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Correlating the Four Temperaments with Myers-Briggs

12/15/2007

2 Comments

 
I've seen charts galore that correlate the various personality systems with each other, and while I do see patterns (I'm all about patterns), whoever translated David Keirsey's four temperaments (derived from the Myers-Briggs) into the classic four temperaments (melancholic, phlegmatic, sanguine, choleric) must have wanted it to fit in a neat package, and I don't think it does.

The charts I've seen show this:

NT=Melancholic
NF=Phlegmatic
SJ=Choleric
SP=Sanguine

Does anyone not see the glaring problem here?   The classic types are based on introversion and extraversion.

Melancholic, Phlegmatic = Introvert
Sanguine, Choleric = Extrovert

My research and experiences with both systems has resulted in major mind spinning analysis, only to come up this obvious and simple conclusion, which basically says that the classic four temperaments describe how we relate to the world (first and last letters of the Myers-Briggs types):

IJ=Melancholic
IP=Phlegmatic
EJ=Choleric
EP=Sanguine

Who are the controlling types?  The cholerics and melancholics (I know because I am the latter, of the NF variety).  Who are the laidback types?  Sanguines and phlegmatics.  Or to use Gary Smalley's original terminology:  The beavers and the lions are the intense Type A personalities, while the otters and golden retrievers are light and fun loving.  That's not to say they don't have depth/passion--they definitely do but it's expressed differently--that's where Myers-Briggs personality typing fills in the gaps, i.e. the two letter void in the middle that says oh-so-much about our personalities.
2 Comments
Eric link
11/15/2013 10:04:44 am

There are two versions of temperament overlaid in the types. Keirsey's groups, and another set of groups, the Interaction Styles (which Keirsey actually adopted in his last two books, but it was a student of his, Linda Berens who first outlined them).
Temperament is actually expressiveness and responsiveness. The Interaction Styles are the ones that use I/E, which represent "expressiveness". EJ, IP, EP and IP are Interaction Styles for N's only. For S's, it's actually ET, IT, EF, IF. (They are very asymetrical to the type model). Responsivesness (people vs task focus) which tied together Sanguine and Phlegmatic as people-focused and Choleric and Melancholy as task focused, is represented in these styles basically by F or P as "people-focused" (called "informative") and T and J as "task-focused" (called "directive").

For Keirsey's temperaments, instead of I/E, cooperative vs pragmatic represent "expressiveness". Where the other level of temperament is social, this one is about taking action. So pragmatic (NT, SJ) is more aggressive, and cooperative (NF, SJ) is less so. Task (or "structure") focus is NT and SJ; people (or "motive") focus is NF and SP.

So it's really:
NT; EST/ENJ =Choleric
NF; ISF/INP =Phlegmatic
SJ; IST/INJ =Melancholic
SP; ESF/ENP =Sanguine

Each type then becomes a blend of one social temperament with an action/leadership one. (many other temperament systems have blends like that).

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Thyrza
1/15/2015 01:58:37 am

I felt that you made an accurate assessment of the temperaments and I like the simplicity of your explanations

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