 | |
| Author | David Keirsey and Marilyn Bates |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Subject | Temperament, psychology, personality |
| Publisher | Prometheus Nemesis Books |
Publication date | 1978 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Paperback |
| Pages | 210 |
| ISBN | 978-0-935-65202-4 |
| OCLC | 11585453 |
| Followed by | Please Understand Me II: Temperament, Character, Intelligence |
Please Understand Me: Character and Temperament Types (first published in 1978 as Please Understand Me: An Essay on Temperament Styles) is a psychology book written by David Keirsey and Marilyn Bates which focuses on the classification and categorization of personality types. The book contains a self-assessed personality questionnaire, known as the Keirsey Temperament Sorter, which links human behavioral patterns to four temperament types and sixteen character types. Once the reader's personality type has been ascertained, there are detailed profiles which describe the characteristics of that type.
Based upon the notion that people's values differ fundamentally from one another, Keirsey drew upon the views of several psychologists or psychiatrists: Ernst Kretschmer, Erich Adickes, Alfred Adler, Carl Jung, and Isabel Myers who are all mentioned as predecessors in the psychology of temperament or personality.[1] Of these methods, preference is given to the Myers–Briggs test when determining personality type.[2]