When it comes to personality profiles, most have heard of Myers-Briggs, Ned Herrmann’s Whole Brain, Galen’s four temperaments, DiSC assessment, and the Keirsey Temperament Sorter. One of the lesser known profiles, but just as insightful, was developed by Dr. Gary Smalley and Dr. John Trent. They base their personalities around animal characteristics. Not only are these entertaining but they are very easy for children to grasp as well. My wife and I often find ourselves saying, “that person sure is a ‘beaver,’” or “you’re such a ‘lion-otter.’”
While these personality types are certainly broad categories, I find them very easy to remember and communicate. This is extremely beneficial when dealing with family members, employees, and/or people in general. Knowing their temperaments can make the home, work environment, meetings, and projects run much smoother.
Listed below are the characteristics of each temperament and how they line up with Galen’s and the DiSC for comparison:
Lion (Choleric/Dominance)
Strengths– Visionary, practical, productive, strong-willed, independent, decisive, leader
Weaknesses– Cold, domineering, unemotional self-sufficient, unforgiving, sarcastic, cruel
Otter (Sanguine/Influence)
Strengths– Outgoing, responsive, warm, friendly, talkative, enthusiastic, compassionate
Weaknesses– Undisciplined, unproductive, exaggerates, egocentric, unstable
Golden Retriever (Phlegmatic/Steadiness)
Strengths– Calm, easy-going, dependable, quiet, objective, diplomatic, humorous
Weaknesses– Selfish, stingy, procrastinator, unmotivated, indecisive, fearful, worrier
Beaver (Melancholy/Compliance)
Strengths– Analytical, self-disciplined, industrious, organized, aesthetic, sacrificing
Weaknesses– Moody, self-centered, touchy, negative, unsociable, critical, revengeful
Often you’ll find that people have a primary character type and a secondary type. Take a look at yourself. Which one is your primary and which one is your secondary? Some naturally go together and make for a wonderful set of strengths. Also, be senstive to the weaknesses in yourself and in others.
Next time, I’ll post how to better understand the perceived needs of these temperaments and then how to best communicate to them (See Related Links). Until then, enjoy “animal watching”.
Related Links
- Understanding the Animal Temperaments
- Communicating Amongst the Animal Temperaments
- Leadership Styles: Dictatorial, Authoritative, Consultative, Participative
- Leadership Styles: When To Use Them
- How Leadership Styles Affect Productivity
- You Might Be A Micromanager If…
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March 14, 2007 at 11:14 pm |
Golden Retrievers are a wonderful dog and you pretty much sumed them up. I think the strength are more likely than the weakness’s but im a dog lover
June 22, 2009 at 8:26 pm |
OMG!!!!!!!!! I absolutely loved taking this test with my fiance’. Sooooooooo much F U N! You are right on the money with everything : ) Just wanted to thank you for being so very brillant! Although, I would’ve thought a women was responsible for developing this personality test! Please don’t take offense to that last comment : ) So, what do you think I am????? If you get it right, I must believe a man is truely responsible for this! If not: I will believe a woman was truely the brains behind this OP, LOL……
March 15, 2007 at 8:07 pm |
Steve, thanks for the comment. -eb
May 1, 2007 at 1:48 pm |
Yes, I am familiar with the Smalley/Trent approach but had forgotten it. Thanks for reminding me.
Otter/Lion–that’s my breed:)
May 1, 2007 at 2:05 pm |
mk, thanks for the comment. Golden Retriever/Beaver with a dash of Lion is me. -eb
May 9, 2007 at 4:01 pm |
That’s a cool ‘animalistic’ way of looking at personalities. Nice sharing.
July 24, 2007 at 4:06 pm |
All the way Otter!!! with a tad of Golden Retriever and Lion…
I am MESSED up!!! hahah … Otter at heart as you can see!
thanks! this was fun!
wynn
August 28, 2007 at 4:59 pm |
I think I would have to go with the lion. As a kid, I always wanted one instead of our Pitt Bull
September 18, 2007 at 10:36 am |
I like this. I am a lion-otter, mostly lion, and proud of it!
September 21, 2009 at 1:46 pm |
me too!! Woooot
September 19, 2007 at 12:07 am |
You go Leila – be the best Lion-Otter you can be! -eb
September 26, 2007 at 12:41 pm |
I just watched the session this morning that deals with personality types and was so enlightened and amused! lol I felt better about myself by the end of it, like Dr. Gary Smalley said! I found myself starting to analyze my family and friends to discover their personality types as well! Life will be much easier now! lol Keep up the good work!
September 26, 2007 at 5:39 pm |
Thanks Twinkle. What did you think about the other articles? -eb
October 21, 2007 at 2:17 pm |
[...] a lion, an otter, a golden retriever, or a beaver? See, that’s funny, right? A blogger named WierdGuy lays it out in more detail on his site, but in brief, a lion is strong-willed and dominant; an [...]
October 29, 2007 at 2:40 pm |
We did this test thing in my youth group last year. I’m a Golden Retriever/Otter!!
May 21, 2008 at 7:06 am |
What is the name of the book that this comes out of?
June 7, 2008 at 2:22 am |
An interesting view on our personality and leadership styles. While leadership is often thought of a vague subject, it’s really a lifelong journey of self-improvement in the area of leading teams to achieving your goals. we can all improve our leadership through the study of the principles and some self-awareness and the willingness to apply these ideas in our teams.
June 7, 2008 at 9:51 am |
@Chris — you have posted the same response to many of the leadership articles. Anything else to say on the subject?
-Eb
June 7, 2008 at 11:21 am |
@David – Hey, sorry to be late responding to you. To the best of my knowledge, there is no book about the Lion/Otter/Beaver/Golden Retreiver. Dr.’s Trent and Smalley have synthesized the info from all the various personality tests into a manner that makes it easy to transmit to others and kids. In 1998, they did put out a children’s book called, The Treasure Tree: Helping Kids Understand Their Personality. That is the only book I know of…
Hope that helps.
-eb
June 11, 2009 at 11:19 am |
The two sides of Love was available at least as long ago as 1992, I think it was published in 1988…ISBN 1589973038 guess who’s a Golden Retriever Beaver…but with a splash of Otter…definitely lacking Lion but working on it whilst holding my nuzzzle/nostrils ;-)
Any tips on how to deal with Lion/Otter’s going off the track?
June 11, 2009 at 11:23 am
…Teenage ones that is…
October 2, 2009 at 8:09 am
@Will Richardson – my apologies for getting back to you later than expected. I must be showing Otter-ish tendencies :)
Lion/Otter is an interesting combo. I work with a Lion/Otter. He likes to have fun and makes sure everyone is having fun too – in his opinion. The first thing to ask yourself is, “do they understand their strengths and weaknesses?” My co-worker definitely understands his weaknesses and is quick to tell others what he needs (the Lion in him) because he is not organized (the Otter).
Once the person understands their strengths and weaknesses let them know it is OK. We all have weaknesses and we should celebrate those differences. One person may have a strength where the other is weak. How many times have you met married couples that compliment each other in this way? The Lion will not want to naturally admit weakness but you need to work with that; anticipate it and keep the communication lines open.
-eb
July 16, 2008 at 4:35 pm |
David, there’s a book called Taming the Family Zoo by Jim and Suzette Brawner. Personally found it very informative and useful.
November 22, 2008 at 6:06 pm |
what does it mean if i’m a little of everything?
November 24, 2008 at 7:59 am |
@trombonesarebest – it means you are well balanced! Congratulations! -eb
March 22, 2009 at 7:10 am |
I saw a VHS video years ago that John Trent did, and later that Gary Smalley did. They spoke on each of the animal types in front of what looked like a large audience who had done the test and were hearing the results. Any idea what that video was and if it’s still around?
March 24, 2009 at 9:42 am |
[...] etc.,) that allows for (and sometimes demands) an engineering-like exactness. I’m a beaver-otter, and beavers and otters don’t work well together [...]
April 10, 2009 at 10:28 pm |
I am a little bit of everything i guess…but i would like to know where i can find a video that would be very easy to explain to kids online do you know of any?
May 27, 2009 at 6:28 pm |
I do not know of a video, although there was a children’s book about the personality profiles from the animal perspective. Try “The Treasure Tree” at Amazon http://is.gd/Hxpe
Enjoy! -eb
April 27, 2009 at 1:03 am |
where do i take this test to determine which of the 4 animals i am?
May 27, 2009 at 6:16 pm |
Hey Renee, you might Google “online test, lion beaver otter” and see what you get. I do not know of one. We always looked at the characteristics and asked a trusted friend or co-worker what they thought we were. They are usually 100% right on!
Have fun! -eb
May 27, 2009 at 12:11 pm |
[...] “Okay, I am putting you in charge of packing. What do you want me to do?” Hooray for Beavers. We went to lunch with Cait and Kari and then played games at Kari’s apartment while she [...]
June 9, 2009 at 10:23 pm |
Good personality profiling gives one an advantage in understading self and others. As such, better commuication.
June 22, 2009 at 8:29 pm |
OK,I totally messed up. I left a comment @ the very top of this page, SORRY! Please check it out! Thanks : )
~ Sarah
June 22, 2009 at 8:36 pm |
What do the symbols by everyone’s comments mean?
Just curious???????? : )
June 30, 2009 at 10:39 pm
@Sweetness (Sarah)- If you have created an avatar in WordPress, it will show up there on the right. If not, WP throws in these little designs as place-holders.
-eb
June 25, 2009 at 7:44 am |
HELP! When I retired from being a school counselor for a million years, I threw away everything…including my paper and pencil version of the animal prsonalities test. I am back in counseling and NEED this! Computers are not available to everyone all the time. Can you help me find a copy of this test?
Many thanks.
Mary Pat
June 30, 2009 at 10:44 pm |
@Mary Pat- You can try the books referenced in the comments above or try this PDF http://is.gd/1jBTE
Hope those help! Let me know.
Have fun.
-eb
July 15, 2009 at 10:51 am |
[...] I do. You’re always working on a to-do list.” On the one hand, I pride myself on my “beaver” characteristics. I am a hard worker and I accomplish what I want to if I make a list for myself. [...]
July 16, 2009 at 11:22 pm |
IT IS ABSOLUTELY TRUE THAT PEOPLE CHARACTERS RESEMBLE THAT OF ANIMALS. ALTHOUGH, I’M NOT SURPRISE BECAUSE WE ARE ALL MAMMALS.
July 19, 2009 at 2:26 pm |
I have a question,why do i have 3 charcteristics of every animal?
July 19, 2009 at 2:34 pm |
Hey brehanaaa!!! (feels like I am yelling your name :D)
Sometimes when we look at the temperaments we see ourselves in a lot of them. The fact is, there are traits from all in each person yet there tends to always be a primary an d secondary that are stronger than the rest. If you are not sure, as a friend or family member. Once they are familiar with the temperaments they can usually tell you flat out what your strongest is.
Have fun! -eb
July 29, 2009 at 9:29 pm |
Where can I take this test online to see if im an otter, beaver, lion or golden retriever thank you
August 14, 2009 at 2:13 am |
[...] [...]
August 21, 2009 at 4:00 pm |
We used this on our church staff and had the best time with it. Fun and interesting. We studied the next few weeks about all the traits of each animal. I highly recommend it and it is very easy to implement. Just one way to have fun in the church office. For more ideas see my blog at luija.com.
September 21, 2009 at 6:22 pm |
this is a fun idea
September 23, 2009 at 2:46 pm |
Are you familiar with a video series that Tim LaHaye did, possibly with another author, on the personality types; Otter, Beaver etc?
September 26, 2009 at 12:10 pm |
An Otter I am – married to a beaver, best friends with a lion and know very few Golden Retrievers… My otterness – bugs the others… what can I do? I want to stay on the positive section – not the negative…
Help!
September 27, 2009 at 9:55 pm |
[...] interesting set of personality types are the ones named after four animals: the lion, the otter, the golden retriever, and the beaver. I’m almost all golden retriever, with a pinch of beaver. And probably some of the others, [...]
November 8, 2009 at 9:18 am |
[...] a message introducing myself basically saying I was in town and if he had time it’d be fun (otter) to get together and [...]
November 21, 2009 at 10:12 pm |
Where can I find the animal personality test?
June 15, 2009 at 8:49 am |
Hey Will, Lion/Otters are an interesting mix. I have found they need lots of accountability. Often the the Otter side has them scattered in various directions with various ideas and the Lion side has them convinced they are right. See the article on Communicating Amongst the Tempraments (see related links above), then lemme know how it goes, OK?.
-eb