Whenever you meet a Korean person you are very likely to be asked about your personality type at some point during the conversation. Most of the time this topic serves as a conversation starter with a person you just met whilst giving a rough idea to you about the other person, their comfort level in an interaction and general preferences.
In most countries, this is usually done using one parameter, the zodiac signs but in Korea there are many interesting ways of categorising people into different personality types and here are some of them.
Personalities according to Blood Type:
source: https://www.masksheets.com/blogs/all/korean-blood-type-personality-traits
The blood type personality theory involves categorising people into certain personality types based on their blood group. The theory first originated in Japan and spread to other asian countries.It became popular in Korea during the 1990s and persists to date. Many people, especially middle-aged people, believe in categorising people according to this method. The theory links certain positive and negative characteristics to people of each blood group. For example,
People having blood type O are believed to be confident but over-competitive. Type A are considered to be loyal but obsessive. Similarly, Type B are known to be passionate but irresponsible and Type O as empathetic but unforgiving whereas type AB are believed to be intelligent but indecisive.
Personalities according to Korean Zodiac:
source: Instagram @koreanzodiac
You must have heard people saying For example: “I was born in the year of the Dog” in Korean dramas or came across someone whom you told your birth year and they go like “Oh! That is rabbit's year” The Korean Zodiac originated over 2000 years ago in China and is still used by many Asian countries. The zodiac consists of 12 animals, each having a year dedicated to it in a cycle that repeats. People born in an animal's year are said to have some characteristics associated with that animal. There are 12 animals in the Korean Zodiac: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig.
Personalities according to MBTI Theory:
source: https://www.flokq.com/blog/what-is-mbti-and-personality-types
Almost everyone has seen MBTI memes on their social media and heard about the latest trend of taking free MBTI tests. Many of us have jumped on the Bandwagon and tested for ourselves as well. The MBTI personality type can easily be assigned to a person by taking a free online test consisting of several questions about one's possible behavior in a certain situation in particular or overall attitude towards life in general. The result then categorizes you into one of the sixteen personalities according to the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator model. Each personality type may or maynot exhibit certain behaviors. People having the same or similar types are usually said to get along well with each other. By far this is the most scientific way of categorising the personality of people.
All these personality types are very interesting and fun.However, they may not be entirely true as each individual is also a product of their surroundings and environment they grow and live in and at the end of the day every person is unique and beautiful in their own way. That being said, let us know your your personality type according to all three methods in the comments section below :)
Wow nice! a lot of new information. I knew about MBTI, but this zodiac was new for me