#extratypology

In this series, we will look at “The Neuroscience of Personality” by Dario Nardi.

Entries in this series will be linked here as I get around to writing them. Subdivisions may be subject to change..

Generalities about the Book

Your Brain as a Toolkit

It was something included in one of the 12gram books as a qualifier/addition to your 12gram. 

I did not detail it in my initial series because I did not think it added terribly much or had particularly unique distinctions but at some point I added my classification to my description more for completeness’ sake (maybe one day a person familiar with it will come along?) and some people (namely  @jerdle) got curious as to what was meant by “Queen of Diamonds”, so I guess now you can decide for yourselves. This cost me a day, slightly a token of friendship but mostly mysself being ridden by my completionist urge. I hope one or two people appreciate it.

Reviewing it here has actually made me think of how it perhaps does add some dimension not otherwise captured.

The Theory

The whole thing is based on yet another idea of a “Soul Anatomy”/ Subdivision of the psyche and the idea that certain parts are more pronounced in certain people, that we have what they term a “center of gravity”. a part we default to unless we’re paying attention. 

Unlike the 3 in the classic enneagram, this theory subdivides the mind into 4 intelligence centers:

The instinctual center. The inbuilt software and base drives, as it were. This is also what allots all higher functions their energy, hence why ppl often commit to more than they can actually do once they feel worn out. (Indeed i wrote this sentence right before interrupting this article for a lunch break. Lets nom some leek gratin.) 

The moving center - Learned skills and reactions. Rule of Thumb: If a baby can do it, its instinctual (though babies can do alot more than ppl assume), if it has to be learned or trained, it’s moving. A baby knows to suck, look around for things to nom and cry if none is available, but they need to learn to hold a bottle or spoon. This seems somewhat analogous to Jung’s Sensing function(s). 

The intellectual center - NOT strictly mbti Thinking since it also involves abstract thought, symbols and concepts. 

The emotional center - Your FEEELINGS, including both basic emotion & sophisticated social and ethical processing in the sense of Jungian “feeling”. Aesthetic distinctions are also here.

Each of these has a “positive” or “negative” part or a central dialectical contrast (relevant later if combiined with either postivistic or negativistic Essence types)

For the intincstual center, thats comfort vs discomfort, pleasure or pain. For the moving center, it’s moving vs rest, for the intellectual, it’s yes/no or true/false, whereas for the emotional center it’s like vs dislike or right/wrong.  

Depending on their dominant center, a person may describe the same events in different ways or pay attention to different aspects of experience - 

Picture, for example, four people at a restaurant. An instinctually centered person will notice the quality of the nom stuff, the temperature of the room, the ratio of price to portion size, wether the chairs are comfy etc. A Moving centered person will notice the spatial positions of the tables, how easy it is to maneuver between them for the waiters, funny background events, what various people are doing & with how much skill,(eg. a clumsy waiter balancing things wrong) - meanwhile an emotionally centered person would pay attention to the people most of all & notice stuff like bored children, couples arguing etc. & focus on keeping their conversation partner engaged, all the whiletheir intellectually centered spouse blabbers on about some article they read, say, about the relation between currency exchange rates and political unrest.

According to the author you can easily pick out someone’s dominant center by hearing them talk, at times easier than it is for the person themselves, who, after all, sees their usual PoV and way of operating as simply “normal.”

When asked to tell you their life story, for example, a moving-centered person might tell you all the places they went and used to live, and recount activities or sensory impressions, whereas an emotionally centered person will phrase things in terms of relationships and their reactions & feelings about things

the instinctually centered folks are usually determined by principle of exclusion (or thatr’s what the author did) as they simply don’t communicate as many preoccupations & perceive things more as sensory images than semi-verbal judgements.   

In addition, each of these can be further subdivided into a “mechanical” part, an “emotional part” and an “intellectual” part - And out of a given center, 

“the mechanical part” represents actions that can be taken without paying attention, because they have become learned/ automatic

“The Emotional Part” is in charge when your attention is held by an external object or stimulus that you react to. This part is emotional about the center’s functioning, whatever it happens to be, & thus the seat of enthusiasm. 

“The “Intellectual part” pertains to behavior/ actions done when you sustain attention through deliberate effort beyond where your whims would lead you

These which may or may not roughly with the classic eneagram’s instincts but it already doesn’t match in my case so yeah, not equivalent.

“Dominant Center + Dominant Part” would then be your full typing possibly tacked onto whatever your 12gram/ Essence type happens to be.

Because spelling out stuff like “The emotional part of the emotional center” gets clunky soon (& uses the same word to mean different things) and because these esoterics ppl are all so damn extra, they refer to your classic western card game for terminology: 

Mechanical Part: Jack

Emotional Part: Queen (I know, I know... -.-)

Intellectual Part: King 

Instinctual Center: Clubs

Moving Center: Spades

Intellectual Center: Diamonds

Emotional Center: Hearts (no shit sherlock)

So you can comfortably replace the afore-mentioned clunky term by “Queen of Hearts” - and yes, the book did make the obvious reference/joke. 

The idea is that the mechanical parts can be, and often are doing completely independent things, whereas the ‘Queens’ can influence each other and the kings can consciously cooperate, and functionality/enlightenment can be seen as a measure of how much your centers are in alignment, doing the same thing rather than goin on autopilot (here we find some overlap with the classic enneagram philosophy wise)

There’s also a concept of ‘process’ here in that new information usually catches the attention of the ‘queen’ where interest is generated, then the ‘king’ must put in effort to understand & master the thing, until it is eventually stored in the mechanical part so that the ‘jack’ can now do it at any time.

One exeption is the instinctual center whose ‘mechanical’ part de facto consists of inborn biological programing and is a hardware limitation, so to speak, although i suppose epigenetics could have some influence.

BTW: the author briefly mentions mbti at one point and says than an intellectually centered Lunar would get INTJ... which i can see for some INTJs but mine are, as it happens, both Mercury-Saturns in the 12gram. IDK about this thing, gotta think & introvert about it. 

The Types

Jack of Clubs

Here we find the mantaining of basic homeostasis and largely unconscious body functions, the stuff we don’t normally think about unless we are cold, hungry or sick. We may note sudden fluctuations such as an adrenaline spike but usually what we’ll pay attention to is its cause. 

A person centered in the jack of clubs will not necessarily be a hypochondriac (though they can be), but they’ll automatically look out for, and invest energy in their wellbeing and comfort without needing to be reminded - This is also the friend who may not have the most exciting stories (as they tend regard adventures and explorations with mild alarm and don’t hugely seek out novelty for it’s own sake), but looks out for your welbeing & comfort and can give great advice on such matters that can be of huge practical use in everyday life & help you free up energy for other things through a new diet or napping regiment or something that helps you chill. 

Speaking of chill, their concern with homeostasis primarily generally makes them even-tempered, mellow and cogenial folks without much drama potential, though some might wish for more stimulating companions. They’re placid, unobstrusive everyman types who go through life without much fuss or bother who prefer the familiar and wholesome. If they do travel, they might be fussy about what to bring in order to fulfill every possible need & be comfortable. 

Others might find them a bit mysterious because they don’t seem all that concerned with, and certainly aren’t constantly ranting about,  abstract ideas, activities or other people’s business. They are often good at their jobs but not overly invested beyond a level of detached competence. 

Queen of Clubs

These are basically the Appetites - the emotional part of the instinctual center is emotional about sensations. It’s the process of taking in stimuli through the five senses and deciding wether they’re pleasant or unpleasant (not necessarily the same as wether they’re actually good for your survival - see suggary food. ) - It evaluates the stimulus itself more than its context so this is where we can be lead to indulge cravings or bad habits. Usually the ‘stimulus’ or ‘object of attention’ is something more benign tho - like when you are tired and keep thinking of sleeping, or when you’re hungry and see a delicious Pizza.

People who are centered in the Queen of Clubs will naturally be more aware of pleasant and unpleasant sensations, so they will try to create comfortable and pleasurable environments full of nice things to appeal to their senses - pretty furniture, nice smells, rich fabric etc. They’llbe inclined to be a bit of a gourmand, connoseur or aesthete and might even turn this into their job, for example as an interior designer or someone who sells handmade ceramics. 

They’re often considered very attractive regardless of their appearance (often without being aware of it or thinking it a big deal) because of their natural sensuality and “animal magnetism” - besides, their interest in pleasure and comfort usually extends to others, or as a bonding activity: They want their friends to be well-fed, comfy and enjoying nice things. This totally extends to their sexuality as well - they frequently have an “If it feels good, it’s good” attitude & might not be the world’s most responsible people, as they tend to be focussed on things that hold their attention. This none-too -disciplined, impulsive quality is the whole basis of consumer culture - people will have their attention occupied by having better/more/shinier until they get gratification & then the fun begins anew.

Despite this, they can also have a pronounced maternal quality & strong caring/mentoring instincts - after all mother instincts are crucial for the survival of the species which ppl can seen as being the same as one’s own survival in an evolutional sense.

The thing with all the queens (and a crucial thing to know about people centered in them) - is that since they’re all about these strong “good/bad” judgements, they have a lot of those and their can chance and fluctuate as the person becomes more or fed up with whatever held their attention so they’re not the most reliable or steady folks. If you date on of these be aware that they’re a package deal - you can’t have the liking & vivacity without the revulsion and dislike. 

King of Clubs

While the emotional part of the instinctual center is rather liberal with expending it’s energies, the intellectual part is cautious about preserving it for when it might be needed to sustain one’s life - It is the cunning and perceptive animal mind, the fight or flight instinct, something that strives to observe & keep track of its surroundings & the other processes the person is doing without being all too detectable itself- as such, it can ever seem mysterious, even a bit sinister. 

Unlike the other intellectual parts it doesn’t have its attention directed by the person, but is a background process type of thing, which, for most people, kicks in in exceptional times,the exceptional awareness, preseverance and reaction speed of high-adrenaline situations - sudden alertness, time slowing down, pain being blocked out until later, small unatlethic parents lifting heavy objects to save their trapped children, that sort of thing. 

A person centered in the King Of Clubs, then, is someone very in touch with their strong, pronounced survival instincts and likely to seem formidable to others - they’re not really approachable or comfortable to be around unless one has come to know them quite well, and that only occurs if and when they wish for someone to know them well -  They can be intimidating when they want to, at times verging on seeming brutal, almost as if they could errect an invisible wall to repell unwanted advances.

With the survival calculations everyone does in the background much closer to their conscious awareness, they can be quite suspicious, perceptive and exceptionally aware of their surroundings, and calculating about many things in life. Some of them can also have or develop great charisma and exert much influence over others. 

As it represents the highest developed part of our animal nature, it’s probably no coincidence that, as an archetype, this sort of personality is often found in movie villains - or think the archetypical gunslinger.

Jack of Spades

This is your repertoire of learned movements, all manner of complex procedural knowledge, from how to catch a ball to using a keyboard, driving a bike etc. all of the complex movements we do everyday which we once had to learn but can now do without thinking - like when you are walking and thinking mostly of where to go or typing and thinking of words, but having little awareness of your actual feet or fingers - this is never more clear than, say, when one walks or drives the wrong way out of habit. 

 the same time this unconscious procedural knowledge often does actions more efficiently than we would if he had to figure out every step (See the centipede’s dilemma - ppl confusing themselves & having a hard time getting back into the rythm of an action after thinking about how they’re doing it/ when paying more attention. There’s a reason why all those meditation audios tell you not to listen “while driving or operation machinery”)

A person centered in the jack of spades is usually a creature of habit: steady, down-to earth, efficient and consistent in performance with great tolerance for routine or repetitive motions that would bore or tire others beyond endurance - as such they make perfect employees for a great manner of jobs from everything to repair, data entry, farming, accounting or warehouse stock control - and luckily enough it’s a very common center of gravity, humanity as a whole does seem suited to taking care of the various stuff that needs doing.

One way to identify one of these for sure (as opposed to ppl who just do automatic drudgework because they have to, as all of us do) is to watch if they resort to repetitive motions in time of stress - people cutting up vegetables, agressively cleaning or mowing the lawn after an argument with their spouse, for example, perhaps leading the spouse to wonder how they can be concerned with such banal, mundane things at a moment like this - They’re not being insensitive, it’s just their coping mechanism, they’re doing the best they can to deal with their emotional pain in a constructive manner. People are, in general, much more likely to revert to their ‘default’ center when under stress.

Sometimes you have to make the diagnosis by principle of exclusion - relatively steady, don’t seem overly concerned with emotions or ideas, etc; while the intellectual part of the moving center will lose interest in something after it’s fully mastered, these folks don’t mind doing the same job all their life or living in the same neighborhood. 

Queen of Spades

While the Jack of spades is characterized by its steadiness, the queen is dintinguished by a lack thereof - as with the other emotional parts, it gets the feels about this particular function (in this case, movement) and has its attention held by a particular object, in this case an action, movement, kinesthetic experience or spatial problem - its the part that enjoys sports, or watching sports (though the patience & rigor to become exeptional - indeed seeking thrills can end in the hospital instead)

Here lives the need for speed, the enjoyment of fast cars, video games, amusement park rides, action movies and physical comedy, and if we consider how much cash we as a species spends on such things you get an idea of the moving mind’s importance. 

A person centered in the Queen of Spades is often flashy and extravagant in their movements, moves more than necessary for a given activity. They like novelty and can flip from obsessively practicing a new activity to losing all interest in it once they get bored - as such it should be little surprise that they like traveling, often to new unusual places rather than the hugely monetized tourist hangouts. 

They might be the sort willing to make do with very little and lead a bohemian vagabond hippie lifestyle in order to escape the ghastly fate of working a boring repetitive job and staying in one place for too long, chasing cool & worthwhile experiences such as mountainclimbing, wild water rafting or karate lessons in more of a breadth than a depht approach. 

King of Spades

The kind of physical action that requires sustained attention - such as operating heavy machinery where one moment of inattention can end in severing an important water pipe or power cable, or losing a finger. This part of the moving mind operates much slower and more deliberate than the others - the domain of careful, intentional movements. 

As such, it is inextricably linked with tool use, crafting and technology, the search for finding better, easier, smoother and more efficient ways to do all manner of physical tasks - it is also what we use to figure out objects and how they work - you may be able to assemble an ikea chair, lego or a tricycle all on your own just by looking at the parts and how they fit together - or you might resort to reading the manual for a little help from the intellectual center. (It’s worth noting that procedural knowledge is indeed in a wholly different brain region than abstract knowledge or biographical memories - you could have complete amnesia and still know how to fix a bike or learn gardening.)

It is of little surprise that people who have this as their primary center are in high demand in our current technology based economy - not only are they neede to invent, refine and improve all sorts of devices, they are needed to fix them for the technologically challenged. Such people are capable of greats effort of sustained attention when trying to solve a particular problem, be it to break new athlethic records, design video games or new techniques for animaztion or to improve some vulnerable part of an engine, they can focus their attention on the problem for days, months or years until it is finally solved. 

But while they find great satisfaction in problem-solving, they easily lose interest once the basic question has been solved, at times leading to a trail of unfinished projects or more endurant people perfectingtheir new techniques for them. 

Movement in the strictest sense isn’t their only province, but also an understandng of spatial relationships and composition - meaning, this is a kind of skill than an architect, engineer or surgeon would need. 

Jack of Diamonds

As with the other centers, this is kind of the “memory” where already acquired knowledge goes to be recalled -  Information on facts or cause and effect relations as simple data. This is where you keep all the basic information you need to function in the world, and when you think of it it’s quite amazing how much of that even relatively “dumb” humans contain - At least one language (in some areas you need way more), knowledge of abstract systems like money and numbers, some idea of what one needs to purchase so they and their family can live, where to get a cheap deal, the history & mythology of where the live, some  trivia about their favorite, and a bunch of politcal opinions for which they might be willing to shoot their neighbor, so yeah - 

This is where we return to the adage: “Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit Salad.” The Jack of Diamond is more like the mind’s file clerk, it retrieves data with a “true/false” label attached upon a certain trigger - like a question or related topic, leading to many a mental or conversational wiki walk. Rote memorization obviously has its limits, especially where discernment needs to be applied or many contradictory factors need to be considered, or where Data needs to be updated and there’s a danger with sticking with the first information you got “filled” with as the only correct one.

If you challende a person who has their center of gravity in the Jack of Diamonds to a pop quiz or game of trivial pursuit, you will lose - They are always in the process of acquiring all kinds of raw, exact information and can recite a lot of it very quickly, often to the effect of impressing nearby people and garnering a reputation. The death & birth dates of celebrities, the ingredients in food, any funfacts about historical events... they stockpile it all just for its own sake, if perhaps in what others may consider a dry or dusty manner. 

They are not necessarily overly enthusiastic or exited about the information but they kinda take it in for completeness’ sake. This is more the sweatervest nerd than the passionate one, but they do pretty well in academic disciplines that require rigor, attention to detail and turning raw data into publishable work. , doing statistical tests or methodcal analysis (Including in literature/ the humanities)

Queen of Diamonds

As with the other Queens, the queen of diamonds is marked by animation and enthusiasm, though it can be as transient as an object keeping your attention - in this case the objects are ideas, theories, facts, ways of thinking and ways of thinking about thinking, but non indiscriminately or all at once - rather there’s a pattern of changing “current obsession” - In other words, this is the seat of curiosity and fascination and “exiciteable” nerds. 

A commontrait for ppl centered in the Queen of Diamond is owning a stack of books they bought because of interest in the basic concepts but then they don’t always  get around to reading or finishing them because something else occupied their attention. 

Even so, they’re often sought out as friends and companions because they provide stimulating conversation that might distract you from your instinctive or emotional quagmires - who doesn’t like some nerd humor or interesting debates?

More a breadth than a depht of knowledge here, they might be too exclectic for the rigors required of scholars, but make good generalists, enthusiastic teachers and good science-related communicators, though they might have a problem with staying on course or doing the repetition expected in a teacher’s role one they grow bored of something. 

King of Diamonds

This is where the fruit salad comes in, or rather, study time! Sustaining attention to intellectual matters even when it seems like drudgery, and ultimately a necessity for functioning in academic settings, even in matters one is reasonably enthusiastic for to reach understanding &  pass exams, one must study even on you ‘off’ days and even the less exciting topics - on such days, attention needs to be explicitly focussed through sustained effort, and that is where the King of Diamonds comes in. 

It’s one of the slowest moving parts of the human mind - in contrast to the quick, repeated answers of the Jack of Diamonds, this is a long, laborious process that comes with the understanding that we cannot have all the answers because there’s still much we don’t know - rather than applying quick good/bad or true/false statements, this part understands the relativity of context and how a precept that may be helpful in one situation may be inappropriate or even criminal in another - rather than seeing the facts and ideas as individual data points it tries to fit them all and their connections together into a whole like a precariously balanced house of cards. 

People with their center in the king of diamonds tend to be quiet and wait long before speaking and so, might ironically be mistaken for dullards (Doesn’t help that this type is supposedly fairly unusual.)    - they are so tentative and careful about ideas that it can be hard to tell that they are, in fact, quite absorbed in ideas - it’s the part that knows that it doesn’t know. They are hesitant to make assertions unless they are certain - while knowing that you can never fully know - indeed if you asked one of them what their center of gravity is, they’d most likely answer that they don’t know. 

Jack of Hearts

So, let us think. What would be an ‘automatic’ or ‘memorized’ response in regards to... social processing? (as if I had to read through/eat the author’s anti-intellectualism again, I get to stress that as much as they are as sophisticated as abstract reasoning and all parts of a whole, social processing & value judgements  =/= emotions)

Well, this would be “politeness/manners/habitual pleasantries”, automatic responses we produce in relation to others - this is also where cultural sensibilities and attitudes are encoded, deeply rooted and difficult to observe - but all to obvious if we spend a while in a different circle or culture and find that the responses we have taken for granted are no longer appropriate - volumes have been written about the various subtle differences in the way that people from different cultures handle things like time, personal space, relationships to family members and strangers, business transactions dining andmany others complex interactions of social life. 

We learn these mechanical responses by imitation when we are very young, long before we even realize that we’re learning anything - and often those differences in responses can be recognized very early on in toddlers and babies - no wonder we don`t always realize that they are learned. These responses can produce many of the same emotions we find in the ‘queen’ of hearts, but compared to those, they are much less intense & ebb away once our friends and relatives lose interest in the matter, since they are merely being imitated. - This mechanism is also what’s responsible for “crowd emotions”, huge groups of people being swept up in fervors ar concerts, sporting events and political rallies... or after tragedie, crimes and disasters, mass hysteria etc

Wether restrained or violently demonstrative, this automatic imitation of the group’s emotional tenor is one of the most characteristi manifestations of the jack of hearts. This part of the psyche can be sentimental and affectionate, but just as easily cold & rejecting, depending on the stimulus - Loyalty toward one group can turn to violence against the other, prejudice may be absorbed alongside otherwise helpful socalization, there’s a risk of us vs them thinking & sheeple groupthink - Though in its proper context when balanced by the other parts of the person, the Jack of Hearts has an important function to perform in providing the social lubricant necessary for unfamiliar people to interact within the same society and offset initial instrinctual-level suspicious (exactly what is sometimes missing between members of different cultures, allowing those latent suspicions to take over) - this is also how ppl pick up their culture’s aesthetic sensibilities and tastes. 

A person centered in the Jack of Hearts will usually have a friendly and gregarious demeanor (unless they were raised by total bigots, or had very negative experienced growing up, which might lead them to meet others with a lot of fear and suspicious) - typically, though, they are cheerful and positive in most social situations and appear caring and warm in most relationships.

This type is very attuned to the little social conventions of friendship - expect lots of birthday/christmas/aniversary presents, thank you notes for any favors or gifts, get well cards for any illness and condolences for any misfortunes. They know the appropriate attire for every occasion, so ask them if you’re ever in doubt.

However, these conventional, reflexive ways of showing concern are kind of how they do it and beneath this some of them can seem, or actually be somewhat shallow and insensitive - since the jack of hearts operates by imitation, they might only be aware of the surface manifestation of emotion and to mimic the general emotional tone without deeper awareness of what is occurring - this part of the emotional center is automatically oncerned with people and relationships and is fond of gossip without awareness of what harm might be done by talking indiscriminately about others. 

Their tastes are also likely to be conventional - sentimental movies, love songs, stuffed animals, soap operas & mass-produces decorative objects appeal to this type and will be found in abundance in their surroundings - men will make lots of jokes, be loyal to their favorite sports team and have a favorite tavern where he socializes with a few good buddies. When functioning from the negative half of things, the same person can then turn spiteful and petty with a tedency for jealousy, vindictiveness and cruel remarks disguised as humor, like subtly insulting nicknames

Queen of Hearts

The emotional part about the emotional center is emotional about, well... emotion (they keep using that word...) but what all this actually means is that this part of the human mind enjoys emotion for its own sake and values those impressions and experiences that create emotion - preferably intense emotion, be it positive or negative. Where the jack of hearts likes or dislikes, the queen hates or loves passionately. Where the jack may be pleased about pretty easthetics, the queen is gonna be ecstatic and where the jack’s programmed reactions are relatively consistent, the queen is prone to dramatc moodswings and changes in opinion. This is where we fall and love... and also what fuels axe murders pretty much. Anytime we’re experiencing strong out-of-control emotions, we’re probably in Queen of Hearts mode, having our attention held by whatever we’re emoting at and since the emotional center is first and foremost concerned with interpersonal relationships, it’s likely to be another person.

It s the part of us that identifies with other people and can be liable to lose sense of our own worth in concern of what people thing of us - or what judges others. This part is greatly interested in what others are doing, especially in their own relationships, and wether others are living up to the tenets of moral behavior - and if they’re not, it’s what wants them punished and creates outrage, be it about celibrities or public figures, or in personal life where it can lead to possesiveness or jealousy in its extremes.

However, it’s also what allows us to enjoys intense emotions in fiction genres such as horror and drama (At this point, I shall risk the claim that her majesty is also the part that writes most fanfiction - IDK why the author thinks dark art is a negative, cathartic fantasy is about the safest outlet there is for anything. Or rather I know why but I don’t buy it nor the premises it stands on, but FYI they see it as a masturbatory thing somehow or that’s their reasoning)

- and also the seat of noble and altrustic emotion, charitable and philanthropic impulses as well as religious fervor (or course you wanna be careful with that one and the author actually agrees with me though they mght not  recognize their flavor of woo-woo as ‘religion’ or ‘belief’)

If this is your center of gravity, you probably have a lot of feelings - since the queens grow bored easily & may change opinion relatively quickly (and none more than this one because of the intense energy involved in Feelings(TM) ), you may experience them mood swings and have an affinity for the extremes, moving between exstatic enthusiasm and bleak despair, seldom finding a moderate middle ground. 

Having the attention hel by an object and that object being emotional, this would be the type of person who would rather feel anything, no matter how painful, than nothing.  - sometimes, they might pretty much provoke an emotional exchange in order to feel something. They always find someone to love or hate, sometimes that’s the same person for reasons that have more to do with their internal processes than what the actual person did - they might also apply the same fluctuation inward, alternating between grandiose self-love and self-loathing - all this often attracts people who are more repressed or subdued themselves and look to experience a little of the intensity for themselves, though they might fail to realize that whole “if you can’t handle me at my worst you don’t deserve me at my best” deal.

This storm of feels does, however, command a huge amount of passion & energy that can be put in the service of great things if the person knows how to channel it (just think of the feats of endurance or foolishness we can perform for the ones we love)

King of Hearts 

Ya did not honestly think we were escaping the obligatory alice in wonderland reference? Well apparently one poignant way to explain the ‘King of hearts’ is to look at the infamous royal couple from that book, including its less memelicious half - the angry queen who wants everyone beheaded and the mild-manared little King who walks after her and pardons everybody.  

Forgiveness is a good example of a process that is without doubt emotional/social/ethical in nature but also takes work & might require a person to get over themselves, the parts that require continous effort.  These tend to be emotions that are more quiet & contemplative rather than loud & demonstrative - compassion, empathy, consideration, patience, humility, and the drive toward self-improvement and growth - effort levels are not the same for all people & I still think there’s some ideology lodged here but at the same time they’re not completely off with the “true love/care” business & how it requires sustained concern and comitment - this is where we consider whats best for another rathen than freaking out about what they think of us, where we dont just want to be understood but also to understand others, where we dont just want to be loved but to actively love, the constant effort to do right.

If you believe in that sort of thing this is also where you would supposedly find the door to all that spiritual enlightenment/salvation mumbo jumbo whatever your preferred flavor is - or perhaps those are just names we give our ideal selves not understanding that they’re just part of us. In any case, artistic discernment of a more relative kind also lives here & this is the point where it goes beyond like or dslike and you can appreciate that there’s different things for different contexts. 

People who have this as their center of gravity are less apparent in being emotionally centered, because they can seem relatively even-tempered or even detached (in a zen kind of way), able to examine possibilities with compassion but without immediate identification, to understand that appreciating one thing doesn’ equal putting down another or praising it to all heights... 

(I would now say that I don’t think to flatter Mari but that she may well be one of these, in case she’s reading this,  (if she’s not a queen of Spades but she seems way more humble & considerate than adventurous),but then I remember that Mari does not have internet right now because she is currently having a ValuableLifeExperience(TM) on a tropical island, no doubt exercising her deep thoughts & aesthetic discernment to its fullest and being all sweet & considerate to everyone.

To make things short this is a series where I read, review, summarize & extract the insigts from books on the topic of personality typings. 

Everything linked here can also be found on the ‘#extraTypology’ tag. 

Vol#1 - Essence Type/12 Type Enneagram (Source 

#1)

Vol#2 - Essence Type/12 Type Enneagram (Source #2)

Vol#3 - The Oldham Styles

Unplanned Entry Re: “What is this Queen of Diamonds thingy?”

Vol #4 -  On “The Neuroscience of Personality” (MBTI)

Sometimes life changes you. 

Many young people have gone to war and come back different, their values and attitudes rearranged for them the hard way. Sometimes education may provide the impetus for change, as may a societal movement (for example, the women’s right movement may lead a lady to see assertive behavior in herself as more positive) life experiences & relationships can change someone for the better, and of course if you have something you really want to work on there’s always the possibility of seeing a therapist.

Of course, changes in personality do not happen over night, fo better or for worse - In many ways our personality is like an autopilot that guides us through our lives, and to change it, one must identify & learn about the complex components of the system and learn to modify their arrangement - no small challenge. 

Fine-Tuning

For the average person the material an advice/excercises provided in here as well as your map of component style may be sufficient for you to make the moderate adjustment to ‘smooth out your edges’, simply by being aware of your style’s common weaknesses & keeping an eye out for them

 - for example if you know that you sometimes go too far out of your way for other people in your Self-Sacrificing manner, you can catch yourself as you are about to offer too much. If your Self-Confident style sometimes makes you insensive to other people’s needs, you can practice paying more attenton to them.

And in becoming aware of your style’s characteristic trouble spots, you may now be able to learn better habits - day in day out habits are a big part of personality styles and, fortunately, with sufficient motivations, habits can be changed - you might even buy books, sign up for courses, workshops etc  to help with your weak spots. 

When to get Help

Listen to Others - Sometimes the people with serious problems are the last ones to realize it because their view is distorted, and they tend to think that if only it weren’t for other people’s flaws or outside circumstances, everything would be fin - If people are always telling you that they have problems with you or your behavior, try to be open to what they say

Key Domains - Read the articles for your component styles and see how much trouble or unhapiness each of them causes you - how many of the characteristic, “more drastic” problems apply to you?  For example if you’re primarily Devoted, do you experience serious trouble with making your own decisions?

Love and Work - Consider theeffects that your personality pattern has on your life. Are you continually frustrated, unhappy, unfulfilled & operating far below your potential in these areas?

Symptoms - Do you experience disproportionate systems of mental distress, such as overwhelmingly negative emotions, mood shifts self-harm ideations, trouble controlling your impulses, negative or unsteady self image etc. 

Or maybe you’re fine the way you are

On the other hand, consider asking yourself  why you want to change yourself - So many people want to change themselves these days and it’s not always due to oebjective impairments. 

Your pattern shows you how you resemble other people in fundamental human ways & differ from them in the same dimensions.  Notice that each person has their own unique ‘mix’ of traits - the intensity & configuration of the styles in your personality are yours & yours alone. 

Throughout this series the authors have recomended ways you can make many changes to your personality in oder to make the most of yourself. They’ve also said that individual personality is a kind of fate - Changes or no changes, you’re fated to be yourself - Short of the ideal, full of you own peculiarities and blemishes, not the perfect companion or parent or leader or helpe - Not the worst, either. 

As seen in the previous entries, one’s personality style can be seen as both a map to one’s inner geography and the scaffold of one’s outward direction - The experiences & people that you seek out & the way you react to them, as well as the ways you change or stay the same are all mediated by the inner filters that organize your experience, and once one considers all that it’s easy to see how one’s personality can be tantamount to a kind of ‘destiny’  or self-fulfilling prophecy - 

Therefore, one may want to know just how exactly one got stuck with theirs. 

Inborn Differences

At the present state of our knowledge, it is safe to say the the ‘Tabula Rasa’ theory is ripe for the trashbucket - Indeed we continue to learn more about how human babies aleady come ‘preprogrammed’ with an astounding lot of ‘software’ & in the process substantiate what anyone who had multiple children or numerous siblings may have observed for themselves: That tiny humans already come with notably different behavior patterns; and indeed it’s common knowledge at this point that both predispositions for disorders and ordinary run of the mill personality traits can run in families, though the exact interconnections of everything still present considerable mysteries. 

In the psychological jargon, it’s common to use ‘the term ‘temperament’ for the hand of inborn tendencies you’re deal with an conception which gives you a range of possibilities & provides the base material for the environment to act upon, and ‘character’ for the possibility that is fnally realized through interaction with the environment & personal choice, the finished product if you will. 

Almost from the first moments of life, parents may notice particularities in their new mini-me: Some babies cry a lot, some don’t, some are more easily soothed than others.  Some quickly develop regular eating & sleeping patterns whereas others are harder to train to any pattern, some are meek & easygoing while others are prone to strong reactions - 

Each of us enter the world with our own particular constitution, theshold and reaction patterns, and a study begun in 1956 has since shown that behavior at the age of 3 is a powerful predictor of personality in adulthood - A rambunctious baby generally becomes an active adult, a shy baby a reserved person etc. Turns out even small toddlers who have barely mastered talking & going potty can already be assesed & quantified by the following means:

Activity Level - Even an infant has a characteristic level of activity vs inertia, from sluggish to enegetic

Regularity - Some are regular in their eating, sleeping and other biological functions 

Aprroach vs. Withdrawal - when presented with a new toy, food, peson or stimulus, does the baby generally react positively with interest or negatively & fearfully?

Adaptability - Does the child learn & adjust to new stuations & tasks easily, or do they have difficulty adjusting to change?

Threshold of Responsiveness - What does it usually take to get a ‘rise’ out of the baby? A stong sensory stimulus like a loud voice, or a mild one such as a soft voice? Does the child easily become overstimulated by sensory experiences?

Reaction intensity - Some kids react loudly to everything, whereas others are typically less intense in their positive & negative reactions

Mood - Even babies have characteristic mood patterns, varying from predoinantly cheerful to frequently unhappy

Distractability - Does the child tend to focus on tasks on hand, or are they easily 

Attention Span and Persistence - How long does the baby typically stick with an activity, and wll they pesst despite difficulty?

...across cultures and regardless of the parent’s attitudes & actions. Even physiological responses (such as pupil widening & heartbeat increase in response to stress) can be measurably different as early as 4 months. 

Of course genes alone don’t cause a baby to react to a new face with tears or an adult to go to pieces after a breakup - what they do determine is the way an organism’s brain develops and the range of its normal neurobiological & biochemical reactions that characterize its personal style of responding to the environment & like everything in the human body it can break or be broken. 

Genes may present a range of possibilities, but it is experience that determines what becomes of those possibilities.

Environmental Impacts - A more systemic perspective

From birth, an infant begins to learn from others, adapt to their experiences within the family & to develop styles of coping with the environment - but in the light of the above, and of recent findings, this has to be viewed as a more reciprocal relationship: Rather than being passive victims of what life dishes out, we influence life just as life influences us: 

Life shapes what will become of our genetic possibilities, but our inborn nature also affects what will happen to us. It’s not just that different people react differently to the same stimuli, but rather, from the beginning, a baby’s temperament affects the experiences they are most likely to have. A child’s temperament influences how their parents may react to them - and how the baby in turn reacts to the parent’s reactions, demands & expectations depends on those same qualities of temperament, resulting in a wide variety of parent-infant interactions. 

Say, you have a meek, mellow, easy-to-handle baby - their parents are likely to be quite happy with them, and the baby themselves will learn that their parents are easy to please and that the world can be a pretty fulfilling place. Cranky babies, however, may iritate & frustrate their parents, some of which may overreact & mistreat them. A baby of more challenging temperament may bring out the worst in their parents, especially if those parents are immature or incompetent, with the result that the fussier baby will have an even harder time dealing with the parent’s negative reactions & become even more difficult to manage, whereas a chill undemanding baby will have their adaptability rewarded with love & attention - 

If you consider this it’s easy to see how two babies could end up with completely different experiences of themselves, the world & their parents even within the same household. A child that’s more of a handful may be more stessful to their parents and elicit more unpleasant responses such as criticism or anger, to which they are in turn temperamentally  more sensitive than other kids - a more sensitive kid may require more patience & undestanding than many parents can give, especially if the parents in question are immature, inexperienced, inflexible, disordered or bogged down with stress, conflict an outside factors like their financial situation - And if the parents are outright abusive, a child that talks back will probably bear the brunt of it. 

This doesn’t mean that there’s anything wrong with a “fussy” baby- they’re just within the normal range & divesity of child developement, and indeed, given favorable circumstances, it may even present its own advantages: Place that same cranky baby in a well-to-do family with good verbal skills, and it will likely develop a higher IQ by age five than would their meek and easy-to-manage peers. In such families, a fussier temperament turns into an intellectual advantage because parents from higher educational and economic backgrounds tend to talk, communicate and interact more with these demanding children in their efforts to get them to adapt better, and this added stimulation promoted intellectual developement. 

Studies conducted on tribal societies even suggest that they have better survival chances in times of scarcity - precisely because they make more noise & demand to be fed. Also, cultural attitudes can put a quantifier on this - in our society schools & nurseries are very comformist places where the staff needs to deal with a lot of kids so a more rambuctious child may be penalized, but a warlike society may prize aggressive behavior (and of course that’s where gender stereotypes rear their ugly head again because we at present accept a lot more ‘wild’ behavior from little boys)

The “Goodness of Fit” Theory

So what can we conclude from this? Well, that the interplay between the factors involved in making a person is complex, but we knew that already.

For every developing child, they ey to wether their inborn temperament will mature into a positive outcome is what researchers call ‘goodness of fit’ - wether the baby’s individual temperament can fit harmonously into their family & large environment - Can the growing child with their innate abilities, wants and behaviors and the family or social environment meet each other’s needs and demands? 

Every temperament provides advantages & disadvantages depending on the environment. When the parents, teachers or surrounding culture repeatedly asks more of a child than they can give at a particular time, the stress on the child may begin to distort the way their personality develops. But if the fit is good, it can ehance strenghts and help overcome vulnerabilities. 

Most children develop resilient personalities that carry them through even the worst stresses of adulthood without developing psychiatric disorders then or later - experience toughes them but doesn’t distort them. On the other hand, though more rambuctious kids are at higher risk, just about any child can develop behavior problems from the excessive stresses that result from a poor fit - A very outgoing, active family may repeatedly push & demand too much from a sweet, quiet, passive stay-close-to-home child. A quiet, careful, stay-at-home family may uneccesary restrict forward, adventurous behaviors in an active, outgoing child. A sweet, cheerful,  loving baby may be born to a very depressed mothers who can’t give the baby the rewarding feedback that healthy personality developement requires. An easily distracted child may develop a problem if their parents insist that they concentrate for long amounts of time without a break -

And though the parents of a child with problems may think the child’s temperament is at fault, the difficulty actually lies in the nature of the match between parent and child - and the opposite is true: An attentive, patient  family may protect a kid with sucky genetics from developing problems by potecting it from life experiences to which they may be especially suceptible & prevent them from falling into unhealthy patterns, turning what could have been the beginning of much difficulty into temporary growing pains. 

As for the noxious factors themselves it is to be noted that, overprotecting a naturally reactive and/or sensitive child actually made the reactiveness more likely to stick & result in a more shy or inhibited person than when the parents were accepting but made age-apropriate demands on cleanliness and behavior. 

Another thing to note that it is less individual incidents and more systemic situations than can do harm, particularly in the child’s early years - To their surprise researchers found that divorce or the dead of a parent did not predict negatives outcome, but witnessing repeated conflict between the parents did - in other words the common cliché of “staying together for the children” may do more harm than good. 

On that note...

Tipps for Parents

Do not try to treat all your children identicaly, but rather, accept and respect your child’s fundamntal inborn style & recognize that they may have special needs  relating to their temperament. Objectively identify the child’s strenghts and vulnerabilities, and support their positive qualities and individual nature. 

Above all, do not blae yourself or your child if they don’t meet your expecations. Don’t fight your child’s inborn temperamental qualities and don’t punish them for having difficulties. Keep in mind that your child’s temperamental difficulties do not in themselves meant that they are destined for trouble later in life - unless you get into a viscious cycle of negative reactions to each other. In fact, with good management, your rambuctious hell-toddler may turn out to be a highly creative, unusual, even exceptional person like many a famous leader.  

A child with temperamental difficultis needs strong, loving management so that they can learn good coping skills.

Your Adult Life

Though your basic personality is ‘done’ by the time you exit your childhood, experience & biology continually mold & modify you, building on what has gone before and sometimes pointing you in new directions. 

Diseases, injuries & medical conditions can sometimes alter long-established personality patterns (usually in an unfortunate direction), but barring such illness or injury, the brain physiologically remains adaptable thoughout the aging process, capable of reacting with the environment to form new connections among brain cells and to alter old ones - Indeed according to the latest neuroscience, the potential ability of brain cells to adapt or change may never deteriorate thoughout your entire life cycle -

Since the main/extensive articles on the types were written with the intention to extract, present & popularize as much of the info in the book as possible they may have gotten...rambly as it is probably a general flaw on my explanatory writings. So here’s a summaizing overview in a form that people seem to tend to appeciate. 

This is largely based on those neat little summarizing texts the authors conveniently placed before the life advice sections though I will attempt to fill in for the additional styles in some of the expanded versions of this system while I’m at it.

It’s worth mentioning (& you might recognize this pattern in the advice they list) that the authors generally suggest that you try to use your strong points (be they organizing, imagination etc.) to compenate for your weak ones and gently ease into the edges of your un-comfortzone. 

Conscientious

+ You are Great Oganizers & List-Makers & can be expected to have work related things figured out + You are trustwothy, grounded, dependable and mature - may not know how to relax & hence incur stress-related health risks - may benefit from broadening their mind, Pov and personal life

Self-Confident

+ Your ability to strive for sucess & your neve to boldly go after it set you apart from all other personality styles + You are probably quite aware of your capabilities & know what you’re worth - To ensure that your character works to your advantage, you may need to develop a more realistic sense of your own shortcomings - Beware of myopic outlooks particularly overlooking dissatisfaction in other people as this may bite you in the ass

Devoted

+ You know how to love & how to give & are keenly aware of other people’s needs + You are diplomatic & like to promote harmony - You might benefit from turning your attention to yourself, see what you can do on your own behalf and let others know who you are and what they can do for you - You may tend to agree with those who are important to you, perhaps stiffling your own opinions; You may run the risk of appearing less interesting to those whose approval you wanted to win in the first place

Dramatic

+ You know how to see & find the exciting & colorful in everyday life + You are very intuitive about people & know how to lead even more reticent fellows to open up to you - Your sources of Self-Esteem lay outside yourself, which may make your inner life unsteady; finding sources inside yourself will ensure some inner calm  - Simply avoiding the unpleasant and boring pats of life doesn’t always work. Try not to let them pile up in an overwhelming manner

Vigilant

+ Your mind & Senses are always on, monitoring the environment, other people and the local power structures; Because of that, little escapes your notice + Though reserved, you are likely a good and observer of people who remembers details & sees though subtle motivations - Always being in such a state of aler can leave you physically ad emotionally tense; Try to unplug from that once in a while - Also beware of false positives - Sometimes things simply go wrong because of tragedy & misfortune without a clear cause or culprit

Sensitive

+ Your love of the familiar allows you to built a comfortable personal environment in which you know everything about the places, activities & people you deal with + You are likely to be likeable, friendly, warm, loyal, imaginative & kind. Aww~ - However, your adherence to the familiar could alo get you into a rut so try to change things up & venture just a little outside your comfort zone once in a while - Your ‘Danger-alert system’ is extremly sensitive so you might be worrying over nothing occasionally

Leisurely

+ You know how to be contented & happy just by doing the things you like + You don’t let anybody push you around, know how to enforce your own priorities and know that you have as much of a right as anyone else - You tend to look more inward than outward, so it might help to try & focus/ notice what is important to those around you & what brings them pleasure - Beware of Procrastination hell

Adventurous

+ Your strong points include  your spontaneity, strenght, fearlessness, ability to act and experience pleasure + You have a natural tendency to live life to the fullests, fill it up with worthwhile experiences & life in the moment - If you run into trouble, it’ll likely result from impulsivity & lack of forethought; For your own benefit & the sake of those around you it may help to work on these so you’re not hampered by unexpected consequences - Try to put at least some thought into what you want for the future

Idiosyncratic

+ You are likely to be interesting, original, possibly very spiritual, maybe even highly creative and gifted + You are no slave to bogus or limiting aspects of social convention& go your own way - Because of your insistence on doing things your own way, you may pay a price in your personal and professional relationships - You may not realize just how diffeent you actually are, that is, fail to pick up what is expected in any given situation. 

Solitary

+ In your ability to be comfortable alone, you have no peers. You don’t get lonely easily + You can probably entertain yourself seemingly endlessly & relish your activities just as much by yourself & go about your own pursuits without distraction - You may want to improve your elationships with people,even if it’s only to go about your self-determined business more easily - You may find it hard to relate to others or “speak their language”, & your different social needs can make it difficult to keep a friendship or partnership going

Mecurial

+ Among the strengts that infuse your life are an ability to life & feel to the fullest and a temendous appreciation for interpersonal relationships.  + You throw yourself into your pursuits wholeheartedly & have an unique ability to adapt to new places, social groups & lifestyles - To feel more fulfilled & sucessful in life & your relationships, work on developing some detachment & restrait - Be aware that you tend to have very high expectations that may sometimes veer into the unrealistic

Self-Sacrificing

+ You are a naturally unselfish, generous, helpful & giving human being capable of adapting to, accepting & getting along with almost everyone. w00t! + You work had to please even when no one asks or thanks you for it - You may deny your own needs & pleasures more than you realize - Work on establishing a firmer balance of give-and-take by being more cicumspect in giving and more assertive in taking

Aggressive

+ Congratulations! You likely have enormous potential for sucess, especially in your professional life.  + You run a tight ship & are exceptionally good at getting things done as a leader - To make your home life as rewarding as your professional one,  it might help to smooth your sometimes over-bosy side as it may cause conflict for you at home.  - You may have a bit of a temper, especially if others defy your authority.  Try not to overreact to the healthy self-assertion of others

Serious

+ You are a hard worker who preseveres in all tasks, no matter how sour + You have a measured, realistic outlook on the world - In oder to protect yourself from stress, enhance your relationships & to preserve your strenght for truly difficult times, you may need to develop some flexibility - You may have difficulty putting yourself forward in social situations, when seeking employment or on the job.

Inventive

+ You’re probably interested in social climbing & have the eyes & sensitivities for doing so & getting into the good graces of high-status people + You have a variety of interests, are innovative & are diven to cultivate many talents. Cool! - You are sensitive to how others ptreat or perceive you and may have a hard time coping with social embarassment or humiliation; Remember that it’s not the end of the world - You may be so focussed on attaining what gets recognition that you become caught up in superficial things or out of touch with your very own wants & feelings

Exuberant

+ You are not just active, gregarious,and an appreciator of beauty, but also highly productive& invested in being skillfull.  + You value & tend to seek out pleasurable & intense experiences and novelty - You may have a tendency to splurge or otherwise be given to occasional excesses or be flakey in relationships - On the other hand there might be a risk of being so absorben in your pursuit of the day & the search for esciting experience that you neglect to take care of yourself and flake out on your loved ones

Artistic

+ You’re likely very creative, subject to rushes of inspiration & given to experience the beauty & meaning of everything in life through your heart + You tend to have a gasp on many different corners of the human experience & therefore have a nuanced understanding of different viewpoints - You dislike routine & tend to make decisions based on your current mood, which may sometimes lead to less-than-thought-through decisions or jeopardize your relationships - Both your productivity & confidence may be somewhat unsteady and subject to ‘seasonal fluctuations’

Carefree