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| Agreeableness |
| Introduction to
Agreeableness |
| This section of your
profile describes your interactions with other people. The ways we
communicate our feelings, beliefs and ideas to others are influenced by
our cultural backgrounds, the way we were raised, and sometimes which
side of the bed we got up on this morning. Some of us are very mindful
of others making decisions we hope will be in their best interests, even
if it means sometimes neglecting our own interests. Others of us believe
each person should be responsible for themselves, taking deep pride in
our own character and independence with a firm belief that others are
best served by doing the same. The following describes how you engage
with others; illustrating the dimension of your personality that
determines your independence or your desire to reach out and touch
others in meaningful ways. |
| You are best described
as: |
| USUALLY TAKING CARE
OF YOURSELF
|
| Words that describe
you: |
- Perceptive
- Realistic
- Demanding
|
- Down-to-Earth
- Hardnosed
- Judgmental
|
|
|
| A General Description
of How You Interact with Others |
You are clearly a
compassionate person; you believe that you should do unto others as you
would have them do unto you, and you know that friends help their
friends. But with you compassion is just one side of the coin; the other
being a side that also expects others to hold up their end of the
bargain. So you help others but it is with the expectation that others
don't take advantage of you or try to put one over on you. In short, you
expect others to treat you as you treat them.
And for those people who do ask for help when they should have taken
responsibility for themselves? This is the time when your more
hard-edged side comes out. You are skeptical of people when they expect
others to bail them out of trouble; if they got themselves into the
bind, they should work their way out of the trouble. If it's an
emergency, or if it's a friend who has been there for you when you have
had hard times, you are there in a quick minute. But you are a
discerning person and to you there is a big difference between an
emergency and a self-inflicted wound. You just look at the facts: how
the situation developed, how serious the situation, and how they can or
cannot get through things on their own. The history you have with the
person and with similar situations will inform you whether this is or is
not a time for you to get involved.
You also have some limits when it comes to being with people. Sure some
people need to be with others all the time and seem to get recharged by
helping out most anyone else. But that's not you. You know that you do
best if you spend a fair amount of time on your own. Not that you are a
loner, just that time spent by yourself is not wasted at all with you.
You've come to understand that if you don't take good care of yourself,
eventually you'll be not good to anyone, including yourself or others.
So your compassion is tempered by realism. Your sympathy for people in
trouble is balanced by a critical evaluation of how they got themselves
to the place they are. And you've learned to take good care of yourself,
so you have something to give to your friends or others truly in need. |
| Negative Reactions
Others May Have Toward You |
| Some people may see your
practical style as lacking compassion. When your compassion is tempered,
as it is at times by your discerning questions and careful
consideration, it may seem to some like you have too much head and too
little heart. And when you use time and energy to take care of yourself
there will inevitably be some who see you as selfish and uncaring. But
your approach is neither heady nor selfish. It is you. And unless your
approach is causing you consistent problems in important relationships,
there is really no reason to change. Your distinctive manner of having
clear expectations for the relationships in which you will exert your
energy is true to the core of you. |
| Positive Responses
Others May Have Toward You |
| The truth is that most
people respect someone who knows themselves and what they want. So even
if some people don't get exactly what they want from you often they will
leave with a deeper respect for you. Your frank and honest approach may
help someone to help themselves when they didn't think this was
possible, and they wind up better off: they're out of trouble, they did
it on their own, and they have you to thank. And you were, again, true
to yourself. |
|
OPENNESS |
| |
| Introduction to
Openness |
How firmly committed are you to the ideas and
beliefs that govern your thinking and guide your behavior? Some
people trust their current ideas and beliefs the way a climber
trusts the mountain; whichever way they move, whether the climb is
on a familiar trail or over new ground, there is something solid
beneath them, something they count on.
For others, new ideas, new solutions to old problems, new beliefs
that replace tired convictions are like welcome wind in their sails.
They can hardly wait to tack in a new direction and ride a new idea
through uncharted waters. If it's new, it's interesting, and they're
ready to explore.
The following paragraphs describe your responses to new ways of
thinking and believing. How do you handle new information? Are you
more like the climber on a familiar mountain or a sailor with a
tiller in hand and a fresh breeze to propel you? How you integrate
and process new information about the world and about others is a
core aspect of your personality. |
| On the Openness
Dimension you are: |
|
CURIOUS
|
| Words that describe
you: |
- Original
- Inventive
- Thinker
|
- Brave
- Eccentric
- Avant-Garde
|
|
|
| A General
Description of How You Approach New Information and Experiences |
You think like an artist. Or better, you SEE
like an artist. While most people look at life's straight lines, its
height and depth and width, you're bending the lines with your
imagination and turning black and white into shades of blue and
yellow. And in conversations at work or with your friends you want
to ask, "Do you see what I see?" A few might, most don't, but you've
piqued everyone's curiosity with your own original and inventive
ways of thinking.
You can, if you must, think in conventional ways. But left on your
own, you'll usually opt for the eccentric or avant-garde; in fact
you're usually bored with what everyone else is comfortable with.
You learn from reading, talking, watching people and other fauna and
flora, and simply sitting in the soft chair of your mind and
wondering how people would learn how to count if they could only use
uneven numbers. You are out in front of conventional ideas, bravely
originally defining true and false, right and wrong, the good, the
bad and the ugly. |
| Negative Reactions
Others May Have Toward Your Style of Thinking |
You drive through life faster than the speed
limit, and when you hit speed bumps, and you hit a lot of them with
your mind distracted from the straight line ahead your wheels leave
the ground.
For people who like life at a safer speed, you move too fast and
lose touch too often with the solid ground they prefer, hence their
discomfort with you. As odd as you might find this, many people feel
safe in the shelter of the world they already know. They like the
familiar. They breathe easily and sleep deeply knowing with more
certainty how the world works. So although they might enjoy your
company and be curious about your latest notion of how to count
backwards by threes, they can only take you in small doses. And they
wish you'd quit trying to push the boundaries of their personal and
social cosmos. |
| Positive Responses
Others May Have Toward You |
Even those whom you make uncomfortable know,
as just about everyone does, that you're not a flake. You think
well, and even your wildest fancies have their roots in the deep
soil of sound ideas and tested beliefs. So even if some people don't
want to drive at high speed with you, they will respect you for your
courage as an innovative and unconventional thinker. You lend color
and imagination to what would otherwise be the straight black and
white lines of their work world and social environments.
A few more daring people of your circle might even learn from you to
take a risk they would otherwise never consider. As comfortable as
they are on solid ground, they may be curious about what it would be
like to go faster than the speed limit, or paint the living room two
shades of blue, or question ideas or beliefs they've fingered like
sacred beads since they were children.
After all, they watch you do it, and you seem no worse for the risks
you take. In fact, your eyes are wider and your breath quicker, and
maybe they can find at least a bit of this for themselves. To be
certain, they don't want their wheels to leave the ground, but maybe
the next time they approach a speed bump they might just brace
themselves and speed up just a little bit. |
|
EMOTIONAL STABILITY |
| |
| Introduction to
Emotional Stability |
|
We're born with the capacity to feel
deeply, so it's as natural as breathing to experience a range of
emotions. Fear and joy and sadness, anger and shame and disgust
lie somewhere within each of us. Ah, but to what extent do we
control these emotions, and to what extent do they control us?
How you answer this question of how your emotions play out in
your life has a great deal to do with your levels of personal
satisfaction and with the character of your relationships with
others. Do you manage your emotions well, keeping them in check
with your thinking and your willpower, or are you someone who
lets emotions have their way, giving in to the wild dance of
feelings? The following paragraphs describe your emotional range
in terms of being a person who is emotionally steady or someone
who is responsive to whatever feelings swell up in you. |
| On Emotional
Stability you are: |
|
RESPONSIVE
|
| Words that
describe you: |
- Open
- Accessible
- Too Sensitive
|
- Reachable
- Candid
- Unguarded
|
|
|
| A General
Description of Your Reactivity |
You are an emotional person. In some ways,
we are all emotional; we feel joy, anger, sadness and fear; some
of us more powerfully than others - and you more powerfully than
most. Your emotions are closer to the surface, and your feelings
more obvious to you than is the case with most people. You've
got your life in a good place, your dominant mood is upbeat, and
unless life has been particularly trying for you, you greatly
enjoy the richness and intensity of life that being so open with
your emotions brings you.
Sure there are times when your feelings come very close to the
surface, and life becomes more complicated. At these times you
may grow self-conscious, or feel a bit anxious. But all in all,
you much prefer being open with your emotions, breathing in all
that life offers, than shutting down any part of your emotional
experience. Granted, there may be times when these emotions are
hard but you realize that is part of life. And more often than
not you feel enriched by your emotions, by your ability to be
open to all that life brings you. You know that even when you
have those times that get you down, there will be even more
times when you see life in ways that others just can't. |
| Negative
Reactions Others May Have Toward You |
|
Undoubtedly you have met some people who
get uncomfortable being around you because your feelings are so
close to the surface. They may keep a bit of distance,
especially around any subject that might trigger an emotional
topic they are uncomfortable with. Over time, they might even
stay away from you more and more. You will find you have
decisions to make; do you temper your style for their comfort or
do you hope they will find ways to become more comfortable with
emotional expressions? Given the richness that seems to stem
from your emotional life the most meaningful response is
probably very apparent to you. |
| Positive
Responses Others May Have Toward You |
|
You are a cherished companion for those
friends who can handle emotions well. They will appreciate the
candor with which you express even difficult feelings like anger
and fear. Your openness will make intimate conversations even
more intimate, and make the connections between you as friends
deeper and stronger. Some people who have trouble expressing
their feelings might find in you a good example of how to be
more vulnerable and more open. Your willingness and ability to
share your emotions could encourage them to share theirs, and
invite them into ways of being friends that will help enrich
their lives. |
|
CONSCIENTIOUS |
| |
|
Introduction to Conscientiousness |
It's a work day, breakfast is over,
and you're dressed and ready. So how will you approach the
tasks at hand? Some people work best with a clear schedule,
a set of priorities and a due date for every step in the
process. Others are, shall we say, less regimented. They
approach a task with as much imagination as organization,
and with a willingness to bend and modify in order to
exercise some urge of creativity.
How about you? Do you walk in a straight line toward a clear
goal, or are you more likely to dance your way down whatever
path will get you wherever it is you're headed? The
following paragraphs describe ways in which you approach the
tasks life brings to you, and to what extent you are focused
or flexible in how you choose to proceed. |
| Your
approach toward your obligations is: |
|
FLEXIBLE
|
| Words that
describe you: |
- Spontaneous
- Intuitive
- Perceptive
|
- Natural
- Somewhat Disorganized
- Unpredictable At Times
|
|
|
| A General
Description of How You Interact with Others |
When there's a job to be done, like
most people you want to know what the goal is and when it's
to be completed. For you, that's a start. Next you want to
know what the plan is to get to the goal. So you lay out a
plan, or at least the major points of a plan: "Organize the
kitchen sometime this spring" or "Get the project at work
done as soon as possible." You don't need an in-depth
specification of every little detail; in fact you prefer not
to work that way. You lay out your goals, develop a general
plan, and then you get things done.
You believe in intuition as well as organization. As such,
you trust impulses as much as strategies and you value
spontaneity as much as you do efficiency. In a word, you
like to keep it flexible. When you set out to accomplish a
task, you prefer to have some room to maneuver. Like an
artist, you find that the best way to reach a goal is not
always in a straight line. Some of the most productive times
for you are the unplanned moments of inspiration and
creativity that just come to you. While you do keep to a
general plan, those times of pure vision and originality are
what really drive you.
Some of the people who rely completely on an organized
approach to getting things done may be surprised at your
efficiency. But there is a definite method to your approach.
With a creative flair that others may not have anticipated,
the original plan gets met and there are often a few extra
accomplishments along the way. Your comfort zone starts with
a task and a plan but it also requires the freedom to be
able to go with your instincts and impulses so that you can
not just accomplish the task, you also have the option to
explore something brand new along the way. |
| Negative
Reactions Others May Have Toward You |
People may have problems with your
style for two reasons. First, you don't always follow the
rules or go along with detailed plans, whether at work or at
home. Those who need the details to stay on task just don't
quite understand how you are going to get it all done.
Second, while you get things done - the way you veer off
course at times and use your creativity may leave others
wondering what went on. Some people find all this creativity
and thinking "out-of-the-box" at odds with their desire to
follow a clear course. And this causes not only some
confusion it may also spark some anger toward you at times.
Even you would likely admit that living and working with you
takes someone who is able to let you do your thing at times.
If someone is really tied to a rigid approach to how things
should get done, there is clearly the potential for some
conflict with you.
Every workplace and home does need a modicum of reliability
and a decent amount or order and organization if it is to
accommodate the mix of people who work or live there. That
leads to a serious question for you: Are there times when
your creative, though at times unpredictable, style keeps
others off balance? Are there some plans that should be
sacred, some space always well organized, some charts left
as designed? Are there are some things you could change that
would allow those who live and work with you to feel more in
control; changes that wouldn't impinge on your creative
processes? If others are finding your style to be difficult
to deal with you may want to consider how you can all work
together most efficiently. |
| Positive
Responses Others May Have Toward You |
The truth is that your work style gets
things done, often with more beauty, fun, creativity and
imagination than others could ever manage. But your style is
very unique to you. Flexibility is essential to your style.
With your creativity and flexibility the path you take to
any goal can make everyone's accomplishments more inventive
and enjoyable. Bringing some extra enjoyment to people's
work can be a real asset; one you may want to use more
consciously.
Deep down inside there's also another truth you should
consider. A lot of people wish they had some of whatever it
is that you've got. They get so bogged down reading the
committee notes or checking the project calendar that they
seldom just cut loose and let their impulses run. They
neglect their intuition to the point that it barely whispers
- that is, until you come along with yours shouting out loud
and remind everyone in the room that there's something to
listen to besides the original plan and the orderly,
organized path laid out to get there. So not only do you
enhance the accomplishments of the group, you also enhance
the lives of each member willing to find in themselves the
spontaneity that is your trademark personal characteristic. |
|
| |
|
Introduction to Extraversion |
|
Some days you want to hang out by
yourself, not answer the phone, and make the world go away.
The next day you e-mail everyone, schedule lunch with a
friend, and try to find an evening gathering to take part
in. It may be the phases of the moon, or something you ate;
some days are just like that. In actuality, your desire to
be with others or to be alone reflects something deep in
your personality. Some of us are more comfortable by
ourselves or with one or two friends, while others of us
crave the crowd and can't stand it when the house is empty
or the phone doesn't ring. The following paragraphs describe
your fundamental desires about being with other people;
whether you are generally an outgoing person or more
reserved, if you seek adventures with others, if you tend
toward assertiveness or kindness. |
| When it
comes to Extraversion you are: |
|
SOMETIMES OUTGOING, SOMETIMES
RESERVED
 |
| Words that
describe you: |
- Moderate
- Amiable
- Laid-back
|
|
- Civil
- Uncommitted
- Pleasant
|
|
|
| A General
Description of How You Interact with Others |
Lucky you! You enjoy your own company
as much as you enjoy the company of others. You are a great
conversationalist and thrive in the wonderful kinds of
connections you know how to have with your family and
friends. You also equally enjoy your own company, whether
sitting in a favorite chair with your book and soft music
playing or meandering in the woods by yourself. You like
coming home to your family or your roommate; but if no one
is home, you find quiet, solitary time to be just as
pleasurable. What a great combination to enjoy being
outgoing and to be just as comfortable being reserved. Lucky
you!!
Because you are so amiable and relaxed, you are comfortable
with almost any group of family or friends. Whether they are
pumped up and lively or calm and subdued, you remain at
ease. If someone needs to take over the conversation, you
are comfortable taking the lead; you can also lay back and
let someone else be in charge. If the conversation gets
rowdy, your moderate demeanor will often draw it down to a
more temperate level. If someone in the group loses their
cool, you will most likely maintain your poise, and if they
get nasty you know how to keep a civil tongue.
You may find yourself out of balance on occasion. If you're
alone too much, you may need to get in touch with someone.
If you spend too much time with your family and friends, you
may need to sneak off for a day by yourself, to putter and
read and clear your head of the noise of too much
conversation. When you're at your best, you live with a
rhythm of time with others, time alone, time with others,
time alone It's a satisfying, comfortable balance. Lucky
you! |
| Negative
Reactions Others May Have Toward You |
You may occasionally run into problems
with other people. Since not everyone is as balanced as you
are, close friends and family may get frustrated with you,
or you with them. They may be more sociable and outgoing,
and find you too laid-back and relaxed. They want
conversations to be lively and passionate while you keep
things amiable and civil. Or others may be more quiet and
reserved than you, and when you're in one of your more
animated moments they may wish you would back off. You may
be ready to put more energy into a conversation than they
are comfortable with.
And your balance may be a problem. Other people may be
consistently more sociable or more reserved than you, and
find you to hard to read, some may even say you ride the
fence. Others may find themselves envious of your ability to
be outgoing at times, and at other times comfortably
reserved. If you pay attention to pick up these cues you
will be in a better position to know how you want to
interact with such folks. |
| Positive
Responses Others May Have Toward You |
Most people will truly appreciate your
flexibility in social situations. They will like you for
your amiable warmth and your willingness to engage, and for
your ability to sit back and let others take the lead or the
spotlight. They will appreciate ways in which you temper
what could become intemperate moments; by remaining poised
and relaxed when others; temperatures are rising, you keep
things civil and sane.
You are as good at listening and following as you are at
talking and leading, and people will often appreciate your
ability to adapt to the situation. Because you are sometimes
outgoing and sometimes reserved, you will make most people
comfortable in your presence, and they will truly enjoy your
company. |
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