Marla Swoffer
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Hipsters and Personality Types

8/26/2010

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My comment on this article in Relevant by the author of Hipster Christianity:

2000s - hipster 
1990s - alternative 
1980s - yuppie
1970s - disco dancer
1960s - bohemian / hippie

Maybe there are two classes of hipsters - those who genuinely like the latest stuff (clothes, technology, new ways of approaching things, etc.) and those who pursue those things for the acceptance/admiration of others. I think a lot of this ties in with personality types - someone with an intuiting preference is naturally going to gravitate toward what's new and what's futuristic, and if they also prefer perceiving, they will definitely not go with convention. 

The bottom line is if you're being true to how God made you and to his Word. Individuals should be eclectic, and therefore churches, too. We don't need to try to be different - we naturally will be if we're living the way we were made (with our unique giftings and interests) and following Jesus. There's a lot of talk about authenticity, but that can be faked too - ironic the things we'll do for popularity...which is why we always need to be checking our motives, and spending time with God, so he can strip away those insecurities as we get grounded in his love, grace, and truth. 

Despite the great insights that I'm sure are in this book, one thing I'm concerned about is that it will prompt people to judge/define others based on superficial stuff (appearance, speech, etc.) without getting to know them first. Hopefully the author warns against that. I always appreciate context, so it may be that this article would sit better with me if I were reading the whole book (which I hope to do eventually).
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My Credentials

2/20/2008

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It occurred to me that here I am, spouting off my ideas about personality type without any sort of credibility, so I thought I'd provide a window into my background as an armchair personality theorist.


It all began in college when I was given a variant of the MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator). I don't think it was the real deal--nonetheless it pegged me accurately, though I was tied on I and E, and it wasn't until after graduation when my social life slowed down that I realized I was truly an introvert, though I suspected that all along. Anyway, that initial exposure to personality typing made me eager to learn more, and that's what I've been doing (on and off) for the last 15 years.


In addition to reading about personality types, doing a few seminars for church and school groups, last fall I took a workshop to become a qualified MBTI practitioner, so now I can finally administer the authentic assessment and do it correctly (one of the major reasons why people reject personality typing is because they've had an experience where essentially they had their fortune told--i.e. 'take this test, here's your four-letter type, that's what you are, end of story'). It's a much more complex process than that. It's also not one-dimensional, which means those four letters actually need to be expanded into the 8 functions they comprise. Despite all my research, I really didn't get a full grasp of the 8 functions until I took the workshop, and I'm still learning more about what each one means.


When I say 8 functions, I mean this (we all use all of them, but our four letter types determine the order in which we prefer--consciously and unconsciously--to use them):


introverted sensing, extraverted sensingintroverted intuiting, extraverted intuitingintroverted feeling, extraverted feeling,introverted thinking, extraverted thinking


I recommend these websites:


A Christian Perspective of Myers-Briggs Personality Types

Brain Types

Cognitive Processes

Motherstyles

My Personality Type

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