OBJECTIVE PERSONALITY FOR DUMMIES A comprehensive guide compiled by Laura Miller and Miguel Iglesias to understand how OP works Introduction The purpose of this document is to provide a clear explanation for people new to the Objective Personality typology system. That’s why the basic terms and definitions of OP are compiled in this guide in a clear and ordered way, to provide major clarity into understanding the system better. There’s also plenty of practical examples that help the users of this guide to better comprehend the concepts behind the Objective Personality System. Finally there are various materials related to Objective Personality in the links at the end of the document to supplement this guide and to help the users acquire a deeper understanding of the system. What is OP? OP stands for Objective Personality, it is a cognitive typing system created by Dave Superpowers and Shannon Renee. Objective Personality uses the scientific method, mixed with the eight cognitive functions of Carl Jung to understand both other people and our own individual patterns in order to see how those patterns are creating the biggest imbalances in our lives so we’re able to see them, address them and overcome them by balancing them out. However, the eight cognitive functions in OP are not based on the original Carl Jung’s definitions despite having the same names. In this case, the cognitive functions are aligned with the theory of “The human needs'', developed by the american coach and motivational speaker Tony Robbins as a result of the patterns he saw on people he met when traveling all around the world. However, these aspects will be covered more in depth throughout the guide. Besides using the scientific method and the human needs as a baseline, another thing that makes OP different is the typing procedure. Unlike the other models that rely on self-test most of the time, this system uses the inter-rater reliability method, which consists of two or more trained operators being in separate rooms watching videos of the same person and cross checking the items in order to come up with the same or very close type without another person’s influence or bias. Many people might wonder why another cognitive model when Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and Socionics seem to have that demand already covered. The truth is there was never an authentic attempt to make everything more objective, this means to bring a scientific baseline that guarantees consistent results that can be measured and tracked using more solid, simple and well defined rules and concepts that operate under the rules of the scientific method. The reason why is that it’s because us humans carry a lot of cognitive biases that doesn’t allow to see ourselves as we are, and self-testing is a perfect way to fall back into that subjectivity because you don’t have those measurable standards that can be objectively tracked and allow you to see yourself accurately. That said, OP types people based on what you really project in the outside world regardless of the story you tell yourself and others about you. The creators of OP realized that the most popular models like the MBTI were way too subjective to be taken seriously by the scientific community, causing many negative critics that unvalidated the credibility of those systems. This lack of objectivity produces results that are not reliable to be used either as an accurate way of pattern tracking nor a beneficial result that guarantees self-knowledge in the individuals who take these tests. Finally with this brand new understanding of the human psyche, the cognitive types started to get more honed and complex to just keep it under 16 categories and the OP model gradually grew up to 512 different types in total, something that is more in alignment with the real richness and complexity of the patterns of human behavior. The scientific method The scientific method has been around us since the 17th century and is a universal simple application for proving if a theory we have aligns or conflicts with the real world by conducting an experiment and it follows these steps. 1. You want to test something 2. Do your research 3. Formulate hypothesis 4. Plan experimentation to test hypothesis 5. Experiment 6. Observe results and compare them with expected results 7. Make a verdict (Successful or Not successful) 8. If successful, report findings and create data that backs up the theory with more experimentation 9. If not successful, refine hypothesis, start all over How OP relates to the scientific method The way that OP uses the scientific method to type or test is not to blindly defend the concepts or definitions, the concepts must be consistent with the patterns that organize thousands of pieces of data they have since they started typing other individuals. Those pieces of data being consistently aligned with the concepts they decided to operate means that regardless of a person’s words, performance, behavior or life situations, the patterns are always going to be visible, measurable and trackable all along the way. Table of application In this table, we show side by side how the OP method follows the guidelines of the scientific method and how the database of OP was created. Scientific Method OP Method 1. You want to test something Somebody wants to get typed 2. Do your research Gather all the information you can to get to know the person, including a video of the person talking for a long period of time. 3. Formulate hypothesis Make your first guesses. 4. Plan experimentation to test hypothesis Test with another operator that’s familiar with the definitions and operating standards of the method. 5. Experiment Put yourself and the operator in another room and watch the person separately. Crosscheck the guesses with the list of what is being tracked. 6. Observe results and compare them with expected results Reunite with the other operator after the crosscheck and compare results 7. Make a verdict (Successful or not Successful) ● Successful: You and the other operator managed to get consistent results. ● Not successful: You and the operator got very different results. 8. If successful, report findings and create data that backs up the theory with more experimentation Write the person’s typing report and put the data on the main database of known types. 9. If not successful, refine hypothesis, start all over Make another type guess and repeat steps 4-8. Things that make OP more objective Besides being based on the scientific method OP has more aspects that contributes to his objectivity, in this section we’re going to go more into depth on those aspects. Inter-rater Reliability method So far OP has successfully typed approximately 2000 people since 2014 by using the inter-rater reliability method and a checklist in order to guarantee a scientific approach that gives results that are measurable, repeatable and open to peer review. Steps of the inter-rater reliability method That said, the inter-rater reliability method consists in the following steps: Step 1: Two Operators are provided by a third party with a list of video interviews of random people. Step 2: The two Operators begin the typing process by watching the videos in separate rooms during the entire test to ensure objectivity. Step 3: The two operators type all people by using the OP’s checklist and write down the specific personality number of each person Step 4: The testing concludes when the third party checks with the two operators to see if both have consistent numbers for all cases. When watching a person’s video, we are not looking for words they say, the behavior or the performance, what we’re trying to track is the state of confidence or responsibility vs. the state of fear or blame which in OP’s terms, those states are called saviors and demons and will be explained in detail later throughout this guide. The checklist The checklist is another important item in the OP method, as it contains all the items which are called coins . Each coin is used as a point of reference for not only knowing what we’re looking for but also as a way to crosscheck the different parts in order to define a type. The reason why the items in the system are defined by coins, is because like a coin, each characteristic has an opposite side that needs to be cross checked. For example, if someone mainly uses the feeling side of the coin then they would be less frequently using the thinking side of the coin. OP’S checklist link that’s used for the inter-rater reliability methodology is shown in the checklist of coins. All of these terms will be explained in greater depth later in this document. Concisely and consistently define terms As you can see from the checklist, OP uses its own definitions in order to track what we’re looking for when typing a person, those terms are clear, simple and concise because that facilitates the tracking of the patterns. Before we jump into defining the basic terms that are going to be further explained one by one throughout the guide, is important to reinforce that we’re not tracking words, anecdotes or performance, we need to look at the individual getting typed in the context of his whole life and look at all the parts of the checklist and ask ourselves how those parts play out in a person's life. In order to start getting familiar with the concepts of OP we’re introducing the main terms in this chapter to describe them in a general way then, we’re explaining those terms separately and more in depth to understand how they work in the following chapters of this guide. The Human Needs There’s 4 of them ( Self, Gather, Organize and Tribe ), those needs are ingrained in us at a gut level in order to guarantee survival. This is the foundation of OP and the first thing we need to track when typing someone. Everyone has the same human needs but the order and priority is going to vary. Someone for example may have the human need of Organize on top, which means the need of Gathering is going to be usually at the bottom, same with somebody which has the human need of Tribe at the top, the human need at the bottom is going to be Self , due to the coin structure of OP. Functions The functions have the same name like the jungian functions, meaning there’s Thinking (T), Feeling (F), Sensing (S) and iNtuition (N), these functions are also going to be either introverted or extroverted ● Introverted functions : Come from the self perspective, what is personal to us, what has an internal meaning and has a more subjective manifestation. ● Extroverted functions Come from the outside perspective, what’s the outside spectrum and have a more objective manifestation. Feeling: Searches for values whether those values align with the self (Fi) or with the tribe (Fe). Thinking: Searches for reasons what is it that works whether what works aligns with the self (Ti) or with the tribe (Te). Sensing: Perceives the sensory world but also uses and respects the facts in the form of data that we compile throughout our lives in the physical realm. Those can be loose facts that are unconnected and unordered (Se) or carefully organized and ordered according to an internal perception (Si). iNtuition: Stands for imagination, whether that imagination helps to create our own future projection or vision without necessarily knowing the facts (Ni) or see the whole world of possibilities without those possibilities being connected with a certain vision or pathway (Ne). Like Myers-Briggs has perceiving and judging functions, OP has Decider and Observer functions. Decider Functions Thinking and Feeling functions are decider functions because they allow a person to change from a personal point of view (Introverted Decider) to an external point of view (Extraverted Decider) or vice versa. ● The De functions are the extraverted decider functions and include Te and Fe ● The Di functions are the introverted decider functions and include Ti and Fi Because of OP system being organized by coins, people who have an introverted decider (Di) , like Fi for example, the extroverted decider (De) has to be Te , whereas if someone has Fe as an extroverted decider (De) , the introverted decider (Di) must be Ti. People with Decider functions in the middle (second and third function) , are going to be Double Deciders (DD) , this is going to manifest in a person who’s able to quickly change from a point of view that might come from their own perspective (Di) to an outside perspective (De) or vice versa more quickly. A person who’s a DD is going to be relatively balanced on these two functions but is going to struggle with the balance of the Observer functions , that’s why Double Deciders can also be referred to as Single Observers or Observers (O). Observer functions Sensing and Intuition functions are observer functions because they allow a person to change from a personal perspective (Introverted Observer) to an external perspective (Extroverted Observer). ● The Oe functions are the extraverted observer functions and include Se and Ne. ● The Oi functions are the introverted observer functions and include Si and Ni. In contrast, people who have an introverted observer (Oi) , like Si , the external observer (Oe) has to be Ne People with observing functions in the middle (second and third function) , are going to be Double Observers (OO) , this is going to manifest in a person who’s able to quickly change from an internal perspective of how things should be (Oi) , to how things actually are (Oe) or vice versa more quickly. A person who’s a OO is going to be relatively balanced on these two functions but is going to struggle with the balance of the Decider functions , that’s why Double Observers can also be referred to as Single Deciders or Deciders (D). Animals The Animals are unique to OP and they make the typing process way more concrete and easy, as they represent a real action a person does as a result from the combination of two functions working together. The combination of these two functions results into 4 animals Blast (De+Oi/Oi+De) , Consume (Di+Oe/Oe+Di) , Play (De+Oe/Oi+De) and Sleep (Di+Oi/Oi+Di). That said, everyone uses all four of these animals but people will have these in a different order of preference and the order of these animals is going to be called an Animal Stack Sexual Modalities Each function has Masculine (M) and Feminine (F) energy, meaning it is going to be pushy or shovy (M) or movable, flexible (F) This will be further discussed in the Sexual Modalities section. Coins As you can see, the human needs create two opposite poles like two different sides of a coin. This is exactly how we start figuring out a person's type in OP and how the types grew up from 16 to 512. Each coin is going to reveal some specific aspects that allows us to see a person’s life patterns and where they spend the majority of their time and focus, so much they ignore the opposite side of that same coin, creating an imbalance as a result. The first set of coins are going to be the Decider and Observer coins , meaning a person who’s balanced on the Decider coin is not going to struggle as much with the self vs. tribe human needs but is going to have the biggest imbalance with the Observer coin. For example this can manifest when a person won’t let go of the impulse of controlling everything, (Organize supported by Si or Ni) , and be more open to gathering new information that can access and grow his box of known information, (Gathering supported by Se or Ne) or the other way around. The second set of coins would be the Letter coins , these coins can be tracked observing a person’s communication style (what is exactly what they’re trying to say). ● ST language: Reporter, communicates literal facts all throughout the conversations without giving more depth or hidden meaning to the conversation, concerned with making things solid and making them work in the physical world. ● SF language: Popular, talks about what the person likes as an individual or what’s valuable among the tribe in the physical world. ● NT language: Nerdy, seeks to figure out the concepts in the abstract world. ● NF language: Hippie, sees the value in the abstract world. With that said, a person who uses NF language most of the time for example, is not going to be an ST savior as those are the opposite sides of a coin The third set of coins would be the Animal coins . The 4 animals are separated on an Information coin ( Blast vs Consume ) and an Energy coin ( Play vs Sleep ). From these two coins there's an introverted side (Consume and Sleep) and an extroverted side (Blast and Play) So a person who’s Blast savior (Oi+De/De+Oi) cannot be Consume savior (Oe+Di/Di+Oe) because one animal is introverted and the other animal is extroverted, however that person can have either Play (Oe+De/De+Oe) or Sleep (Oi+Di/Di+Oi) as a savior or next to Blast The fourth set of coins would be the Sexual coins as the OP system discovered each function has a sexual modality that can be either feminine or masculine , more of that will be covered in depth in the following chapters. The proper order to figure out the coins to build a persons type by using the checklist is the following 1. Define the Human Needs coins 2. Define the Letter coins 3. Define the Animal coins 4. Define the Sexual Coins Avoid bias training We all lie at some point whether we do it to look more appealing and generate a certain reaction from others or us not being self-aware of what we really do. In order to type someone correctly, we need to become authentic lie detectors to see the pattern beyond someone’s actions and see how that pattern plays out in real life. That said there’s three thing to focus on when getting rid of biases when typing 1. Know your terms: Get familiar with the terms on OP by remembering this is a different typing system and has his own code. 2. Do cross checks: Cross Checks means to confirm both opposite sides of a coin. If you see a predominant side (what a person does), then the hidden side (what a person is not doing), needs to be confirmed as well in order to filter out irrelevant information and narrow down gradually from 512 types to only 1. 3. Triangulate: Do this with another partner to get a different and wider perspective of the person getting typed as the other person might pick up things that you couldn’t see at the moment and vice versa. OP vs other typing models While it is true that Dave and Shannon base part of their understandment on Carl Jung’s work and the cognitive functions are named and ordered after the Jungian model described on “The Psychological Types”, the terms and definitions are not the same. To understand the differences within the models, we need to first define each one of these systems to know how they work and compare them to see the similarities and differences between them and OP. OP vs. MBTI The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is a personality inventory which aims to make the model of Carl Jung’s psychological types understandable and useful in people’s lives by measuring a person’s behavior (what the person does or doesn’t do). MBTI personality chart taken from :https://www.mouth.com/blogs/mouthpiece/gifts-for-every-myers-briggs-ty While this is a valid goal, the MBTI way of applying the Jungian model is one-sided, meaning it focuses way too much in making the tool accessible and relatable to the collective without necessarily following the scientific standards required to back up the outcomes they track. However, the biggest flaw of the MBTI system lies in the assumption that many of us perceive ourselves incorrectly because we rely on the results of a test to tell us which type we are. The main problem with the self-test format is that most of us have a very subjective and distorted perception of ourselves and reality around us, so we’re mostly going to self report the parts of ourselves that might be in there, but in complete misalignment with the real way we operate in our everyday lives. For example, an individual in OP can say and convince everyone around them that he or she is very orderly and doesn’t like unexpected things happening in his or her life, yet if a third party follows him or her around constantly, and crosschecks with the terms and coins within the model, we might discover the individual is actually causing chaos everywhere he or she goes and resists any way or shape of control. OP vs. Socionics The Socionics model combines Jung’s work with Antoni Kępiński's theory of information metabolism in order to create a system which uses all of the 8 functions per type (also known as information elements) Unlike MBTI’s model which only uses 4 per type. Socionic’s goal is to define a person’s capability to interact with the information of their environment, using the 8 information elements to produce new information within their environments as well as interacting with other individuals based on their sociotypes. The sociotype is based on the order of the 8 information elements in an individual. These 8 information elements are related to the 8 Jungian Cognitive functions but are defined a bit differently in socionics. Note that logic in socionics corresponds to thinking in MBTI and that ethics in socionics corresponds to feeling in MBTI. The 16 socionic types of informational metabolism are then defined based on the top two informational elements as shown in the table below. Note that socionics types are designated by a three letter code (e.g. ILE, ILI, etc.) whereas MBTI types use a four letter code (e.g. ISTJ, ENFP, etc.) Click here for details on how to convert a socionics type to an MBTI type. Here’s also a link to a table that puts all the 16 different sociotypes together https://images.app.goo.gl/yG1q7UR7uKDq4YcBA The sociotypes model is also famous for its Visual Identification Method, introduced by E.Filatova in her book, Personality in the Mirror of Socionics in 2002. However Filatova herself declared that this is still not a valid methodology for typing people and she only got the idea after taking pictures of 1500 clients after getting typed under the socionics evaluation While it is true that OP has detected a certain relationship between types and most people of each type looking very similar, the main goal in OP is to get recognition from the scientific community. Therefore, in order to track these terms and standards in a tangible way, the definitions have to be more solid, short and concise in order to create a body of work that is objectively traceable and detects the correct patterns that allows the person getting typed to obtain an authentic growth benefit based on science. Comparative table between OP, MBTI & Socionics Here’s a comparative table that highlights the main differences between OP and these other two systems. OP MBTI SOCIONICS Theories and methods used Scientific Method Human Needs by Tony Robbins Jungian Jungian Information Metabolism by Antoni Kępiński' How it works Typing using external trained reference only, this means you have to take OP’s classes on their website for at least two months before being able to get typed Self- test that can be applied by you or with the assistance of a certified MBTI practitioner as the MBTI foundation offers courses in order to get certified as a such Self-test Typing based on looks Requires previous training Yes No No Number of types 512 16 16 Level of accuracy Medium-High/ High Medium-Low/Low Low/Very Low Uses scientific method Yes No No The Barnum Effect The reason why OP doesn’t follow the same framework of the two typing models above is due to the Barnum effect , also called the Forer effect which is a psychological phenomenon that occurs when we highly relate to descriptions of our personality that are in fact vague and general enough to apply to a wide range of people regardless of the context. We need to remember the cognitive functions theory was an unfinished piece of work from Jung, therefore, the lack of solidity and robustness in his theory, starting by the definitions of the eight functions. If you look at the original definitions in Jung’s work, those rely on extremely vague and subjective terms that are built on the abstract realm but didn’t manage to make it beyond the threshold of subjectivity to create objective accuracy by standardized testing with more concrete and established terms that are in alignment with the scientific community. In addition to that, Jung didn’t investigate his theory enough time to let any particular workframe define how to correctly track these functions in reality, so there was no defined method of experimentation left to build a more solid and documented framework. What Isabel Briggs Myers and her mom did after Jung died, were to build the cognitive functions based on their own subjective vision and perception of reality. This means they didn’t check if the methodology they were following was objectively measurable. In OP, we use the scientific method as the highest reference because so far it has been the most objective and effective way to explain and create models and devices that are most aligned with the reality of the physical nature we live in. Because Jung’s work was initially not aimed to resonate and be picked up by the scientific community, scientific accuracy is the ultimate outcome in OP so redefining the functions and the terms to hold up to more scientific standards seems to be the most efficient way of getting more quantifiable and measurable terms that are more applicable in real life. Human Needs The human needs is a concept that was first expressed by american coach and author Tony Robbins and represents the six universal core driving forces that are deeply hardwired in each individual in order to guarantee a good life. These six human needs are 1. Certainty: Reaching stability in our environment through routines and rituals in order to build something 2. Variety: Exploring different outcomes and possibilities to avoid boredom 3. Significance: Create an identity that differentiates us from other individuals 4. Connection: Relate to other individuals by sharing something in common 5. Contribution: To give something in return that benefits your environment 6. Growth: To become a well balanced and mature individual However out of those 6 needs, the first 4 are going to be destined to ensure survival only and our whole life’s course is going to be about the endless search to make sure at least the first three out of those four needs are being relatively met and there are healthy, neutral and negative actions we can do to meet them, even if the fourth one doesn’t get met at all. That said, while all of us have all 6 of the human needs, the only difference is each individual is going to prioritize the first four ones differently and depending on that order is where the cognitive functions are going to be placed in OP. Human needs and the cognitive functions In OP, the first 4 human needs are going to correlate to each set of functions and the needs are going to have slightly different names as follows: ● The human need of Certainty is called Organize in OP. Having “organize” first, involves having an introverted observer function Oi (Introverted Intuition, Ni/ Introverted Sensing, Si) as a first function.