The following Myers-Briggs story illustrates the opener versus the closer portion of type (or perceiver versus judger). This is a real life story, but the names of my friends have been changed.
My co-instructor for Myers-Briggs, we will call him Frank, and I met another friend of mine, Joe, for dinner in Alexandria, Virginia. If you know the area, you know there are tons of excellent choices for dinner. Frank and I met Joe in the lobby of his hotel and then set off on foot for a restaurant. I had heard of a great fish place, so we were heading there. On the way, Joe cannot help pointing out all the good options we are passing on the way. I had no idea that Joe was an expert on Alexandria restaurants and I am always up for a culinary adventure! So as Joe’s options fly by I’m weighing each against my level of conviction for the fish place. Frank doesn’t even care that the new information is coming at him, his heart is set on fish. Unfortunately for Frank he’s walking in the back of the pack and me and Joe are starting to waver on our decision. But before our stomaches take us off course, we arrive at the fish place. But immediately I notice that it doesn’t look like the awesome place that I’d dreamed of and the menu in the window confirms it. Frank is exasperated at this and wonders why I could ever consider myself a ‘J’ type. Joe is happy to oblige with more options of awesome restaurants. We pick a brew pub and off we went.
We get seated, and a huge load of anxiety and frustration releases from Frank. Then Joe starts with the menu, asking the waitress series after series of questions. He takes much longer than normal to decide, and even then wonders if he should select something else. I am happily enjoying my hazelnut beer and the conversation, and Frank and Joe eventually settle in to doing the same. Thank goodness.
Why is it so hard for J’s and P’s to find a restaurant for dinner? Why are they so often oil and water?
In the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, or MBTI, one of the four dichotomies is what we refer to as your “outer world orientation” which is a very odd sounding term. It means that there is an observable difference in the mental function that someone demonstrates to the outside world. The world either sees you as a closer (referred to as ‘J’ which stands for judging) or an opener (referred to as ‘P’ which stands for perceiving). In my story, Frank is demonstrating closer behaviors and Joe is definitely showing opener tendencies.
Another interesting bit of the MBTI theory is that the function that occurs in your inner world will be the opposite of your outer world. So if you show the world a decision maker (closer), then your internal processing will be where you generate options. If you show the world an options generator (opener), then internally you will be making decisions on the information being shared.
So the next time you find yourself in a group decision making process like where to go to dinner, whether you are a Frank or a Joe, I hope this story will give you some added understanding and patience with others.
Disclaimer: This story gives insight into watching type in real life, but it does not mean that the person in this story would identify with the type demonstrated or that everyone of the same type would act the same in each situation. Each person must self-select their MBTI type based on the indicator and self-identification of preferences. We at eNthusaProve are qualified to administer the MBTI instrument to you or your team if you would like to learn more.
