Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Homeless Culture: B-Type Personalities

Our society rewards those who thrive on stress. They are the ambitious, the driven, the go-getters. They are called “A” type personalities. “B” type personalities, however, tend to not be as success-driven. They are content hanging with their family and friends. But they also tend to be not as successful, and so we find that people who are chronically homeless are almost always “B” type personalities.

The same holds true with the Meyer-Briggs personality dual “J” and “P”. The “J” personality is task-oriented, not wanting to finish work on a project until it is completed. They also tend to be on time or early for appointments and scheduled events. The “P” personality is more event oriented. They tend to be late to appointments and they will end a task when their attention is drawn elsewhere, whether the task is done or not. “P”s are not as time-focused as “J”s and are more flexible about… everything.

The homeless tend to be Ps as well as B-type personalities, if only because Js and A-types have a better success rate and if they fail, they tend to get back on their feet easier and quicker. B-types and Ps are more willing to go with the flow, and though they certainly wouldn’t want to be homeless, they find themselves less motivated to do the extra effort involved in no longer being homeless.

No comments: