All of us have a concept of ourselves composed of things we believe about ourselves. Three aspects of our self-image or self-concept are of particular importance in determining how well we regard ourselves: self esteem, self-respect, and self-confidence. Thus the self-image is a triangular affair, the three bases of self-regard vitally affecting each other. For example, when our self-esteem diminishes, this decrement tends to undermine our self-respect and self-confidence. Likewise, as we lose self-respect, it be comes more difficult for us to maintain our self-confidence and self-esteem. And it works the other way too—the more we prize ourselves the more we respect ourselves and the greater our self-confidence.
But different types of personality base their self-image on entirely different things. Since having a good opinion of oneself is one of the keys to happiness, and often to success, it is well that we pause for a moment to compare the four temperaments on this important aspect of personality: Self-Image Artisans Guardians Idealists Rationals Self-Esteem Self-Respect Self-Confidence Artistic Audacious Adaptable Dependable Beneficent Respectable Empathic Benevolent Authentic Ingenious Autonomous Resolute Thus, to feel good about them
selves Artisans must regard them selves as artistic, audacious, and adaptable, while other attributes, em pathy and benevolence, for instance, contribute little to their self-image. I believe that these three attitudes —artistry, audacity, adaptability— are mutually reinforcing, as suggest
ed by the figure at the right, such that they wax and wane together. Perhaps this is so even though they independently characterize the self-esteem, self-respect, and self-confidence of the Artisans.
Still, whether interdependent or independent of one another, the three attitudes toward the self deserve careful examination, so let us look at them one at a time.
Self-Esteem in Artistry
Artisan self-esteem is greatest when they see themselves and are seen by others as artistic in expediting and improvising productions. Most Artisans enjoy presenting themselves as graceful in action, their sense of pride stemming from their ability to act fluidly, beautifully, and with effortless freedom. John Updike captures this pride-of-performance when his character
The Self-Image of Artisans
Artistic
A
The Self-Image o f A rtisans 51 Rabbit Angstrom stops to shoot baskets with some playground teenagers:
As they stare hushed he sights squinting...setting his feet with care, wiggling the ball with nervousness in front of his chest, one widespread white hand on top of the ball and the other underneath, jiggling it patiently..„Then the ball seems to ride up the right lapel of his coat and comes off his shoulder as his knees dip down, and it...drops into the circle of the rim, whipping the net with a ladylike whisper. [That his touch still lives in his hands elates him. He feels liberated.] ‘Hey!’ he shouts in pride....‘Luck,’ one of the kids says....‘Skill,’ he answers.
On the other hand, the Artisans’ greatest source of embarrassment is in performing some action poorly or awkwardly, any lapse of what dancer Martha Graham calls “the physical use of the body in action.” When Graham became too old to dance with the fluid gracefulness which was her trademark, she was frustrated by the loss of her masterful technique:
I wonder where all the loveliness, all the awareness of the magic of the body, has gone....What I miss some days...is the eagerness to meet life, the curiosity, the wonder that you feel when you can really move—to work toward a perfect first or a perfect fifth position. There becomes an excitement, an avidity, a forgetfulness of everyone about you. You are so completely absorbed in this instrument that is vibrant to life.
It is a mistake to confuse the artistic action of the Artisans with the efficient action of the Rationals. Efficiency is measured by the proportion of input to output. The action that gets the most result for the least effort is efficient, and NTs take pride in their efficiency. In contrast, graceful action boosts the SPs’ self-esteem regardless of the effort they put into the perfor mance. Artisans will expend whatever effort is required to adorn an activity, styling and restyling their performance, pushing their artistry to its limits, failing again and again until fluency has been reached. And in this they can be quite wasteful of effort, at least in the eyes of the NT. For example, witness how tap-dance prodigy Savion Glover, as he choreographs a number with his dance troupe, is far more concerned with embellishing his moves than with running his rehearsal efficiently:
As Glover takes the members of Real Tap Skills through the steps in rehearsals, he improvises as he goes....[He] paces and taps in front of the mirror, hearing phrases, repeating them, building up a tapestry of intricate sound, which sometimes frustrates the dancers of Real Tap Skills, who struggle to keep up with him. ‘Let’s go again,’ he says, and they stolidly assume, their positions and start over.
Self-Respect in Audacity
venturesome—audacious. General Patton is credited with saying that it is “I’audace, toujour Vaudace” that wins battles. The SPs’ self-respect depends upon their ability to act fearlessly, to look danger in the eye and defeat it under any circumstances. Boldness is a virtue to cultivate, and like the lion in The Wizard o f Oz, Artisans feel guilty if they are cowardly, if they are yellow or chicken out. Hemingway often wrote about what his biographer Carlos Baker called “his favorite subjects of bravery and cowardice”:
Courage, he believed, was a matter of dignity....A man without inner dignity was an embarrassment. Ernest knew from personal experience ‘what is was to be a coward and what it was to cease being a coward.’ Now, in the presence of actual danger, he found that he did not care what happened. ‘I knew it was better to live it so that if you died you had done everything that you could do about your work and your enjoyment of life up to that minute.’
With this eagerness to live boldly “up to that minute,” Artisans are the world’s great risk-takers. They delight in putting themselves in jeopardy, taking chances, facing hazards, whatever form their endangerment might take. Even if it means they must walk away from a good job or a settled life, they might very well pay that price. SPs say that “life is too short,” that they must “make hay while the sun shines,” and that “he who hesitates is lost.” SPs do not hesitate; on the contrary, they often find risk-taking so irresistible that they court it again and again, pushing ever closer to the edge. It is likely that most skydivers, race drivers, and mercenary soldiers are SPs who have become compulsive in risking themselves.
Not that all risks are death-defying. The most successful Wall Street wheeler-dealers and corporate high-rollers are usually Artisans, as are many surgeons and defense lawyers, political negotiators, trouble-shooters—and comedians. Johnny Carson, for example, developed a brand of humor based on risque jokes and stories. Even in college, hosting fraternity shows*. Carson’s quips were brash and slightly off color, or as biographer Laurence Learner puts it:
Johnny’s...best jokes were usually about sex, not bawdy burlesque stories, but witty allusions. He gave thousands before him the feeling that here was a daring young man.
Generally speaking, however, the SP gravitates toward jobs where bold physical action is involved, not only in the performing arts and athletics, but in construction work, jobs where heavy machinery is employed, in the building operations for dams and skyscrapers, for freeways and mines, in operations for pitting human force against the forces of nature, such as working the oil fields and logging, in loading freight, in driving ambulances, motorcycles, and aircraft, in detective work, police work, soldiering, fire and rescue work. All these are SP occupations which require bold action
The Self-Image o f Artisans 53 and a considerable amount of physical courage.
Unfortunately, cultural stereotyping provides male Artisans far more than female Artisans the opportunity to express their attraction to risk. Perhaps the influence of the feminist movement will eventually make this style of life more socially acceptable for females; nonetheless, current realities still exclude the SP female from most typical SP occupations, in spite of the fact that half of the SPs are women. True, a few women have entered professional athletics (golf, tennis, and now basketball), also heavy construction and the military, and some have succeeded as trouble shooters; but the action occupations, involving precision, endurance, strength, bold ness, and timing, remain largely in the hands of men. The majority of women still enter three traditional occupations, nursing, teaching, and cler ical work, none of which is likely to give the female Artisan much chance to build her self-respect.
Self-Confidence in Adaptability
Artisans may well pride themselves on their artistry, and respect them selves for their boldness, but they base their self-confidence on their ability to adapt spontaneously to changing circumstances, to alter and shape their behavior in the moment, in order to operate effectively in the most unstable situations. Paracelsus, as noted earlier, saw this type as guided by the Salamander, a mythical creature capable of changing its appearance so as to blend in with its immediate surroundings. And, indeed, of all the styles Artisans are best able to respond quickly and flexibly to a changing envi ronment.
This is why Artisans work so well in a crisis; new situations demand new actions, and earlier commitments often have to be abandoned—with regret, perhaps, but still abandoned. Today is today, and yesterday’s ar rangements must give way in the face of more urgent demands. SPs hate to be bound by rigid, pre-established laws—by the SJ’s rules and regulations, by the NF’s ethical concerns, or by the NT’s laws of logic. SPs will go along with such conventions for a time, lying low and not rocking the boat, but only until a crisis occurs, and then they spring into action.
Of course Artisans are not always successful in dealing with crises. They have successes and failures like everyone, perhaps more than most people. But win or lose, they are always adaptable, pliable, and have the ability to roll with the punches and land on their feet, surviving setbacks which might leave other types permanently immobilized. Jennie Churchill, Winston Churchill’s extraordinary mother, showed this knack of adapting to survive. She lived with a vivacity which is rare, even in SPs, and Ralph Martin caught her style when he wrote of a low point in her life:
For Jennie, the year 1895 began bitter and bleak. After a lingering illness, her husband had died of syphilis, raving mad. Only weeks before, her lover, unwilling to wait any longer, had married. Her sons, Winston and
Jack, both had problems which required her full attention. Physically and emotionally she felt drained....So here was Jennie with the man who had loved her most now married to someone else, little money, not even a home of her own....And yet, such was the inner resource and resilience of this woman that her life soon took on an excitement and vitality such as she had never dreamed of. As her friend, Lady Curzon, said in a letter to her, ‘You are the only person who lives on the crest of a wave.’