and an auxilliary type. The dominant type is how one relates normally, the type they scored on the test. But when that mode of relating is frustrated or already strongly present, we switch to the auxilliary type.
The Auxilliary type is the opposite of what is scored on the test. Sort of. If one scores 0 in any category (as I did with Sensate-- I'm not very good with concrete thinking), that one does not change.
So, Dawn's auxilliary is ISFP or INFP, the Composer or the Healer. The composer is her writer-self (which may be why she can only really write when left alone), but still a very concrete-minded writer.
Troy's auxillary is ESTP, The Promoter. The Promoter is the salesman, the recruiter, the one who gets people involved. Troy can be persuasive in getting what he wants, when he can activate his auxilliary. He can be as pushy and demanding as Dawn or I, actually, but because it is his auxilliary mode, most people don't get to see it.
My auxilliaries are ENTJ and INTJ, the Fieldmarshal and the Mastermind. As the Mastermind, I work out all the angles, coming up with plans B and C. This is the bit of me that really likes conspiracy theory and "Pinky and the Brain." Unfortunately, being a depressive as well, what my Mastermind is usually cranking out are alternate scenarios of how things will go wrong.
-Lon
This page last revised 5/12/2000.