Understanding the Objective Personality Animals

Objective Personality is an actor on the personality psychology stage, who, by building upon the already well established Myers-Briggs system, aims to give it more scientific credibility. 

In their pursuit of objective typing OP have introduced some intriguing new concepts, which, combined, divides the original 16 MBTI types into a total of no less than 512 discrete types (32 subtypes to each original Myers-Briggs type).

The first of these concepts - “Jumping” - changes the order in which we respect our cognitive functions (our second “savior” function is replaced by our third function) and effectively splits the original type into two.  

The second concept (and focus of this article) is called the “Animals”. In essence, each of the four OP Animals (“Play”, “Blast”, “Consume” and “Sleep”) is a duo of cognitive functions working together to create a behavior. 

The order in which we exhibit these four behaviors further divides the two parent subtypes - let's call them the "Standard" and the "Jumper" - into eight new subtypes (four to each parent subtype), giving us a total of 32 types (before we start introducing more OP concepts).

Depending on where on the introversion/extraversion-spectrum we belong, the order of the OP Animals will change. The more introverted we are the more likely we are to prefer and exhibit the more introverted behaviors of Sleep and Consume, and the more extraverted we are the more likely we are to prefer the more extraverted behaviors of Blast and Play.

From extraverted to introverted the OP Animals arrange as such: 

1. Play (Extraverted Decider + Extraverted Observer):
   Expending energy, Working, Doing, Showing off 
2. Blast (Extraverted Decider + Introverted Observer):
   Teaching, Controlling, Starting, Bragging
3. Consume (Introverted Decider + Extraverted Observer):
   Learning, Taking in more, Respecting info, Filling
4. Sleep (Introverted Decider + Introverted Observer):
   Preserving energy, Processing, Introspecting

Let's take a closer look at each of them.

Play

Play combines an extraverted decider function with an extraverted observer function, and is the most extraverted of the four Animals. The Animal opposite of Play is Sleep, which means that if we have Play as one of our savior (first two) Animals, Sleep cannot be the second. Having Play as one of our savior Animals also means that we will prioritize the behaviors of Play before those of Sleep. We will prioritize expending energy for others before preserving it for ourselves. Play, thus, is Tribe above Self. The good that comes of this is that, as Play first or second, we've usually got the thoughts or feelings of the tribe covered, the bad is that we might be neglecting our own.

Blast

Blast combines an extraverted decider function with an introverted observer function, and is the second most extraverted of the four Animals. The Animal opposite of Blast is Consume, which means that if we have Blast as one of our savior (first two) Animals, Consume cannot be the second. Having Blast as one of our savior Animals also means that we will prioritize the behaviors of Blast before those of Consume. We will prioritize peddling our information before taking in more of it for ourselves. Blast, thus, is Tribe above Self. The good that comes of this is that, as Blast first or second, we'll get our knowledge out there, the bad is that it might not be thoroughly enough researched.

Consume

Consume combines an introverted decider function with an extraverted observer function, and is the second most introverted of the four Animals. The Animal opposite of Consume is Blast, which means that if we have Consume as one of our savior (first two) Animals, Blast cannot be the second. Having Consume as one of our savior Animals also means that we will prioritize the behaviors of Consume before those of Blast. We will prioritize taking in more information for ourselves before sharing it with others. Consume, thus, is Self above Tribe. The good that comes of this is that, as Consume first or second, we'll do the research, the bad is that our knowledge never might reach another soul.

Sleep

Sleep combines an introverted decider function with an introverted observer function, and is the most introverted of the four Animals. The Animal opposite of Sleep is Play, which means that if we have Sleep as one of our savior (first two) Animals, Play cannot be the second. Having Sleep as one of our savior Animals also means that we will prioritize the behaviors of Sleep before those of Play. We will prioritize preserving energy for ourselves before expending it for others. Sleep, thus, is Self above Tribe. The good that comes of this is that, as Sleep first or second, we will probably know ourselves very well, the bad is that we probably won't do much for the team.

Conclusion

For me, the Objective Personality Animals helped explain why I'm not behaving like the poster child INFJ. I know I'm obligated by my Fe to adhere to certain standards in social settings, but my heart's not really in it. Of course, I don't go around hurting people's feelings if I can help it, but, at the same time, I know I'm not particularly fond of helping people either. I'm not as "caring" as the INFJ descriptions would have me be and the OP Animals have told me why. Because my own first two Animals are Sleep and Consume, even with Fe as my second function, the only person I'm likely to help in a savior state is myself.