Get to Know Yourself

Getting to Know Yourself: Our personality and characteristics are what makes us unique and who we are as individuals.

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Psychologists had previously looked to put individuals into types, for example Carl Jung talked about people being an extrovert or an introvert. However, now there is more acceptance that people don’t fit neatly into this type, no one person is likely to be all extrovert or all introvert, and so the concentration is now more on traits.

Psychometric Testing

At one-point psychometric testing was used heavily in recruitment, for corporate companies to recruit the right person for the job. Perhaps looking for a self-starter, or a team-player. This may be one useful application of such assessments, but it can also be very helpful on an individual level to know and understand your personality and traits.

Generally speaking, it is accepted in psychological fields that there are five ‘big’ personality trait areas: Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Openness and Sensitivity.

Get to Know Yourself Personality

Below you will see a list of words under each of those headings. To get to know your personality, review each of the words and decide if you identify with one word on the scale or the other. If you feel that neither word quite fits, then you can substitute it for another word, that fits you and sits somewhere on the sliding scale.

Doing this exercise, can really bring to light your strengths and weaknesses, and gives some substance to why you do certain things, and make the decisions you do. Whether you are focused on the past or present, whether you are prepared to push outside of your comfort zone or not and more…

Try not to approach this exercise with judgement, but more with a mindful approach to exploring the real you!

Agreeableness

Compassionate – Implacable

Cooperative – Sceptical

Compromising – Determined

Amenable – Resolute

Responsive – Composed

Conscientiousness

Responsible – Relaxed

Dutiful – Self-Motivated

Careful – Spontaneous

Meticulous – Decisive

Perfectionist – Self-tolerant

Extraversion

Assertive – Flexible

Energetic – Calm

Sociable – Self-contained

Talkative – Contemplative

Expressive – Reticent

Openness

Curious – Convinced

Experimental – Selective

Creative – Consolidating

Imaginative – Logical

Independent – Consistent

Sensitivity

Optimistic – Questioning

Resilient – Empathetic

Confident – Tentative

Inspiring – Impressionable

Trusting – Watchful

*If you do more reading in this area, you may find the ‘big five’ traits are titled differently, neuroticism used instead of sensitivity for example. Equally the wording scales can differ, but should generally reflect the same meanings. Here I have used words as described in Practical Mindfulness Book (Future PLC).