Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Personality Types & Paranormal Experiences

Below is a revised copy of a post I made recently on a web bulletin board.

This is brief and general overview of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and the Keirsey Temperament Sorter (KTS) and the personality types that are most likely to experience paranormal phenomena.

History: the modern theory of temperament/ type was developed by Carl Jung. He was a long time apprentice to Freud. He was expected to inherit Freud's legacy. However, Jung had a series of paranormal encounters. It was his need to understand these that lead to his notorious split with Dr Freud. (See Memories, Dreams, Reflections, by Carl Jung. For details and works of art produced because of his paranormal encounters see the recently published The Red Book, by Carl Jung). Jung then developed a theory of temperament & type to help Psychiatrists and therapists to better understand their clients. This became our modern Myers-Briggs Type Indicator ( MBTI) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myers-Briggs_Type_Indicator , and the Keirsey Temperament Sorter: http://www.keirsey.com/default.aspx .

Method: Each person is given a questionnaire. Depending on the answers to the questions (preferences), an individual will be determined to be one of 16 possible types. This is determined using a scale of 2 sets of four qualities.

How you become energized:
Extroverted---------Introverted
Extroverted keywords: outgoing, social
Introverted keywords: being alone

How you take in information:
Intuitive------------Sensing
Intuitive keywords: seeing the big picture in a non-logical way, psychic, imaginative
Sensing keywords: tactile, practical, detail oriented, logical

How you base decisions:
Thinking----------------Feeling
Thinking keywords: logical, fact-based, not personal
Feeling keywords: empathy, decisions made in a personal way

How you organize time and energy
Judging------------Perceiving
Judging: closure, conclusions, completion
Perceiving: open-ended, alternative perspectives, variety

Your type will be based on the following options:
ST’s (sensing thinkers) ISTJ ISTP ESTJ ESTP this group makes up approximately 30 % of the population.

SF’s (sensing feelers) ISFJ ISFP ESFJ ESFP this group makes up approximately 43.4 % of the population.

NF’s (intuitive feelers) INFJ INFP ENFJ ENFP this group makes up approximately 16.3 % of the population.

NT’s (intuitive thinkers) INTJ INTP ENTJ ENTP this group makes up approximately 10.4 % of the
Population.

Of all possible type listed above the ISFJ,s make the largest group (13.8%) and the INFJ’s (1.5%) make up the smallest group.

The above statistics are from Wikipedia


Findings: Repeated studies have indicated that the Intuitive Feelers have the highest reported incidences of reported paranormal experiences. A 2004 study done by Richard Broughton from the University of Northampton, England, narrowed the particular quality to Intuitive, with all others not being statistically significant (Radin 2006). Dianna Arcangel (1997) did a study of 68 individuals who had after life encounters. 96% of these individuals were NF‘s (Intuitive Feelers) on the MBTI.

Within the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and Keirsey Temperament Sorter, one the qualities of the INFJ is “psychic”. This is the smallest percentage of the population at 1.5%.

In conclusion,  through the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and Keirsy Temperament Sorter , we find that there is a personality type that is more prone to paranormal experiences. It is found generally among the Intuitive Feeler, and more specifically among the INFJ’s (Introverted Intuitive Feeling Judger).

Information:
To see a copy of the MBTI online see: http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp


To see a copy of the Keirsy Temperament Sorter see the book Please Understand Me II, by David Keirsey
And the website: http://www.keirsey.com/ .

Note: It is best to have this test administered by a professional. If you decide to self test, answer the question based on how you actually are, and not on how you wish you could be.

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