Personality Systems Compared

Catagorizing Personalities3

One of the most notable contributions in history was in 460 BC by Hippocrates (often referred to as the “father of western medicine”). He observed that people in general seemed to have one of four humors, or approaches to life. This discernment of four groupings is a common theme that connects many of the most predominant personality theories.

Today there exist many different systems for categorizing personality traits into meaningful patterns. Many of these various systems use special vocabulary such as colors, letters or other terms to describe the same thing- your personality or “temperament”.

Whether you are brand new to personality training or intimately familiar with a favorite system- the power of knowing your personality is undeniable. Our personality affects everything we do – from how we take in and process information to personal preferences and life decisions. Modern scientific studies claim to have found proof that our temperament is coded into our DNA, giving even more validity to this time tested theory.

If you have ever been in a conversation where people are discussing personality types, it can seem like a foreign language to those that don’t understand the vocabulary of that particular system. In essence, you could all be talking about the same thing but using different terms to describe it.

Say What2
Countless times my clients have explained a communication quandary they have experienced. For example, one major corporation’s HR director shared that they had trained their upper management in the Myers/Briggs system because they liked the detailed descriptions and in-depth clarification of the different functions (ENFP, INTJ…). The supervisors in the same corporation had been previously trained in DISC and were used to those specific terms (Dominance, Influence…). However, the general staff was trained in “the Colors” because they found it simple to remember and use. The staff spoke to each other in a “color” lingo. Even though the entire corporation had been trained in some kind of personality theory, they still could not communicate between the ranks because they were not speaking the same language!

Approximate Comparison of Personality Systems

COLOR SYSTEMS

Hippocrates was perhaps the first to reference color in connection with his four humors. Over the years there have been numerous systems that have carried on with this approach and attached a color label to a particular personality: Personality Dimensions, Don Lowry’s True Colors, Real Colors and many more. The table below reviews a sampling of those systems and how they relate to Personality Lingo:

Personality Lingo® Connector Thinker Planner Mover
Hippocrates CLEAR YELLOW BLACK RED
Don Lowry’s True Colors BLUE GREEN GOLD ORANGE
Color Lingo BLUE GREEN GOLD ORANGE
Personality Dimensions BLUE GREEN GOLD ORANGE
Insight Learning BLUE GREEN GOLD ORANGE
Four Lenses BLUE GREEN GOLD ORANGE
Four Windows BLUE GREEN GOLD ORANGE
Real Colors BLUE GREEN GOLD ORANGE
Spectrum Temperaments BLUE GREEN GOLD ORANGE
Personality Resources BLUE GREEN GOLD ORANGE
Color Code BLUE-WHITE RED BLUE-N/A YELLOW
Herrmann Brain RED BLUE GREEN YELLOW
Ritberger ORANGE GREEN RED YELLOW
Birkman GREEN BLUE RED YELLOW

LETTER SYSTEMS

The most popular letter systems for Temperament  identification are the Myers-Briggs and Keirsey systems. The chart below shows how Myers-Briggs and Keirsey relate to Personality Lingo:

Personality Lingo® Connector Thinker Planner Mover
Myers – Briggs  ENFJ, INFJ
ENFP, INFP
ENTJ, INTJ
ENTP, INTP
ESTJ, ISTJ
ESFJ, ISFJ
ESFP, ISFP
ESTP, ISTP
Keirsey Temperament NF NT SJ SP

WORD DESCRIPTOR SYSTEMS

Dating back to the ancient Greeks there is a long linage of  adding  descriptive adjectives (or labels) to each of the four personality styles. The chart below shows how these systems relate to Personality Lingo:

Personality Lingo® Connector Thinker Planner Mover
Ancient Greeks  Fire Water Earth Air
Galen Phlegmatic Choleric Melancholic Sanguine
Carl Jung Intuition/Feeling Intuition/Thinking Sensing (/Judging*) Sensing (/Perceiving*)
Seasons Summer Winter Autumn Spring
Keirsey Idealist Rational Guardian Artisan
Keirsey/Bates Apollonian Promethean Epimethean Dionysian
Diet Styles Diet Feeler Diet Thinker Diet Planner Diet Player
Inner Hero Helper Thinker Planner Doer
Helen Fisher Estrogen/Oxytocin Testosterone Serotonin Dopamine
Helen Scully Facilitator Innovator Organizer Liberator
Character Champions Blue Dolphin Green Owl Gold Ant Orange Wolf

*Carl Jung does not explicitly mention a judging or perceiving attitude. The “Judging” and “Perceiving” terms are listed here to make a clear distinction between the Planner and Mover temperaments as they relate to Carl Jung’s classifications.

OTHER SYSTEMS

DISC

DISC D
Dominance
I
Influence
S
Steadiness
C
Conscientiousness
Personality Lingo Mover/Thinker Connector/Mover Planner/Connector Thinker/Planner
COLORS Orange/Green Blue/Orange Gold/Blue Green/Gold
Keirsey SP/NT NF/SP SJ/NF NT/SJ