Find out who you are with FIU’s Personality Theory Club

Ana Mancebo | Staff Writer

FIU’s new Personality Theory Club brings students together to learn about themselves and each other through personality typology. 

By attending meetings or watching the PTC’s YouTube channel, students can learn about prominent personality theories such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, the Enneagram and Socionics.  

These are typological systems that classify people as certain personality types depending on how they socialize and make decisions, their temperament and more.

Though some attendees knew about personality typology, most club members initially consisted of newcomers, which presented a challenge to club leaders. 

“What I want to achieve with this club is to use it as a launching pad for people to discover themselves, learn about who they are,” said club founder and president Logan Bates. 

While most meetings center around PowerPoint presentations prepared by the editorial board, some feature fun yet educational activities, such as a game where groups of attendees had to guess an MBTI type based on a list of traits. 

In addition to the prepared PowerPoint presentations, club members engage in open discussion and ask questions about typology theories. 

One club meeting consisted of a game where groups of attendees had to guess a MBTI type based on a list of traits. 

The club also emphasizes fostering a sense of community amongst its members by helping one another discover more about themselves through personality theories, even when struggling to find the right type.

Club member Alain Gonzalez described finally figuring out his type as a “big realization.”

“It all started to make sense,” said Gonzalez, who realized he was an ESFP, or Extrovert-Sensing-Feeling-Perceiving instead of an INTP, or Introvert-Sensing-Thinking-Perceiving.

The club emphasizes positivity, with meetings creating an environment outside of toxic online groups where people can come together to learn about typology. 

“The vast majority of online communities centered around typology have toxic and extreme views on personality theory,” said Bates. “These can include absolute judgment about another person, elitism, type gate-keeping, and personality type segregation.”

Ultimately, the club’s main goal is to help others figure out more about themselves.

“Every person on the planet has wondered questions about themselves and asked themselves questions like, ‘Who am I? What am I like? Are there people out there that think like me?’” said Bates.

 “Through my personal experience and the years that I’ve been studying these theories, I can say with confidence that I have found my answers to these questions and more.”