Personality Functions & Rectifying The Middot

The INTJ and INTP descriptions both fit me (an INTJ) pretty well. As I commented regarding Godol's INTP post, my "J" personality function is more moderate than my other traits (which are rather extreme naturally), so I can "swing" to "P" pretty effortlessly. This is likely true for others who have "moderate" traits as well.

Nevertheless, a person can successfully integrate one's weak functions into one's personality. For example, I've integrated my weak "F" function into my personality in a positively productive manner through creating art and poetry.

Importantly, it's easier to integrate one's personality weaknesses when one is doing something one enjoys (art and writing, for example in my case) as opposed to doing something one hates (staff nursing, for example in my case). The proof is in the result.

Anger is an issue with both INTPs and INTJs. Art (as a primary endeavor) helped me with anger management; forced staff nursing (as a primary endeavor) augments the internal disposition toward an anger response. In other words, I am able to positively channel the energy of frustration through my "F" function (via art and poetry), but cannot channel it effectively through my "S" function in a positive way.

This is important to understand when dealing with anger management to realize how one is able to effectively deal with the intense negative energy born of frustration. Clearly, in my case, my life experience demonstrates that my "S" function is an ineffective tool for dealing with anger issues for me, an INTJ with a moderate "J" function. That may be different for other personality types. Moreover, again considering myself as an example, my weak "S" function cannot be effectively integrated into my overall personality through nursing, a task-set which augments and supports an internal anger response over redirecting "angry" energy.

Moreover, this distinction (why art but not nursing helped with managing anger responses) may be explained by another personality profiling system - the enneagram. I am a 5 with a 4-wing as opposed to being a 5 with a 6-wing. The 5 with a 4-wing type is a scientist type with a lean toward an artistic orientation as opposed to a lean toward a security orientation.

I've explained all this because I think that when it comes to learning and teaching, and more importantly, to rectifying the middot, one really needs to approach one's weaknesses in a manner which takes all these kinds of personality nuances into account. What works for one person may not work for another person of another personality type.

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technorati tags: jewish psychology personality personality profiling Myers-Briggs enneagram INTJ anger management middot