A pair of Merry/Serious type traits is defined by filling the Valued/Unvalued function blocks with rational (Fi, Fe, Ti, Te) information aspects. Thus, merry types have valued Fe-Ti and unvalued Fi-Te aspects, while serious types have valued Fi-Te and unvalued Fe-Ti aspects.
As mentioned in the previous article, Valued/Unvalued properties determine how we view the world – the prism of our perception. Combined with complementary pairs of rational aspects, these properties define two types of worldviews: thus, merry types think through the perception of people’s behavior and understanding of the underlying patterns, while serious types think through the perception of people’s values and ways of achieving them. Let’s take a closer look at them.
Merry types tend to lean towards an abstract type of thinking: they like to talk about how the world is organized, why certain things happen, and how things are structured. In their speech, they often voice cause-and-effect relationships, explaining the logic of their thinking. They are interested in observing other people and looking for patterns that underlie their behavior. Thus, merry types make a significant contribution to the formation of a scientific worldview. In contrast, serious types think more practically – they value concrete knowledge applicable in life. They study the world, developing and perfecting tools for interacting with it. In their worldview, serious types rely on value systems, so they often voice their attitude towards people and phenomena. Thus, it is important for them to understand who they are dealing with and what needs to be done to get what they want.
Of course, this is a stereotype, but merry types do tend to find themselves in science more often, while serious types tend to find themselves in business, as it is there that they can display the features of their thinking. It is also worth noting that merry types are not literally merry, as this word is commonly understood, and serious types are not necessarily serious people. We simply got used to using these terms. However, we still recommend referring to the traits using the combinations of properties and aspects, such as saying “he has a valuable Fe” instead of “he is merry type.” This way, no false associations will arise, and it will be immediately clear what properties and aspects are being discussed.
As an example of the manifestation of these traits, one can compare the cultures in American and post-Soviet societies. The USA is a country of serious types, where great importance is attached to who you are as a person: what is your reputation, who you know, what culture you belong to. In American schools, the focus is on learning new skills: education is presented in the form of a game that encourages the development of new abilities. In post-Soviet society, the emphasis is on a broad range of theoretical knowledge: children are taught complex mathematics, physics and biology. It is believed that it is important to establish a basic understanding of the essence of things and to build professional skills based on it. At the same time, they pay more attention to people’s behavior: values, connections, views – these are more often encountered in the business environment, but not in everyday society.
Merry types include Hugo, Don Quixote, Robespierre, Dumas, Hamlet, Zhukov, Maxim Gorky and Yesenin.
Serious types include Jack London, Napoleon, Dreiser, Balzac, Stierlitz, Huxley, Dostoyevsky and Gabin.