Project Ideas from Class Monday

Remember that initially, with any topic, we work toward building a "working knowledge"—a sense of what it entails, what is being talked about recently, and so on. Having a working knowledge can help us start to figure out where and what we can contribute to the conversation with our own take.

We'll add to this list I'm sure, but here's what we've explored so far with regard to personality and our attempts to understand what makes us work:

• Personality testing, how it’s useful, how it’s used and where and with what implications
• Other ways data-hungry culture uses testing to understand workplaces and interactions among people
• Giving versus taking and the dynamics of that
• Personality traits/trends in the culture (parenting), in the world (social perfectionism and male suicide)
• Personality privilege, i.e. being introverted in an extroverted culture

Personality Vids from Class

Here's the Adam Grant TED Talk we saw in class, "Are You a Giver or a Taker?"

And the Susan Cain piece called, "The Power of Introverts"

Finally, here's a teeny list-type article by Sophia Dembling writing for Psychology Today, "Seven Things Extroverts Should Know about Introverts (and Vice Versa)" that you'll find useful. 

Activity: Your Experiences with the MBTI

Let's delve into the kind of personality testing that's based on the most famous test: the MBTI. Start off with a bit of context. This brief article from the official Myers Briggs Foundation website at least helps you understand where the instrument came from (hint: it's grounded in Jungian theories).

I found a nice version of the instrument on a site called 16 Personalities. The actual test is right here. It uses little slider bars, so you can capture how strongly you feel about any of the questions!

Once it tells you a four-letter code (like mine, an INTJ—even though at times I think I'm like an INFJ, too), you can head to this part of the site to read about yourself. There's actually a lot of material here, covering everything from how your type behaves in friendships, as a parent, at work . . . Have fun reading, but don't pay for the premium guide—a lot of these sites are put together by consultants who want to sell more in-depth profiles, but they're kind of expensive!

In a Google Doc (you'll share it with me), write down your type and make a list of some things you read about yourself that are dead-on.

Finally, just so you have it, here's the doc we started on what personality even "is."