file.newsgroup.med.59205 Maven / Gradle / Ivy
From: [email protected] (Anthony Wallis)
Subject: "Choleric" and The Great NT/NF Semantic War.
[Cross-posted from alt.psychology.personality since it talks about
physician's personalities. Apologies to sci.med readers not
familiar with the Myers-Briggs "NT/NF" personality terms. But,
in a word or two, the NTs (iNtuitive->Thinkers) are approximately your
philosophy/science/tech pragmatic types, and the NFs (iNtuitive-Feelers)
are your humanities/social-"science"/theology idealistic types. They
hate each others' guts (:-)) but tend to inter-marry.
The letter "J" is a reference to conscienciousness/decisiveness.]
Jon Noring emits typical NF-type stuff
> [Physicians] are just responding in their natural way:
> Hyper-Choleric Syndrome (HCS). ..
> ..it is fascinating that a disproportionate number of
> physicians will type out as NT ..
> One driving characteristic of an NT, especially an NTJ, is their obvious
> choleric behavior (driver, type A, etc.) - the extreme emotional need to
> control, to lead, and/or to be the best or the most competent. ..
Please get it right, Jon.
(This NTJ has a strong desire to correct semantic mistakes,
because the NFs of this world are fouling the once-pristine NT
intellectual nest with their verbal poop.)
The dominant correlation is NT <-> Phlegmatic (and _not_ NT <-> Choleric).
One of the semantic roots of "choleric" is the idea of "hot" (emotional)
and one of the semantic roots of "phlegmatic" is "cold" (unemotional).
Here is a thumbnail sketch (taken from Hans Eysenck, refering to Wundt)
relating the Ancient Greek quadratic typology with modern terms:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Emotional
^
("Melancholic") | ("Choleric")
|
Thoughtful Suspicious | Quickly-aroused Hotheaded
Unhappy Worried | Egocentric Histrionic
Anxious | Exhibitonist
Serious | Active
Unchangeable < ------------------------------------------------> Changeable
Calm | Playful
Reasonable | Carefree
Steadfast Persistent | Hopeful Sociable
Highly-principled Controlled | Controlled Easy-going
|
("Phlegmatic") | ("Sanguine")
|
v
Non-emotional
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I suspect that your characterisation of NTs as "choleric" is what
you psych-types call a "projection" of your own NF-ness onto us.
> Maybe we need more NF doctor's. :^)
Perhaps in serious pediatics and "my little boy's got a runny
nose, doctor" general practice, but, please God, not in neurology,
opthamology, urology, etc. etc. And NF-psychiatry should seperate
from NT-(i.e. real) psychiatry and be given a new name .. something
like "channeling" :-).
--
[email protected] = Tony Wallis, York University, Toronto, Canada