Logically sound human typology

  • Published: 06-14-2014 Edited: 06-14-2014
  • The act of putting people into boxes, for example 'introvert' / 'extrovert', 'american' / 'european', 'intuitive' / 'sensor' is something all people do all the time. The reason people do this is because it's a cognitive heuristic that the brain uses to be able to predict future events, just like the brain does this for all other information. The brain uses past experience in order to better cope with future experiences.



    Depending on our past experience we will automatically put new people we meet in boxes, in relation to our past experience. But we will also put people in boxes depending on how we look at other people.

    Since human memory is dependent on how we look at things, how we look at someone will influence what we remember about the person. This makes all human typologies dependent both on past experience but also on how we look at people.

    Some human typologies meet this criteria:
    Most people who are thoroughly experienced with the theory and the usage of the typology model will ascertain that a person sorted into box A is accurately placed in box A and not in any other box.

    But this critera doesn't say anything about the usefulness of an typology. In order to evaluate use one must first define a purpose and then place the human typology in relation to it's purpose to evaluate it's usefulness.

    I here want to define a set of criteras which will be a list premises for a 'Logically sound human typology':
    1. Most people who are thoroughly experienced with the theory and the usage of the typology model will ascertain that a person sorted into box A is accurately placed in box A and not in any other box.
    2. There should be two or more methods of establishing a type for a person which does not overlap. This way a person typed with method A can be verified correct by using any other method of establishing type.
    3. The typology should have a defined purpose.
    4. The typology can motivate why it is useful in relation to it's purpose.

    Learn more about memory and personal identity:
    http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/memory/
    http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/identity-personal/

    Read about other cognitive biases here.

    Watch a related video where EJArendee talks about similar phenomenon:
    typology only describes your ego, not you.