Personality Typology by Dr. Mohammad Reza Sargolzaei

In a collection of fourteen audio files on personality typology, Dr. Mohammad Reza Sargolzaei explains human personality types based on Hellenic mythology (which is considered a type of story-based typology). The source for these talks is the books “Mythological Symbols and the Psychology of Women” and “Mythological Symbols and the Psychology of Men.”

. Hermes in ancient Greek mythology was the “god who guides travelers”; therefore, Hermes represents that psychological tendency which is ready for travel, change, and transformation. The most important characteristics of Hermetic personalities are “novelty-seeking” and “change.” This trait allows Hermetic types to connect very well with others and enjoy many pleasurable experiences. They have high public relations skills, are very creative, and take great pleasure in solving problems. If these positive traits are unconscious and excessive, they can harm Hermetic types.

The most significant harm threatening these individuals is “jumping from one branch to another” and “scattered efforts,” which causes them not to complete tasks and makes their lives full of unfinished business.

Another harm lying in wait for Hermetic types is that, due to their great fondness for social relationships, they may fall prey to a “herd mentality” and be so influenced by those around them that they lose their psychological stability.

The third harm is that their abundant creativity may disrupt the normal course of affairs, create new problems, and drown them in unsolvable puzzles.

The fourth harm is that the Hermetic tendency toward humor and pleasure-seeking may gradually turn them into shallow clowns who become oblivious to the realities of life and ignore the tragic dimensions of life that require serious attention.

. The Persephone personality type is the most common personality type among women in Iranian and Middle Eastern culture. A characteristic of the Persephone personality type is that Persephone women, in their advances, failures, successes, and joys throughout life, are dependent on their parents. In their conversations, the key words “father” and “mother” are present, and they receive the center of gravity of their psychic energy from the relationship with their parents. This psychic energy is sometimes pleasant and creates feelings of happiness and hope in Persephone types, and sometimes it is negative and unpleasant, and they blame their parents for all their failures.

These individuals, in Jung’s terms, have a “mother complex” or “father complex”; meaning their minds are always preoccupied with their parents. The schema of this mental preoccupation is “avoidance” or “compensation”; that is, they either connect excessively with their parents or cut off communication with them completely.

To compensate for an unpleasant relationship with their father, Persephone daughters often fall in love with father figures and marry them. Of course, sometimes they may be happy and successful in these types of relationships, and sometimes they may be harmed. Persephone daughters invest very little in their own capabilities and are always dependent on a man as a supporter; in other words, the “Cinderella complex” pattern frequently occurs in them.

The strength of Persephone women is that these individuals possess innocence; that is, they are trustworthy people and create a sense of security for others. The negative point of Persephone women is that they have high vulnerability, become entangled in superstitions and miraculous beliefs, and sometimes develop dependencies or attachments to harmful individuals.

To correct their personality weaknesses, Persephone women must strengthen within themselves the behavioral and psychological traits of resilient and independent women, such as the “Artemis” and “Athena” types.

.

The Zeus type applies to men whose main priority in life is “power.” These individuals have an innate talent for acquiring and exercising power. In childhood games, they usually take on the role of leader and director, and in adulthood, they volunteer for positions of authority.

In terms of Jungian typology components, Zeus men are extraverted, intuitive, thinking, and judging; therefore, they possess a big-picture perspective and strategic, tactical thinking. Information processing in Zeus men is more objective and quantitative than emotional. Zeus types are decisive and resolute men; they have authoritarian opinions and rarely leave a task half-finished.

The strength of Zeus men is that they are good organizers, a trait that can, of course, lead to positive or negative outcomes, and the weakness of Zeus men is that they are not successful at introversion and attending to inner processes, and they have shallow self-awareness. They pay little attention to sensory aspects such as taste, color, smell, and other details, and only enjoy the great successes and achievements of life.

Zeus types pay little attention to their bodies and become aware of their illnesses late. Zeus men have very little capacity for empathy and compassion with others, and are even incapable of recognizing their own emotions.

.

Setting aside the apparent and cultural differences between women and men, the Athena personality type is the feminine Zeus. Athenian women identify more with their Zeus-like father figures than with their mothers. Athenian women, unlike other women, do not have emotional vulnerability.

In terms of Jungian typology components, Athenian women are extraverted, intuitive, thinking, and judging; that is, like their Zeus-like father figures, they have strategic thinking, pay more attention to generalities than details, live in the future, think about future achievements, have an objective and reasoning outlook, are decisive and authoritarian, and usually see their plans through to completion. Given these characteristics, it can be said that Athenian types are very successful in career, education, and political and social dimensions; they are goal-oriented and sacrifice everything for their goal.

The strengths and weaknesses of Athenas are like those of their Zeus fathers; on this basis, Athenas have weaknesses in the realm of intimate relationships and appear unfeeling and selfish. Their emotional understanding and compassion are so low that the children of these mothers complain about their mother's lack of emotion, and this issue may cause their children to seek out mother figures. Athenian types see other women as spoiled, weak, and vulnerable, and have no interest in socializing with them; rather, their friends are mostly successful men, and their gatherings are mostly composed of business and social meetings. Extreme Athenian types are jealous and arrogant, and they scheme and play tricks to win and achieve their goals.

Most women who are successful in the fields of economics, commerce, and politics exhibit some Athenian characteristics within themselves.

.

The Apollo personality type includes individuals who are "early risers" and go to sleep early at night. These individuals possess strong "intuition" and, on this basis, are "future-oriented" people. This characteristic makes it impossible to consult or talk with them about life's problems in the present moment.

Apollonian types tend to discover patterns and predict the future based on these patterns. In this respect, they are science-loving and knowledgeable people, and learning and acquiring knowledge are among the most important pleasures of their lives. Therefore, they are usually educated and scholarly.

Excess in the Apollonian personality and always seeking a pattern and relationship for every issue sometimes leads to obsessive thoughts and paranoid ideation, because these individuals cannot accept random events in life.

Among the positive characteristics of Apollonian types is that they are very "just," "righteous," and "law-abiding." But these characteristics, too, in cases of excess, lead to obsession, and these individuals are hard on themselves and others without considering the exceptions to every rule.

People who are in positions of power, if they do not have some streaks of the Apollonian personality, will abuse this power and become narcissistic.

.

Individuals with the Dionysus personality type try to experience the world fully and have many phenomenological reflections on the world. They see themselves not "in opposition to the world" but "within the world," and they view the world as a poem and music, immersing themselves in it and rising to ecstatic dance (sama).

"Poetic" and "romantic" discourses are the specific discourses of Dionysians. Many great poets, artists, and prominent novelists have this personality type.

Important characteristics of Dionysian individuals are "being prone to falling in love," "introversion," "excessive sensitivity," and "suffering from the sufferings of other human beings." Dionysians have deep questions about the world, life, and especially death and the afterlife, but they surrender in the face of the unanswerability of these questions. Some Dionysians prefer madness, in the sense of abandoning all calculation and expediency, to reason.

The positive aspect of Dionysians is their deep "romantic" and "mystical" experiences, which lead to the creation of great works of art.

The vulnerable aspect of the Dionysian personality is that their emotional fragility sometimes leads to severe depression and psychosis. Another negative point is that Dionysians, due to their desire for deep experiences of the world and transcending rationality, may turn to various psychoactive substances and be exposed to the harms of these substances. Also, heartbreaks due to deep romantic experiences are common in these individuals.

One cannot expect planning and discipline from individuals with the Dionysian personality type, and for this reason, these individuals need a "patron" and "supporter" to be successful in society. The personality of Dionysian individuals is intensely involved with the "mother," and in Jungian terms, they have a "mother complex," being either intensely attached to the mother or intensely resentful of her.

.

Poseidonian personalities are often "autocratic" individuals. The Poseidonian personality type, in the Myers-Briggs model, are "extroverted," "sensing," "feeling," and "judging" individuals; for this reason, such people usually make decisions based on their emotions and feelings, and their connection with "nature" and the "present moment" is very strong.

Another characteristic of Poseidonians is that they have "deep and immediate emotions"; that is, they have spiritual highs and lows and emotional ebbs and flows. Poseidonians' love and anger are both "deep and intense"; they can deeply love their family and friends, and of course, the force of their anger is so intense that it can lead to physical conflict and damage to objects.

For Poseidonians, connecting with nature and caring for children and animals is very pleasurable, and they need to go into nature regularly; therefore, jobs related to nature, such as "forest ranger," "nature tour guide," and "animal caretaker," are very suitable for them.

Poseidonian men are very kind and emotional, but these individuals lack order and structure, and accordingly, they are not very transparent in business and work contracts. Since social life requires order, Poseidonians must be moderated by other personality types. To achieve this, "discipline" can be strengthened in them from childhood through various exercises and games.

.

---

.

Hermes

Persephone

Zeus

Athena

Apollo

Dionysus

Poseidon

Demeter

Hephaestus

Hades

Artemis

Hestia

Hera

Ares

Aphrodite

.

---

.

Personality Typology

Dr. Mohammad Reza Sargolzaei

Text summarized by Ms. Sharareh Shafaati

.

---

.