Keirsey Temperament Frequently Asked Questions

Question 1:  What is the difference between online questionnaires: the Keirsey Temperament Sorter II and Keirsey Character Sorter. Do they measure different things?  What if I get different answers?

The Keirsey Temperament Sorter II and the Keirsey Character Sorter are aiming for assessing the same thing: temperament.  The "Character" Sorter name was chosen, ill advised.  However, in reality one can not "measure"  temperament directly so, we always stress that these questionnaires are just rough assessments.   If you get two different assessments, reading both and picking the best "fitting" description is probably a better assessment.  Reading all of the full descriptions of each of the temperaments (in the books Please Understand Me II or Please Understand Me) not only gives people a better idea of themselves (and what they are not), it also helps them understand other people (a very important part of understanding yourself).  Generally, the Character Sorter has a different method of assessing temperament than the Keirsey Temperament Sorter, but both have strengths and weaknesses.  The Temperament Sorter has been in existence longer (over twenty years), and follows the Myers-Briggs method of assessment more closely: it is more indirect in its questions.  The Character Sorter is more closely related to the Keirsey Four Temperaments, is more direct in asking questions, and uses the technique of ranking.  Both questionnaires can be fooled in giving the wrong assessments, given that many people are not very good at assessing themselves.  The Character Sorter might have a slight bias towards assessing people's perceived desired traits as opposed to their actual behavior.

Question 2:  Is the "Myers-Briggs" the same as Keirsey Temperament Sorter.

No.  The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, trademarked and copyrighted by Consulting Psychological Press is a different questionnaire.  However, they are very similar in result (approximately .75 correlation).  The Myers-Briggs is a rough indicator of temperament also, the error rate about one out of four assessments being not correct.

Question 2a:  What's the difference between Keirsey Temperament and Myers-Briggs Types.

There's a difference.

Question 3:  Does one's temperament change?  If the questionnaire gives different assessments at different times, doesn't that mean my temperament changes?

In theory, temperament does not change. Because you get different assessments at different times, indicates more about your character, than it does your temperament.  We don't know how temperament is formed, but it appears very early in childhood.  In reality, since temperament is not measurable and only indirectly observed by watching one's behavior over a long period of time, determining temperament can be an ongoing process.  Individuals vary in the degree in their ability to observe themselves.  Also temperament is a pre-disposition towards a particular configuration of habits.  We all have the capability to behave in ways not common to our strongest pre-disposition.  That is, one can view your temperament in the metaphor of the fingers on your hand.  The longest finger is your "temperament" (your strongest preference to act in a configured set of habits), the three other fingers are your three other temperament preferences.  Your pinky indicates your short suit, behaving in a way that is not very strong, because you tend not to practice those behaviors you are not pre-disposed to prefer.

Question 4: Aren't people too complex to classify into only four and sixteen categories?  Aren't you putting them in boxes, as form of stereotyping.

Knowledge is a double-edged sword. You can use knowledge a wrong way and a right way.  One can use the temperament as a way of putting people in boxes or stereotyping.  However, the right way is to view temperament theory as a language to talk about commonalties and differences between people.  People are different, fundamentally different, but at the same time, people are fundamentally similar also.  The more you discuss these differences and commonalties, the more you will better understand the other person and yourself.  Temperament descriptions are more of an outline of person, than a box.  Besides temperament of the person, you have a person's character, his/her age, gender, culture background, his/her circumstance of life, etc.  Nevertheless, patterns of human behavior have been observed for thousand of years, Hippocrates, Plato, and Aristotle described "four kinds" of people: very close to descriptions of some modern day observers of human behavior.  Also, as parents, people know that their kids can be different as night and day, and its nothing that they did.  That's temperament.   If you are old enough to go to a class reunion, you meet those people you knew in high school --- funny --- they haven't change.  They act the same way as they did in high school, but maybe graying or spreading out.  That's temperament.

Question 5:  What is the distribution of temperaments in the US population?  Doesn't the distribution of the web statistics contradict that distribution?

The estimated distribution of temperaments of US general population are 40-45% Guardian, 35-40% Artisan, 5-10% Idealist, 5-10% Rational.  The web statistics, are global statistics not restricted to the US, and are not surprising because Idealists and Guardians generally are more interested seeking out and taking the questionnaires.  The Artisans are typically not as interested in temperament theory, as the rest of the temperaments are.  The Idealists are the most enthusiastic of the temperaments about temperament theory.

Question 6:  What are the validity and reliability statistics for the Sorters?

We don't have "official" statistics on reliability or validity.  The Sorters are not "tests" per se, so a validity statistic wouldn't make much sense.  The Keirsey Sorters are designed to help people better understand themselves, so its up to the individuals to determine how valid the assessments are for themselves. Some people find their descriptions a revelation, and others don't care. Informally, they are valid in the degree that millions of people have found them useful and the discovery of their usefulness for about twenty five years has been strictly by word of mouth.  In terms of reliability, they are as "reliable" as the MBTI, which is pretty good for a self-assessed personality questionnaire. They are pretty reliable.  Reliability and validity are partially a function of temperament, which is predicted by the theory.  Many find the assessment the same after years or decades.

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