Type Approach of Personality

Meaning of Type Approach

            In terms of psychological capacity “Each individual is unique”, this is universal paradigm. Despite being unique, people still have few behavioural similarities. The psychologists who advocated the ‘Type Approach’ attempted to group people on the basis of identified behavioural similarities. According to Morgan and King, “A type is simply a class of individuals said to share a common collection of characteristics.”

            Hence, type approach is the strategy to distinguish and classify individuals in different personality types based on identified behavioural similarities.

Various Typologies

1.         Indian typology

2.         Hippocrates's typology

3.         Kretchmer’s typology

4.         Sheldon’s typology,

5.         Carl Jung, and

6.         Friedman, Rosenman’s and Morris typology.

1.         Indian

(i)        Tridosha

(ii)       Triguna

(i)        Tridosha – Charak Samhita, a famous treatise on Ayurveda, classifies people into the categories of vata, pitta and kapha on the basis of three humoural elements called tridosha. Each refers to a type of temperament, called prakriti (basic nature) of a person.

(ii)       Triguna - In Samkhya philosophy, a guṇa is one of three "tendencies, qualities “used to categorize personality type i.e. sattva, rajas and tamas.

          (a)       Sattva guna includes attributes like cleanliness, truthfulness,                        dutifulness,   detachment, discipline, etc.

          (b)       Rajas guna includes intensive activity, desire for sense gratification,             dissatisfaction, envy for others, and a materialistic mentality, etc.

      (c)     Tamas guna characterizes anger, arrogance, depression, laziness, feeling of  helplessness, etc.

            All the three gunas are present in each and every person in different degrees. The dominance of one or the other guna may lead to a particular type of behaviour.

2.         Hippocrates's typology

            In 400 B.C. Greek Physician Hippocrates proposed a typology based on four types of body fluids or humors i.e. yellow bile, black bile, blood and phlegm. Every person has dominance of one fluid that determines her/his temperament. According to him people are of four types: -

(a)       Choleric – Predominance of yellow bile [irritable, restless and hot blooded].

(b)       Melancholic – Predominance of black bile [sad, depressed and devoid of hope in life].

(c)       Sanguinary – Predominance of blood content [cheerful, active and  optimistic].

(d)       Phlegmatic – Predominance of phlegm [calm and quiet and inactiveness].

3.         Kretchmer’s typology

            Kretschmer a German psychiatrist classified people into four types based on physical structure and temperament.

(a)       Pyknic Type – Short in height, short thick neck and heavily body [social and cheerful]. They are happy-go-lucky, they like to eat and sleep. Likely to suffer from manic-depressive disorders.

(b)      Asthenic Type – Tall, underweight and thin with underdeveloped muscles [irritable and shirk away from responsibility]. Habitual of day dreaming and are lost in the world of fantasy. Likely to suffer from schizophrenia.

(c)     Athletic Type – Muscular types and have well-built muscles and are neither tall nor short [stable, adaptive and calm nature].

(d)       Dyspalstic Type – Those who do not exhibit any of the characteristics  mentioned above but is mix of all three types.

4.         Sheldon’s Typology

            Sheldon on the basis of physical constitution categorized personality into three basic types.

(a)       Endomorphy – Such persons are short and fatty with a round shape of body.  Love to eat and drink and make merry. They are gregarious by nature and have leisurely attitude toward life.

(b)       Mesomorphy – People who are muscular types having well developed muscular system and are well shaped. They are risk taking, assertive and aggressive.

(c)      Ectomorphy – Such people are tall but thin. These people like to stay away from other people.

5.         Carl Jung’s typology

            Carl Jung (1921) grouped people into introverts and extraverts.

(a)       Introverts - People who prefer to be alone, tend to avoid others, withdraw themselves in the face of emotional conflicts, and are shy.

 (b)       Extraverts - People who are sociable, outgoing, drawn to occupations that allow dealing directly with people, and react to stress by trying to lose themselves  among people and social activity.

6.         Friedman and  Rosenman’s typology

Friedman and Rosenman (1976) have classified individuals into Type-A and Type-B personalities.

(a)       Type-A personality seem to possess high motivation, lack patience, feel short of time, be in a great hurry, and feel like being always burdened with work. Difficult to slowdown and relax. Prone to hypertension and coronary heart disease (CHD).

(b)      Type-B is opposite to Type A personality, means absence of Type A traits.

7.         Morris typology

      Morris has suggested a Type-C personality, which is prone to cancer. Individuals characterised by this personality are cooperative, unassertive and patient. They suppress their negative emotions (e.g., anger), and show compliance to authority.

   A Group of psychologists suggested a fourth type of personality i.e. Type-D which is characterised by proneness to depression.

References:

1.         NCERT (2013). XII, Text Book,

2.         https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gu%E1%B9%87a.

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