Relationships
Judging and Perceiving
Dr. Dawn-Elise Snipes PhD, LPC-MHSM, LMHC, NCC
Executive Director, AllCEUs
Host, Counselor Toolbox
President, Recovery and Resilience International
Continuing Education (CE) credits can be earned for this presentation at https://allceus.com/member/cart/index/product/id/615/c/
Objectives
~ Define temperament
~ Examine how knowing your temperament and the temperament of those around you can
~ Improve communication
~ Enhance relationships
~ Reduce stress
~ Explore in-depth the Judging/Perceiving dimension
~ Identify potential conflicts
~ Examine potential ways to help people on opposite ends of the spectrum collaborate.
Temperament
~ A relatively stable set of traits referring to
~ Preferred environments
~ Learning and problem solving styles and methods
~ Ways of conceptualizing and approaching the world
~ Philosophical approach to the world
~ Time management
~ Temperament occurs along a complementary continuum
~ Neither end of the continuum is better or worse
~ Most people are somewhere in between each point
Temperament
~ When identifying preferences a likert scale is used.
~ Being extreme (a 1 or a 5) on any dimension indicates a lack of flexibility on that dimension
~ ACT can be very useful at helping people manage their stress and become more psychologically flexible
~ As stress increases, people gravitate toward their preferred temperament dimensions
~ Additional stress and vulnerabilities can be through
~ Awareness of personal preferences (Prevent your stress)
~ Awareness of the preferences of those around you
~ Knowledge of how to create an environment supportive of individual preferences
Temperament
Judging
~ Plan ahead
~ Thrive on order
Perceiving
~ Adapt as they go
~ Thrive on spontaneity
Interventions
~ Plan spontaneous days
~ Try to make your work environment as conducive to your temperament as possible
~ Encourage the Perceiver to create “To-Do” lists for chores, work goals, treatment plans
~ Encourage the Judger to not get so caught up in planning that they miss opportunities to live
~ Perceivers are good to have on your team when things don’t go as planned because they can punt (car breaks down)
~ Judgers need to have a plan B & C for important things
~ Perceivers handle new situations well, judgers need to plan for the stress
Temperament
Judging
~ Self disciplined and purposeful
~ Get things done early. Plan ahead & work steadily.
~ Time and deadline oriented
Perceiving
~ Flexible and tolerant
~ Get things done at the last minute depending on spurt of energy
~ Always think there’s plenty of time (Deadlines are a suggestion)
Interventions
~ Judger’s may need to be aware that sometimes deadlines don’t get met when juggling multiple balls
~ Perceivers need to remember that at a certain point, things need to be done because you cannot always count on that spurt of energy.
~ Judgers can “hack” a perceivers time schedule by asking for something important to be done early (Note: This can be habituated)
~ If things start to get oppressively structured for the perceiver he/she needs to speak up.
~ Judgers need tools to handle stress when things don’t go as planned
~ Perceivers need to schedule in spontaneity if the situation is too structured (i.e. treatment, work)
Temperament
Judging
~ Define and work within limits
Perceiving
~ Want more information
Interventions
~ Judgers may get hemmed in by their own limits. Encourage them to be open to new information within a time frame.
~ What I planned to do…
~ The way we have always done it…
~ Perceivers may have difficulty getting started. Encourage them to set a deadline.
~ Presents, vacations, home improvement
~ Beginning treatment, choosing a sponsor/coach, starting back to work
Temperament
Judging
~ Thinks those preferring spontaneity are too unpredictable
Perceiving
~ Think that those who are not spontaneous are too rigid
Interventions
~ Encourage each person to embrace but respect the strengths of the other one’s temperament.
~ Remember that as stress increases, people become more entrenched in their temperament.
~ Spontaneity totally overwhelms the Judger (“I need it by Friday 2pm”)
~ Planning and getting organized overwhelms the Perceiver (“I’ll get to it as soon as I can”)
Temperament
Judging
~ Excellent planners. May not appreciate or make use of things which are not planned or expected
~ Maybe hasty in making decisions
Perceiving
~ Good at handling unplanned events, but may not make effective choices among the possibilities.
~ May fail to make decisions
Interventions
~ In recovery failure to make decisions is a quick road to relapse
~ Judgers generally have a very thorough relapse prevention plan but need skills to handle unplanned events. (Sponsor relapses)
~ In relationships perceivers need to be given deadlines to make decisions and can present the possibilities to the Judger to make the final decision (Example: Vacations)
~ Perceivers are excellent brainstormers
Summary
~ Judging and perceiving refers to how people manage their time and arrange their daily lives
~ As with all temperament dimensions, being somewhere in the middle often means the person is more adaptable.
~ Judgers are very dependable and structured but can seem boring or rigid to perceivers
~ Perceivers are very creative and adaptable but may have a harder time at behavior change because they resist structure.
~ Perceivers
Summary
~ Each person is often a combination of some Judging and some Perceiving characteristics
~ Knowing your own preferences can help you reduce your own vulnerabilities and stress
~ Knowing the preferences of your friends, family, coworkers can help you understand more about how to interact in harmony with them
~ Just like two people with depression may have different “symptoms,” two Judgers may have different Judging traits.
Summary
~ Quick Assessment
~ Do you need to plan most things?
~ Which stresses you more spontaneity or routine?
~ Do you make decisions easily or always wonder what other information is out there?