What is Your Personality, Thinking or Feeling?

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 see if you can figure out which one fits you best.

We all know what it means to think and to feel. But thinking and feeling have different meanings when we talk about personality type preferences. According to type theory, thinking and feeling are actually two different decision-making modes. So, thinkers tend to step out of situations to make their decisions, looking at issues based on an objective standard of truth. While feelers prefer to step into situations and make decisions more subjectively by putting themselves into other people's shoes.

Thinkers typically use data, logic, and cause-and-effect analysis to come to the one best answer. Feelers use their personal values, empathy, and compassion when they are deciding what to do. Both types want to be fair in their decision making, but they have different definitions of fairness. Thinkers believe fairness means holding everyone to the same standard and applying rules equally, based on whatever principle or law that applies. Feelers believe that fairness means considering each person's particular situation and allowing for exceptions to the rule based on any potential negative impact or to meet that person's individual needs.

Thinkers value competence and tend to critique in order to find flaws that can be corrected, so they can sometimes appear to feelers to be rather blunt or critical at times. Feelers value personal relationships and tend to overlook flaws, preferring to show appreciation and praise, so they can appear to thinkers to ignore problems or give people too many chances. It's important to remember that thinkers feel and feelers think. When you're making a big decision, you most likely will look at both the objective and subjective aspects of the situation. But which do you tend to use first? Which is more important to you?

Do you start with the logical analysis and then think about how your decision might affect others? Or do you immediately consider the impact on people and relationships and then start scrutinizing the objective facts? One more thing to consider when making your decision is the cultural bias for men to be thinkers and women to be feelers. But research has shown that men and women have an almost equal chance of being a thinker or feeler. So, if you're torn between choosing thinking or feeling, it may be that you're being pulled toward one because of social expectations, but your natural preference is actually for the other. So, do you feel that you are a thinker?

Thinkers are logical and analytical. They use objective principles to make their decisions. They are reasonable and fair because they treat everyone the same. And they look for what is true and what is false in a situation. Or do you think that you're a feeler? Feelers are kind and empathetic. They use subjective inner values to decide the best course. They are understanding and fair because they treat everyone as an individual. And they look for what is good and what is bad in a situation. So, whether you are a thinker or a feeler, you have unique strengths and blind spots. One is not better than the other. They are both rational ways of making decisions.

These other preferences are extraversion or introversion, sensing or intuition, and judging or perceiving. 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.