Madison Burton

6/16/19 SP 120
Myers Briggs Personality Type

My Myers Briggs Personality Type is INFJ; the advocate. This doesn’t 100% fit my personality

type, but it is very close and can definitely offer some insight into how I view and process the world around

me. As for strengths, I feel like I match all the strengths associated with the INFJ personality type. As for

weaknesses, I know for a fact that I am a huge perfectionist and that I am very stubborn, but as for a few of

the other weaknesses, such as “sensitive” and “can burn out easily,” I feel as though those do not entirely

match my personality. I find it very interesting to see where I have inherited my personality type from. I

have always been much more like my dad; in the way I think, in the way I process information, and in my

overall personality. It wasn’t a surprise when my dad took the test and he was an INFJ as well. However, it

was a surprise when my mom took the test and received the same result. received the same answerI find it

quite interesting how my personality reflects that of my parents and that of my upbringing.

INFJ Strengths: INFJ Weaknesses:

- Creative - Decisive - Sensitive - Stubborn

- Insightful - Determined and - Extremely - Always Need to Have
- Inspiring and Passionate Private a Cause
Convincing - Altruistic - Perfectionist - Can Burn Out Easily

There are four “dimensions” to a Myers Briggs Personality Type; the energy style (where you focus your

attention), the cognitive style (how you take in information), the values style (how you make decisions),

and the self-management style (how you deal with the world).

ISTJ ISFJ INFJ INTJ

The Logistician The Defender The Advocate The Architect

ISTP ISFP INFP INTP

The Virtuoso The Adventurer The Mediator The Logician

ESTP ESFP ENFP ENTP

The Entrepreneur The Entertainer The Campaigner The Debater

ESTJ ESFJ ENFJ ENTJ

The Executive The Consul The Protagonist The Commander
 Madison Burton
6/16/19 SP 120
Perception: What You See Is What You Get

There is much more to the world than what initially meets the eye and to what even is
comprehensible to any of us. Every single person makes sense of their environment by sorting and selecting
specific stimuli from their environment and organizing them into patterns that make sense to them. These
patterns are interpreted and negotiated through the “narratives we share with others.” These many factors or
steps are the way we “select, organize, interpret, and negotiate information.” Access to information plays
an important role into our perspective and the way we see the world around us as well. As with everyone,
each individual can only make sense of what he or she knows. There is no way to know or understand
completely where the other person is coming from. Other factors, such as the demographics we belong to,
our senses, our culture/background, and our mental/physical health. Each of these factors influence the way
we view the world around us and persons/things in it. This is where perception checking comes into effect.
Perception checking, with only three steps, can be put into effect when one looks to improve their accuracy
in order to prevent misunderstandings with others. The first step, description, is where you provide a
detailed description of the behavior/action you noticed. Secondly, interpretation, where you provide two,
and unique, interpretations of the noticed behavior. Lastly, clarification, where you request clarification
from the person about the noticed behavior and your interpretations about it. Perception checking is a
useful tool when confirming one’s interpretation of the behavior of others. This is instead of assuming that
the initial assumption one makes is correct and to increase one’s empathy.
Empathy is the ability to understand the feelings and emotions of another communicator. The
ability to empathize is vital when you are released into the real world and have to deal on your own.
Although however similar, empathy differs from sympathy because sympathy is feeling compassion for one
going through their situation and trials where empathy is putting yourself in the shoes of the communicator.
Empathy involves seeing the world and the particular situation from the perspective of others rather than
your own perspective, views/beliefs, and the factors that influence those.
Cognitive complexity is the ability to “construct a variety of frameworks for understanding an
issue.” One method for boosting one’s empathy and cognitive complexity is by using the pillow method.
This involves viewing a situation/issue from five different perspectives. Every situation is unique from each
other and has its own story behind it. “One way to understand how negotiation operates is to view
interpersonal communication as an exchange of stories.” When two or more “stories” clash with each other,
it is most common for one to stick to their own side of the situation and to rebut the other communicator or
communicators’ sides. It is important to use negotiation in situations when trying to minimize and
eventually resolve conflict. “Shared narratives don’t have to be accurate to be powerful.” Even if every
little detail isn’t negotiated, which it will not be, just the understanding of where the other communicator(s)
are coming from can make a huge difference in any situation.
I am sure that all of us, at some point, have experienced conflict that was never resolved. At the
beginning of my freshman year, a former friend and I had been very close and she shared very personal
experiences from her own life with me. At one point, things in her life had gotten very chaotic, where she
felt her life was falling apart. When she was absent from school for a prolonged period of time, I was very
concerned. I texted her to see if everything was okay, and she shut down all communication. Upon
reflection, I now understand that she was angry at the world and at her situations. My text message was at
the wrong time and, as it was online and not face-to-face, she could not correctly determine my tone, my
facial expressions, and my intentions. This never got resolved and unfortunately, we are no longer friends.
This is a personal example of how communication can be misunderstood. When I felt I was showing
empathy, she saw a personal attack and felt she had to shut down all communication with me, in order to
protect her emotional well-being. A lesson that can be learned from this is to think ahead, trying to
anticipate the other person’s perspective. This can also be tied into whether mediated versus face-to-face
communication is most effective and when to use it.