About
once a year you read a book that both confirms your beliefs and introduces you
to new ways of thinking. Me, Myself, and Us is the book for
2015. It is a pleasure to read a book
that is clearly written and humorous yet full of insights. Thankfully it gives neuroplasticity a miss
and tries to explain how you can have a happy life without morphing into a
sermon on new-age spirituality. Instead
Little takes as his mantra that happiness is derived by understanding who we
are and what we do and then spends 288 pages explaining how it can be achieved.
The
first insight by Little is that there are three sources of our personality
traits:
1.
Biogenic referring to the aspects of our personality sourced
genetically. (50%)
2.
Sociogenic, those aspects learned from social and cultural
factors (25%), and
3.
Idogenic, referring to the aspects of our personality best
accounted for by (idiosyncratic) individual factors such as personal values,
goals, projects and commitments. (25%)
Personally
I think the London Twins study makes the percentages more like 66%-17%-17% but
it still is a very useful model.
With
regard to Biogenic factors Little begins by dumping on Myers-Briggs saying the
test lacks both reliability and validity.
In addition he makes the point that it is not Type that counts in
personality but traits. I must confess
as someone who regards MBTI as a waste of time I enjoyed this section. Instead Little recommends the reader adopt the
Big Five model. The five-factor model (FFM) indentifies 5 core traits:
1. openness to creativity
2. conscientiousness
3. extraversion
4. agreeableness
5. neuroticism
OCEAN is often used as a mnemonic to remember the
traits. Each trait is distributed
normally in the population. In other
words 67% of the population fall within plus or minus 1 standard devation and
have an average level of the trait. So
one sixth of the population would be classified as Extravert, one sixth as
Introverts, and two-thirds as Ambiverts.
The MBTI say you are either an Extravert or Introvert.
Personally I prefer the Humm-Wadsworth with
its seven factors to the FFM; however the five most common factors in the Humm
are identical to the FFM.
Little then goes on to both list a
number of secondary factors and provide for each factor a simple
questionnaire. Unfortunately he then
slips into the same error as the MBTI by saying you are at one end of the spectrum
or the other. For example Self Monitoring refers to
the individual's trait sensitivity and responsiveness to social factors. High
Self Monitors are highly responsive to needs and perspectives of others and are
apt to avoid conflict at all costs. Low Self Monitors stick to their own
beliefs and attitudes which can make them unconscious and boorish but they are not
afraid of healthy conflict. The reality
is that two-thirds of us are clustered around the mean.
Similarly
with locus of control which refers to the extent to which individuals believe
are in control of the events affecting them. A person’s locus is either
internal (the person believes they are primarily in control of their life
course) or external (meaning they believe their life course is primarily
controlled by external factors which they cannot influence). Again two-thirds of us cluster around the
mean.
However the part of the book I found
really illuminating is when Little described the idojenic contribution to our behaviour. Little uses himself as an example. He describes as an introvert who when he is lecturing
projects himself as an pseudo=extrovert.
I myself have had the same experience.
People are often surprised to hear according to the MBTI that I am an
introvert. But I am. I have simply adapted my personality to meet the demands
of the situation. People do behave "out of character" or counter to
their typical disposition.
Little
makes great play about how important it is for your own happiness to be doing
projects that are congruent with your genetic traits. According to Little most of us have up to 15
projects on the go. He refers to a
website 43.com which had been operating since 2005 and collects list of
projects from people. Top of the list is
losing weight followed by going to write a book. Unfortunately for Little the website closed
down in March 2015. Nevertheless his
book is first class and well worth purchasing.
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