Interaction Styles - Comparison and Cross-mapping With Keirseyan Temperament

Comparison and Cross-mapping With Keirseyan Temperament

Keirsey generally correlated his temperaments with the ancient temperaments as follows: Artisan=Sanguine; Idealist=Choleric; Rational=Phlegmatic and Epimethean=Melancholic. However, among others interpreting the theory, there is no complete agreement as to which correspond to which. For instance, while the Artisan is almost unanimously matched with the Sanguine, the other comparisons are not consistent. The Guardians are often associated with the Melancholic, but then they are also linked to the Phlegmatic, with the Melancholic being the Idealist. Idealists and Rationals are often switched back and forth between representing Cholerics and Phlegmatics in comparisons. These anomalies may have stemmed from the fact that Keirsey based his temperaments on a "Greek god" typology created by pairing together the philosophical Apollonian and Dionysian concept with Carl Spitteler's "Prometheus and Epimetheus" epic (1881), rather than using purely the Galenic descriptions. Believing the "humor" names were "misleading", he originally named his temperaments after the mythological figures.

Plus, he also drew more upon the likes of Ernst Kretschmer and Eduard Spranger, who had other models which he correlated with Galen's temperaments (though they were not necessarily perfect matches of them); while others followed Pavlov and Eysenck, who shaped the modern theories of those who held onto the Galenic names. Kretschmer, for example, used different factors ("Cycloid": gay vs. sad, and "Schizoid": sensitive vs. cold), instead of the "extraversion" and "people/task-orientation" scales that define temperament in many other systems. Spranger had six types; the two that were omitted ("Social" and "Political") fit the classic behavioral descriptions of the Sanguine and Choleric (love of people or love of power); while the remaining four, which did not correspond as clearly to the temperaments would be compared to Keirsey's model. This omissions was because "Political" was a category containing both Theoretic and Artistic, and "Social" contained Economical and Religious. Hence, it corresponded more with Keirsey's own "cooperative" and "pragmatic" categories.

The Interaction Styles, however, more closely match the behavior of the familiar understanding of the classic temperaments with “Directing” and “Informing” being a closer counterpart to people/task-orientation. Berens herself stated "Directing communications seem to have a task focus and Informing communications have a people focus. MBTI practitioners have long related task focus to a preference for Thinking and people focus to a preference for Feeling". "Descriptors of 'responsive' seem to go with the Informing style of communication and descriptors of 'less responsive' seem to go with the Directing style of communication.". Directives are the more "serious" type, defined by Keirsey as "those who communicate primarily by directing others", and Informatives are defined as "those who communicate primarily by informing others". The expressive/directing Berens calls In Charge, and behaves like a Choleric, as the name itself even implies. The reserved/directing is called Chart the Course and corresponds to the Melancholy, who is very analytical and needs order and familiarity. The expressive/informing is called Get Things Going and fits the description of the Sanguine, who is upbeat, enthusiastic and focused on interaction. The reserved/informing; Behind the Scenes is a calm peacemaker who sees value in many contributions and consult outside inputs to make an informed decision and is linked to the Phlegmatic.

In addition to the E/I and Directing/Informing categories, there is also "Attention: Focus and Interest (Control/Movement)", which pairs the diametric opposite styles. In-Charge and Behind-the-Scenes have in common "Control": Focus on control over the outcome, and Chart-the-Course and Get-Things-Going have in common "Movement": Focus on movement toward the goal. In 2008, Berens released version 2.0 of Understanding Yourself and Others: An Introduction to Interaction Styles, in which she renamed this dimension into Process/Outcome. In-Charge and Behind-the-Scenes focus on the outcome of tasks (which as already implicit in the "control" definition, above), while Get-Things-Going and Chart-the-Course focus on the process (hence, the act of movement toward the goal).

Keirsey would eventually divide his eight intelligence types to yield a corresponding four groupings, which he calls "four differing roles that people play in face-to-face interaction with one another" in his book Brains and Careers (2008).

Initiators: ENTJ, ESTJ, ESTP, ENFJ (Extraverted and Directive)
Coworkers: ENTP, ESFJ, ESFP, ENFP (Extraverted and Informative)
Contenders: INTJ, ISTJ, ISTP, INFJ (Introverted and Directive)
Responders: INTP, ISFJ, ISFP, INFP (Introverted and Informative)

The roles were implied in the role-informative/directive factor he had introduced in Portraits of Temperament (1987).