What type of family historian are you?

In her book, The Psychology of Searching, Dr Penny Walters ponders on just what it is that makes family historians tick. What is it that absorbs our curiosity, year after year, that keeps us researching long into the night? What is it that motivates us to spend so much time piecing together the jigsaw puzzle pieces of past lives?

‘Is our interest in genealogy perhaps governed by our personality type?’ Penny asks. This is one aspect, among many, that does seem to have a possible connection to our motivation to do family history.

An article on the 16personalities.com website looks at ‘Interest in Genealogy by Personality Type’

Penny explains: ‘The study has found that those that they labelled as Analysts were looking for patterns, in a fact-based hunt; Diplomats wanted the human connections, not impersonal research; Sentinels were interested in history and family bonds, not ancestors; and those they labelled as Explorers were looking at the past to inform looking ahead.’

So the big question is – what type of family historian are you?

Analysts were looking for patterns, in a fact-based hunt

Diplomats wanted the human connections, not impersonal research

Sentinels were interested in history and family bonds, not ancestors

Explorers were looking at the past to inform looking ahead

• Add your comment to our Facebook page, and we'll share the results of which researcher type is most popular soon.
• Buy Dr Penny Walters’ book (£14 paperback/ £9 kindle), ‘The Psychology of Searching’ ISBN 9781687167262, available from Amazon
• Find the 'Interest in Genealogy by Personality Type’ study at https://www.16personalities.com/articles/interest-in-genealogy-by-personality-type
• Watch Penny’s video on the ‘Psychology of Searching’ at www.family-tree.co.uk/videos

The video will be live from Saturday 18th April 2020, and free to view until Friday 24th April, as part of the Family Tree Virtually Live conference. Thereafter it will free to view for subscribers to Family Tree

Image: Photo by Laurenz Kleinheider on Unsplash