Review: Personality Plus: How to Understand Others by Understanding Yourself

Personality Plus: How to Understand Others by Understanding Yourself
Author: Florence Littauer
Paperback: 208 pages
Cost: $10.93
Published: 1983

Years ago, and a few times since, I took a personality test that was unbelievably accurate at describing me and how I act, react and respond to life situations. For the past ten years, I’ve been looking for that test and finally found what I was looking for with Florence Littauer’s book Personality Plus.

Littauer classifies the four primary personality types: Popular Sanguine, Perfect Melancholy, Powerful Choleric and Peaceful Phlegmatic. Most every person fits into one of these personality categories, while some (like me) are near equal parts of two of the personality types (bet you can’t guess which two!).

Personality Plus starts off with a quick quiz that will allow you to determine your primary personality. Then the book begins to go through each of the personality types, outlining the strengths and weaknesses and the positives and negatives of each.

This isn’t just about understanding your own personality but about the personality traits of others. Littauer teaches how to recognize the different personality types in different people and talks about each personality and how they interact with the others. She explains how your personality might be more sensitive to other types when conflict arises.

The book provides a fascinating study of the human personalities and is an essential read for any office environment where there is a collection of different personality types. It’s also a great read for parents to better understand their kids, though Littauer does have versions of this book targeted specifically for parents (Personality Plus for Parents: Understanding What Makes Your Child Tick) and couples (Personality Plus for Couples: Understanding Yourself and the One You Love).