Welcome to Willow Tree Training's Type Transformations, a video series to help you learn more about
yourself and transform your world.
In this video, we will explore one of the dichotomies of personality type theory.
What do we mean by that?
Well, the definition of a dichotomy is a difference between two completely opposite ideas or things.
Your personality type is made up of four preferences, chosen from the four dichotomies of extraversion
or introversion, sensing or intuition, thinking or feeling, and judging or perceiving.
You have a natural, in-born preference for one or the other options of the four dichotomies.
So let's explore these preferences, and while you're watching, see if you can figure out
which one fits you best.
Ready?
Let's go!
The final preference pair in your personality type is Judging or Perceiving.
But those words can be misleading.
Judging does not mean judgmental, and perceiving does not mean perceptive.
The terms actually relate to how you live your daily life.
When Carl Jung first described his type theory, he called our middle two letters, which are
our sensing or intuition and thinking or feeling, our “mental functions."
He said that one of those functions is used in our outer world, so he called it our extraverted
function.
This is what you use in your daily life.
It's what people typically see about you.
Some of us use our judging function, our thinking or feeling, in our daily lives, and some of
us use our perceiving function, our sensing or intuition, in our daily lives.
So the mother-daughter team of Katherine Briggs and Isabel Briggs Myers, who created the four
letter code that make up the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, added this last letter just
as a pointer to indicate which of your mental functions is used in your daily life.
This means that judgers show the world their decision-making function, thinking or feeling.
So they just tend to be more decisive.
They feel better once a decision has been made, and they tend to come to conclusions
pretty quickly.
Perceivers, on the other hand, show the world their information gathering function, their
sensing or intuition.
They prefer to take in information as long as possible before making a decision, so they
tend to put off making decisions until they have all the information they need.
Judgers prefer closure and to feel like they are in control of their lives and schedules.
They like to be organized, make a plan, follow it through, and get everything done, often
before the deadline.
Perceivers don’t necessarily feel the need to control their lives.
They prefer to experience life as it happens.
And because they are perpetual information gatherers, they would rather just make a tentative
plan, because if new information comes in that indicates they should change course,
they are willing to adapt at the last minute.
Judgers like to separate their lives into work and play.
They want to get all their work done before they can relax and go play.
If they try to play and they don’t have everything done, they will be worried about
all the stuff they should be doing.
Perceivers like to mix work and play.
They feel like they can be more productive if they are allowed to have fun while they
work.
Probably the biggest difference between judgers and perceivers is how they view time.
Judgers see time as finite and something to be managed.
They structure and organize their day, preferring to stick to their planned schedule.
And if they don’t have a deadline for a project, they will usually give themselves
a deadline so that they can feel that sense of accomplishment when they finish.
Perceivers see time as fluid and feel restricted if they are stuck to a set plan or schedule.
They tend to do most of their work at the last minute because most of their time is
spent in the information gathering mode, and they prefer to use all the time they are given.
This gives them a reputation as procrastinators, but for perceivers, it’s not really procrastination.
They just don’t want to finish something too soon because there is a danger that they
might have missed something.
And if you don’t give a deadline to a perceiver, the project might never get completely done
because closure is uncomfortable for them.
They will want to keep fiddling with it, continually perfecting and improving it.
So are you a judger?
Judgers like to have a sense of control over their lives and schedules.
They prefer to make a plan and follow it through.
They like the feeling of closure that comes with making a decision or finishing a task.
And they want to get all their work done before they play.
Or are you a perceiver?
Perceivers are flexible and spontaneous, preferring to experience life as it happens.
They find agendas and schedules confining, and would rather go with the flow.
They like to gather information as long as possible before coming to closure.
And they can play and work at the same time.
So whether you are a judger or a perceiver, you have unique strengths and blind spots.
One is not better than the other.
They are both valid ways living your daily life.
Be sure to watch more of our videos to discover your other three preferences.
These other preferences are extraversion or introversion, sensing or intuition, and thinking
or feeling.
And remember, the best way to discover your personality type is to take the Myers-Briggs
Type Indicator with a certified practitioner to go over your results.
Visit our web site at www.willowtreetraining.com for more information about having one of our
certified MBTI practitioners assess your personality type.
Until next time, keep leading, learning, and transforming.