My True Type: Clarifying Your Personality Type, Preferences & Functions

Knowing your personality type is important for a number of reasons: increasing self-knowledge, facilitating personal growth, informing career decision-making, improving relationships, etc. More broadly, knowing your type can inform your overall purpose in life, helping you discover “what you were born to do.” 


Considering the great value and potential rewards of knowing one's type, it is unfortunate that so many people encounter an unexpected hurdle at the very outset of their typing journey—type confusion. Although they may have been furnished a type (e.g., INFP) after taking a personality test, upon further investigation, they may come to doubt its accuracy. This may prompt them to retake the test, sample other tests, or read more about the types to ascertain greater clarity. Even if interesting at first, this can become a rather frustrating affair, as what began with an expectation of objective answers starts to feel more like a wild goose chase. Some folks may even throw in the towel, concluding that personality typing is not for them or is not worth the requisite time and effort. 


The express purpose of this book is to equip you with the knowledge necessary to clarify and better understand your personality type. It strives to deepen your understanding of the essential features of your personality type, including your preferences, functions, and "functional stack." Some of its main features include:


• Type Clarifier Assessment. This brand new personality inventory is composed of two parts. Part I is designed to clarify your personality preferences (E, I, S, N, T, F, J, P) , while Part II focuses on clarifying your functions (Se, Si, Ne, Ni, Te, Ti, Fe, Fi). Instructions are then provided for integrating these results in order to identify your true type. 

• Numerous tips and strategies for identifying and clarifying your type 

• In-depth analyses of each of the personality preferences and functions 

• Identification of and explanations for common “mistypings” (e.g., introverts mistyping as extraverts, etc.) 

• Clear explanations of type theory, including the nuts and bolts of the functional stack and how the preferences link up with the functions 


This book also addresses a number of “frequently asked questions” such as: 


• Can my personality type change over time? 

• Is it possible to be an “x-type,” to have no true preference at all (e.g., ExFP)? 

• Are some types (or functions) more “right-brained” or “left-brained?” 

• How does gender affect personality type, especially T-F differences? 


Here is an excerpt: 


"Especially in the first half of life, introverts are most interested in discovering exactly what it is they have to offer the world. They see self-knowledge as a prerequisite to authentic action. Without an adequate map of themselves, they feel lost and aimless. For introverts, external circumstances are far less important than self-understanding and self-direction. Once they have a sense of who they are and what they should be doing, they feel they can be happy anywhere. 


Extraverts, by contrast, are most interested in discovering what they world has to offer them. Instead of turning inward for direction, they look without. Instead of increasing their self-knowledge, they augment their “world-knowledge.” While the self is the introvert’s forum for exploration and direction, the world is center stage for extraverts. 


In looking inward first, introverts can be viewed as more independent-minded than extraverts. In many respects, introverts trust themselves more than they trust the world. More specifically, ITPs place great trust in their own logic, strategies, and methods (Ti), IFPs in their personal tastes, feelings, and moral sentiments (Fi), ISJs in their personal routines and cherished traditions (Si), and INJs in their impressions and insights (Ni)..."