The approach we will use here uses a theoretical framework to distinguish people into psychological types. It is a longstanding and well-established approach developed from the writings of Carl Jung, the Swiss psychologist.

Jung believed that many of the differences in human behaviour could be understood as expressions of different ways in which we mentally approach the world. He identified four sets of opposite ways of dealing with our experience. For each pair, he argued that although we were all capable of doing both ways, we have an inborn preference to do one rather than the other. The opposite ways of approach he identified deal with the following:

• The focus of our attention and energy (Extraversion and Introversion)
• The type of information we pay attention to (Sensing-Intuition)
• How we make decisions (Thinking-Feeling)
• Our attitude to organisation and closure (Judging-Perceiving)

Each of us has one of each of the above pairs of preference, which can be represented by a letter: E or I, S or N, T or F, J or P. There are sixteen possible combinations of preference, so sixteen possible psychological types, each represented by a combination of letters, such as ENFP or ISTJ.

Before we go further it’s important to consider what is meant here by preference. Here’s an example – not one related to personality - that illustrates preference over a task we can mentally carry out two ways.

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