My Myers-Briggs personality type -- INFP

Personality typing systems are something of a hobby for both me and my wife. In the Myers-Briggs system I am an INFP. Aproximately 3-4% of the American population is this type. David Keirsey in his book Please Understand Me II calls this type the “Healer”. Tieger’s book Do What You Are indicates that being a librarian is a good match for this personality type.

Here are some of the characteristics that give an idea of what constitutes an INFP (from http://www.personalitypage.com/INFP.html):

• They are at their best in situations where they're working towards the public good, and in which they don't need to use hard logic.
• Generally thoughtful and considerate, INFPs are good listeners and put people at ease.
• INFPs do not like conflict, and go to great lengths to avoid it.
• INFPs are flexible and laid-back, until one of their values is violated. In the face of their value system being threatened, INFPs can become aggressive defenders, fighting passionately for their cause.
• INFPs have very high standards and are perfectionists. Consequently, they are usually hard on themselves, and don't give themselves enough credit.
• INFPs are usually talented writers.

I used this personality typing information to determine a new career for myself when I decided I needed a new one. One thing that was apparent to me was that with being an INFP, I was in the wrong profession as a software engineer. Being a librarian was something I knew I wanted to do when a family friend (a retired librarian) said that librarians are nice people.

I have taken 4 classes with an in-class component and 6 purely virtual classes so far in my library science program. The classes with a live classroom component have been more enjoyable to me because even though I am an introvert and I express myself better via the written word than orally; I enjoy the participation in real time discussions. I am a good listener in class and like to answer the teacher’s questions. I thrive on positive feed back. I like having lunch with class members and chatting about general library subjects.

Last spring I took Social Epistemology and had a very difficult time with the purely virtual class. Because of my high standards I was afraid to post messages in the discussions because I felt like I had a poor grasp of what the material was about. Once I got over my fears and was not afraid of sounding stupid, I finally made some contributions. Also, this class required analytical thinking that was a big step beyond what I am used to, it was very difficult for me to wrap my brain around the concepts.

In my Information Technology class, I was in a group with two very nice women who knew very little about the subject. We talked on the phone every week for a couple hours and I took the role of explaining the material to them. I really enjoyed being helpful (I like that about my WebCT GAT position as well). And I enjoyed the social interaction that accompanied the phone calls -- I made two good friends.

I took Decision Support Systems as an elective at SDSU here in San Diego last year. The class is taught in the Information Decision Systems department. Most of the people taking the class were getting their MBA. One of the things that we did in the class was to determine what kind of a decision maker you were. The four types of decision makers are

• Analytical
• Directive
• Conceptual
• Behavioral

I was the only Behavioral decision maker in the class of ~20. Most of the class was Analytical. The teacher made the comment (with his unique sense of humor), that Analytical people can’t stand Behavioral people. Well, having worked with computers for 29 years of my 42 years, I am probably more analytical than the average Behavioral type. But I tend to use intuition over logic. And feeling is more prominent with me than thinking.

In virtual classes where I have had to collaborate on a group project I have enjoyed myself and have worked hard to avoid any possible conflict. I tend to keep my writing very simple and it is hopefully easy to understand. I think this has worked well in most of my virtual classes.

-- John