Personality is defined as the totality of character attributes and behavioral traits of a person. Personality Analysis is a methodology for categorizing the character and behavior of a person.
Carl Jung (1875-1961), a contemporary of Freud, developed a theory of psychological types ascribing each person with one of two fundamental attitude types: introversion and extroversion. Extroverts are outgoing, easily adaptable, and confident about unknown situations. Introverts are hesitant, reflective, somewhat mistrustful, and not socially outgoing.
Jung also postulated that people further differed from one another depending on the degree to which they developed the conscious use of four functions: thinking, feeling, sensation, and intuition. Thinking enables us to recognize meaning, feeling helps us to evaluate, sensation provides us with perception, and intuition points to possibilities available to us. Jung considered feeling and thinking to be "rational" functions, whereas sensation and intuition were considered "non-rational" in that they give rise to knowledge that cannot be reduced to any other mode of understanding. Jung believed that people tend to develop one rational and one non-rational function in addition to the introverted or extroverted attitude. Jung's typology of the Extrovert/Introvert, Intuitive/Sensing, Feeling/Thinking model is able to describe eight personality types. In Jung's typology an introverted/intuitive/thinking individual could be characterized as an analytical person who delves deeply into problems forgetting about the world around him. Such persons are frequently loners who like puzzles and practical results. Katharine Briggs and Isabel Briggs Myers extended Jung's types by adding a Judging/Perceiving function to the personality classifications thus doubling the number of personality types to sixteen. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) test is used widely today to identify Jungian personality types.
The application of Jungian personality classifications to everyday situations is limited because only the Extrovert/Introvert attribute provides information about social interaction. The Intuitive/Sensing, Feeling/Thinking, Judging/Perceiving characterizations provide information about how information from the senses is processed. A more comprehensive test is the 16PF (Personality Factors) developed by psychologist Raymond B. Cattell (1905-1998) who defined personality as "that which permits a prediction of what a person will do in a given situation". These psychological tests still do not answer some of the questions that are essential for a successful relationship, such as whether a person is responsible, honest, mature, or good-looking. Even a cursory examination of literature dealing with interpersonal relationships (e.g., "Games People Play" by Eric Berne, M.D., "Ten Stupid Things Women Do to Mess up Their Lives" by Dr. Laura Schlessinger, etc.) demonstrates that successful relationships require a deep understanding of social interactions and emphasis on compatible characteristics.
The Zamora Personality Test provides a characterization of ten Individual Attributes and ten Social Attributes that incorporate the five central factors in personality: 1) Extroversion versus Introversion, 2) Neuroticism, 3) Agreeableness, 4) Conscientiousness, and 5) Openness to experience. Individual characteristics such as alertness, contentment, and optimism can be displayed in isolation from other people. Social characteristics manifest themselves only in the company of other people. Envy, rudeness, or shyness for example, cannot exist unless there are two people; loyalty and betrayal require three people. The test was developed by creating an inventory of characteristics that people wanted in their ideal mate from an extensive compilation of personal advertisements in newspapers. The characteristics that people wanted were judged "desirable". A list of antonyms was then developed to create a list of "undesirable" traits. Cluster analysis of the traits yielded the individual and social categories and their attributes. Consequently, the Zamora Personality Test includes these socially-validated characteristics, and the value judgements implied by them, as an acknowledgement that the attributes that people want in their partners are at least as important as traits postulated by medical models of psychology. Strictly speaking, health, beauty or wealth are not personality attributes, but they are factors that influence relationships. Given the choice, most people will choose and will be happier with a healthy, rich and good-looking partner than with a sick, poor, and ugly person. The Zamora Personality Test tries to determine the degree of intensity of personality traits by analyzing scores for a set of statements that explore various aspects of internal feelings and past or future behavior. A unique feature about this personality categorization system is that each attribute is a spectrum from positive to negative or from sociable to dangerous, and it is possible to analyze the consequences that one specific individual personality feature can have in a relationship.
Some aspects of personal relationships such as sexuality and political compatibility are not covered by this test. The biological urge to procreate or just the physical relief provided by the act of mating plays a very strong role in cementing or breaking a relationship. Sexual incompatibilities and mismatched degrees of sexual desire are the most common reasons for divorces and marital infidelities. Similarly, incompatible political views can increase tensions which undermine personal relationships. Conservatives and liberals cannot be as happy together as people with similar political philosophies.
Compatibility Analysis is the study of personality traits for the purpose of determining whether two people can have a successful relationship. Successful relationships are founded on good communication, honesty, and compatible personality traits. The following Personality Compatibility Analysis is based on the personality analysis provided by the Zamora Personality Test.
Personality traits consist of Individual Attributes which are displayed in isolation from other people and Social Attributes which become evident in interpersonal relationships. Although relationships are founded on the compatibility of Social Attributes, the Individual Attributes determine whether we feel comfortable with another person. We can never fully understand or be at ease with persons who are very different from us. Thrifty persons seldom feel comfortable with gamblers, and active persons do not have patience for sedentary persons.
The Personality Compatibility Analysis requires comparing the Individual and Social Attributes of two persons. Soul mates would have matching characteristics in all twenty categories, but as will be seen later, this does not guarantee a successful relationship. In general, the more characteristics that match in each category, the greater the level of compatibility. In some cases it is not possible to know the characteristics of an individual for a particular category. When not enough is known about a person, it is better not to assume compatibility, specially with regard to Social Attributes.