General Psychology
Mr. Henderson
April 28, 2010 Personality Paper Personality seems like such a straightforward concept. Anyone at asks could most likely tell you what he or she perceives personality to be. Personality is what makes a person individual; it’s the behaviors and attitudes that once can define a person by in regards to what kind of person they are. They are many different viewpoints and theories that exist but all concede that personality is unique to each individual and no two are ever the same. Individual differences in characteristic patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving would be referred as Personality. The study of personality also focuses on two broad areas: understanding individual differences in particular personality characteristics, and how various parts of a person would come together as a whole. There are roughly sixteen personality types, that Briggs Meyers created in relation to better understand which type you would be classified under. While including top careers, relationships, and core values and motivation; by participating in a personality test you can discover how to use your strengths, to create an exciting and satisfying life. INTJ is my basic personality type, and is one of the less common to have of the 16 types some may say. Personality disorders are classified as mental disorders characterized by long lasting patterns of behavior and thought which can be unhealthy. Schizotypal personality disorder can be associated with a person whose personality is (INTJ). Learning that I was an INTJ in the system was quite an experience for me and it thoroughly explains a great deal about how I behave and view the world, as well as how others perceive and misperceive me. I can actually relate to how these personality types relate to me. Introversion, Intuition, Thinking and judging are what make up an INTJ. I am driven to intensely analyze and question many or all aspects of the world that surrounds me. If I come across an experience or a piece of puzzle that just doesn’t seem to fit, it becomes a challenge that I find its place or re-imagine the puzzle to better restore and see my worldview. I would choose Introversion or Extraversion, simply because I would want to refresh my energy in solitude instead of refreshing it amongst other people. I perceive information from within my own imagination and mind over perceiving it from the external world that would be Sensing. How I think would be based on first weighing the pros and cons which is Thinking making it off a gut instinct would have to do with Feeling. I wouldn’t be able to live a less structured life that’s just open to anything (Perceiving), Living a life that is planned out well and full of structure is judging. Self-confidence is when I can trust and believe in my own abilities, qualities and judgment. At times yes it can be mistaken for arrogance, often times people look at me and think I’m so arrogant because of how I keep a serious face on. They misperceive my facial expressions for arrogance instead of just getting to know how I really am and what I could be all about from what they know instead of what they see. For example, you walk into your new job at a call center and people start to look at you and talk to their friends, you know that they are judging you by the way you look and present yourself. You hear someone say, “She is so stuck up and just thinks she knows everything”. How can you judge a book by its cover with out actively sitting down and reading it? Now days no one wants to take their time and figure a person out instead they automatically assume the person is just to good and wouldn’t want to engage in activities or talk to others. They mistake persons “self-confidence” in them to be able to do what they believe they have the strength to do. From a psychology perspective I would look at it as a Humanism view because we are responsible for our own feelings and well being as humans and that we are unique individuals and can change anytime we choose to.
Independence is another characteristic of being an INTJ, being very self motivated self-motivated and often do best working alone. Never need to be watched or closely monitored, they will get the job done with out any distractions. Being a good problem solver is another characteristic of an INTJ as well, take joy in the challenge of solving complex problems. In my personality I see things that are quite related to me. I can see where there are possibilities for improvement, whether it is in a work setting or at home, as well in myself. It is true that I’m well reserved and spend a tremendous amount of time thinking and staying to myself in a quite setting. I like to question the different aspects of the world, analyzing it down to its very core. It says that being an INTJ that they aren’t very warm or generous, I only tend to have a self -assured manner with the people I feel most comfortable to be around. I have confidence in the ideas that I produce, and I fully expect others to see the wisdom in my perceptions. It amazes me on how much of this personality test is so complete and utterly true its scary. It breaks down my life in so much detail, and tells me so much about myself that I wasn’t aware of before. Funny isn’t it? On how just a simple 72 question can let you know more about yourself better than your mother, doctor or yourself could. Sometimes this can affect your academic life as well, especially when I’m in class, I would be he first person to put my hand up in class to answer the question. The kids would look at me and give me disturbing looks as if they were really just going to voluntarily answer the questions the teacher asked. I trusted myself enough to know that I was capable of answering all the questions the teacher threw at us. Although my teachers would get slightly irritated with me, I didn’t pay them any mind. When the opportunity presents itself in my presence I am willing to take it with out any hesitations. My personality disorder was described as being Schizotypal, meaning a disorder that has a person having disturbed thoughts and behavior, usual beliefs and fears. Also, we aren’t able to form intimate relationships with others and have a negative impact in our lives. I can apply not having any friends in so many ways, not being able to hang out and interact with others having fun. Problems with having this disorder can make your life difficult such as having behavioral problems, and not feeling very comfortable when having to being around people not well known in their life. You need to have friends in life, just so you can have someone to talk to and make memories with so you wont feel lonely and miserable. This specific disorders points out many things I truly dislike about myself from the discomfort in being in social situations right down to inappropriate displays of affection especially when in a public environment. The behavior I have can be extremely odd, I can be a very awkward person, I wont talk I’d keep my head down while walking. Sometimes makes you wish that you were a very interactive person who had tones of friends while still being able to maintain confidence and the ability to trust and get my work done. Social Anxiety is a characteristic, which is when someone would have a fear or discomfort in a social interaction that involves a concern of being judged or evaluated by others. Being at dances or going to group movies makes me extremely uncomfortable, I will look around about every five to ten seconds to see if anyone is watching or laughing at the weird things I sometimes do, so getting invited to a school function, and having to see everyone enjoy themselves without a care in the world form other people. I would be the socially awkward person who is standing against the wall, having people come up to me asking why I haven’t been dancing and standing on the wall like a statue. This again in my opinion would be a Humanism perspective, because its how people perceive you and how you as well perceive yourself. But you need to have some self-assurance in what you do. I would say that mimicking others behaviors is something else that I would do, trying to talk how they would talk. I would basically want to have someone else’s characteristics while still being myself, but having and copying what different people do. When a person tends to mimic someone else’s behavior it is a crucial part of social intelligence, but doing so it can get you into trouble. Especially if you mimic the wrong person, they may not take it in a jokingly way as you take it. Social acceptance is a big part in today’s society, everyone wants to have friends, and they want to have someone they can tell everything to. This disorder has a negative affect on not allowing me to form or keep any relationships, being suspicious can kill any and everything. Its not possible at all for me to have or maintain a relationship I get suspicious and start thinking the person is doing things behind my back and plotting against me. It’s quite hard trying to explain to a person how you are, because I am sure that it scares them away and makes them not want to be apart of my life anymore. I want a friend who will accept me for who I am and not leave me because I am slightly crazy in some parts of my brain. It sucks to know that having this type of disorder really blows, having someone judge you all the freaking time and not giving you a chance or they give you a chance and once they see the real you they want to flee like a lizard. Then you start to blame yourself for being so weird and anti-social. So you can see that you don’t have to always rely on a doctor or a psychiatrist to tell you about yourself. There are always others ways like the Myers Briggs personality test; it will lay your life down on the table right before your eyes. When I heard of this test I thought it was going to be a joke and I wasn’t going to take it seriously and that it wasn’t going to be accurate at all. Could have fooled me, this hit it right on the bone for me. Although I did find some traits that weren’t accurate at all, but for the most part I would agree with everything the test said about me. What really sparked me is that it says not many women are classified as an INTJ; it’s about only 1 percent. They make it seem like guys are the only ones that can be leaders and have a more strong minded structure. Which is not true, women are coming up in this world as leaders and being very strong willed. The diagnosis of a personality disorder is very complex, as these disorders frequently will co-occur with one another and also with other psychiatric categories of disorders. I know that some disorders were thought to be untreatable. But there are now several highly effective treatments for personality disorders that can be brought from the same psychological theories. Many people have the same disorders but may have completely different symptoms and can either be worse or they can be not so harmful. Some people that have the worst possible symptoms from their disorder may never seek treatment because they do not want to feel as if they are different from everyone or being perceived a psychotic person. But it should be in their best mind that they do seek treatments, and should have someone supporting them into getting the proper knowledge and treatment that best relates to the type of disorder they have. But many more people that have less and controllable symptoms will go see a psychiatrist or psychologist. Just because they would rather try and have normal life without the negative consequences of losing someone important in their lives such as their family or a close friend who has done nothing but be their for them in as many ways as possible. Treatments can be either internal or can be therapy related, not all doctors will prescribe medicine. Depending on your specific diagnosis will determine on how the doctor will find the best way to treat and cope with your personal issues.
They have to make sure that what they treat you with will help you and actually make you better at dealing with the things that are making you the way you are. It can also be a genetic thing as well, it could be passed down through your families genes and you not even know it until you see a change in yourself.