People process the world in strikingly different ways. Some of us draw energy from an internal source, perceive the environment around us through intuition and make choices based on how we feel. Others find their energy and motivation from the external world, understand the surrounding environment through the senses and make decisions based on rational judgment. Failing to recognize these drastic poles of personality can lead us to misunderstand each other and even misunderstand ourselves.

Carl Jung created a theory about what causes the wide range of personalities among people. He hypothesized that people experience the world through the lens of being introverted or extroverted, intuitive or sensing and feeling or thinking. Later, Isabel Briggs Myers added a fourth dimension — judging vs. perceiving — to describe the sources people use to make choices. Her formulation of Jung’s work has been shaped into the Myers-Briggs personality theory.

We’ve drawn from Jung and Myers-Briggs’ way of thinking about how people experience the world differently to help you understand what distinguishes your own way of interacting with the world. Have you ever reacted extremely strongly to a situation and not understood what was at the root of your response? Have you ever had an intense disagreement with a friend or a partner and not been able to find out what caused it in the first place? Understanding your own personality type is the first step to better understanding yourself and others. You can take that step by answering these simple questions!