Why people act the way they do
By SUE AZZARELLO, managing editorEver wonder why people can come from the same family and yet have different personality traits?
There are programs that are used to target our personalities, help us interact with others and understand why people act the way they do.
In one program, four colors are used to represent personalities from the most dominant to the least dominant. People can take these color personality tests. I took one several years ago and have been fascinated by it ever since.
The four colors that make up your personality spectrum are orange, gold, green and blue.
"Orange" people love challenges, are adventurous, love risk-taking and change. They are the rock climbers, competitive athletes, VIPs, CEOs and the courageous daredevil types. They like using power tools and are very active and optimistic individuals. They like to build things and do things. No grass grows under their feet, for they get bored easily and seek out a new challenge.
Oranges make up 40 percent of the world's population, and a large majority of the prison population. (Could it be they see their crime as a tempting challenge?)
"Gold" personalities make up 44 percent of the world's populace, followed by blues at 10 percent and greens at six percent.
If you have a gold personality, you are very organized, structured, goal oriented, punctual, reliable, traditional, practical and responsible. The majority of the educator population is gold, followed closely by blue. Some greens and oranges are teachers, but not as many golds and blues. Many secretaries are gold, because they are so organized it comes naturally to them.
Blue personalities love nature, animals, people, music, and the fine arts. They are the writers, poets, musicians, artists, actors, and peace-makers. They are the creative types who are compassionate, spiritual, humane, agreeable, and devoted. They are the care-giver types who are patient, sensitive, love harmony and tend to be late for appointments. (Are they stopping to smell the lovely, fragrant roses too much?)
Greens are the "Bill Gates" types. They are the scientists and researchers. They love knowledge and are the scholarly, disheveled types. They also are ingenious, logical, intellectual, technical, independent, complex, and factual. They love to solve problems. I think of Christopher Lloyd's character in "Back to the Future," Dr. Emmett Brown; he's a good example of a green personality.
Do any of these clues help you decide which color you are predominantly?
We actually are a blend of all the colors; the ones that are dominant affect our personalities, and the numbers in the test reveal how strong a color is in your personality.
For instance, I am predominantly blue, and not surprisingly, so is everyone else in the news room. We are the writers/creative types. Now, some have different secondary colors: golds are the ones with the very tidy desks in the office; everyone else has the untidy, yet "organized-to-them" desks. Those with green and orange as secondary colors are too busy to "worry about being neat." For those who are gold, it's just a way of life, so naturally a structured, organized desk is important to them.
My second color is green, and it trails immediately behind the blue, followed by orange more down the chart, with gold dead last - gold almost didn't even make it on my page the number was so low!
So, you see, your "faults" are not always done by choice, they largely may be due to your your personality type. It is almost impossible for a blue to become a gold, because they are the way they are. They can try to "learn" to be like a gold, but they probably will slip up a lot, because it is not in their nature. It feels unnatural to them to take on the gold's traits, and vice versa. Golds will find it very difficult to be like blues. They can "learn" to not be so neat or patient, but it will be very difficult for them because it goes against their grain too much.
My closest friends are blues. It seems Weirton has a lot of them, too, for some reason, which is good. We have a lot of very talented, spiritual people here.
Probably, when picking a mate, I think it's important to make sure the person has your same predominant color, or at least has it as the secondary color. But, oftentimes, opposites attract, which could cause problems if you marry someone who is not loving, understanding or forgiving to your personality traits.
Of course, having green as my secondary color makes me interested in this research!
There's another type of test that measures our temperments and whether or not we are extroverts or introverts, and this study breaks it down even more, and it's fun to combine the two different tests, which can be achieved, at least to a point.
The introverts are the melancholies and the phlegmatics. Melancholies (like blues) are the artistic, sensitive types and are introverts. Phlegmatics are the really laid back, patient, easy going types who often have a dry wit.
The extroverts are the sanguines and cholerics. Cholerics are like the oranges and are the CEOs and workaholic/competitive, strong-willed leader types who love change. Sanguines are the fun, outgoing, spontaneous, friendly "salesperson" types who can be a bit scatterbrained at times.
If you find this interesting, more information is available on the Internet and in books if you want to learn more.
(Sue Azzarello, a Weirton native, is the managing editor and can be reached at sazzarello@weirtondailytimes.com)
