Understanding personality type: How do you make decisions? Thinking and feeling

There is a group exercise that's great for demonstrating differences in people's decision making processes. Divided into the two preferences, the groups are asked to imagine they are a research team that has recently completed a project. So interesting is the project that they have been invited to present its findings at a conference … in Barbados. All expenses paid. The trouble is, only one person can go, and the task is for each group to decide who it will be. The first time I tried out this exercise was in a research department, and six people were in the “thinking” group and three in the “feeling” group. The thinking group had their decision in about five minutes. “No problem,” they said. “We simply chose the person who is best at presentations.” The feeling group took much longer. They agonised and agonised, and when eventually I called time, I saw them drawing straws.

This pair of preferences, the third in the series, which relates to the basis on which people like to make their decisions. We can all use both preferences, and do, but some people prefer to stand outside a situation in order to make a decision. They use logical analysis to work out the advantages and disadvantages of different options; they may be seen as hardheaded but fair, firm but reasonable, and they are said to prefer “thinking.”

Others prefer to make their decisions on the basis of their values, and the effect that a decision will have on the people concerned. They are less concerned, …