Preface

Back to Table of Contents Preface to the 64 Basic Types   What this page is a part of. Interpretative Notes to the 64 Basic Types   Read these before reading any of the types!

Some primary cautions appear to be necessary to ensure that the descriptions that follow are not misused. Obviously, there are many differences among the individuals who fall into any set of the look-alike clusters. Indeed, there are wide differences among the individuals in any single basic cluster because all these people have not faced the identical life problems nor resolved their problems in the same way. In a general sense, however, there are some commonalities ofi behavior. It is these common patterns that are described. There is no attempt to catalogue all the dynamics that may play a part in the developmental history of any unique individual. In no way, then, can these descriptions be used as a cookbook or a "canned assessment."

At times, these descriptions of basic adjustment may seem to be very much at variance with the clinical impressions arising from the examination of an individual subject. In some cases, these apparent "misses" are a function of semantic problems. When the description indicates, for example, that a person is aggressive, what is really meant is that the handling of aggression is an important issue for him/her. Behaviorally, such a person may either express the aggression outwardly or be defensively passive as a means of control. The solution that is adopted depends upon life history and the surface adjustment. These last are deliberately omitted from this paper.

Finally, although Gittinger's descriptions appear to be more oriented toward males than females, they are largely applicable to both genders unless the text explicitly refers to one and not the other. There is some evidence, however, that women tend to be somewhat more intuitive and less bound by procedure (more F-ish, if you will) than one might expect on the basis of their position in the R-F dimension. This may need to be taken into account in interpreting some of the basic descriptions.

Editor's note written when the online version of the paper was produced in 2017: The word "autism" or "autistic tendencies" is seen in these descriptions (as it is in the Atlas). This does not refer to the modern use of "autism" (such as in the DSM V) in the sense of "autism spectrum disorders." These descriptions were written before that term came into being. In this paper, "autistic tendencies" refers to Internalizer tendency to go within themselves, relating to their internal landscape rather than the outside world, and being apparently inactive. Descriptions of Internalizers resisting this tendency refers to this "normal" psychological tendency of Internalizers, not dealing with severe brain disorders. Readers could substitute "inward-self focused" for "autism" or "autistic". Futhermore, "inward-self-focused" is not said in the moral sense of the English word, "selfish", but as a descriptive term describing mental focus.

Editor's note 2: The PAS uses a system of symbols to express a Basic Level profile with one letter.

 Eu = e
 Ec = e*
 Iu = i
 Ic = i*
 Ru = r
 Rc = f*
 Fu = f
 Fc = f*
 Au = a
 Ac = u*
 Uu = u
 Uc = u*