Keirsey Temperament Paper

Nicholas Puzak

ENGR 408 Sec 1

November 13, 2006

Introduction

Recently I used the Keirsey Temperament Sorter to gain further insight into my

personality and possible interactions with other people. The on-line form of this instrument is a

70-question survey based on the work of renowned clinical psychologist Dr. David Keirsey. The

result yielded from the survey is the placement of the user into one of four temperaments defined

by Dr. Keirsey’s psychological theories: Artisans, Guardians, Idealists, and Rationalists. Each

of these groups can be further divided into four character types that display certain traits

prominently. These results have a variety of uses, ranging from pure entertainment to personnel

arrangements to job hunting.

Where Do I Fit In?

The first time that I used the Temperament Sorter I was classified as a Guardian. This

trait is characterized by strong managerial and organizational skills, dependability and

seriousness, being down-to-earth and conservative. The Keirsey website describes Guardians as

the “cornerstone of society” and claims that they make up 40 to 45 percent of the population.

The Wikipedia entry 1 about the Sorter highlights the fact that the greatest strength of the

Guardian trait is their logistical intelligence.

The sorter does not reveal which character the user falls into without the purchase of an

advanced report for a nominal fee. However, descriptions are available on the website, and a

rough guess can be made. After inspection, I would place myself into the Supervisor character

type – though it must be noted that my reasoning has no little solid evidence behind it. The

Keirsey website describes Supervisors as people who keep “squarely on the side of rules and

procedures” and are driven by their experiences rather than experimentation. They are also

strong and active members of civic groups and typically assume leadership roles in these
1
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keirsey_Temperament_Sorter for more details.
organizations. Examples given of Supervisors are Colin Powell, President Grover Cleveland,

and Queen Elizabeth I. All of the qualities given for this type seem relevant to my personality,

and thus I place myself into this group.

The psychological notation (for lack of a better description) of this character type is

ESTJ, which indicates the result of my “Preference Scales” is Expressive, Observant, Tough-

Minded, and Scheduling. This means that the answers I provided in the Sorter survey indicated

my personality preferred the ESTJ qualities over their opposing sides 2 .

To ensure that the analysis done on my personality was accurate, I went through the

Temperament Sorter survey for a second time a few days after the first. While this is not a

scientifically-proven way to validate my results, it was a simple test of the system. I read

through each question and tried my best not to let my previous answers bias my new ones. The

result, again, was a Guardian classification, which lends credibility to the accuracy of the survey.

Behavioral Boundaries

There are several situational behaviors that can be extracted from the profile and the

resources on the Keirsey website. For one, my personality dictates that when given an important

choice between to methods, I will choose the one I am more familiar with than something new

(the experience over experimentation principle). An example of how this could be applied in a

real-life setting would be if given the choice between two software packages. While the new one

might have advanced features or help reduce my work time, I will tend to choose the older

package that I have more experience with.

Another significant behavior is related to my temperament’s respect for rules and

authority. Thus, if a coworker were to ask me to bend the rules, I would likely refuse in order to

not risk being caught. Also, since Guardians tend to worry that respect for authority is being lost
2
Attentive, Introspective, Friendly, and Probing, respectively.
in our society, I would tend to either report this person (admittedly an extreme scenario) or try to

guide this person into a more honest method of doing things (this more realistic option is defined

by the Supervisor character type).

The third important behavior that can be said about Guardians is their ability to push

through obstacles to complete a task when called upon. An example of this would be if a group

that I am a member of asks me to do a large amount of work the night before a project is due.

Assuming that this is a fair request, my Guardian personality will govern my actions and I will

get the job done on time and at the best of my ability. The primary reason for this action is the

high value that Guardian’s place on their dependability.

Accuracy of Temperament Analysis

Previously I had to place myself into one of the four character types that fell under the

Guardian temperament. However, the choice of the Supervisor type was not a clear one, so the

question stands: is the Temperament Sorter’s analysis really accurate? Am I truly a Guardian?

These questions are difficult to answer without having a trained psychologist to consult with, so I

will try to prove the accuracy by elimination.

The first temperament I will analyze is the Artisan. The very first paragraph of the

AdvisorTeam.org 3 description of Artisans immediately disqualifies it. As their name implies,

this group has “the natural ability to excel in any of the arts.” This certainly does not apply to

me, as I was never in a school band or theatre production, and my grades in art classes were

based solely on effort. Artisans are also likely to try things others find risky or impossible,

which I feel is not my style.

3
AdvisorTeam.org appears to be a partner site of Keirsey.com, and serves as the actual web location of the
Temperament Sorter. Because of the clarity of their descriptions, I will use this site over the Keirsey site for my
accuracy analysis. To see these descriptions, visit http://www.advisorteam.org/the_four-temperaments/
 The Idealist temperament is not as easily thrown out. I believe I have many of the

characteristics of this trait, such as a desire to help people. The primary reason I do not fall into

this category, however, is the motivation behind these actions. An Idealist does it because they

value the social interactions and the friendships built upon the assistance. I usually help people

who are already my friends an acquaintances (hence I do not hope to create new friendships) and

so that I further understand the material I am helping with. Also, Idealists “prefer to focus on

what might be, rather than what is;” this ideology is opposite of what I think of myself.

If I had to pick one of the other three temperaments to describe myself prior to taking the

Temperament Sorter, Rational would be my top choice. After reading over the description, I am

no longer fully convinced that I am a Guardian. Rationals take a systems approach to their

problems, and are accomplished problem solvers. They are also “rigorously logical and fiercely

independent in their thinking.” All of these qualities are ones I see in myself. The Rational’s

disregard for certain authorities and established procedures in favor of efficient solutions is what

distances me from this group.

The temperament that best describes me according to the Sorter, Guardian, is known for

organization and management skills, dependability, and being down-to-earth. I believe I have

and exhibit all of these qualities in my daily life. The scenarios presented in the Behavioral

Boundaries section highlight this, since I believe that I would do what a Guardian would in those

situations.

To conclude this self-analysis, I would place myself somewhere between a Guardian and

a Rational. I have the personality of the former, and the work-ethic of the latter. It would be

helpful if the Sorter would show the results on some sort of two-dimensional plot, or some other

medium with which to show the relations between user scores and each of the temperaments.
Applications To Leadership Roles

It is my belief that many of the traits of a Guardian are similar to what would be

considered an ideal leader. For example, as discussed in the Behavioral Boundaries section, a

Guardian will usually abide by the rules and respect authority. This characteristic sets a good

example for those below the leader in the corporate hierarchy. They also tend to help 4 others,

which is applicable to the concepts discussed in the Developing and Empowering People lecture.

A behavior that could be a hindrance is the reliance upon experience over

experimentation. As we learned in the first few classes, the new global leader needs to have a

dynamic mind and be willing to take risks to achieve their goals. In many cases, a conservative

approach simply is not the best method in a rapidly changing world.

While on this topic, my personal feeling is that the Idealist would make the best leader of

the four temperaments. The Idealists have strong interpersonal skills, which are essential for a

leader, and they have the dynamic thinking that a good leader needs to survive.

Interactions Between Temperaments

Considering the vast differences between the temperaments, and the array of strengths

and weaknesses they exhibit, it is important to illustrate how leaders of each type will interact

with each other and hopefully combine traits to optimize their work. As suggested, the method I

will use is graphical, as shown in the table on the next page. My temperament is highlighted in

bold. Note that in some cases, qualities listed in the weaknesses section can also be interpreted

as strengths; but for the purpose of this comparison, we will assume their negative connotations.

4
The concept of helping people and how that specifically relates to me was discussed in greater detail in the
Accuracy section of the paper.

1. Experience Oriented
GUARDIAN 2. Average Interpersonal
WEAKNESSES Skills
3. Cautious About Change
4. Procedure-based
1. Desire Freedoms
ARTISAN 2. Disregarding of Rules
WEAKNESSES 3. Competitiveness
4. Impulsive
1. Hard On Themselves
IDEALIST 2. Impractical
WEAKNESSES 3. Opposed to Confrontation
1. Fiercely Independent
RATIONALS 2. Skeptical
WEAKNESSES 3. Challenges Authority
4. Seem Cold and Distant
GUARDIAN ARTISAN IDEALIST RATIONALS
STRENGTHS STRENGTHS STRENGTHS STRENGTHS
1. Helpfulness 1. Spontaneous 1. Interpersonal Skills 1. Efficient
2. Organization 2. Risk Takers 2. Very Helpful 2. Pragmatic
3. Dependability 3. Interpersonal Skills 3. Ethical 3. Problem Solvers
4. Adherence to Rules 4. Adaptability 4. Self-Improving 4. Hard Working
The Artisan can aid the The Idealist can aid the The Rational can aid the
Guardian by enhancing Guardian by adding to Guardians by
interpersonal interactions their interpersonal highlighting new,
and counteracting the skills. Their mutual efficient practices and
Guardian’s tendency to adherence to rules is a pragmatic solutions.
be conservative. positive, as well as
their helpfulness.
The Guardian can aid the The Idealist can aid the The Rational can aid the
Artisan by helping them Artisan by showing Artisans by showing a
think through decisions that rules are completely different
and showing them that important, as well as point of view on a
guidelines are not meant toning down the problem.
as restrictions. Artisan’s competitive
spirit to something
cooperative.
The Guardian can aid the The Artisan can aid the The Rational can aid the
Idealist by showing them Idealist by sharing in Idealists by introducing a
the importance of their non-conventional standardized style of
practical thinking. thinking, and also by problem solving skills
reassuring the Idealist rather than an inefficient
when things go wrong. off-the-wall system.
The Guardian can aid the The Artisan can aid the The Idealist can aid the
Rational by emphasizing Rational by showing the Rational by increasing
rules and authority positives of spontaneous, their interpersonal
figures. out-of-the-box thinking. skills and helping with
Interpersonal skills can ethical considerations.
also be lent across lines.
How Accurate Is The Keirsey Method?

After my analysis of the other temperament types, and my discovery that my personality

was very close to the Rational, I felt the need to give the Keirsey Temperament Sorter another

test. I had my father take the test, since my mother is a firm believer in the You’re Just Like

Your Father Theory 5 . As it turns out, my father (who I believe I take after quite closely) is also a

Guardian with some Rational characteristics. He even claims that he is most like the Supervisor

character type, which I agree with.

My second test subject was my cousin. I chose him for this because he is almost

certainly an Artisan – his interpersonal skills are top notch and he is very well versed in artistic

endeavors. If the Temperament Sorter was an accurate instrument, my cousin should be

identified in the Artisan temperament. That turns out to be the exact result that he got.

Assuming that Dr. Keirsey’s theories on temperament are somewhat accurate, these two

examples show that his temperament sorting test is accurate.

I was also somewhat wary of this test when I saw the Keirsey.com website. Compared to

the partner site AdvisorTeam.org, the Keirsey site is extremely basic (entirely HTML based, and

even then using mostly basic HTML code). A little research on the site’s namesake, Dr. David

Keirsey, yielded that he is an accomplished author of two books on his Temperament Theory

(Please Understand Me I and II). According to his biography on Wikipedia 6,7 , he is an

“internationally renowned psychologist” and has been working in the field since 1950. With this

in mind, I find it very likely that Dr. Keirsey is an expert in the field of psychology and an

amateur in the field of website design.

5
She would call it a Law.
6
Note: Wikipedia is of uncertain reliability, but it was convincing enough for this author.
7
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Keirsey for more details.
 To further satisfy my quest to prove the validity of the results from my temperament

analysis, I sought out another personality test. I found a test on SimilarMinds.com, and the

results were stunningly close to Keirsey’s:

Orderliness results were very high which suggests you are overly
organized, reliable, neat, and hard working at the expense too often
of flexibility, efficiency, spontaneity, and fun.

Recall that the description of a Guardian highlighted managerial and organization skills,

reliability, and a hard-working nature. This test represents a second level of validation for the

Keirsey analysis – on the first level, between two people who are perceived to be closely alike in

personality, and then the second level, using a different test to confirm results.

Conclusion

After testing, analysis, reflection, and validation, there is much to be gained from taking a

close look at personality – and, for the purposes of this class, how it effects a leader. Dr.

Keirsey’s Temperament Theory is a simple way to get an idea of what lies at the core of a

person, and is a rough method of predicting possible behaviors in hypothetical scenarios.

Obtaining an idea of what traits a person has and how they will interact with others seems to be

becoming a major trend in team-forming and hiring practices. On a personal level, learning

about a personality type and its associates strengths and weaknesses can allow a leader to exploit

their strong points and improve their weak ones.