Temperament: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ’s)

OKA frequently receives questions about temperament, a unique behaviorial model derived from psychological type. Here, we present temperament questions, and our answers! Visit again for new additions, or post your own question at the base of the page. 


We are seeking a long-lasting plan for inducing our SP students to do their homework properly – they just don’t seem interested. Any suggestions?

Your question regarding ways in which parents can motivate SP children/students to do homework is a good one. I believe the problem is reflected in your very question, “. . . a long lasting plan for inducing SPs to…” The nature of SPs is to focus on the immediate; there is not relevance or meaning in the future. In addition, a plan is a structure we made in the past to govern the future.

All of these things—the past, a structure, the future—are irrelevant in the face of the needs of any given moment and the options they present. The rule may be that I come home and do homework before I play or watch TV, but today, it is particularly sunny and my friends—whom I hear and see playing right outside—trump the stale confines of that agreement, which made sense at the time of its establishment but has little relevance now.

An SP who is successful in school is one who learns (on his or her own or more likely through a loving and patient role model or authority figure) how to make the assignment a game that continues to hold attention. SP parents (and teachers) must learn how to (and stay open to) bargaining and negotiating with the student continuously regarding the need to do assignments and ongoing school work—especially when that work is routine and has no immediate or obvious payoff or application.

Many other types assume once we have had that discussion, we need not have it again. For most SP students, having once means we’ve had it today, but tomorrow—or even later today—is a whole other issue. SP students can be highly focused, energized learners who are wide open to experience, connections and creative ways to put their learning to use. They also, however, require a different approach not needed (or even allowed) by the other temperaments. Your question beautifully frames this tension.

My question concerns type frequency. Why do we have so many SJ and SPs in the world relative to NT and NF?

The question of why there are so many SPs and SJs compared to NFs and NTs is not an easy or obvious one to answer. Research tells us that the frequencies are what they are, but research does not speak to why. Since there is a 70/30 split between Sensors and iNtuitives in the general population, we should expect there to be fewer NFs and NTs as well, of course, but this expected distribution does not speak the essence of your “why” question. The only response I have—and this is my personal thought and feeling on the matter, not reflective of any data or research—is that as a species, we are better off having a majority who primarily deal with the world as it IS (Sensing) and with a minority who engage with the world primarily through engaging in future possibilities (N).

A sociological/evolutionary explanation is that we have evolved in a way that best serves the continuation of us as a human system. About a third of the collective is practical, naturally seeks to structure, order, perpetuate and control the world (SJ). Another third is practical, creative and open to change, seeking hands-on, immediate experience of life (SP). About 1/6 of the collective is future focused, impractical but visionary—driven to counter authority and push the limits of thought and performance (NT). And about 1/6 is focused on human issues and relationships, acting as the interpersonal grease that holds our human systems together (NF).

Can you offer a summary of the differences between the functions and temperaments – since both have NF and NT?

The functions are pure Jung and deal specifically with brain functioning—how you take in data (S or N) and how you make decisions (T or F). The only possible combinations of these functions are ST, SF, NF and NT. These pairs—called the function pairs—are used to illuminate anything having to do with cognition (or brain functioning), which includes a wide range of activities: communication, leadership, conflict, teaching, learning and more.

Temperament, which comes from a theory of behavior (not cognition or how your brain is wired, but behavior, what you actually DO), was developed entirely independently of type, and it is a four pattern model that traces its origins back to Greek mythology and the earliest writings on human behavior. When David Keirsey, who derived temperaments, was asked if his temperament model could be found within the structure of type, he found that the type table did easily hold the four groups:

• Idealists were those who had N and F
• Rationalists were those who had N and T
• Guardians were those who had S and J
• Artisans were those who had S and P

Another way of stating this is to say that Function theory and temperament theory are different ideas that happen to overlap. The bottom line is one of usefulness.

Do you have a good temperament exercise you can offer, and thoughts about whether each temperament should be given a similar or different question?

We suggest that you do an exercise in which you give the same instruction at the same time to all of the temperament groups, rather than focus on one at a time. What makes the results so dramatic is that multiple groups (an SJ, an SP, an NF and an NT) would hear the same instruction but behave so predictably differently. This structure also is easier on the design from a timing point of view.

Instructions: Divide the class into their temperament groups and give each the same instruction, processing the results out highlighting the differences in content and process while noting the ways in which each group reflects the temperament pattern they represent. Here are two different, but very effective, exercises you can give them.

• Exercise Option 1: “Using as much or as little of your environment as you wish, create or make something.”
• Exercise Option 2: “In your temperament groups, answer the following questions (on flip chart paper): what makes us show up and do our best work? How do we most like to be rewarded or encouraged? How do we most like to be corrected or criticized?”

In temperament descriptions, NF’s are often called “seductive” and “mysterious” -; can you describe what is meant by this?

“Seductive” comes from the NF’s ability/tendency to focus on the personal and emotional state of surrounding people and groups. NFs operate as if there is a radio station to which they connected, that is playing the emotional data and concerns of those around them. Taking in these data, NFs then work to understand and please those around them. There can be a magnetism and seductive quality to someone who operates on this personal and emotional level. Also, most NFs are—at least in part—motivated to have you (as in anyone around them) like them. Someone working to make a personal connection and to win your approval—if not your affection—is seductive.

NFs are constantly questing for personal identity, finding themselves, or new parts of themselves in every place, thing, relationship and activity they experience. This journey of self-discovery means that NFs are constantly emerging—constantly changing. This ever-changing quality leads to a sense of personal mystery (thus “Mysterious”) when things are going well, and frustrating inconsistency when the NF is not grounded or functioning effectively.

Do you have a temperament question?  Ask below, and we will post an answer!