Personality Interview One of the

Personality Interview One of the things that makes us unique, but still human, is our way of finding archetypes and similarities in the world that both enhance and conform to our particular personality type. Part of personality is the way we process and interpret information, and certainly the way we use that information to make sense of the world. Cognitive science models typically specify cognitive architecture in one of two ways, symbolic and connectionist. The elements of symbolic systems are symbols, which are stored in associative constructs.

A strong proponent of the symbolic theory of cognition was psychologist Carl Jung who described cognitive processes in greater detail -- yet still based on two unique rubrics: perception and judgment. Sensation and intuition are types of perception; thinking and feeling are two kinds of judgments. In the 1940s, Isabel Meyers developed an extension of these theories, developing a self-reporting questionnaire to help individuals work with their own semblance of Jung's theoretical construct (Eisner, et.al. In "Levels of Learning," 2009).

Taking the Jungian approach, Isabel Myers and Katharine Briggs took these indicators and formulated a psychometric questionnaire designed to measure the way individuals both perceive the world and make overall decisions about themselves and their environment.

It has become one of the most widely used personality assessments, and while some academics feel that it does not provide convincing data others find that it has a great deal of consistence and reliability in predicting the manner in which an individual might approach a problem, colleagues, a task, or even how that individual might relate towards stressors in the environment (Capraro 2002).

To see how the theoretical and practical merge, we will use a short interview based on the Meyer's Briggs Test to uncover some of the ways the subject learns, approaches new tasks, and interacts with the world. Subject - The subject in question is a white male, aged 26, college junior dual majoring in History and Education. We will call the subject "Tom." Tom was born in a mid-sized town in the Midwest, has one brother, two sisters, and considers himself to be moderate politically.

Tom is an avid reader, loves movies and all types of music, and since leaving High School has learned to enjoy more solitary sports like hiking, backpacking, scuba-diving, and jogging. He is passionate about new ideas, connections within the academic world, crossword puzzles, and while he enjoys a great red wine or microbrew, is not a typically college partier.

Tom spent his first three years working to save money for a car and college fund, and feels that he is better equipped to handle college being a bit older (and wiser, he says). Meyers-Briggs Test Learning Style - Tom tends to adopt different styles of learning in different situations. For classes, he prefers that the instructor lecture from the own experience, using notes, PowerPoint, etc. -- NOT from the text.

He will often pre-read material (scan) prior to class, listen in class, jot a few notes, and then post study the text or texts more carefully. He is adept at Internet research, and most particularly at synthesizing massive amounts of information into very cogent and understandable packets. He prefers to observe behavior and situations and then apply previous knowledge to those situations. Because he is such an avid reader, he is able to draw inferences from a great deal of material that otherwise would be foreign to him.

If it is too quiet, Tom finds it difficult to study. He prefers to study to classical music; usually something rather rhythmic and tonal (Mozart, Bach, Handel, etc.) but often allows the local classical station to play. He says the greatest study invention is Pandora, because he can set up different musical genres based on the type of studying… his most recent is Big Band and 1940s vocals when working on research writing -- makes the time go faster.

Meyers-Briggs - Tom smiled at the results of the MB, commenting, "Yes, that sounds like me; not too extreme on either end." He admits that he gets teary in certain movies and events, most recently he said he was watching a PBS documentary about Echo the Elephant matriarch who had been under study in a national park for almost 50 years. Echo finally died of old age, and the raw emotion from the park rangers and zoologists just brought tears.

Similarly, he thinks that now that he is older he can sift through the "B.S. In advertising and media hype," and enjoys such cynical, but rather realistic, portrays of modern society in Mad Men, Weeds, and Breaking Bad. As far as personality development, Tom believes that children get a pretty good grounding from their parents and early school experiences. Concepts like empathy, morality, situational ethics, and reliability are built when one is young. However, that being said, Tom does not see himself as a rule follower like his parents.

Both believed that if something said x in the rules, then x it was. They both also believed that a person should get a job and stay with that job until retirement. Tom has already had two careers, and estimates he will have 4 or more by the time he retires, if he retires. So for him, personality is shaped not just by archetypes and family, but by his own experiences, observations, and what ideas he gleans from books, both fictional and non-fictional.

Tom has spent time in Latin America, Europe, and Russia, and believes that some of his views of morality and diversity were shaped once out of the confines of white, middle-class, Midwestern culture. Tom understands that society needs structure and rules with which to organize; he also understands the principles of utilitarianism and deontology in which society must, by its very nature, place rules so that there will be no anarchy. This makes sense.

However, in many ways, Tom believes that the United States is far too over-regulated with its adult population. For example, he cites that there is less alcoholism in Europe without so many regulations on purchasing liquor; there is also less prescription drug abuse when an adult can purchase a small amount of a pain killer or OTC drug.

But, because we are such a litigious society, Tom acknowledges that it is impossible to count on most of the population being self-regulated and mature enough to act responsibly -- even with common sensical things like wearing a helmet if riding a motorcycle. Tom grew up in a town with a very polarized ethic makeup. 45% of the city was Latino, 45% Caucasian, and only 10% Asian or African-American.

This was not a very diverse environment, and Tom did not really experience the diverse nature of the world until he travelled outside the United States. This experience.