You, Observer, are an unusually selfless and balanced individual. While others rush around worrying about what they’re supposed to do and how they’re going to get it done, you’ve figured it all out. Go with the flow. You are an indispensable equalizer amongst the various groups that comprise your life. You feel that the spotlight and center stage were made for other people to act out their fantasies. But that kind of showing-off is not your thing. You’d rather sit in the wings, keeping your secrets between the closest of friends and taking notes and planning before you make your move.
Your even-keeled nature pays off at work — even if you’re not always recognized for your contributions. You are responsible and are willing to work hard, especially when it counts the most. You tend to be conscientious, which also makes you an indispensable team player.
You operate best under a sense of routine, and you avoid challenges that require too much improvisation. You might often find yourself running along with the group, but not necessarily leading the charge. That’s in part because you don’t feel the need to draw attention to yourself to validate who you are. You’re perfectly happy sitting on a couch at a party, taking it all in and observing others’ antics.
You’re known for relaxing and letting things roll off your back. It’s much better than freaking yourself out. Like other mellow folks, you don’t feel compelled to really search for who you are. You already have a good sense of that; at the same time, you’ve probably been known to indulge a little self-exploration from time to time. After all, it can help you further develop your sense of intuition and discover parts of yourself that remain below the surface.
So keep at it Observer. There’s lots you can still show the world.
Your areas of greatest vulnerability
Your fear of exposure may be your greatest vulnerability. It’s not in your nature to be as open, forthcoming or bold as other folks and most of the time, this wisdom keeps you out of messes. But when your restraint involves keeping secrets that are surrounded by shame or fear, trouble arises. Not only can this make you less trusting and sap your spontaneity, but others can take advantage of your nervousness around certain topics to manipulate you to their advantage. Be your best: Try to remember that things can often take on a larger-than-life intensity when they’re unspoken. Talking with trusted people and voluntarily exposing your thoughts and feelings will free you from your self-made cage of secrecy.
Your personality is actually determined by two personality sub-types — your primary, or dominant sub-type, and your secondary sub-type.
In your case, Observer, your two sub-types are Discreet and Golden. Your primary sub-type is defined by “Discreet” characteristics and your secondary sub-type is defined by “Golden” characteristics.
Like other people with Discreet characteristics, you prefer to live a balanced, subtle life. You like to go about your business without a lot of fanfare and without drawing unnecessary attention to yourself. While you do like to take part in social activities, you don’t necessarily want to give away too much of yourself right away. You enjoy putting up an unobtrusive front because it makes it easier to observe people around you.
As a Discreet, you are very thoughtful and tend to learn a lot from watching others’ behavior. In terms of entertainment, you’re more attracted media that is funny, humorous or happy than stories that are too introspective. Though interested in a variety of activities, you probably tend to stay away from things that will put you in the spotlight.
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Moderation is the key to balance in life and nobody knows this better than you. Your ultimate desire is seeking a life that is even keel and often, this can manifest as a fear of standing out. You may be hesitant to commit to opinions because you are afraid that you might be wrong. You may feel that extreme declarations can leave you vulnerable to sounding incorrect or uninformed and, in the end, that would ultimately draw too much attention to you. |
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People with Golden characteristics have unusually high self-esteem and are very conscientiousness. They are responsible, dependable, and dutiful — people others rely on. They are also efficient, and do not like to waste time. They tend to go about life with a positive attitude — both about themselves and the world around them.
Intellectually, Goldens are careful, deliberating thinkers. In terms of entertainment, Goldens enjoy media that is romantic, happy, and inspiring, and tend to avoid media that is dark, edgy, and sad. They are interested a wide variety of things including cooking, eating out, nutrition, travel, sports, recreation, fitness, health and traditional religion.
Your personality is actually determined by two personality sub-types — your primary, or dominant sub-type, and your secondary sub-type.
In your case, Observer, your two sub-types are Discreet and Golden. Your primary sub-type is defined by “Discreet” characteristics and your secondary sub-type is defined by “Golden” characteristics.
Like other people with Discreet characteristics, you prefer to live a balanced, subtle life. You like to go about your business without a lot of fanfare and without drawing unnecessary attention to yourself. While you do like to take part in social activities, you don’t necessarily want to give away too much of yourself right away. You enjoy putting up an unobtrusive front because it makes it easier to observe people around you.
As a Discreet, you are very thoughtful and tend to learn a lot from watching others’ behavior. In terms of entertainment, you’re more attracted media that is funny, humorous or happy than stories that are too introspective. Though interested in a variety of activities, you probably tend to stay away from things that will put you in the spotlight.
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Moderation is the key to balance in life and nobody knows this better than you. Your ultimate desire is seeking a life that is even keel and often, this can manifest as a fear of standing out. You may be hesitant to commit to opinions because you are afraid that you might be wrong. You may feel that extreme declarations can leave you vulnerable to sounding incorrect or uninformed and, in the end, that would ultimately draw too much attention to you. |
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People with Golden characteristics have unusually high self-esteem and are very conscientiousness. They are responsible, dependable, and dutiful — people others rely on. They are also efficient, and do not like to waste time. They tend to go about life with a positive attitude — both about themselves and the world around them.
Intellectually, Goldens are careful, deliberating thinkers. In terms of entertainment, Goldens enjoy media that is romantic, happy, and inspiring, and tend to avoid media that is dark, edgy, and sad. They are interested a wide variety of things including cooking, eating out, nutrition, travel, sports, recreation, fitness, health and traditional religion.
You’ve got a potent combination of drive and courage, so you boldly take risks as you pursue your goals. You get noticed because your mind, body and ambitions are always in motion — not to mention that you make a point of looking your best. You have a glamour and charisma that’s all your own. People are attracted to your free spirit and exciting energy. Don’t be surprised to find yourself the center of attention.
You enjoy conversations that are lighthearted, pleasant and agreeable. Low-key connections with like-minded people are one of life’s pleasures for you. You sometimes are baffled by the fact that some people intentionally pick arguments. How can they be so sure of themselves when every issue has so many aspects? You would never want to come across as so aggressive. You especially don’t like domineering, blaming people.
You and your partner are likely to be in the middle of “the scene” wherever you go. You love style, beauty, glamour and excitement — in your partner, yourself and in everything that you do. Being part of a crowd of fabulous, energetic people who project sex appeal and verve is all part of the fun. A great match for you will be someone who loves to try new things — and who looks great under any circumstances.
When you’re in the presence of others who care about you, you relax and really shine. Supportive, safe interactions with people who believe in you are an important step in your unfolding path towards more confidence. You’ll thrive in atmospheres that are calm and quiet. When you feel soothed, you can tune into your real thoughts and reactions. By creating a peaceful environment for yourself, and by slowly building up your confidence, you will be able to enter the world more fully and share the amazing person you are.
You are focused on success in your life; and you define it in a variety of ways. You love the boost you get from getting credit for your work, financial rewards, achieving your personal goals, finding luck in love, having great friends and, in sum, getting what you want. You can be held back, however, by a pesky self-doubt that occasionally questions your ability to really “make it” in the world. You’ve never been afraid to let the world know what you have to offer. Whether it’s standing up to take credit in a work scenario or letting a new person you meet get a sense of your charms right away, you know how to put your best assets front and center. A challenge for you in the area of ambition is to partner with others as you pursue your dreams. Don’t let that niggling self-doubt keep you from teaming up, combining resources and sharing the trip. You’ll find the rewards of being on a team or part of a duo can be felt during the process and pay off in the final reward.
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What Really Motivates You
Safety and ease are at the heart of your motivations. You want to feel protected, accepted and safely away from drama or confusion. You’re willing to work and plan in order to create a haven from life’s ups and downs. Such subtle rewards are, for you, the richest ones. |
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When conflicts arise for you, it’s often because your sense of fairness has been offended. The frequent difference between what people deserve —whether credit, money, or happiness — and what they actually have, can be extremely galling for you. There are also times when you don’t feel justly rewarded for your efforts and assets. Occasionally, there are times when it’s hard for you to let go of even seemingly minor irritations. You may find yourself reacting strongly at first. But gradually you will learn to let it go.
Gradual change is the best way for you to move out of stuck or uncomfortable places in your life. Build your confidence by working on one or two relationships that already feel fairly secure. Look for ways that you are comfortable, areas of life where your footing feels sure. Start to reach out from there and take some chances. You are likely to find yourself frustrated and disappointed if you make sudden or dramatic changes, putting pressure on yourself to make sweeping transformations. Better to nurture yourself gently, using slow and steady movement. That way, once you get where you’re headed, you’ll feel at ease and authentically there.
You know that everyone has a different personality, but what exactly is a personality?
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The word “personality” actually comes from the word “persona” which referred to the various masks that actors wore to depict different roles in Greek plays. That’s how we got the popular notion of personality as the combination of traits that make each person distinctive. |
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While most people agree that a human being’s personality is far too complex to categorize and label, some scientists and philosophers have devoted their lives to doing exactly that. They believe that although there are idiosyncrasies to each distinct personality, there are more general “personality types” that can be identified. One of the advantages of defining these types, is that once you know how someone tends to behave, you can start to predict future behavior. This has applications in both the real, and the theoretical world.
Before we get into exactly what these models are useful for, let’s look at the history of personality typing and how older theories have developed into today’s more popular personality tests.
As early as the fifth century B.C., the Greek philosopher/physician Hippocrates recorded the first known personality model. He based his four “types” on the amount of body fluids an individual possessed. The Greek physician Galen expounded upon Hippocrates’ theory. He believed a predominance of blood led to a confident person who was cheerful and strong. A predominance of mucus led to an indifferent, slow personality. A predominance of black bile led to a depressed personality, and a predominance of yellow bile led to a violent and strong personality.
German philosopher Immanuel Kant later popularized these ideas in the 1700’s, when he organized those constructs along two axes, feelings and activity. Depression represented weak feelings, confidence reflected strong feelings. Indifference represented weak activity, violence represented strong activity.
The next big step came from Wilhelm Wundt who started to think about these categorical groups not as finite, but as continuous dimensions. He proposed that the four temperaments fall on high or low positions on two axes, changeability and emotionality.
The idea that four basic temperaments existed, eventually became the basis of a number of late 19th-/20th-century behavioral theories. Some of the most significant work on this subject was done by the Swiss psychoanalyst, Carl G. Jung. In 1922, he introduced four categories of mental functioning: sensing, intuition, thinking and feeling in his work Psychological Types. At the time, Jung’s ideas about personality types went largely unnoticed, due to the frenzy surrounding the modern psychoanalytic theories of Sigmund Freud, B.F. Skinner and others.
In the 1950s, however, Isabel Myers and her daughter Katherine Briggs revived Jung’s ideas. Myers and Briggs used Jung’s personality types as a base, then devised a 16-type indicator designed to identify patterns of human action. This test became the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), a tool for identifying different aspects of someone’s personality. This “tool” exposed a whole, new international audience to Jung’s psychological types. The tool further connected the science of personality typing, because the MBTI types were consistent with Hippocrates’ four temperaments.
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More than three million Myers-Briggs Type Indicator tests are administered each year in the U.S. More than four million people have taken Tickle’s Ultimate Personality Test. |
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Behavioral scientists are not the only researchers interested in personality types. For a more mystical look at personality, we should turn to the Enneagram. This system has a more mysterious background. Based on an ancient nine-pointed diagram used as far back as 2000 B.C. by Pythagoras, the Enneagram leaves a blurry trail through many of history’s mystical philosophies. Plato and his followers, the Kabbala branch of Judaism, the Islamic Sufi tradition, and even esoteric branches of Christianity have all found spiritual significance in the nine-pointed symbol. It wasn’t until the 20th century that the Enneagram meshed with new-age psychology. The nine-pointed symbol became the template for a personality typing system that overlayed nine personality types on top of the Enneagram structure.
In addition to the MBTI (the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator) which is still one of the most widely used personality tests, other popular theories and tests exist. The Keirsey Temperament Sorter is a test built around David Keirsey’s groundbreaking 1978 book Please Understand Me. The Keirsey Temperament Sorter is similar to the MBTI in its use of four dimensions and 16 categories, but the Keirsey method claims to have a more complex system of characterization.
In the 1970’s researchers agreed that there was another way to measure personality traits. Tests like the IPIP-NEO are based on a five-factor personality methodology. Some scientists feel this is the most revealing way to describe personality because it can measure five fundamental dimensions of personality.
An important thing to remember about personality tests is that no one personality type is better or worse than another. In addition, the results of most personality tests, including Tickle’s Ultimate Personality Test, derive their final personality types from more than one influence — usually a primary type shaded by at least one secondary type.
Although it is an imperfect science, personality models shed light on the complexities of human behavior. Undeniable patterns in human actions have existed since the dawn of man. Taken as guidelines and not absolute truth, personality tests can help us understand and better relate to ourselves and the world — to understand why we are the way we are. We can also use them to understand each other, not only to improve friendships, but to facilitate work relationships and career choices.
Many businesses use personality tests or abbreviated versions of personality tests to evaluate a prospective employee’s strengths and weaknesses. Marriage counselors recommend certain personality tests to determine compatibility. But the most common use of personality typing is for fun and self-discovery. As you understand the spectrum of personality types and where you and your friends sit along that continuum, you can’t help but gain a new appreciation for the simple differences, and amazing similarities, among us complicated beings.
