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Helen Fisher Decodes Obama's Personality Type
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Why do we fall in love with some people, and not others? In her new book, Why Him? Why Her?, biological anthropologist Helen Fisher examines four basic human archetypes—and knows exactly which one is in the White House.
Just by watching Barack Obama walk down the stairs with George W. Bush last month, Helen Fisher, a research professor of anthropology at Rutgers University, knew what kind of president he’d be—and what kind of mate he is. Fisher is the author of the best-selling Why We Love and chief scientific adviser to the dating site Chemistry.com. Her new book, Why Him? Why Her? (Henry Holt) describes four archetypal human temperaments—the risk-taking “Explorer,” the cautious, traditionalist “Builder,” the competitive, analytical “Director” and the empathetic “Negotiator”—and how they interact personally, romantically and even professionally.
Look at John McCain’s face, he’s got the jaw, the heavy brow ridges and the high forehead of the high-testosterone type, the Director.
You say you’re interested in “nature’s patterns of mate choice.” What do you mean by that?
Psychologists know that we gravitate toward people who are from the same socio-economic background, same general level of intelligence and looks and religious and social values. But you can walk into a room where everyone shares those traits with you, and you don’t fall in love with all of them. Why is that? We’ve been looking for explanations in childhood, in relationships to your parents, which we know must be important, but we haven’t found the patterns yet. Maybe they exist but we haven’t found them.
I’m a biological anthropologist. My research convinced me that we have evolved four broad personality styles, a constellation of temperament traits, each associated with different brain systems. And I drew the hypothesis that maybe when you walk into a room full of people who could be plausible mates, you are drawn to some rather than others because of this biology. I just couldn’t believe that four million years of evolution would be so lax as to let us choose our partners on whim.
And the pattern you found is…
We saw this pattern where the Explorer goes for the Explorer, the Builder goes for the Builder, and the Director and the Negotiator are attracted to one another. And it doesn’t matter if you’re male or female. Of course this is just a matter of degree. We’re all a mix of all of them, which is why I describe people with both a primary and a secondary type.
The book reprints a questionnaire you used in your research, that readers can take to determine which type they are. But even if you know what you are, you can’t run the test on someone you’ve just met at a party. So what are people supposed to take away from this?
Well, let me tell you what I got from it. I finally understand people. I’ve been working on romantic love and pair-bonding for 30 years and I finally understand why we’re rather magically drawn to some people and not to others. I would like people to understand who they are, and why they love the person that they love, how to reach the person, how to make some changes in your own style—on a date, or in a relationship, or with a boss or with your children.
So this principle is about more than just romance.
By far. I understand Obama, I understand his wife…I don’t want to be presumptuous here, but when you understand nature’s patterns, you see them play out over and over.
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parisjazz
I have read a couple of her books. She has some interesting ideas but I believe she is overly reductive to her theories. I suggest John Gottman' work particularly Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work. John's ideas can help people who aren't the ideal matches.
drauzy
Phrenology isn't dead, it just has a PhD, a simplistic thesis and a business model these days.
highrpm
What personality type is Christian Bale? Seems like intense, perfectionist artist-types do not fit any of Helen Fisher's four.
AmiBlue
This sounds like an overly simplified version of the Kiersey temperment model. A much more nuanced approach is explained in "Please Understand Me" by David Kiersey.
like-mind
Well, I liked what she was saying until she got into the physiological measurements thang - that's her Anthropologist speaking, but examining million yr old skeletal remains to deduce the characteristics of the Human ancestor is not the same as examining the whole gene pool and deducing the characteristics of the individual in question.
It's rather sad she lacks this self-awareness, because it's all interesting otherwise.
MrCleaveland
Remember that fur-face egghead who psychoanalyzed W a couple weeks ago just by watching his farewell address on TV? Well, this ditz babe is no better than that clown was.
Can't we focus on something a little more serious, like Elvis sightings?
Tinkuy
As an anthropologist, I am embarrassed by Helen Fisher's level of reductionism. She's advocating pop anthro. Are her 4 basic types universal? Or are they perhaps culturally influenced?
twinsister
Hocus-pocus. Patricia Burstein
twinsister
Don't ascribe "reductionism" and "decoding" to this person's work. It's just hocus-pocus. Patricia Burstein
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n--Y--Aeolustwinsister
To my thinking, the Obama personality is SWOON/SMART.
Wives should be asking their husbands:" Why can't you dance--so languid and romantic -- like him?" Smart is obvious;
our new President has an uncommon intelligence and having lived in polyglot Hawaii and also Indonesia, he knows the world in an intuiive and intimate way.
sophia5
expert writes:
" Psychologists know that we gravitate toward people who are from the same socio-economic background, same general level of intelligence and looks and religious and social values. "
" Psychologists have known for a long time that you tend to make up your mind about someone in the first three minutes. "
- Yah right.
Tell that to the rich housewife who takes one minute to gravitate to the poor latin pool boy / landscaper.
More crap from an "EXPERT."
Chandidevi
Everything she said about Obama is clearly observable by the layperson:
"For a black man to seek the presidency, he's clearly a risk-taker. He's got a lot of curiosity, he's creative in the way he addresses problems and handles people. I also think he's a Negotiator, because he's caring. This man cares about the whole world. He was trying to improve the South Side of Chicago as a young men when he could have gone to Wall Street and made a million bucks. He has wonderful verbal skills and people skills." So, where's the skill? And, what is a biological anthropoligist?
joymars
Very interesting.
No, I don't think it's hocus-pocus. There are a few psychological personality systems out there, and I don't generally like them -- like Enneagrams, for instance. That's way too complicated, and the more complicated these systems are, the more oppressive they feel.
But I like the simplicity of this woman's categories. I fit right into being an Explorer/Explorer. Like her, I've never found anyone Explorer enough for me! But I love where I am.
I believe people scope out possible mates very quickly and know when the combinations click. They hear it like when a safe-cracker hears cylinders aligning.
Good insight about BHO, but I'm not sure about Michelle. I think she's more of a Builder/Negotiator and they meet at being Negotiators. The Explorer part she has always had to get to through lots of internal and external negotiation. It must be exhausting. That's my take on her.
Grpoucho5
DR.Fisher is really full of crap but it is the kind of simplistic crap that passes for pop psychology and people love this because it makes their lives easier(even if it changes nothing).President Franklin Delano Lincoln seems to be a decent guy but in actuality he is evasive and clever like a slick lawyer.As is his wife and so they fit together.besides he ain't "black".He is biracial rasied by a white woman but he has no cojones,he ain't a mensch otherwise he woiuld have had the testosterone to renounce Rev,Wright.But I should be not attacking him.Dr.Fisher's work has never been even close to scientific.It is merely descriptive and has as much validity as the theories the benighted girls on Sex and The City had about their facile theories they used to figure out why they seem to have eluded love.The real reason is that all were royally screwed up and needed some serious psychotherapy.
In short,fools give you reasons,wise men never try.
Thank you.
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