About Psychological Type

Although there are a variety of personality theories out there - e.g. trait theories, behavioural theories, social learning theories, humanistic theories, to name a few - BAPT is primarily interested in Type Theory. There are two major theories within the type arena: Jungian theory, which includes adaptations such as Myers-Briggs, Type Dynamics Indicator, Insights Discovery etc; and the Enneagram, which has several variations depending on the particular school of thought, such as the Riso-Hudson approach and the Helen Palmer approach.

We can think of Jungian Type in terms of how we prefer to go about life: how we most naturally interact, process information, give value or meaning to things. Enneagram type is more the 'why' we do what we do. Hence, while the two theories can be used very effectively on their own, they can be very interesting when used together.

Type theories suggest that our psychological preferences are inborn and will develop over time. How somebody's Type develops is influenced by their external environment. Thus, even Type theory is subject to the nature vs nurture debate. See the pages in this section for more information.