In our class, we took a series of psychological assessments. A psychological assessment refers to a process of testing to help arrive at some hypotheses about a person and their personality, behavior or capabilities. The Myers-Briggs 16 personalities test was a major influence because it reaffirmed my beliefs in how I perceive the world and make decisions. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is an introspective self-report questionnaire that has become the golden standard of psychological assessments and a multi million dollar business because of its concept that everyone can fit into one of 16 personality types.
The MBTI reports tells you your preference for each of four pairs: Judging or Perceiving, Thinking or Feeling, Sensing or Intuition, and Extraversion or Introversion, these four preferences together make up your type. My results concluded that I was an ENTP-A (extremely, extroverted, intuitive, prospective, and thinking) personality type. This means that I am knowledgeable, energetic, argumentative, and insensitive. I am the ultimate devil’s advocate. I thrive on the process of shredding arguments for the simple reason that it's fun. My personality type can be perceived as vexing and my quarrelsome fun oftentimes inadvertently burns bridges.
In addition to the MBTI, I took several psychological assessments which reaffirmed my beliefs that I am a very direct, assertive, logical, and analytical individual. Through the Enneagram, which assesses motivations, I learned that I was an Eight (The challenger). Eights enjoy taking on challenges that gives them opportunities to exceed themselves in some way. Some famous Eights are Martin Luther King, J.r, Lyndon Johnson, and Saddam Hussein. We are motivated to be self-reliant, to prove our strength and resist weakness, to be important in my world, and to be in control of situations.
I wanted my art piece to reflect all of the qualities I was assessed with having. I did not want a cliche self portrait. Keeping the results in mind, I decided to draw a picture of a porcupine. Porcupines are small rodents with an over-abundance of attitude. I am prickly like the porcupine. According to the DiSC, an assessment tool used to improve teamwork, I am directive, assertive, confrontation, and analytical. I pay attention to the meaning of pattern of information I receive, I look at logical explanation to almost anything, and I tend to devalue the "people" (emotional) parts of situation. Porcupines have a coat of quills used against predators. My quills are my words. In our defense, our spikes are preemptive attacks to protect our own feelings. Because of our fear of vulnerability we have developed this armor. We are resourceful and fearless in the face of danger. The traits listed above are oftentimes viewed negatively and I can personally regulate the degree in which they are expressed.
We reviewed a couple of experiments such as the Marshmallow Experiment and the Stanford Prison Experiment. Me being goal-oriented was very instrumental when partaking in our class mini version of the Stanford Marshmallow Experiment. The Stanford Marshmallow Experiment was a series of studies on delayed gratification. We were offered a choice between one small, immediately reward of 1 marshmallow or 2 marshmallows if we waited for a approximately 20 minutes. I love challenging myself and waited for approximately 30 minutes.
The Stanford Prison Experiment was most intriguing to me because it showed that under certain circumstances people can be "evil". The Stanford Prison Experience was a study of the psychological implications of becoming a prisoner or prison guard. Based on the attributes accorded to me by the various assessment, if I was in a position of power such as the one designed in the Stanford Prison Experiment I would abuse such power. I am not an evil person. My characteristics are double-edge swords. As an Eight, I have to capacity to persuade others to follow in all kinds of endeavors from making peace to wagging war.
The last test we took in class was the TKI, which assesses how you deal with conflict. When dealing with conflict, my strongest strategies were competition and compromisation. My lowest score was an avoider, which means I never shy away from conflict. My results were competer (9), compromiser (8), problem solver (7), Avoider (5), and accommodator (1). I agree with these results because I have employed these conflict resolution styles in the past.
In order to glean an understanding on the art of writing artist statement, I interviewed my friend Linda, a local artist whose work has been featured in local coffee shops around the city. "An artist statement allows the artist to communicate their thought process to an audience. It is important to remember though that it isn't a space to dictate or sway your audience's viewpoint or feelings on the pieces." I kept her advice in mind during my writing process and creation of the piece. I want my piece to be left to interpretation. Everyone has a different perception of me but these perception are woven with a single thread; the Porcupine.
Work Cited:
- Lillian Cunningham. "Myers-Briggs: Does It Pay to Know Your Type?"Washington Post. The Washington Post, 14 Dec. 2012. Web. 08 Feb. 2016. <https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-leadership/myers-briggs-does-it-pay-to-know-your-type/2012/12/14/eaed51ae-3fcc-11e2-bca3-aadc9b7e29c5_story.html>.
- "The Myers & Briggs Foundation - My MBTI® Results." The Myers & Briggs Foundation - My MBTI® Results. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Feb. 2016. <http://www.myersbriggs.org/my-mbti-personality-type/my-mbti-results/>.
- "Porcupines, Porcupine Pictures, Porcupine Facts - National Geographic."National Geographic. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Feb. 2016. <http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/porcupine/>.
- "Home." Stanford Prison Experiment. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2016. <http://www.prisonexp.org/>.
- "CPP - The People Development People." Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument (TKI). N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2016. <https://www.cpp.com/products/tki/index.aspx>.
- JACOBA URIST. "What the Marshmallow Test Really Teaches About Self-Control." The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 24 Sept. 2014. Web. 12 Feb. 2016. <http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/09/what-the-marshmallow-test-really-teaches-about-self-control/380673/>.
