Personality Styles
lessons are a great way of following up a Goals or Good Intentions unit.
Everyone loves to figure out — “Who Am I?” (Once
people begin to develop goals and recognize the difference between a goal and a
good intention, they then need to understand themselves better) A lot of people
struggle with “Who Am I and I wish I could be more like
____________ (fill in the blank)”. We desire the qualities we see in
others, while not appreciating, or even being aware of the great qualities we
do possess. Personality Styles help to focus people toward identifying
their individual personality/character traits. It helps to:
1. Explain why we do what we do, like what we
like,
2. Gives reasons to appreciate one’s strengths,
3. Makes it clear, why some of our actions may
appear as a weaknesses, when compared to another personality type, and
4. Gives one an appreciation of themselves.
Knowing oneself helps
with self-esteem (which sequentially follows knowing about Personality Styles).
I use a poster “You Might Be A (your personality type – See Box Below) If. . .
.” activity, to help people learn their strengths. When one knows their
personality type/style they are better able to:
·
Understand why they
communicate the way they do.
·
Then they can better
understand why others communicate differently.
·
They can begin to
learn how to adjust their communication style to successfully communicate with
different personalities more effectively.
·
Eventually this
understanding can help them select appropriate career paths, understand who
they are most attracted to in relationships, and helps to explain why there are
people they may not be comfortable with and why.
Note: When I did this
activity in class, I would ask my students to take home a personality test for
the members of their family to complete. Some interesting things occurred: A
number of parents thanked me.
- It was really exciting when one parent explained that they always knew their child was different from them. They never knew why until the family took the personality styles test together. The parent said “I never really appreciated my son’s personality. My focus was, why isn’t he more like the rest of us. After reading the information I began to appreciate his qualities. He’s not anything like us and that’s OK”. Can you imagine what a relief the family must have felt when the push to make the boy like them ended and they began to appreciate him as a unique individual?
Some great questions
to ask is:
- How does understanding your personality type/style keep your Social, Mental and Physical Health in balance?
- How does recognizing personality type improve social interaction with peers and people who have authority over you?
There are 3 ways to
know and evaluate oneself:
1. Look in the mirror. You see what other people
see. What do other people see? They are judging you based on your appearance.
Does your appearance reflect the inner you?
2. The people you are attracted to and/or who are
attracted to you, reflect your character. Do the people you are attracted to
move away from you? Would your parents want you to hang with the people that
are attracted to you?
3. Writing reflects clarity of the mind. When you
write, does it make sense; is it clear, concise and informative.
Want to take some
Personality Tests? Try these websites to see some of the options:
http://webiodir.com/free-dope-bird-personality-test — Based on the Four Bird
Testshttp://www.personalityassessor.com/tests/ — Offers a number of test options in one site
http://personality-testing.info/ — Offers a number of test options
and is associated with personality research being done.
Click on the Link to get a copy of a simple personality
questionnaire: You Might be a ….
Personality Style List:
