personalitytype

Personality type is a label used in psychology to categorize stable patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving into discrete profiles. It aims to capture how individuals differ in consistent ways across various situations, while recognizing that behavior is also shaped by context and development.

Type theories contrast with trait models by grouping people into distinct categories rather than placing them on continuous dimensions. Prominent examples include the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, which assigns one of 16 types based on four dichotomies; the Enneagram, which maps nine core types and their interrelations; and traditional temperament schemes such as sanguine, choleric, melancholic, and phlegmatic.

Broader trait frameworks, such as the Big Five, describe personality along five broad dimensions and may be more amenable to scientific study. In practice, personality typing is widely used in education, counseling, team building, and career guidance, though it remains controversial in psychology due to questions about reliability, validity, and the risk of oversimplification.

Historically, typologies draw on ancient and early modern theories of temperament and were later developed by Carl Jung and others. The MBTI gained popularity in the mid-20th century, while empirically grounded trait models emerged from factor analysis of language-based measures. Ongoing research emphasizes the stable and dynamic aspects of personality across life stages.

See also: personality, temperament, trait theory, the Big Five, Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, Enneagram.