Appreciating Differences - Jack Falt - Ottawa area, Ontario, Canada

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Book Review by Jack Falt

Hennessy, Stephen M., Thinking Cop, Feeling Cop: A Study in Police Personalities, (3 ed), Gainesville, FL:  Center for Application of Psychological type, 1999, ISBN 0-935652-45-0, 150 pp

This book is aimed at individuals training, administering and working with police, but it is interesting reading for anyone interested knowing how the Jung/Myers personality types can be applied in the world of work. It looks at the four function pairs (ST, SF, NF and NT) and how each relates to police work. While most police are STs, the other three pairs are represented in the force as well, and each brings a valuable perspective to the job.

The book is valuable to the general Jung/Myers personality types reader by showing more clearly how the Judging functions of Thinking and Feeling play out in the everyday work world.

As with most jobs specific Types form the bulk of the workers. About 70% of police are STs while in the general population they only represent 32 - 42%. Many who have left the police force did so because they have felt out of place and very often this is because they are Feelers. Finding out about their preference for Feeling when one enters this kind of training can help some individuals decide not to continue; and, it can help others go on, realizing that their experience of being in the force will be different from those with a preference for Thinking. Also, they will likely face some harassment because of their differences.

The function pairs are described, listing their strengths as well as the pitfalls their preferences likely will experience.

STs and NTs will communicate with one another and the public in a different manner than will SFs and NFs. Fs tend to talk about the people they come in contact with while Ts will use more general terms. A T supervisor referred to his staff as “uniforms and clerks.” While Ss are more detail oriented and Ns more visionary, the T and F differences were key ones in distinguishing between the ways the police performed their duties.

The T and F difference was also a key in the way people were attracted to the career of police work. Feelers wanted to help people. Also, they often just stumbled into the work rather than deliberately choosing it. Ts also tended to stumble into the job, but when they did consider the work they saw it as a good secure job. There didn’t seem to be the same sense of mission that the Fs had.

The author values the role played by the Feeling cop and has done a lot in his training courses to help show the whole force their value to police work. He feels they bring compassion to their work that can go a long way to solving problems that taking a hard line does not.

There is a chapter on how the various cognitive styles learn, particularly when it is predominantly STs. There are some good points here that apply to anyone doing a presentation to a mixed group, especially when you have to explain Jung/Myers theory to a varied audience with a predominance of STs.

I would recommend this book as one to read because of the insight that it gives into a field that affects us all. Looking at a career that most of us are not in, allows us to see at the information in a more objective way. Then we can look at how its insights relates to our own work and the work of our clients.

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