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Scott Schwefel

MBTI vs Discovery

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MBTI vs DiscoveryIn our last post we compared two kinds of psychometric assessment that are used in business contexts: Discovery and Disc. Today we’re continuing that theme by comparing two more assessments, looking at MBTI vs Discovery. MBTI is one of the most popular forms of personality assessment used by the public, and it is in many ways similar to the Discovery. However, there are key differences between the assessments too. Let’s dive into MBTI vs Discovery and look at how the two compare so that you can decide which is right for your business needs.

Jung: The basis for both MBTI and Discovery

Both the Insights Discovery assessment and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator assessment (MTBI) are based on the work of psychoanalyst Carl Jung. Jung proposed that there were four key cognitive functions (thinking, feeling, sensation, and intuition), each of which could be presented in an introverted (self-directed) or extraverted (world-directed) form.

From these key cognitive functions, a set of personality types can be defined. The idea is that different people will tend to primarily use one type of cognitive function in their interactions with the world, so therefore you can assess which function people use most often in order to describe their personality. Both the MBTI and Discovery take this approach. It’s important to realize that when completing either of these personality assessments, which are typically done in the form of multiple choice questions, that there are no right or wrong answers in either case. Both assessments are non-judgmental of the worth and value of different personality types.

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

The MBTI is one of the longest-running popular personality assessments, having been in use for more than 70 years. It uses a questionnaire to break down personality into 16 types, with each type given a four-letter designation. These four letters represent the four type preferences, each of which are dichotomous (i.e. they are opposite to each other on a scale):

  • Introverted (I) / Extraverted (E)
  • Intuition (N) / Sensing (S)
  • Thinking (T) / Feeling (F)
  • Perception (P) / Judgment (J)

The idea is that each person will have one aspect of each of these pairs that they tend to use to interact with the world. Introverted means someone more turned inward, who is thought-oriented, and who prefers time alone, while extraverted means someone who is sociable, who is action-oriented, and is attuned to the world around them.

Intuition is the use of your own previous knowledge and experience when gathering information from the world, and being future-oriented, while sensing is more reliant on information that is available in the present moment from the senses, making sensors present-oriented.

Thinking and feeling refer to decision-making functions: thinking is the use of a detached, rational approach that requires weighing data to reach a causal and consistent understanding of the world, while feeling is the use of empathy and association to understand how a situation could appear from the inside, aiming to reach a consensus view that meets the needs of everyone involved.

Finally, a distinction is made between people who have a preference for using their judging functions (thinking or feeling) or for using their perceiving functions (sensing or intuition). People who rely on using their judging functions tend to prefer certainty and like to have matters settled, while people who rely more on their perceiving functions like to keep an open mind and be able to react spontaneously to new information.

For example, one MBTI type is the INTJ which breaks down as follows: introverted (I), intuitive (N), thinking (T), judgment (J). These four letters designate the key aspects of a personality. The two options for each of the four letters can be combined to designate the 16 personality types of the MBTI.

Insights Discovery

As you can see, there is a lot of information contained in an MTBI type. However, the types can be difficult to understand and to remember due to the abstract nature of the four letter designation. The Insights Discovery tool takes a different approach, even though it is based on the same fundamental principles of Jung. The Discovery tool uses the concept of four colors to describe four different styles of personality (precise cool blue, caring earth green, sociable sunshine yellow, and confident fiery red). Within these four broad color types, personalities are assigned to one of 72 subtypes based on Jung’s cognitive functions. Following Jung’s theories, these types include looking at unconscious or less conscious aspects of cognitive processes – unlike MBTI, which focuses only on conscious processes.

Each of the four color descriptions is based on a combination of Jung’s attitudes (extraversion or introversion) and his rational functions (thinking and feeling). However, instead of being given a letter or a name for each combination, the Discovery tool uses the names of colors to make the concepts easier to grasp. Another advantage of the four color approach, as well as being easier to remember, is that it is easier to compare relationships between different color personalities. For example, it’s much more intuitive and easy to understand how a relationship between a cool blue and a fiery red will go than trying to imagine the relationship between an ESTJ and an INFP.

The color concept also allows for crossover between different color types to match the complexity of human personality. For example, the motivator is a description in Discovery for someone who is a mix between fiery red and sunshine yellow, and the coordinator is a mix between earth green and cool blue. These types can be tracked to Jungian functions too if required (the motivator is a term for extraverted intuition and the coordinator is a term for introverted sensing).

Finally, a key difference between MBTI vs Discovery is that Discovery information is given in a report that is specially tailored to the needs of businesses, such as giving information about how to best manage a particular personality type. The MBTI tends to give brief general information in its profile, while the Discovery profiles are in-depth and specifically relevant to the world of work.

Our next post will expand on MBTI vs Discovery and discuss another comparison of personality assessments – looking at Insights Discovery and Strengthsfinder systems.

 

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Scott Schwefel

Color Personalities and the Keirsey Temperament Sorter

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keirsey 2

David Keirsey created the Keirsey Temperament Sorter as another way of categorizing how people think and behave in their personal and professional lives. His test is similar to Myers-Briggs and other personality assessments and has a similar basis to all of these tests and character indicators. The Keirsey Temperament Sorter is founded in the theories of Hippocrates and Plato, utilizing Plato’s four major personality types including Artisan/Iconic, Guardian/Pistic, Idealist/Noetic, and Rational/Dianoetic.

David Keirsey then subdivided these four character traits into two categories that each contained two types. This gives us a familiar chart with 16 potential character types, much like Myers-Briggs. This temperament sorter was made popular by the book, Please Understand Me, and has been used by many large companies to help with employee training.

Exploring temperament

Like many of the other personality assessments available today, the Keirsey Temperament Sorter has four major character types with subdivisions within each. The four categories have been called Artisans, Guardians, Idealists, and Rationals.  Artisans are known for having strong tactical skills while maintaining an adaptable view of people and situations around them. Guardians are concrete and organized, working well in an environment where they feel safe and secure. They excel at logistical tasks and supporting a larger project.

Idealists work in the abstract, finding meaning in their work and striving to maintain a sense of self. They are very diplomatic and can be valuable members of a professional social environment. Finally, Rationals are very much concerned with their grasp of a task and the knowledge it takes to get a job done well. They are excellent at theoretical projects that have to be turned into reality.

Comparing systems

Keirsey relied on the idea that people can be categorized into temperaments. He classified these temperaments as abstract or concrete thinkers; directive versus informative leadership styles; expressive versus attentive social skills; and cooperative versus pragmatic working methods. All of these categories aren’t replicated in Jungian thinking or the Myers-Briggs test.

One challenge with the Keirsey Temperament Sorter are the labels used to classify different character types. The categories and sub-variants of each type have been given a job description such as Manager or Conservator. While these distinctions can certainly be helpful, they don’t give any indication that people can be slightly outside any of these boxes or excel at other professional tasks.

Jung opened up an entirely new world with his discoveries, and discoveries into the psychology of personality and the self are still being made today. Insights Discovery is based squarely on Jung’s theories, and as such is an invaluable tool in helping people understand themselves and others.  If you would like further help in identifying yourself or others as part of the four color personalities, schedule me, Scott Schwefel, as your keynote speaker. I will come to your group and address the differences in personalities in a truthful, fun, and easy-to-understand way. Follow me on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter to share my blogs with the color energies you work with!

Scott Schwefel

Putting the DISC in Discovery: Insights Discovery versus DISC Methodology

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DISC

DISC is a personality test created by William Marston. The test is based on four major personality traits, much like Jung’s work was. These traits include dominance, influence, steadfastness, and compliance. Marston used these four character traits to describe peoples’ relationship with their environment; or, how they would act or react given certain situations in their life.

While Insights Discovery and the Myers-Briggs test are based on Jungian psychology, Marston’s DISC creation is considered to be a methodology. A man named Walter Clark turned Marston’s ideas into a behavioral test in 1956.

Describing character

Marston and Clark independently realized that people think they behave differently at home versus when they are at work, but knew that peoples’ underlying characters didn’t change from place to place. The DISC idea was used to describe how people behaved when met with situations that could come up in home or work, the theory being that certain personality types will react differently than others.

DISC uses the same idea as Insights Discovery does; that is, to simplify the myriad of personality types into generic, easy to follow and easy to remember categories. However, what makes DISC vastly different from Insights Discovery is that DISC has spawned thousands of different personality type tests based on its methodology. DISC isn’t overseen by one company or person, so anyone could create a DISC-based assessment and call it legitimate.

The idea behind DISC is valid, but it can be difficult to determine which tests are better because there are so many different ones out on the market today. This choice means that people can essentially find the answers they want, rather than an accurate assessment of their personality using slightly different tests and methods.

What’s the difference?

How is Insights Discovery different? Insights Discover comes from a Jungian background as opposed to the Marsden methodology. Insights Discovery keeps things simple, as DISC also does, but keeps its categories and ways of assessing peoples’ personalities consistent. This ensures both validity and reliability when conducting an analysis of a person’s dominant personality traits.

Jung opened up an entirely new world with his discoveries, and discoveries into the psychology of personality and the self are still being made today. Insights Discovery is based squarely on Jung’s theories, and as such, is an invaluable tool in helping people understand themselves and others.  If you would like further help in identifying yourself or others as part of the four color personalities, schedule me, Scott Schwefel, as your keynote speaker. I will come to your group and address the differences in personalities in a truthful, fun, and easy-to-understand way. Follow me on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter to share my blogs with the color energies you work with!

Scott Schwefel

Psychological Theories: Myers-Briggs and Insights Discovery

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Myers-Briggs-Type-Indicator

There are many articles and websites that will compare and contrast various psychological theories, pitting them against one another in an attempt to find the one great, overarching theory of psychology. As the field of analytical psychology has advanced there have always been theories that have been left behind or discounted based on new evidence; in the same vein, there have been theories that have been taken apart and put back together in light of new ideas and facts that have been discovered.

Psychological theories of personality, or why people behave the way they do, have been around since the time of the ancient Greeks. These thinkers spent their time discussing the actions of the people around them, testing these behaviors against what they were able to discern about the human mind. The fields of philosophy and psychology were certainly grown during these discussions amongst the ancient Greeks.

Modern day psychology

Moving closer to the present day, many psychological breakthroughs about personality and human behavior have been made. From Freud to Jung and many in between, psychologists and scientists have taken what we know about the human brain and done their best to match it to what we know about the human mind and reasoning. Through this tests like the Myers-Briggs and psychological theories like Insights Discovery have been created.

Myers-Briggs built a psychological personality test based on Jung’s psychological types, which he created in 1921. First-year psychology students in universities around America will be well versed in the Myers-Briggs tests, as will employees of major companies seeking to build teamwork and workplace efficiency. The Myers-Briggs test is commonly used to help individuals pick jobs or careers that fit their personality type. The Myers-Briggs gives each individual a four-letter designation that emphasizes the most dominant parts of their personality.

Other theories, like DISC or Insights Discovery, were created with the same Jungian background but different psychological motivations behind them. Insights Discovery was created to break people out of a four-letter designation, which can be difficult to remember, and to give a personality description based on colors rather than words. People might feel like they are being stuck into a personality box when they are given single words to describe the dominant parts of their personality.

Simplifying characteristics

Of course, any theory that tries to boil human character down to its simplest forms will run into problems. Take any five people on the street, any five people in your family or any five people in your office and you will find out pretty quickly that none of them fit into any sort of box, psychological or otherwise! Humans are complicated, but in many ways our personalities and behaviors are predictable. Insights Discover allows people to learn their main characteristics without placing them into rigid personality structures.

Using colors not only gives people the ability to remember their personality type easier but gives people the ability to be a shade of any color in the rainbow!

Jung opened up an entirely new world with his discoveries, and discoveries into the psychology of personality and the self are still being made today. Insights Discovery is based squarely on Jung’s theories, and as such is an invaluable tool in helping people understand themselves and others.  If you would like further help in identifying yourself or others as part of the four color personalities, schedule me, Scott Schwefel, as your keynote speaker. I will come to your group and address the differences in personalities in a truthful, fun, and easy-to-understand way. Follow me on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter to share my blogs with the color energies you work with!