Perhaps it was the user-friendly way that the original Please Understand Me helped people find their personality style. Perhaps it was the simple accuracy, intimacy and clarity of Keirsey's portraits of temperament and character types.

Or perhaps it was the book's essential message: That members of families and institutions, even though they are fundamentally different from each other, are each OK and have their own place in the world. And, that people would all do well to appreciate their differences and give up trying to change others into copies of themselves.

For the past twenty years Professor Keirsey has continued to investigate personality differences - to refine his theory of the four temperaments and to define the facets of character that differentiate one from another.

Now: Please Understand Me II

His new findings form the basis of Please Understand Me II, an updated and greatly expanded edition of the book, far more comprehensive and coherent than the original, and yet with much of the same easy accessibility.

One major addition is Keirsey's view of how the temperaments differ in the 'intelligent roles' they are most likely to develop. Each of us, he says, has four kinds of intelligence - Tactical, Logistical, Diplomatic, and Strategic - though one of the four interests us far more than the others, and thus gets far more practice than the rest. Like four suits in a hand of cards, we each have a long suit and a short suit in what interests us and what we do well, and fortunate indeed are those whose work matches their skills.

As in the original book, Please Understand Me II begins with The Keirsey Temperament Sorter, the best selling personality inventory in the world, and the most popular personality-type test on the Internet. This short quiz lets someone quickly determine which of the 16 personality types they are. A great party game to break the ice with!

In addition, The Keirsey FourTypes Sorter, a new short questionnaire, has been included. This questionnaire identifies one's basic temperament; and then ranks one's second, third, and fourth choices. Share this new sorter with friends and family, and get set for a lively and fascinating discussion of personal styles.

While Internet sites have excellent summaries of the personality types and temperaments, the book contains the in-depth analysis that Keirsey has done of the personality types and their interactions with the other types.

Finally, his book delves into the historical, mythological and Jungian archetypical concepts on which the personality temperaments were based. These provide the "bedrock" needed to ground-in-reality this psychological/analytical construct.

--- Robert Jon Religa
Jedi Technologies

Portions abstracted from the Publishers review

--- a review (edited) posted on Amazon.com
The definitive work on Temperament Theory
Reviewer: Jack Falt (jfalt@trytel.com)
from: Ottawa, Canada
September 18, 1998

Back in 1978 Drs. Keirsey and Bates wrote Please Understand Me. It was one of the first books to popularize the Myers-Briggs Type Inventory (MBTI), and it included "The Keirsey Temperament Sorter" so people could get a sense of what their psychological type was. However, Keirsey and Bates main interest in the MBTI was to use it as a way to determine temperament. They saw that the SP, SJ, NF and NT grouping of types fit the four temperaments that Hippocrates had written about twenty-five hundred years ago. 

Keirsey had long been interested in the concept of temperament, and while he does discuss the MBTI preferences, both books focus mainly on temperament. Unfortunately, in the first book he labeled the four temperaments with the names of Greek gods, Dionysus, Epimetheus, Apollo and Prometheus. I found these names really difficult to work with when I first read the original book, and had to have a dictionary in my hand to make any sense out of some of the material. In the intervening years Keirsey (Marilyn Bates has since died) renamed them: Artisan for the SP, Guardian for the SJ, Idealist for the NF, and Rational for the NT, which made for easier reading. 

In the revised edition "The Keirsey Temperament Sorter II" has been updated with some different questions, and this can still be used to determine your type. He has added "The Keirsey FourTypes Sorter" which determines only your temperament. Both of these quizzes are also on his web site. 

The book discusses in detail the similarities between temperaments and MBTI, and also how they are different. The MBTI bases psychological type on internal mental functioning. Keirsey finds it more useful to stick to what can be observed or people's behavior: how people use words and tools. 

Words are either abstract or concrete, and tools are used in a mainly cooperative or utilitarian way. Thus, SPs use mainly concrete words and use tools in a utilitarian way; SJs are concrete and cooperative; NFs are abstract and cooperative; and NTs are abstract and utilitarian. According to Keirsey, temperament determines behavior. 

Keirsey devotes a chapter to each temperament, including a description of each of the four psychological types included in that temperament, e.g. Rationals include: INTJ, INTP, ENTP and ENTJ. As would be expected the descriptions focus more on behavior than on internal thought processes. Each temperament is described in terms of language, intellect, interest, orientation, self- image, values and social role. The book is well set up as it has numerous charts, and while emphasizing a specific temperament, it also shows the corresponding entries for the other three temperaments. 

Having given a basic description of each temperament, the book then devotes a chapter to the three main areas of life: mating, parenting and leading. 

In mating styles the Artisan is the Playmate, the Guardian is the Helpmate, the Idealist is the Soulmate, and the Rational is the Mindmate. While any temperament can and does marry any of the four temperaments, Keirsey finds that people tend to be attracted to their opposite: Artisans to Guardians, and Idealists to Rationals. He further describes how each temperament is likely to get along with each of the other temperaments and then gives further detail into how the temperament is likely to interact with each of the four types within the opposite temperament, e.g. an Artisan with a Guardian (ISTJ, ISFJ, ESTJ and ESFJ). 

In the Parenting chapter, Keirsey describes children with each of the four temperaments and describes each of the combinations of temperament of parent and child. The Artisan parent tends to be the Liberator and is very tolerant of the child's behavior. The Guardian parent sees the job of parenting as one of socializing the child. The Idealist parent wants to harmonize all relationships the child has. The Rational parent wants children to become individuals. The main task of all parents is to stimulate children to help them develop their potential. 

There are also descriptions of how each temperament learns best. In his work as a school psychologist, Keirsey found that many behavior problems were the result of poor instruction techniques rather than problems such as ADD or ADHS. The Artisan child needs lots of hands-on learning. The Guardian is more willing to do what he is told. The Idealist wants to be authentic and get along. The Rational just loves to soak up information, but quickly spots the teacher who doesn't know the material. 

The final chapter looks at leadership. Keirsey sees leadership as a function of intelligence. He sees that each temperament has a main intellectual skill with lesser ability in the other forms of intelligence. Artisans are best at tactics; Guardians at logistics; Idealists at diplomacy; and Rationals at strategy. Churchill was a good example of a tactician. He could quickly accesses what was happening and knew what to do next. Washington was the man to lead the new nation with his ability to organize all of the details needed to bring the country out of the chaos of war. Gandhi used his example of passive resistance as the diplomatic way to bring about the end of British rule in India. Lincoln, the Rational, used his skill at strategy to give the leadership required to win the civil war. Keirsey makes the point that each of these intelligences are needed in society. As such, each intellectual skill is equally valid. Unfortunately, most intelligence tests do not measure these traits. 

This updated version of Please understand Me II is almost double the size of the original. In the intervening years Keirsey has accumulated a lot of additional material that he has included in his latest book. There is a great deal of useful information for those who prefer the MBTI, and you might find that the concept of temperament is well worth considering and another useful tool to add to your psychological tool bag.