It’s true that the way you handle emotions is as unique as you are.

Did you know that there is a science to it all, though?

You weren’t randomly handed a set of emotional reactions completely separate from who you are as a person. Your personality and the way you handle emotions go together like a hand in a glove. The tricky part is to understand exactly who you are. In other words, what is your personality type? When you learn more about how you tick, you can understand why you handle emotions the way you do. You may even be able to hone in on tender areas that need a little extra attention. Read on to learn more about this coupling of personality and how you handle emotions.

The Myers-Briggs Personality Test

This particular personality test, like many others, asks a series of questions to identify your personality based on your answers.

There are 16 personality types according to the Myers-Briggs model. Each personality is categorized using four personality markers labeled with the initial of the marker it represents.

The markers are:

  • Extroverted (E) and Introverted (I) – your energy expression.
  • Sensing (S) and Intuition (N) – how you perceive information.
  • Thinking (T) and Feeling (F) – how you process information.
  • Judging (J) and Perceiving (P)  – how you act on the information you’ve processed.

So, an ENFP personality type would represent Extroverted, Intuition, Feeling, and Perceiving.

1. Extroverted and Introverted

These are commonly misunderstood. Rather than how well you enjoy hanging out with people, they have more to do with how your energy is replenished.

Extroverts replenish their energy supply in the presence of others while introverts need time alone to refuel.

In terms of how you handle emotions, whether you’re introverted or extroverted plays a huge part.

Many extroverts have a difficult time connecting deeply with themselves but provide a great deal of empathy for others. Introverts often feel very deeply but their self-expression can be indirect a lot of the time.

2. Sensing and Intuition

The difference between sensing and intuition really has to do with how you gather information.

A sensing type will soak up information externally or from outside sources. They rely on facts and are concrete thinkers.

Sensing types have been known to feel their emotions fully but also to disregard their own feelings. They often let emotions pass quickly.

Conversely, an intuition type will believe what’s happening on the inside or go with their gut, if you will. They read in between the lines and are abstract thinkers.

Because of the abstract nature of the intuition type, how they handle emotions can be complex. They may not trust, understand, or even want to feel their feelings fully because of how intense they are.

3. Thinking and Feeling

Referring to the way you make decisions, thinking types and feelings types are ruled by opposites.

The thinking type operates from their head. They don’t go by their emotions. Rather, they like to make decisions based on facts and logic.

As you can imagine, sometimes the way they handle emotions can be a little straightforward. They might even repress their true feelings because they don’t quite know how to control them.

The feeling type is ruled by the heart and operates by what they sense on the inside. They make decisions based on values.

This personality trait feels very deeply, much like the thinking type, but will often express their emotions in a more profound way.

4. Judging and Perceiving

Judging types aren’t necessary judgmental people. They do, however, like organization and order, both in their own minds and in their environment.

What this means in terms of handling emotions is that they will be more systematic. They may come across as ingenuine, but they’re anything but that.

The perceiving type likes things to be open-ended and is a flexible kind of person. In how they handle emotions, things don’t always have to be black and white. This love for the gray areas in life might come across as unstable or unsure.

The unique blend of personality markers makes you exactly that – unique. It also has directly influenced how you handle emotions. Your personality isn’t the only thing that defines you, though. We all have choices and experiences that shape us into who we are.