What are personality types?
Personality refers to the measurable, unique behavioral patterns that make you different from other people. This includes the way you like to communicate, what motivates, energizes, and stresses you, how you like to interact with others, and so much more. When you add all of these individual traits together, you get a complex, unique mix of tendencies that help drive your daily thoughts, feelings, and actions. This mix, which we simply refer to as your personality, is a big part of what makes you you. Personality models help simplify the way we talk about personality by grouping common characteristics into personality types. Popular models like DISC, 16 Personalities, the Enneagram, and the Big Five take different approaches at classifying these characteristics. Each can give you a unique perspective and understanding into your personality. Because of this, millions of people have recently made efforts to get to know more about their own personalities with Crystal’s free online personality assessments.
The Major Personality Models
There are many personality models, but four of the most popular
are DISC, 16 Personalities, Enneagram, and Big Five.
DISC
DISC is a "four-factor" personality model, meaning that it groups people into four categories based on behavior patterns. Each category consists of a set of personality traits. Everyone has a primary category, and often a second category. You can see details about each category below. DISC was developed in the early 1900s by psychologist William Marston, the same man who also happened to create Wonder Woman and the polygraph. It resembles other four-factor models that have been around for more than 2,000 years, when Hippocrates first described the “four temperaments”.
The DISC personality model classifies people into fouroverarching behavioral categories:
d
Dominance
i
Influence
s
Steadiness
c
Conscientiousness
D-personalities are likely to be direct, assertive, independent,and decisive.
Each of the four type categories is made up of subtypes.Because most of these sixteen subtypes are a combination oftwo primary types, they can identify people more specificallyand offer more complete insights about people. They delve moredeeply into personal motivations, strengths, and weaknesses,and can be helpful for understanding how others think, act,and communicate.
Click a DISC type to
learn more about it
Things to consider before you use DISC
Best Uses
Personality learning in professional settings Improving communication skills Leadership development
Pros
Four-factor personality models, like DISC, have been validated by scientific research. DISC is easy to learn since there are four overarching categories. The results are useful for both individual and relationship insights. Because DISC offers more general insights, it’s much easier to apply practically
Cons
DISC hasn’t been studied as often as similar models and has less controlled research to support it. DISC doesn’t tend to offer deeper, more emotional insights.
Explore DISC
Learn more about DISC and
take the free DISC test.
16 Personalities
The 16 Personalities Type Indicator is a very well-known personality assessments. Inspired by the work of Katharine Cook Briggs, her daughter Isabel Briggs Myers, and Carl Jung, 16 Personalities has become especially popular in modern workplaces to help companies better understand their employees.
This model has four distinct traits that represent differences in the way people think and behave:
e
Extroversion
i
Introversion
Extroversion: Extroverts tend to draw energy fromspending time around other people.
N
Intuition
s
Sensing
Intuition: Intuitive types tend to love to explorenew ideas and think in terms of the big picture.
F
Feeling
T
Thinking
Feeling: Feeling types usually prioritize emotionover logic, often choosing to follow their gut when makingdecisions.
J
Judging
p
Perceiving
Judging: Judging types tend to be very structuredand organized.
Learn more about each 16 Personalities type
by selecting a combination below.
Extraverted
Introverted
Sensing
Intuitive
Thinking
Feeling
Judging
Perceiving
Learn more about
estj
Things to consider before you use 16 Personalities
Best Uses
Self-development Personality insights for large audiences
Pros
Easy to remember and understand, since it’s only a combination of four distinct traits. Tends to be popular among the general public. There are plenty of online resources that can help people learn more.
Cons
It has limited scientific validity and reliability compared to other models. Each personality trait is represented as a binary “either or,” rather than a normal distribution.
Explore 16 Personalities
Learn more about 16 Personalities
and take the free 16 Personalities test.
Enneagram
The Enneagram is a personality model that dates back more than a thousand years. Though it’s unclear just how it began, it has recently exploded in popularity. The Enneagram consists of 9 main, overarching types that interact with one another in unique ways. This model also features “wings,” which is a way of describing when an individual primarily shows the characteristics of one type but shares a few with another type as well.
1
Idealist
2
Caregiver
3
Performer
4
Creative
5
Thinker
6
Loyalist
7
Adventurer
8
Protector
9
Peacekeeper
Type ones seek moralistic behavior and reform. They arenaturally positive, determined people, with a heart for helpingothers.
1
Learn More
The Enneagram consists of 9 main, overarching types thatinteract with one another in unique ways. This model alsofeatures “wings,” which is a way of describing when anindividual primarily shows the characteristics of one type butshares a few with another type as well. The Enneagram focusesprimarily on internal personality traits and attempts todescribe deep motivations, fears, and emotional drivers ratherthan purely behavior.
Click an Enneagram type to the left to learn more about it
Things to consider before you use Enneagram
Best Uses
Self-help Counseling Relationship development
Pros
Helps with personal growth and self-awareness. Allows for more specific typing through its use of “wings”. Accounts for personality abnormalities in times of stress and growth.
Cons
It has been criticized for being overly subjective. It lacks the psychological evidence to support the ways in which it categorizes personality.
Explore Enneagram
Learn more about Enneagram and
take the free Enneagram test.
Big Five
The Big Five, or Five Factor Model, is widely considered the most scientifically accurate personality model, as it is often used for psychological studies. It consists of five traits that have their own causes and behaviors. They do not correlate with one another across any population.
O
Openness
C
Conscientiousness
E
Extraversion
A
Agreableness
N
Neuroticism
Openness is the measure of how open to experience, open-minded,and imaginative an individual is.
Each trait is represented by percentile. For example, you mayhave higher Extraversion than 82% of the population, but higherAgreeableness than only 30% of the population.
Things to consider before you use the Big Five
Best Uses
Individual assessments Counseling Population personality studies
Pros
Big Five has been studied by psychologists and therefore has the most scientific validity and reliability. The results are relatively easy to understand. The measurements are very precise for the individual traits.
Cons
The practical application of Big Five knowledge can be very difficult. People are more likely to be upset with their results in regards to Neuroticism.
Explore Big Five
Learn more about Big Five and
find out what type you are.
