Please note this section is part five, you can find the fourth part here: The Investigator.

 

I am currently reading the book Personality Types by Don Richard.

It is quite a fascinating book that goes in-depth of character types that are common throughout civilisation.

In this series I will summarise each type and what makes them unique.

I thought it was fun to learn more about myself.

The book describes which activities you should avoid according to your personality, and which activities will be healthy for you to grow.

 

 

 

Personality Type

The Loyalist

The fifth personality type is The Loyalist.

As we shall see, this personality is very similar to The Motivator, in that they seek the approval of others, but The Loyalist seeks this approval for a very different reason.

This is the person you can count on.

They seem down to earth and relaxed.

The good friend.

They come in, do the work, and leave.

In fact, just having work makes them satisfied as it provides them with security.

They don't like change and prefer stability instead.

For Loyalist, stability and security is the most important things.

This is why they often work for large corporations with clearly defined structures and rules.

They have traditionalist values.

In their communities that can be a person of great value because of their need to create and maintain stability.

Further, they are drawn to organisations because they provide structures and stability, such as large companies, religions and governments.

They are very ambivalent by nature, they want to trust the government for safety, yet may also fear the authority taking away their freedom.

They want to depend on others, yet also want to feel independent.

This personality can be very hard to understand as they may show their support of you and in the next moment do the opposite.

This is not conniving behaviour, rather, the same confusion you experience is what they themselves experience on the inside. 

Example of The Loyalist: Richard Nixon, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Ulysses Grant

 

Healthy Level

 

At a healthy level The Loyalist is truly dependable.

They create and maintain stability.

Seeking security, The Loyalist builds strong and stable structures wherever they find themselves.

 At this level, they feel stable and secure on the inside.

Having this feeling of stability from the inside, they are now able to help create security and stability for others at their highest level.

Healthy Loyalists make excellent leaders as they create stable structures and are able to lead others gently.

Precisely because they know the feeling of insecurity they are able to relate to others, guide them and provide them with the feeling of security and stability.

At this level, The Loyalist have learned to accept that anxiety is part of being human and will never go away, but having found inner stability they can now cope with it with ease.

Normal Level

At a normal level The Loyalist starts to feel more insecure of their relationship with the world.

They are now more ambivalent and are deeply confused as to what they feel about themselves and the world.

Because they are confused they start to become less dependable by others.

They accept work and tasks as they do not want to let others down, but at the same time do not live up to what is required.

At this level much of the inner stability The Loyalist had at a healthy level is now gone.

Therefore they turn towards existing structures for security and support, such as religion, governments and companies.

This means their beliefs are now the beliefs of whatever organisation they have chosen to support; "No, here we do it like this, and that's the way it's always been done".

They become extremely conservative and seek to protect existing values of whatever belief structure they support, at any cost.

They become increasingly dependent on others and check in to see if how they interpret the rules is correct.

Further, they are now do not trust their own decision making.

They also start analysing within groups, who is pulling their weight, as they want everyone to respect their duties and obligations as highly as they do.

Being extremely loyal, The Loyalist demands extreme loyalty in others as well and starts to question who deserves their loyalty.

If they have unhealthy relationships, they will have an extremely hard time breaking them off as their motto is; "Once a friend, always a friend".

 

Unhealthy Level

At this level The Loyalist becomes increasingly insecure which leads to paranoia.

They start to become delusional and feel like the world is out to get them; "They're spying on my phone".

If they are in a leadership position, this paranoia can be extremely damaging.

This paranoia can be seen in many rulers and dictators who start to question the loyalty of everyone around them.

Out of fear, they start to constantly "test" those around them to see if they are truly loyal.

Of course, nothing others will do will make them feel more secure as their security must come from within.

The Loyalist is now also switching between states erratically and have become very ambivalent.

At this level, many Loyalists are drawn to conspiracy theories due to their increasing paranoia with the world.

They are now extremely dependent and look for someone to guide them, show them the path and save them from their own insecurity.

Their strength in being loyal and dependent can now be misused by others who acts like their "saviour".

This can be seen often in cults.

Their self-esteem is now also at a point so low they start to question why anyone would be friends them; "there must be something wrong with them if they like me".

 

 

 

An Overview Of The Investigator

What The Loyalist truly wants and cares about is security and stability.

They want to create this sense of peace and stability for both themselves and for others.

 

The Loyalist wants to both feel depended upon and depend on others.

Once of their key skills is maintaining and strengthening structures and organisations. 

 

Parental Orientation

 

As a child, The Loyalist turned towards their protective figure (commonly the father, but can be mother, grandparent or older sibling too).

The Loyalist looked towards their protective figure for safety and security and as they grew older, this protective figure shifted from their family to external sources such as political beliefs, religions, organisations, etc.

Unconsciously, Loyalists are looking for structure and belief-system that will, ironically, help them become more independent.

By having these belief-systems to turn to for security, they gain confidence to take steps toward independence.

The more unsure of themself a Loyalist is, the more dependent they become on the structures they have turned towards, as their need for security becomes larger.

Just as The Motivator abandoned themselves to wear a mask that pleased their nurturing figure (commonly mother), The Loyalist too will abandon themselves and their needs to please their protective figure (commonly father).

Loyalists will unconsciously internalise the connection and relationship they had to their protective figure and seek out a similar relationship throughout their life.

If they had an abusive relationship with their protective figure, they will believe this is how things should be and will unconsciously seek to get into similar relationships.

This is why as we see with many tyrants and dictators, their childhoods was abusive and they internalised this and believe for the rest of their lives, that is how things are done.

Similarly, if they had a great relationship with their protective figure, they will seek out great relationships throughout their life.

 

 

Ego Orientation

The Loyalists ego is dependent upon trust and loyalty.

Their ego is heavily tied to pleasing whomever they have deemed their protective figure as described above.

One of their greatest fears is letting other people down, especially those they deem important.

They therefore seek to constantly create security and stability, and to show others they are a person which they can trust.

 

 

At Their Best

At their best The Loyalist is the person who gets the job done.

They want to be depended up and thrive others trust them.

They are both great leaders and great co-leaders, but rather than inspire like The Motivator, they create security and stability.

It is simply their goal to create a stable and secure fundament anywhere they find themselves.

This also makes them great system-designers and organisers.

 

 

At Their Worst

At their worst The Loyalist is paranoid and extremely dependant upon others.

They have extreme insecurity and fear others are "out to get them".

Looking for security they often start to believe whoever seems the most authoritative to them.

They can become extremely conservative and defend traditional values at any cost, no matter how out-dated they may be.

 

 

 

What To Avoid

 As The Loyalist becomes unhealthy, they increasingly also becomes like an unhealthy version of The Motivator.

This means they become increasingly competitive in response to their insecurity of themselves.

Therefore they must avoid seeing the world is limited and competitive.

The Loyalist can also have a tendency to become what they believe others and society will want them to become in order to gain approval.

They may boast about their excellence, value and capability to try and convince others of their worth in order to feel more secure.

To defend themselves, they can become aggressive and go too far in their aggression towards others, even bullying them, to let everyone know they should not mess with them.

 

 

 

 

What To Do

The Loyalist is by nature very dependent upon people, structures and systems.

This is not a bad thing.

But The Loyalist must learn to become more dependent and reliant upon themselves.

This does not mean they have to become a leader or front-figure, but rather it means they, like The Motivator, must find a way to gain confidence internally, rather than externally.

They must learn to get in touch with their feelings in order to resolve their ambivalence towards themselves and others.

 

 

Major Subtypes of The Loyalist

 

The Defender

 

The Defender subtype of The Loyalist is the serious, disciplined and committed type.

They have an urge to fight for and help the "underdog".

The tend to be highly involved with their political and ethical beliefs.

Therefore they are often found within law, engineering and medicine.

They enjoy things like community service and being involved with governmental affairs like politics.

But if they are involved with politics, it is not to stroke their own ego, but rather, to make the world a more just and ethical place.

This subtype is very loyal and hardworking but can be less in touch with their own feelings as a result.

They tend to "work" their anxiety away.

Further, they may have an even greater need for security than the other subtype.

 

The Buddy

 

This subtype is the more sociable and extroverted.

They want to have a good time with others.

They like to go out and hang out with their friends.

Often you'll find them in advertising, marketing, sales and law.

This subtype is more easy-going and tends to have a higher level of agreeability.

They want to get along with others and don't like to spoil the mood.

The Buddy is the playful, enthusiastic and social type.

This subtype tend to have pastimes and hobbies as well as a high interest in performing arts such as music and acting.

They also tend to be more reliant on the opinions of others, will seek out multiple opinions and be indecisive when they need to make a decision.

 

 

 

 

Final Thoughts

 

The Loyalist is the great friend, the person who seeks and therefore creates stability and security.

While it is great to have personalities such as The Investigator and The Individualist who shakes up the foundation and imagines new ways of thinking, it is The Loyalist who creates stability and systems that gives us all greater security.

This is what really makes The Loyalist a fantastic person, they help create stability and security than in turn allows everyone else to function even better than before.

What's more, at their best, they are one of the most dependable and best friends.

Finally, The Loyalist gives humanity the stability and structure it needs to thrive.

Everything written here is my understanding and simplification of this personality type.

If you truly want to understand this personality type in depth, I highly recommend reading the book Personality Types by Don Richard where this information is extracted from.

The pages for this personality type is 216-258.