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Alan Alda (IEE): Personality Type Analysis

Alan Alda is an American actor, screenwriter, director and science communicator, probably most famous for his role as Captain "Hawkeye" Pierce in the TV series M*A*S*H   (henceforth referred to as MASH ). What first tipped me off on Alda's type was precisely his impact on MASH . At first just one of many actors in the original cast, with several characters supposed to have more or less equal focus, gradually Alda's character Hawkeye moved to become the clear main focus of the show. At the same time, Alda himself evolved from just an actor hired to play a role to the person chiefly responsible for the the show's creative direction, by writing and directing increasingly more episodes and using his star power to steer the show in the direction he preferred. The impact of Alda's priorities is very obvious when comparing the show's seasons 1-3 to seasons 9-11, that is, from the period when his creative influence was small or negligible to the period when i...

Antoninus Pius (SLI): Personality Type Analysis

Titus Fulvus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Augustus Pius , best known more simply as Antoninus Pius , was the 15th Roman Emperor. Despite the fairly unusual length of his reign - almost 23 years, from 138 to 161 - the direct documentation on the period is very limited. Still, I argue that there is enough evidence, based on what documentation is available, and the overall events of Antoninus's reign and what we know of his policies, to allow for an estimate of  his type, at least from a broad-brush perspective. Antoninus was born in a wealthy senatorial (i.e. aristocratic landowning) family in 86, during the politically tense years of the authoritarian Emperor Domitian, but he reached adulthood in the more politically relaxed years of the Emperor Trajan. He climbed apparently effortlessly the traditional steps of a Roman public career, that is quaestor, praetor and then consul, during the reign of the Emperor Hadrian, who obviously showed Antoninus considerable favor: Antoninus was...

Leonardo Da Vinci (ILE): Personality Type Analysis

Leonardo da Vinci or simply Leonardo, was an Italian polymath whose vastly diverse interests included invention, painting, sculpting, architecture, science, music, mathematics, engineering, literature, anatomy, geology, astronomy, botany, writing, history, and cartography. He has been variously called the father of palaeontology, ichnology, and architecture, and is widely considered one of the greatest painters of all time. But how can Socionics shed light on this "Universal Genius"? In discussions about Leonardo's type, it is often remarked how only a sensory type could achieve the beautiful detail and composition in his art. Given alone, this observation is not sufficient to conclude a type with strong S . This skill or eye for detail is trained by years of dedicated practice in the field. Secondly, a renaissance painter would not have worked alone, but would have had assistants. This was certainly the case with Leonardo. We actually know at least two of his ass...

Roger Corman (LSE): Personality Type Analysis

Roger William Corman  is an independent American film-maker, mainly as director, producer, screenwriter, and studio head, active since the 1950s. Corman is mostly famous for the vast number of extremely low budget movies he made in a wide range of genres, mostly horror, science-fiction, adventure or comedy, and for having helped launch the career of many now very famous actors and directors, like Jack Nicholson ( SLE ), Robert de Niro, James Cameron, Ron Howard, Martin Scorcese and Francis Ford Coppola. Originally Corman graduated as an engineer, but immediately decided to go into moviemaking instead, starting as a messenger in the 20th Century Fox studios, then quickly moving into independent film-making, Corman's consistent traits as a producer were a focus in maximising the efficiency in the use of scarce resources, re-using sets, wardrobes, and having actors and staff performing many roles and parts in the same movie. One extremely illustrative example of his approach is se...

Wilhelm II (EIE): Personality Type Analysis

Wilhelm II was King of Prussia and German Emperor ( Kaiser ) from 1888 to 1918, when he abdicated and fled into exile in the Netherlands,  at the end of the First World War. He has been considered one of the individuals with the most responsibility for the outbreak of that conflict; however, in contrast to Adolf Hitler ’s ( EIE ) role in WWII, the Kaiser’s historical responsibility in WWI and his broader historical role, as well as judgments of his character, remain a source of controversy among historians, in Germany and elsewhere. Wilhelm II can be regarded as the first, or only, 'true' German Emperor in the context of the German Empire as recreated by Otto von Bismarck in 1871, since his grandfather Wilhelm I showed little interest in exploring the potential and significance of that role, preferring to remain in essence a King of Prussia, and his father Friedrich III only reigned for 3 months, during which he was already dying of throat cancer. It is largely because...

The Problem With Keirsey Temperaments

Those into MBTI have probably heard of David Keirsey's Temperaments, the system that splits the 16 types into four families of four types. However, like many things associated with MBTI, there are numerous problems that need addressing. In this first instalment of the new The Problem With... series, we will look at Keirsey's Temperaments and see why MBTI enthusiasts really should think twice about relying on them. It's Messy Keirsey's Temperaments try to put 16 personality types into four main groupings. However, the rules governing which type goes into which group are not sufficiently explained. Keirsey entirely focuses on the basic 4 Dichotomies that we see in the MBTI, i.e. Extroverted/Introverted , iNtuitive/Sensing , Thinking/Feeling and Perceiving/Judging , ignoring completely the 8 Cognitive Functions that ordain these dichotomies. Without a clear rationale, it is simply asserted that out of the four dichotomies, the Sensing/iNtuition divide is the most i...

Jeb Bush (LIE): Personality Type Analysis

John Ellis "Jeb" Bush  is an American businessman and politician who served as the Governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007. Most recently he was an unsuccessful candidate for the nomination as Republican presidential candidate in the 2016 elections. He is the younger brother of former president George W. Bush (ESI) and therefore a son of former president George H.W. Bush ( LSE ). Jeb Bush was, by any standards, a very successful governor of Florida: the first Republican ever to win reelection in that state, leaving office with 64% approval. His administration focused on cutting taxes and spending while seemingly maintaining a balanced budget (as required by the Florida constitution). As that inevitably included cuts in government spending, such as reducing the Florida state workforce by 11%, his approval rate must be considered a remarkable achievement. Jeb Bush's chosen self-image as a politician is that of a competent administrator who focuses on making governme...