The Dynamic Life Coaching™ (DLC) personality type test uses the Myers-Briggs model of personality created by Isabel Myers and Katharine Cook Briggs. This was based on original work by C.G. Jung. Many tests use the same typology because it does a fair job of modelling human motivational dynamics.

The model assesses the dynamic relationships between eight personality criteria, or preferences, arranged in four pairs. Jung's original typology suggested that all people can be classified using three pairs: Extraversion/Introversion, Sensing/Intuition, and Thinking/Feeling. The Myers-Briggs model adds a fourth criterion: Judging/Perceiving.

These criteria are defined as follows (the letter in bold is the code for that preference):

Extraversion/Introversion defines both the source of a person's motivation and the direction toward which they direct their efforts. Extraverts perceive the world outside themselves to be both their primary stimulus and the field in which they act: they are "other referred". Introverts use their interior world for the same purposes: they are "self referred".

Sensing/INtuition defines whether we are more influenced by information acquired directly from the external world, through our five Senses; or by information acquired from the internal or imaginative world, through our iNtuition.

Thinking/Feeling defines how we use the information we've acquired. Thinking people emphasize rational evaluation in their decision-making. Feeling people emphasize their emotional input.

Judging/Perceiving defines how people implement the decisions they have made. Judging people are organized and act according to set plans. Perceiving people prefer to improvise and seek alternatives.

The value of the model is twofold:

1. It gives a starting point and a context for discussions about who we are and what we are doing today;
2. It provides indicators for possible growth and personal development into the future.

The key to understanding this model is not to think in terms of either/or but of how much of each preference determines your actions and decision making. Each set is on a continuum: if there were ten steps between Extraversion and INtroversion and you scored seven for E you would automatically score three for I.

So, our way of being in the world is the result of the different 'weights' of the preferences operating within us.

The DLC questionnaire assesses the different inner weights, defines them in four-letter codes, and expresses them in tabular form like this:

Once you have taken the test, you'll see that each group of four preferences - each 'type' - has its own score. This will enable you to see where you stand in relation to the whole spectrum of preferences.

Some general information

Within our four-letter 'Type', our different preferences have an order of dominance. For example, if you are an ENTP type, the order of dominance for your different preferences is: Intuition-Thinking-Feeling-Sensing. In other words, in any call to action you will start by using your intuition and then working through the others. In this case, you will pretty much have made your mind up before you look at the 'facts'.

The dominance order of every type is listed on the individual type-specific pages that you can reference by clicking on the table.

The Myers-Briggs model is dynamic in that we are not the same under every condition and we do not stay the same over time. For example, I tend to score higher on extraversion and thinking before taking a major action and then higher on introversion and feeling once the act is out of the way and it's time to consolidate. Similarly, our emphasis in the preferences changes as we age: we actually make more use of all our functions as we grow older. I guess that's another way of saying we mellow.

This model is not a test of quality. A person with a dominant thinking preference is not necessarily a superior thinker to one who hardly uses thinking at all. The quality of one's performance has to do with other factors such as IQ, EQ, aptitudes, education, motivation, level of self-actualization, self-esteem and so on. However, a mismatch between your personality type and your career or partner may affect career or relationship performance and will affect career and relationship satisfaction.

Other authorities' ideas

Jung identified that it is possible to generalize the preferences into eight and to draw some broad conclusions based on them. His types, the personality type codes they refer to, and some human stereotypes are:

When you have completed the test you will see a table that scores the results in a Jungian way. They will help you see what tendencies predominate in your personality.

A different classification is provided by psychologist David Keirsey. He combined the preferences so as to determine peoples' temperaments - not personalities - as follows:

I've included the Keirsey interpretation on each type-significant page.

Tests are not absolute measures

It should be noted that, like all self-report tests, this one is not an absolute measure against a constant standard. What it identifies is not 'real' but is our preferred perception of who/what we are.

For example, when we make a decision, even if we think we are being totally objective, we are not. We cannot take in and exhaustively assess all the data in the universe that would apply to our choice. We therefore make a selection of data. The criteria for that selection are determined largely by our unconscious and are therefore totally subjective.

In other words, we are all governed by what the test calls 'intuition'. Despite this 'truth', many of us think we are objective and approach life in that way.

It is not in any sense a bad thing for the test to be subjective because it reveals how we prefer to be in the world and can therefore show us why certain things may not work for us. I just don't want you thinking this test is based on standards that exist in natural law.

There is much more to typing than I'm going into here and now. In time I'll add some more material to the site. For now, I suggest that you read "Gifts Differing" by Isabel Briggs Myers and Peter B. Myers, or "Do what you are" by Paul D. Tieger and Barbara Barron-Teiger. They are two of the many sources I've brought together for this test.

Finally, it is generally recognized that peoples' responses to these tests vary by up to 25 percent even when taken very closely together. You should find that your results are broadly similar, however, and if you don't I would like to know about it because it probably means the test is biased.

Click here to go to the test. Have fun!

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator ® and MBTI ® are registered trademarks of Consulting Psychologists Press, Inc

TOP               Add this page to your Favorites