What's your personality type?

What kind of a personality do you have?

Up until now I was completely oblivious of the different personality types. To be honest I didn’t care much to find out about it either until the day when in an interview I was asked about my personality type and I was baffled. One of the interviewers actually told me that we need a Type “A” personality for this job. I obviously didn’t get that job for not being able to identify myself but it forced me to investigate the different types of personalities.

But till date I can’t answer the question as to why be it important to pigeon-hole yourself in a type? Once you categorize yourself as a particular type, if you really can, do you have stay confined to that category or does it change with your life’s ups and downs and experiences?

Now to start the conversation , here is a little blurb (of course from the internet) on some popular personality types before going into the actual argument. You can go on and on and on talking about them. The internet is full of theories on personality. Here are some interesting ones though -

Type “A” Personality

These are the folks that are always in a hurry, impatient to see results and come across as aggressive in their interpersonal relationships because they believe it’s a “dog eat dog world” out there. Type A’s are very competitive and show it at work in their levels of tension and agitation.

Their personalities are a mix of right- and left-brained dominance. They are risk taking, inflexible and private people who become hostile easily when they are criticized.

Type “B” Personality

The Type B’s live in the moment and don’t mind waiting for just the right time to take action. They are friendly types who believe that the world is both good and bad, but that there are more good people than bad in it. They tend to be their own biggest competitors, thinking “I can do better than this”.

Their personalities are right-brain dominated. Being intuitive, spontaneous and patient, they are open to criticism, and when angry they tend to use humor to make their point.

Type “C” Personality

The Type C’s are future oriented but like to take their time, patiently weighing the pro’s and con’s before they make decisions. They tend to be introspective and enjoy studying themselves, and others, in great detail. They are very much at home figuring out what to expect from future events, even though they believe that if something can go wrong it will. They’re uncomfortable with personal or intimate conversations.

Their personalities are mostly left-brained. When Type C’s are angry they become resentful and may give the “silence treatment” to those with whom they are angry. They want to be leaders but their lack of openness and risk aversion are obstacles.

Type “D” Personality

The Type “D” really believes in inertia which they have no shortage of. These people prefer to stick to the trodden paths and established routines over the uncertainty of change. These are followers of the spent actions and executors of the direct commands. You will find them doing their best not to stretch their neck out when it comes to taking responsibility and risk.

During the 1950s, Meyer Friedman and his co-workers theorized that intense, hard-driving Type A personalities had a higher risk of coronary disease because they are "Control Freaks and stress junkies." Type B people, on the other hand, tended to be relaxed, less competitive, and lower in risk. There was also a Type AB mixed profile. Dr. Redford Williams, cardiologist at Duke University, refuted Friedman’s theory that Type “A” personalities have a higher risk of coronary heart disease; however, current research indicates that only the hostility component of Type A may have health implications.

Now getting to my point of discussion - In reality, an individual is a mixture of personality traits characterizing personality types A B C D. I also feel that depending on the circumstances the personality of a person evolves, changes and situation have a significant role to play. I will give you some examples:

• During the early years a child’s personality is driven by the people around him who by and large are his parents. They play an important role in the initial years.
• Once the child goes to school and college his personality is groomed by teachers, friends, TV, Internet etc.
• Once he is out of school and college he finds himself into a job where his real personality begins to develop. Peer pressure, and stress of job take his personality to the next level. He begins to learn what “survival of the fittest” means.
• When he gets married and has kids - his personality changes again with additional responsibilities.

So what I mean to say is that changes in life whether it’s due to a life event or job change or simply moving to another city, country have a strong impact on development of the personality.

That’s why I find it hard to appreciate that you can really categorize a person into a particular personality type. In fact why do you really need to categorize at all? What difference does it really make to someone in knowing what your personality type is? Does your gender drive your personality type at all?

Do you have to cast your personality type in bronze for the rest of your life? What do you think?