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:
- Explain why we do what we do, like what we like,
- Gives reasons to appreciate one’s strengths,
- Makes it clear, why some of our actions may appear as a weaknesses, when compared to another personality type, and
- 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?
A great question 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:
- 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?
- 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?
- Writing reflects clarity of the mind. When you write, does it make sense; is it clear, concise and informative.
Personality Styles
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 Tests
http://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.
www.thehealthymindcurriculum.com
