The Keirsey Temperament Sorter (KTS) is a self-assessed personality questionnaire designed to help people better understand themselves and others. It was first introduced in the book Please Understand Me. The KTS is closely associated with the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI); however, there are significant practical and theoretical differences between the two personality questionnaires and their associated different descriptions.
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David Keirsey expanded on the ancient study of temperament by Hippocrates and Plato. In his works, Keirsey used the names suggested by Plato: Artisan (iconic), Guardian (pistic), Idealist (noetic), and Rational (dianoetic). Keirsey divided the four temperaments into two categories (roles), each with two types (role variants). The resulting 16 types correlate with the 16 personality types described by Briggs and Myers.[1]
Although the descriptions of the individual temperaments and role variants were written as a whole, temperament itself can be understood by comparing it to the rings of a tree:[3]
Each of the eight categories can be subdivided by this distinction, for a total of 16 role variants. These 16 role variants correlate to the 16 Myers-Briggs types.
In his book Brains and Careers (2008), Keirsey divided the role variants into groupings that he called "four differing roles that people play in face-to-face interaction with one another." [4]
There are two Proactive Enterprising Roles:
There are two Reactive Inquiring Roles:
The roles were implied in the informing/directing factor introduced in Portraits of Temperament.[4] In his 2010 followup book, Personology, "Coworkers" is renamed "Collaborators", and "Responders" is renamed "Accomodators"
The following table shows how the four rings relate to one another and to the various temperaments.
| Temperament | Role | Role Variant | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract or Concrete? |
Cooperative or Utilitarian? |
Directive or Informative? |
Expressive or Attentive ? |
| Introspective (N) |
Idealist (NF) Diplomatic |
Mentor (NFJ) Developing |
Teacher (ENFJ): Educating |
| Counselor (INFJ): Guiding | |||
| Advocate (NFP) Mediating |
Champion (ENFP): Motivating | ||
| Healer (INFP): Conciliating | |||
| Rational (NT) Strategic |
Coordinator (NTJ) Arranging |
Fieldmarshal (ENTJ): Mobilizing | |
| Mastermind (INTJ): Entailing | |||
| Engineer (NTP) Constructing |
Inventor (ENTP): Devising | ||
| Architect (INTP): Designing | |||
| Observant (S) |
Guardian (SJ) Logistical |
Administrator (STJ) Regulating |
Supervisor (ESTJ): Enforcing |
| Inspector (ISTJ): Certifying | |||
| Conservator (SFJ) Supporting |
Provider (ESFJ): Supplying | ||
| Protector (ISFJ): Securing | |||
| Artisan (SP) Tactical |
Operator (STP) Expediting |
Promoter (ESTP): Persuading | |
| Crafter (ISTP): Instrumenting | |||
| Entertainer (SFP) Improvising |
Performer (ESFP): Demonstrating | ||
| Composer (ISFP): Synthesizing |
Keirsey became familiar with the work of Ernst Kretschmer and William Sheldon after WWII in the late forties. Keirsey developed the Temperament Sorter after being introduced to the MBTI in 1956.[1] Tracing the idea of temperament back to the ancient Greeks, Keirsey developed a modern temperament theory in his books Please Understand Me (1978), Portraits of Temperament (1988), Presidential Temperament (1992), Please Understand Me II (1998), Brains and Careers (2008), and Personology (2010). The table below shows how Myers' and Keirsey's types correspond to other temperament theories or constructs, dating from ancient times to the present day.
| Date | Author | Artisan temperament | Guardian temperament | Idealist temperament | Rational temperament |
| c. 590 BC | Ezekiel's four living creatures | lion (bold) | ox (sturdy) | eagle (far-seeing) | man (independent) |
| c. 400 BC | Hippocrates' four humours | cheerful (blood) | somber (black bile) | enthusiastic (yellow bile) | calm (phlegm) |
| c. 340 BC | Plato's four characters | artistic (iconic) | sensible (pistic) | intuitive (noetic) | reasoning (dianoetic) |
| c. 325 BC | Aristotle's four sources of happiness | sensual (hedone) | material (propraietari) | ethical (ethikos) | logical (dialogike) |
| c. 185 AD | Irenaeus' four temperaments | spontaneous | historical | spiritual | scholarly |
| c. 190 | Galen's four temperaments | sanguine | melancholic | choleric | phlegmatic |
| c. 1550 | Paracelsus' four totem spirits | changeable salamanders | industrious gnomes | inspired nymphs | curious sylphs |
| c. 1905 | Adickes' four world views | innovative | traditional | doctrinaire | skeptical |
| c. 1912 | Dreikurs'/Adler's four mistaken goals | retaliation | service | recognition | power |
| c. 1914 | Spränger's four* value attitudes | artistic | economic | religious | theoretic |
| c. 1920 | Kretschmer's four character styles | manic (hypomanic) | depressive | oversensitive (hyperesthetic) | insensitive (anesthetic) |
| c. 1947 | Fromm's four orientations | exploitative | hoarding | receptive | marketing |
| c. 1958 | Myers' Jungian types | SP (sensing perceiving) | SJ (sensing judging) | NF (intuitive feeling) | NT (intuitive thinking) |
| c. 1978 | Keirsey/Bates four temperaments (old) | Dionysian (artful) | Epimethean (dutiful) | Apollonian (soulful) | Promethean (technological) |
| c. 1988 | Keirsey's four temperaments | Artisan | Guardian | Idealist | Rational |
| Keirsey, David (May 1, 1998) [1978]. Please Understand Me II: Temperament, Character, Intelligence (1st Ed. ed.). Prometheus Nemesis Book Co. ISBN 1885705026. | |||||
| Montgomery, Stephen (2002). People Patterns: A Modern Guide to the Four Temperaments (1st Ed. ed.). Archer Publications. p. 20. ISBN 1885705034. | |||||
| *Spränger was said to have six value attitudes, but Keirsey cites him as saying that the remaining two, "social" and "political", "pertained to all [men], and hence, were not distinguishing".[5] In fact, "political" was a category containing both theoretic and artistic, and "social" contained economical and religious.[6] | |||||
The type descriptions of Isabel Myers differ from the character descriptions of David Keirsey in several important ways:
Myers grouped types according to cognitive function: the ‘thinking type’ grouping for those with dominant thinking; the ‘intuitive type’ grouping for those with dominant intuition; the ‘feeling type’ grouping for those with dominant feeling; and the ‘sensing type’ grouping for those with dominant sensing. Keirsey's temperaments correlate with Myers' combinations of preferences: Guardians with sensing plus judging (SJ); Artisans with sensing plus perceiving (SP); Idealists with intuition plus feeling (NF); and Rationals with intuition plus thinking (NT).
Myers paired ESTJs with ENTJs, ISFPs with INFPs, INTPs with ISTPs, and ENFJs with ESFJs because they share the same dominant function attitude. ESTJs and ENTJs are both extraverted thinkers, ISFPs and INFPs are both introverted feelers, INTPs and ISTPs are both introverted thinkers, and ENFJs and ESFJs are both extraverted feelers. Keirsey holds that these same groupings are very different from one another because they are of different temperaments. ESTJs are Guardians whereas ENTJs are Rationals; ISFPs are Artisans whereas INFPs are Idealists; INTPs are Rationals whereas ISTPs are Artisans; and ENFJs are Idealists whereas ESFJs are Guardians.[8]
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