The Psychology of Money - An Investment Manager\'s Guide to Beating the Market

60 THE INVESTOR

Another group of tests, conducted by various psychologists,

linked personality traits with the Myers-Briggs preferences. The

results showed that “sensing-judging” types (lions) were good at

finance and creating order. But their counterparts, the “iNtuitive-

perceiving” types, excelled at creativity, playfulness, flexibility,

autonomy, and (comfort with) complexity.

Still another piece of research, conducted by Gough, established

a formula that could be used to rank individuals on the basis of

their creativity. The formula is:

3SN + JP – EI – .5TF

The letters represent the “continuous” score that is generated when

one takes the MBTI (i.e., the “long” form of the test). Below are

some professions ranked by this formula:

Profession Score

Architects 366

Playwrights 340

Research scientists 321

Medical school students 276

Engineering students 275

Inventors 258

ISTJ portfolio managers 247

Business executives 221

Note that the STJ (sensing-thinking-judging) portfolio managers

ranked in the bottom quarter, along with business execs, indicat-

ing a disadvantage if the world is calling for more creative money

management. (All studies cited from Myers and McCaulley, Manual:

A Guide to the Development and Use of the Myers-Briggs Type

Indicator, Consulting Psychologist Press 1985). In Chapter 8, we’ll

look at what can be done by individuals or firms that want to

enhance their creativity.

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