Jarlath Duffy - Change from Within

So, do you know yourself?

Most people will reply yes. Yet we all have kinds of experience which cast doubt on the idea that we completely know ourselves. A basic test of whether you understand someone is your ability to predict accurately what they will do in a given situation. Yet most of us come across situations where we fail to predict our own behaviour; we find ourselves surprised by it and see ourselves behaving in a way we would not have expected to behave if we were the sort of person we thought we were. Some of what influences our behaviour happened in the past and is hidden in what is often called the unconscious and this reinforces the need for feedback to bring the unconscious into the conscious and thus make people aware in the present.

How do we know ourselves?

One common way of knowing ourselves is through the 'trait theory'. Trait theories hinge on the argument that there are, in each of us, enduring characteristics which differentiate us from others, who have more of less of these characteristics. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) focuses on normal populations and emphasizes the value of naturally occurring differences. The MBTI shows preferences for how people perceive the world and make decisions.

Some people derive the picture of themselves through the picture which they have of other people's picture of them. These people would be constantly looking at how people react to them, both what they say of them and the implications of their behaviour towards them. The level of response to people's reaction will be determined by our views of them - whether we respect them, trust them and also the position they hold. Some people will be regularly building up a continuous and changing picture of themselves out of their interaction with other people.

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