Understanding the "Artisan" Keirsey Personality Temperament

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What is the Keirsey “Artisan” Personality Temperament?

Artisans have a Concrete Communication Style and a Utilitarian Action Style. They talk primarily about what they see right in front of them and what they can get their hands on. Artisans will do whatever works, whatever gives them a quick, practical payoff, even if they have to bend the rules.

Artisans are fun-loving, optimistic, realistic, and focused on the here and now.
Artisans pride themselves on being unconventional, bold, and spontaneous.
Artisans make playful mates, creative parents, and troubleshooting leaders.
Artisans are excitable, trust their impulses, want to make a splash, seek stimulation, prize freedom, and dream of mastering action skills.
Artisans generally are right-brain dominant.
The SJs and SPs each comprise 38% of the population.

Keirsy Artisan Personality Type cross-reference

Keirsy Artisan Correlated MBTI Sensing/Perceiving (SP) Types

Keirsey classified the Artisan as Concrete/Sensing with Perceiving (xSxP) MBTI Personality Types. These include the Types with Extraverted Sensing (a Perceiving Function) as the first Dominate or second Auxiliary Function.

The Composer (ISFP) is a performer and a great improviser and excels at synthesizing.
The Performer (ESFP) is an entertainer proficient in improvising and excels in demonstrating.
The Crafter (ISTP) is an operator who excels in expediting and using instruments.
The Promoter (ESTP) is an operator best at expediting and persuading others.

ISFP and ESFP MBTI Types are Artisans with Extraverted Sensing and Feelings as the first Dominant or second Auxiliary Function.

ISTP and ESTP MBTI Types are Artisans with Extraverted Sensing and Thinking as the first Dominant or second Auxiliary Function.

Keirsy Artisan Enneagram Types

What are the Keirsy Personality Temerpaments?

David Keirsey, born in 1921, was an American psychologist specializing in conflict management and family counseling. He began researching human behavior and Personality in the 1940s.

Keirsey blended the Myers-Briggs Personality Types with Ernst Kretschmer’s model of the Four Temperaments, developing the Keirsey Temperament Sorter, which was made famous by his book “Please Understand Me.”

Instead of using the term Personality, Keirsey used Temperament. He viewed it as a configuration of observable Personality Traits, communication habits, patterns of action, characteristic attitudes, values, and talents. To Keirsy, Temperament encompasses personal needs, individual contributions, workplace contributions, and societal roles.

Keirsey organized his Four Temperaments as a matrix and named them as suggested by Plato: Artisan (Iconic), Guardian (Pistic), Idealist (Noetic), and Rational (Dianoetic).

The matrix is divided in half vertically by Communication Styles: Concrete versus Abstract. The matrix is divided horizontally into two action styles: Cooperative and Utilitarian.

Learn more about the Keirsey Temperaments.

Concrete versus Abstract Communication Style

Some people are focused and like to talk primarily about the external, concrete world of everyday reality: facts and figures, their work, home, family, the news, sports, and weather—all the who, what, when, where, and how things in their lives.

Other people primarily like to talk about the internal, abstract world of ideas: theories and conjectures, dreams and philosophies, beliefs and fantasies — all the whys, ifs, and what might be in life.

For the most part, Concrete people talk about reality, while Abstract people talk about ideas.

According to Keirsey, everyone can engage in both observation and introspection. People are observant when they touch objects or otherwise perceive the world through their five senses. When people reflect and focus on their internal world, they are introspective.

However, individuals cannot simultaneously engage in observation and introspection. The extent to which people are more observant or reflective affects their behavior.

Observant people focus on practical matters such as food, shelter, and their immediate relationships. Carl Jung used “Sensation” to describe people who prefer Concrete perception.

Reflective people are more ‘head in the clouds’ and abstract in their views. They focus on global or theoretical issues such as equality or engineering. Carl Jung used the word Intuition when describing people who prefer Abstract perception.

Keirsey’s two Communication Styles, Abstract versus Concrete, are similar to the Myers-Briggs “Perceiving” Cognitive Functions, Intuition (Abstract) and Sensing (Concrete).

Cooperative versus Utilitarian Action Style

Some people act practically and pragmatically; that is, they do what gets results, what achieves their objectives as effectively or efficiently as possible. They only check afterward to see if they observe the rules or go through the proper channels. People with this behavior have a Utilitarian Action Style.

On the other hand, some people act primarily cooperatively and socially acceptable; they try to do the right thing in keeping with agreed-upon social rules, conventions, and codes of conduct. Only later do they concern themselves with the effectiveness of their actions. People with this behavior have a Cooperative Action Style.

Utilitarian people mostly do what works, while Cooperative people do what’s right.

Cooperative-type people pay more attention to other people’s opinions and are more concerned with doing the right thing. Meanwhile, Utilitarian-type people pay more attention to their thoughts or feelings and are more concerned with doing what works.

The two Cooperative Temperaments are the Idealists (Cooperative and Abstract) and Guardians (Cooperative and Concrete).

The two Utilitarian Temperaments are the Rational (Pragmatic and Abstract) and the Artisan (Pragmatic and Concrete).

Neither the MBTI nor Jung has a corresponding or comparable dichotomy to the Keirsey Action Style classification. Action Style significantly differs between Keirsey’s Temperaments and Myers and Jung’s work in Cognitive Personality Styles.

Keirsy Artisan Personality Temperament

Artisans are Temperaments with a natural ability to excel in any of the arts, not only the fine arts such as painting and sculpting or the performing arts such as music, theater, and dance, but also the athletic, military, political, mechanical, and industrial arts, as well as the “art of the deal” in business.

Artisans are most at home in the real world, where solid objects can be manipulated and experienced in the present.

Artisans have exceptionally keen senses and love working with their hands. They seem right at home with various tools, instruments, and vehicles. And their actions are usually aimed at getting them where they want to go as quickly as possible.

Thus, Artists will boldly travel roads that others might consider risky or impossible, doing whatever it takes, rules or no rules, to accomplish their goals. This devil-may-care attitude also gives the Artists a winning way with people, and they are often irresistibly charming with family, friends, and co-workers.

Artisans want to be where the action is; they seek out adventure and show a constant hunger for pleasure and stimulation. They believe that variety is the spice of life and that doing things that aren’t fun or exciting is a waste of time.

Artisans are impulsive, adaptable, and competitive, believing the next throw of the dice will be the lucky one. They can also be generous to a fault, always ready to share life’s bounty with their friends. Above all, Artists need to be free to do what they wish, when they want.

Artisans resist being tied, bound, confined, or obligated; they would rather not wait, save, store, or live for tomorrow. In the Artisan view, today must be enjoyed, for tomorrow never comes.

There are many Artisans, perhaps 30 to 35 percent of the population, which is good because they create much of the beauty, grace, fun, and excitement the rest of us enjoy.

Famous Artisans

Artisans include Ernest Hemingway, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Bruce Lee, Amelia Earhart, Bob Dylan, Barbra Streisand, Elvis Presley, Elizabeth Taylor, Madonna, and President John F. Kennedy.