explorers, builders, negotiators, & directors

[chatoyer]

What do you think of Helen Fisher's alternate temperament system? Her background is in research anthropology. She pairs each type with their dominant biochemistry--the dopamine-rich Explorer, the serotonin-dominant Builder, the estrogen-flooded Negotiator, & the testosterone-happy Director. These types are supposed to correspond to Plato's categories of Artist, Guardian, Idealist & Rational, but they don't match with Keirsey or MBTI. The Explorer's traits seem both NP & SP, Builder seems ESJ, Negotiator seems NF, & Director seems ENT/EST.

I've seen her stuff in both fluffy & non-fluffy contexts, she developed the questionaire for Chemistry.com, a subsidiary of match.com.

On my supervalid magazine test, I came out Explorer-Negotiator!

[SolitaryWalker]

Originally Posted by chatoyer

What do you think ! of Helen Fisher's alternate temperament system? Her background is in research anthropology. She pairs each type with their dominant biochemistry--the dopamine-rich Explorer, the serotonin-dominant Builder, the estrogen-flooded Negotiator, & the testosterone-happy Director. These types are supposed to correspond to Plato's categories of Artist, Guardian, Idealist & Rational, but they don't match with Keirsey or MBTI. The Explorer's traits seem both NP & SP, Builder seems ESJ, Negotiator seems NF, & Director seems ENT/EST.

I've seen her stuff in both fluffy & non-fluffy contexts, she developed the questionaire for Chemistry.com, a subsidiary of match.com.

On my supervalid magazine test, I came out Explorer-Negotiator

Where is the difference between this and and the MBTI types?

Its almost like looking at the same typology (the state of your unconscious tendencies, not your personality, typology has nothing to do with people) from a different perspective. Or even in more colloquial terms, same thing just in different wording.

[Shimpei]

Here's an excerpt from an article:

Fisher found that based on the activity levels of four key chemicals (serotonin, estrogen, dopamine, and testosterone), people largely fall into one of four temperaments: Builder, Negotiator, Explorer, and Director. Here's a rundown:

The Builder
Chemical in charge: Serotonin (associated with sociability and feelings of calm)
Personality: Calm, managerial, conscientious, home-oriented but social

The Negotiator
Chemical in charge: Estrogen (associated with intuition and creativity)
Personality: Imaginative, sympathetic, socially skilled, idealistic

The Explorer
Chemical in charge: dopamine (associated with curiosity and spontaneity)
Personality: Risk-taking, spontaneous, curious, adaptable

The Director
Chemical in charge: testosterone (associated with independence and rational thinking)
Personality: focused, inventive, daring, logical, direct

[Jennifer]

I probably take issue right off the bat with tying testosterone to "rational thinking" and in general trying to tie these particular brain chemicals to one of four archetypes. It seems little more logical than the "humors" theory developed centuries ago, involving bile and other bodily fluids.

[Shimpei]

Originally Posted by Jennifer

I probably take issue right off the bat with tying testosterone to "rational thinking" and in general trying to tie these particular brain chemicals to one of four archetypes. It seems little more logical than the "humors" theory developed centuries ago, involving bile and other bodily fluids.

She's an anthropology professor.

[Jennifer]

Originally Posted by Shimpei

She's an anthropology professor.

Oh. I missed that part.

[Zergling]

I've always heard of testosterone as a "risk taker, aggressive" hormone, not a "rational" one.

The "four temperaments" to me seem more likely to emerge from combinations of 2-3 chemicals, or combinations of brain growth and chemicals, rather than just having a 1-to-1 equivalence with certain chemicals or traits.

[meanlittlechimp]

Here are my results according to the test here:
Love Quiz

Explorer: 25
Builder: 15
Negotiator: 20
Director: 21

It looks like you could subsitute Director for NT, Negotiator for NF, Builder for SJ, and Explorer for SP. I've only looked at this briefly on Oprah's site but it seems like a more simplified version of the mbti system (while adding in loosely based neurchemical reasons as to why someone is one type over the other).

[Jennifer]

Hmmm. Like this wasn't predictable

Explorer: 19
Builder: 17
Negotiator: 23
Director: 21

[Kyrielle]

Explorer: 19
Builder: 17
Negotiator: 23
Director: 21

Interesting.