Many years ago, friends and I studied the True Colors system of human personality classification. The system is based on the Myers-Briggs system of 16 types of personality. It is not as researched as the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality inventory. It is not the "Big Five" traits:
The Big Five Personality Test. Explore your personality with the highly respected Five Factor model (AKA the Big Five). You'll see how you stack up on 5 major dimensions of personality: Openness, Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, Extraversion, and Neuroticism.
The big five are often mentioned lately and they too have been researched and validated.
But for teaching and training purposes, the True Colors can help understand people and the way they view the world.
There are only four Colors, assumed to be more or less basic and independent. Generally, if you are one, you aren't too much the others. One of our students visualized the four Colors answering the question: Is the glass half full or half empty?
Colors
By an education student learning about personality:
The colors are asked: Is the glass half full or half empty?
Gold (responsible, rules) - Is this going to be on the test? We weren't told this was going to be on the test!
Blue (feelings, social awareness) - That is a lovely glass! Did your mother give it to you?
Orange - (physical action) Are we going to piss around with glasses all day? I have a softball game to go to.
Green (thinker) - That is an interesting question. We should pour the contents into another glass and carefully mark the meniscus to show how much there was. Then, we will pour the water into a holding pitcher. Then we will fill the marked glass to the mark and pour the contents into the original glass. Finally, we will add the original water to the glass and see it if fits, overflows or what.
If you find a friend or relative who seems to concentrate on the rules (of the workplace, the home, the school - it doesn't matter what, just rules), that person may be basically Gold. A Blue shows emotion naturally and broadly. The Orange is often interested in physical action and in winning, whatever, anything. And Green is analytic, somewhat like Ross on Friends.
There are interesting books and articles on the use of the True Colors and on its misuse, as when we tell someone not to act a certain way, since that is not his Color.
A person has a 2nd Color and a 3rd. But overall, we found that thinking about rules and details and sensory (eyes and ears), or seeing more emotionally sensitive people, or those interested in competition and action or analyst thinkers has been fun and useful.
