On Friday night, Corey and I went to our friends’, the Vigues, place to watch their kids so Ali could go out with Tyler for her birthday.  After they came home and the kids were put to bed, somehow we got on the subject of personalities.  Tyler has a book, Please Understand Me II, that uses the Myer-Briggs personality test to determine your personality type.  He tested Corey and me to see what we were.

Corey’s an ENTP–Extroverted Intuitive Thinking Perceiving.  When we read the description, it was him to a T.  There wasn’t a single thing written about that personality type that contradicted with Corey.  There was a lot of insightful laughing to be had.

At first, I was a cross between an INFJ (Introverted Intuitive Feeling Judging) and an ISFJ (Introverted Intuitive Feeling Judging).  They’re known as the Protector and Counselor respectively.  A lot of the things said about those types were accurate, but there were a lot of things that weren’t.  We figured that a good mix of both described me pretty well.  But, it got me thinking.  I tend to answer these questions with how I want to be or how I perceive myself to be, which isn’t how I actually am in most cases.  I decided to take the test again since Tyler let me borrow his book.

The second time around, I came out as an ESFJ–Extroverted Sensing Feeling Judging–also known as the Provider.  I was leery about this assessment because I don’t see myself as extroverted.  However, after reading about this personality, I realized that I really am extroverted, but I’m extremely self-conscious, as most ESFJs are, which makes me seem introverted.

Here are some things about my personality type, and if you know me well enough, you’ll see why this is a better fit than the other two.

• Personable and talkative, bouncing from subject to subject
• Restless if isolated from people (enjoy socializing and entertaining)
• Fascination in gossip with local people or celebrities
• Restive when talking about philosophic or scientific abstractions
• Listen to acknowledged authorities on abstract matters and rely on officially sanctioned views to form their opinions and attitudes
• Nostalgic and recount past experiences often
• Pessimistic, expressing doom and gloom that’s sometimes contagious
• Highly sensitive (easily wounded), but not reluctant to express emotional reactions
• Quick to like and dislike, putting those they admire on pedestals and come down hard on the people and issues they don’t like
• Have difficulty recognizing the shortcomings of loved ones
• Conscious of appearances and others’ opinions of themselves
• Crushed by personal criticism
• Fond-hearted, sentimental, and observe birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays fervently
• Take things in via their five senses in a literal, concrete fashion
• Need approval from others to feel good about themselves
• Weigh their values and morals against the world around them, rather than against an internal value system
• Natural tendency to want to control their environment
• Warmly interested in others
• Prefer to do things in the established way, rather than venturing into uncharted territory
• Controlling, overly sensitive, and imagine bad intentions when there are none
• Warm, sympathetic, helpful, cooperative, tactful, down-to-earth, practical, thorough, consistent, organized, enthusiastic, and energetic