Interpersonal Communication- A Mindful Approach to Relationships, 2020a

Children’s Literature Tigger Eeyore Rabbit Pooh
Charlie Brown Characters Snoopy Linus Lucy Charlie Brown
Who Moved My Cheese? Scurry Hem Sniff Haw
LEAD Test Expresser Analyst Leader Dependable
Eysenck’s EPQ-R
High
Extravert
Low Neurotic
Low Extravert
High Neurotic
High Extravert
High Neurotic
Low Extravert
Low Neurotic
Table 3.1. Comparing 4-Personality Types
And before you ask, none of the research examining the four types has found clear sex differences
among the patterns. Females and males are seen proportionately in all four categories.
For example, training publisher HRDQ publishes the “What’s My Style?” series (http://www.
hrdqstore.com/Style), and has applied the four-personalities to the following workplace issues: coaching,
communication, leadership, learning, selling, teams, and time management.
David Keirsey argues that the consistent use of the four temperament types (whatever terms we use) is
an indication of the long-standing tradition and complexity of these ideas. 41
In the world of personality, one of the most commonly discussed concepts in research is the Big Five.
In the late 1950s, Ernest C. Tupes and Raymond E. Christal conducted a series of studies examining a
model of personality. 42,43 Ultimately, they found five consistent personality clusters they labeled: surgency,
agreeableness, dependability, emotional stability, and culture). Listed below are the five broad personality
categories with the personality trait words in parentheses that were associated with these categories:
1. Surgency (silent vs. talkative; secretive vs. frank; cautious vs. adventurous; submissive vs. assertive;
and languid, slow vs. energetic)
2. Agreeableness (spiteful vs. good-natured; obstructive vs. cooperative; suspicious vs. trustful; rigid
vs. adaptable; cool, aloof vs. attentive to people; jealous vs. not so; demanding vs. emotionally
mature; self-willed vs. mild; and hard, stern vs. kindly)
3. Dependability (frivolous vs. responsible and unscrupulous vs. conscientious; indolent vs.
insistently orderly; quitting vs. persevering; and unconventional vs. conventional)
4. Emotional Stability (worrying, anxious vs. placid; easily upset vs. poised, tough; changeable vs.
emotionally stable; neurotic vs. not so; hypochondriacal vs. not so; and emotional vs. calm)
5. Culture (boorish vs. intellectual, cultured; clumsy, awkward vs. polished; immature vs.
independent-minded; lacking artistic feelings vs. esthetically fastidious, practical, logical vs.
imaginative)
Although Tupes and Christal were first, they were not the only psychologists researching the idea of
personality clusters.
Two other researchers, Robert R. McCrae and Paul T. Costa, expanded on Tupes and Christal’s
work to create the OCEAN Model of personality. McCrae and Costa originally started examining just
three parts of the model, openness, neuroticism, and extroversion, 44 but the model was later expanded
to include both conscientiousness and agreeableness (Figure 3.7). 45 Before progressing forward, take
a minute and complete one of the many different freely available tests of the Five Factor Model of
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