Personality Theory for Real Life (The Color Code and other motivations behind our actions)

Have you ever wondered why in the world a friend of yours made such a seemingly crazy decision? Most likely there have been many people in everyone's life that have wondered that same thing. The funny thing is, most people are not insane and their decisions make perfect sense to them. It is very difficult to understand where they are coming from until you know, well, where they are coming from! I have very much agreed with what Dr. Taylor Hartman explained in his bookThe Color Code and his theory behind our core motivations.

It's an interesting read. He gets down to the point. I will start with this personality theory because everything else centers around our core "color" or motive.

RED (power)

BLUE (relationships/ intimacy)

WHITE (peace)

Yellow(fun)

If your wondering how this information is practical here is a statistic from the color code website (www.colorcode.com)

✔ Eighty-five percent of people fired last year were let go because of relationship problems at work.

Because these core motives affect the actions we do, people with the same color respond in similar ways. For example:

• Reds tend to hide their insecurities tightly. This is because they see their weakness as a threat to the power they seek.
• Blues tend to be the only color that reveals their insecurities in the opinion that the display of weakness is worth the relationship that stems from this.
• Whites tend to withhold their insecurities as to not upset the balance and peace of things, and
• Yellows tend to (loosely) hide their insecurities so more people will like who they are and have more fun with them.

The real application here is how to interact with people of another type/color in ways that will benefit each person equally with the least amount of miscommunication possible.

In a YELLOW/ RED relationship a RED might become frustrated over the yellows irrisponsible and unfocused nature while the YELLOW could potentially become exasperated with the REDs buttoned down negative attitude. However this team can work very well together when focusing on where they can fill in the gaps for each other.

• RED's need YELLOW's to "cheerlead for them" and "teach them charisma"
• YELLOW's need RED's to Focus and Praise them.

It is a matter of understanding what each person needs most.

If you want to take the test and find out what color you are go to www.colorcode.com, this test is free if you want only your primary color (your main motive) without your secondary color(your learned and or background behaviors). The test will also give you a deeper look into what your color actually means.

Myers Briggs is a popular psychological test from the Jung personality theory. In this theory there are 4 different letters you can have that all represent separate characteristics.

1. I/E is introversion and extroversion, basically how you recharge your mental batteries; with your self or with others.
2. N/S is iNtuition/ Sensing. This part of the label is more difficult to define than the other 3. Sensing is paying more attention to the physical world through the 5 senses. iNtuition, on the other hand focuses on the interpretation behind the actuality.
3. F/T is Felling and Thinking. This is whether you make decisions on a logical basis or take each individual situation and based on the circumstances and how it will effect other people decide.
4. P/J is Perceiving and Judging. Perceiving people will try to leave options open, while Judging type prefer to get things decided.

There is not a clear cut motivation or color for each type, but their are some common themes for each. For example, because Reds and Whites work on logic and Blues and Yellows work on emotion it would be more common for a Red or a White to have the "thinking" characteristic, while a blue or a yellow would be more likely to have a "feeling" one. The colors do not separate intraversion from extroversion. There are both introverts and Extroverts in every color category.

There is plenty of variation in what color and Jung types people are. As a Blue INFP I have met many other Blue ESTJ's. Remember that the colors are just what motivates we to act and not necessarily how we act.

A good way to learn more about how to work with different Jung types is to become involved in an email or forum for what ever type you want to learn about. There are plenty of these types of groups and blogs online.

http://personalitycafe.com is a great place to go if you are interested in learning more through personal experience.

Here are some other places to look:

INFP http://www.infpblog.com/

INTJ http://intjforum.com/