Fun with Personality Types

My mom always said that my hair matched my personality — different every day. Of course, if hair defined personality, then it would have to be based on more than color: my brother Will and I have matching copper red hair, but there the similarities end — in hair and in personality. Will’s hair is straight and thick; mine is curly and thin. Will is laid back, methodical, and quiet — I, well, like my mom said, my hair matches my personality.

A hair personality profile might need the complexity of the Myers Briggs typing system to encompass all the colors and types. Of course, there’s a fun sleep personality profile that uses the Myers Briggs method, so maybe we could lobby for the next edition of Curly Girl to have more than curl classifications, but personality types, too!

There’s a personality profiling system for every personality type — and then some. If you’re a Type A, left-brained type, you probably know all four letters of your Myers Briggs type. If you’re more random and right-brained, like me, you likely have a hard time deciding which way to answer even the simplest of personality profiles because “it depends on how I’m feeling at the moment!” Sometimes, it’s easier to see ourselves in fictional characters than to find ourselves in checkboxes and fill-in-the-blanks.

When it comes to literature, A.A. Milne did a classic job of incorporating the four temperaments into his four main characters Rabbit, Tigger, Pooh, and Eeyore. Let’s hope I’m more Pooh and less Rabbit these days.

If you’re past Winnie the Pooh (though who could be?), you might see yourself as one of the four March Sisters in Little Women or one of Jane Austen’s heroines. And if comics are more your thing, Charles Schulz epitomized the four temperaments in the Peanuts comic strip.

Modern day self-help books include general personifications like Gary Smalley’s use of the Lion, Otter, Beaver, and Golden Retriever.

If you’re a synesthesia, perhaps The Color Code is more your style. My Yellow sister says it’s a good thing my husband is a White because he’s married to a Red with some Blue.

My personal favorite is the herbal classifications: I’m Garlic, with a dash of Ginger, married to a Parsley. (My sister? She’s Pepper!)

Every other personality type test is based on one combination of letters or another. MBTI, DISC, DESA, L-E-A-D, even L.O.V.E. You better have the right learning style to remember what each letter stands for!

If you’re into letters, you may prefer the alliteration of Florence Littauer’s temperament descriptions: Powerful, Popular, Peaceful, and Perfect. Or if you’re a writer, you can identify your blogging style or find out the percentages of writers in each personality type.

Perhaps geometry is your thing: the Psycho-Geometrics will give you shapes to choose from. You can be a Triangle, Squiggle, Circle, or just be Square.

If you’re a dancer, you probably want to check out your Tango Temperament. There’s even a test to tell you what Disney character you are or help you understand coffee people.

We could take personality tests from now until the end of the year and still not implement a thing we’ve learned about the other personality types. But while we’re facing the facts about our strengths and weaknesses, it’s good to lighten the mood once in a while, isn’t it?

(And if you’re the personality type who doesn’t care what their personality type is, well, we love you, too. And we understand that you don’t want to take any tests, so we’ll gladly take them for you. Over and over again. Even though you come out the same every single time.)

What’s a fun personality type profiling you’ve come across? (And if you dare, tell us what character or color or shape you identified as yourself!)