I have read several of the contributions inregards to Systems Thinking and
Personality Types. The main response in me is to put a new twist on it.
The twist is to start looking more at Personality Profiling than
personality typing.
The difference is personality typing is far cry from the accuracy and art
form of personality profiling. Personality Profiling also has a history of
accuracy that can be measured and therefore more reliable and valid in
applied contexts.
Personality typing is more of an old method of investigating people.
Personality Profiling is an actual field of expertise presently used in
several contexts with great accuracy and efficiency.
The main area Profiling is used is in Forensic Psychology. It was first
brought to the field by John Douglas of the FBI. He wrote several books.
One I recommend is "Mind Hunter". Because of his work, and the
effectiveness to assess and predict the type of person that committed
crimes, it is now being taught worldwide as a standard skill needed in
crime prevention and resolution. I know this personaly because my sister
is in law enforcement as the juvenile liason officer and has had to take
several courses in profiling potential violent and criminal behavior in
adolencent populations.
One subcategory of Forensic Psychology is jury consultation. Another
recomended lay book is "Reading People", that was written by a renowned
jury consultant. Good jury consultants can discern the decisions of
potential jururs before the trial ever begins. They are so good that they
make, as in the Simpson trial, over a million dollars a case.
Yet another area of Forensic Psychology is in security related
consultation. Another book is "The Gift of Fear". That book is written by
a security consultant who advises heads of state, and other celebrities of
potential violent behavior of people. Which every HR person in the post
office should know.
None of the aforemention areas use Personality Typing written tests. The
field has grown much since the advent of believing we can predict and
understand human behavior.
In business it is used with group behavior by Business Psychologists who
understand how to predict buying behavior in isolated populations.
I think the original question of whether personality typing was highly
intuition and sound in the potential of understanding human behavior. The
effectiveness of being capable of applying profiling skills is assumed by
me. Every business involves human behavior. Therefore being able to
predict the actions of others, decisions, motives, etc. is highly
important.
My twist was to assist the group here in maybe looking at it from a more
effective and modern perspective. Check out the books I mentioned -- they
are fascinating reads.
As a side note I practise my profiling skills here by predicting how
people will respond to contributions and the gists of the responses.
Just some thoughts on the matter,
Glen Burns
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