I took the Keirsey Temperament Sorter, but since I was frustrated with it wanting me to pay to find out anything beyond the fact that I was “rational,” I went and tracked down a site where I could take the Meyers-Briggs and find my actual type. And I turned out to be a Mastermind (INTJ). This was the same as what I had gotten when I first took the test back in middle school.
According to the description on the Keirsey Temperament Sorter page, I am an uncommon type of person and highly devoted to my work. I value efficiency rather than authority, and do not feel bound to tradition. I enjoy problem solving and am restless until decisions are made. Also, I always do the research before making decisions.
All of this describes me pretty well. I’m often the last person to leave the Bush building, long after professors have gone home. I often develop my own way to solve problems if I am dissatisfied with established methods. And I’m always the one to be looking things up before I make a decisions, because I hate being uncertain about anything.
I can see that my personality type is suited to science. Masterminds like problem solving and complex systems. And they like their answers to have a firm grounding in reality. Also I can see my personality affecting my desire to go into genetic research, for the same reasons.
In my tutoring, I often get frustrated if I see that a client has a method for doing something that I think is inefficient. Often I’ll mention my own tricks that I’ve developed and see if they prefer mine better, but I try not to force them if their own method is working better for them. Also, I try to break problems down into small steps. A common question clients ask is “how would you do this problem?” I ask them the same questions I would ask if I was doing the problem on my own, so that they can take control and also see the problem from a more structured approach.
