Chapter 3
Lesson 3: Personality Traits and Interests
| Objectives By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:
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| Introduction NOTE: Remember to record your answers to the exercises in this lesson in your notebook or on a floppy disk for later use in submissions and exams.
The previous lesson was designed to help you think about your activities and accomplishments--in other words, what you do and have done in your life. Your activities and accomplishments reveal what you are good at (your skills and aptitudes) as well as what you like to do (your interests). Both are extremely important considerations for your future career. You can not spend your life doing something you hate, any more than you can spend your life doing something you are terrible at doing. Of course, it would be impossible for everyone in the world to do exactly what they want; obviously, what jobs are available is an important limitation on one's career. At the same time, you need not resign yourself to a lifetime of jobs that you do not enjoy. You would be surprised to find how feasible it is for people to find a career they love, especially if they know what they love. Knowing what you love is the first and most essential step towards doing what you love. Figuring out what you like to do is not always easy. For one thing, there is the issue of balancing short-term enjoyment with long-term satisfaction. The same thing that makes you feel good in the short-term--say, eating a entire large bag of Doritos--may not make you feel good in the long term. By the same token, some of the most deeply satisfying activities in people's lives, such as raising children or playing a musical instrument, involve doing things that are may be unpleasant or boring, like changing diapers or practicing scales. This is not to say that enjoying what you do in the moment is not extremely important. Even the worthiest and most inspiring of long-term goals cannot compensate for never enjoying the present. As the political commentator Molly Ivins put it: "If you do not have fun while trying to save the world, you will get tired and cynical and burned out and become totally useless to everybody." People, Things, and Information Before moving on to your specific interests, we will first talk about broad categories of interests. One of the most helpful ways to think about interests is to decide whether you prefer to work with people, things, or information. Working with people includes all activities in which social interaction and interpersonal relationships are important; meeting new people at parties would be an example of such an activity. Working with things means making, altering, or otherwise manipulating physical objects, usually with your own hands. Such activities range from sewing dresses to performing card tricks. Working with information includes activities, such as balancing a checkbook or writing news articles, that require you to gather, organize, and interpret numbers, facts, and other forms of information. Most activities, of course, do not fall into one neat category; many activities indicate a preference for working with people, things, and information. Still, activities--and particularly specific actions within activities--tend to emphasize one preference or another. Classifying interests in this way can be very helpful in indicating what general types of activities you enjoy. PLEASE PAUSE NOW AND COMPLETE THE EXERCISE BELOW: Exercise 1: People, Things, and Information In your notebook, please list three activities which you currently participate in or would like to participate in that involve working with people, things, or information: Preference for working with people: 1) _____ Preference for working with things: 1) _____ Preference for working with information: 1) _____ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Activities and Actions All but the most basic activities consist of more than just a single action. For example, gardening with your family may involve digging holes to plant seeds in, learning about the effects of different pesticides, harvesting vegetables when they are ripe, and a number of other specific actions. Some of your favorite activities may in fact involve some actions you do like and some that you do not. In the next exercise, you will separate some of your favorite activities into specific actions, and then categorize each action in terms of preference for people, things, and information. Pay attention to any patterns that appear (for instance, all your favorite actions involve working with things in some way). PLEASE PAUSE NOW AND COMPLETE THE EXERCISE BELOW: Exercise 2 Select your three favorite activities. Choose activities that are fun while you do them, but also ones that you can look back on with pride and satisfaction. For each activity, identify your three favorite actions involved with the activity. Specify whether each action indicates a preference for working with people, things, or information. Some actions may indicate a preference for two or even all three of these categories of preferences. Please present your responses in your notebook using the following response as a guide (remember to do this for three activities): Example: Gardening with family Action 1: digging holes for my aunt to plant seeds in; indicates a preference for working with things (tools and seeds) and with people (your aunt). Action 2: learning about the effects of different pesticides from my dad; indicates a preference for working with information (facts about pesticides) and with people (your dad). Action 3: harvesting vegetables when they are ripe; indicates a preference for working with information (knowing when various vegetables ripen) in addition to working with things (the vegetables themselves). This person did not list actions such as sitting in dirt or watering the garden everyday because they were not favorites or enjoyable. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personality and Interest-Inventory Tests Categorizing interests in terms of people, things, and information is only one very basic way of thinking about what you enjoy doing. Psychologists and career counselors have developed a large variety of other ways to analyze interests and personality preferences. Many of these modes of analysis involve the use of self-administered tests. Probably the most famous of such tests is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. The Myers-Briggs test, developed during the Second World War, focuses on measuring subjects' personal preferences instead of character traits such as intelligence. Unlike the Myers-Briggs test, which focuses on personality preferences, other tests are designed to match test-takers with an appropriate career. Some of these tests, referred to as interest-inventory tests, primarily measure what specific actions and activities subjects enjoy. Others tests also measure subjects' skills and talents. The usefulness of these tests varies greatly depending on the test as well as on the person who takes them. No test, no matter how well-designed, can provide more than a simple sketch of your character and personality. At best, a test can help you think about yourself and provide options for you to explore. Career assessment tests are never meant to close options, only open them. Use them as only one of many tools at your disposal in planning your career. PLEASE PAUSE NOW AND COMPLETE THE EXERCISE BELOW: Exercise 3: Personality and Interest-Inventory Tests Take one of the following Myers-Briggs type tests and record your results in your notebook: http://www.personalitytest.net/types/index.htm http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp http://www.iccweb.com/careerfocus/Login.asp | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Interpreting Results The results you received from the interest-inventory test should be fairly straightforward and easy to understand. Interpreting the results of the Myers-Briggs tests is more complicated. At the completion of the test, you should be assigned a four-letter acronym, like ENFP or ISTJ. This is your Myers-Briggs personality type. The Myers-Briggs test is organized around four sets of dichotomies (divisions into two opposite characteristics). The four dichotomies describe the subject's:
The first dichotomy, Introversion vs. Extroversion, indicates where you get your energy and put your attention. An introvert is oriented towards themselves and the ideas, images, and processes of their own mind. Introverts are often quiet and reflective, and they usually prefer to be alone or with a few good friends instead of with lots of other people. Extroverts, on the other hand, receive energy from and focus their attention on the world outside themselves. They are comfortable in social settings, enjoy interacting with other people, and enjoy involvement in multiple activities. The second dichotomy, Sensing vs. Intuition, describes how you deal with information. Everyone uses both sensing and intuition to perceive and interpret the world around them. Sensing people, though, tend to focus more on the raw information they receive from the world, whereas those who prefer intuition generally spend more time thinking about that information. Sensing people are usually more comfortable perceiving and remembering concrete details and information, and they tend to be more practical and pragmatic than people who tilt towards intuition. A preference for intuition, on the other hand, means that a person often perceives the world around him in general impressions, and that he spends more time analyzing and thinking imaginatively. The third dichotomy, Thinking vs. Feeling, reveals whether you make decisions primarily on the basis of objective principles and facts, or whether you emphasize the personal concerns of the people involved in a situation. Thinking is not the same as intelligent, and Feeling is different than emotional. Thinking people tend use logic to make decisions and they prefer to be consistent across different situations. Feeling people like to consider the opinions of people affected by a decision in the interests of promoting harmony and consensus. Thinkers tend to emphasize justice and "the cold, hard truth" while Feelers emphasize mercy and sensitivity to people's opinions. The fourth dichotomy, Judging vs. Perceiving, is a measure of how you orient yourself to the world around you. Which function is dominant in your interactions with your environment, perceiving information or making decisions? Judging means that you prefer to impose order on the outside world, even though on the inside you may be entirely flexible and open to new information. Judging people like to make lists and plans, and they are more comfortable when things are decided. Perceiving people, on the other hand, prefer to remain open and respond to what the world throws at them. They are comfortable mixing work and play, and often respond with bursts of energy when faced with a deadline. Your Myers-Briggs personality type is determined by the combination of the four personality traits you were assigned. For a complete analysis of each of the sixteen possible combinations, you can visit the website of the Myers & Briggs Foundation: <http://www.myersbriggs.org>. The website suggests a number of possible jobs for each Myers-Briggs personality type. Most essential information on the meaning of each type can be found at <http://www.myersbriggs.org/my%5Fmbti%5Fpersonality%5Ftype/mbti%5Fbasics/>.
There is much debate about the usefulness and validity of Myers-Briggs and other personality tests. Don't take the results you receive too seriously and use them primarily as a starting point for thinking about your own personality. PLEASE PAUSE NOW AND COMPLETE THE EXERCISE BELOW: Exercise 4: Comparing and Evaluating Test Results Complete the following exercise in your notebook. a) Compare the results of the three tests you took for Exercise 3. Do the results show any continuity? Any differences? Summarize the results in a paragraph. b) Compare and contrast the test results with your own perceptions of yourself. In what ways are they different, and in what ways are they similar? How are personality and interest-inventory tests accurate or useful? How might they be counter-productive? Write an organized paragraph of five to seven sentences.
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| Interests and Goals Personality and interest-inventory tests can be useful, but remember that they are only tools for you to use. If you test out a tool and you do not find it helpful, then you should feel free not to use it. What ultimately matters is what you are interested in and what you want to do with your career. For this last exercise of the lesson, you should compare what you have learned from the tests you took with your own goals and interests. Also, keep in mind that just because you are interested in something does not necessarily mean that your career has to incorporate it somehow. A love of music, for instance, does not mean that you should become a professional musician. Millions of Americans satisfy their love of music through amateur activities such as being in a rock band, singing in a church choir, joining a community theater company, or just playing an instrument at home. Similarly, just having talent in a given area does not obligate you to go into that field. It is perfectly acceptable for a person to be very good at handling numbers and yet become a novelist instead of a mathematician. Nevertheless, your goal should be to pursue a career that takes advantage of your interests and aptitudes and that fits in with your life goals. Managing all these competing considerations is bound to be tricky, and any conclusions you come to are almost sure to change as you mature and develop. Still, it is important that you begin to think about what is important to you and how you can best satisfy the competing considerations in your life. PLEASE PAUSE NOW AND COMPLETE THE EXERCISE BELOW: Exercise 5: Interests and Goals Complete the following exercise in your notebook. a) Reflect upon the interests you came up with in this lesson, both on your own and through the tests you took. How are those interests related to the life goals you developed in Lesson 1? Do any of your goals and interests match up with each other particularly well? For example, a goal of spending five hours a week volunteering would fit very well with an interest in helping adults learn to read. Do any of your goals and interests clash with each other? Write a paragraph of seven to nine sentences. b) Pick five of your important life goals and five of your favorite interests from Lesson 1 and 2. For each goal and interest, brainstorm two ways that you could fulfill the goal or interest outside of your job or career. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In Closing Through this lesson you have had an opportunity to examine how your personality and interests mesh. The tests and inventories you used are meant to guide your thinking about a career, not determine exactly what you must do with your life. If they have opened your mind to ideas you had not considered before, they have been successful. Some of the information in the exercises found in this lesson will be used in the accompanying submission. Confer with your teacher to determine if you are to turn in your notebook for grading or if you should be prepared to copy your responses into textboxes in the submission. If you turn in your notebook, you will simply indicate this in the appropriate boxes in the submission. If your teacher requests that you record your answers in the submission, and if your computer accepts floppy disks, you may wish to transfer your responses to a disk prior to beginning the submission. This will save time as you complete the submission by copying and pasting the information. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Submission 3 |
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