Turbulent & Assertive Personalities, Explained

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Explore this new addition to the MBTI scale

Co-authored by Dan Hickey Reviewed by Allison Broennimann, PhD

Last Updated: August 7, 2025 Fact Checked

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Turbulent vs. Assertive Personalities

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What is the turbulent-assertive scale?

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Where does the scale come from?

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Signs You Have a Turbulent Personality

If you feel a persistent urge to improve yourself and cringe at the thought of failure, you may have a turbulent personality. Turbulent personalities describe people who feel insecure in the face of challenges or the unknown and try to compensate by being high-achievers. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at what it means to have a turbulent personality type (including the most common signs that you may have one) and how it differs from an assertive personality at the opposite end of the spectrum.

Things You Should Know

People with turbulent personalities are often insecure and try to counterbalance this feeling by pursuing success and achievements.
Signs of a turbulent personality include a constant need to improve, perfectionism, overlooking self-care in favor of work, or imposter syndrome.
Assertive personalities are the opposite of turbulent ones. Assertive individuals are highly self-confident and optimistic.

Section 1 of 4:

Turbulent & Assertive Personalities Defined

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Turbulent personalities try to balance out their insecurities with success. They might be perfectionists and are always trying to push themselves and their projects to be the best they can be. They’re sensitive to their surroundings, have a keen eye for detail, and frequently notice small problems or mishaps before they grow large enough to derail their goals or achievements. They’re generally anxious about the future or the unknown and prefer sticking to the plan over improvising.^{[1]
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- Pros of a turbulent personality: Turbulent people are motivated to do and be better, and their considerations about future problems make them proactive workers and community members. Their fear of stagnation also helps instigate meaningful change in themselves and the world around them.
- Cons of a turbulent personality: Turbulent individuals can get caught up in cycles of self-criticism and regret, and often feel poorly about themselves when they compare themselves to others. They may tend to fixate on what could go wrong in a situation rather than what could go right.
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Assertive personalities are very self-confident and respond well to stress. They trust in their abilities to achieve their goals and aim for success without much fear of failure. They’re resilient when tackling unexpected challenges, feel comfortable in positions of responsibility, and can perform well when they’re forced to think on their feet. Assertive individuals don’t fixate on the past much and generally have a “what’s done is done” attitude.^{[2]
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- Pros of an assertive personality: Assertive people’s confidence helps them take action where others might hesitate, and they generally feel highly satisfied with their lives. Because of their self-assurance, they often “create their own success” in areas that matter to them.
- Cons of an assertive personality: When an assertive individual becomes overconfident, they can gloss over details or problems that may inhibit their achievements down the road since they assume they will be successful. They might also overstep boundaries and believe they’re free to do more than other people appreciate or allow.
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Neither type of personality is “better” than the other. On paper, it might seem like assertive personalities have a leg up on their turbulent counterparts due to their confidence and optimism, but this isn’t always the case. For example, someone with a turbulent personality may feel extremely confident in themselves after thoroughly preparing for an important presentation at work, while an assertive person may actually become anxious about it if they skimped on preparation due to overconfidence. Both personalities have strengths and weaknesses, and a mix of turbulent realism and assertive self-assuredness is usually the recipe for stability, happiness, and success.^{[3]
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Research source} For another example:
- Imagine a violinist at the beginning of their career. An assertive musician might put themselves out there and get noticed early on for their raw talent and enthusiasm, while a turbulent one might have a slower rise due to their meticulous focus on improving their technique, networking, and preparing for any performance scenario.
- Down the road, the assertive violinist may experience a situation where they stumble noticeably due to overconfidence or under-preparation, where the turbulent violinist might have a more stable, reliable career.

Section 2 of 4:

What is the turbulent-assertive scale?

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The turbulent-assertive scale describes how people react to challenges. It’s known as the Identity Scale and it covers how individuals respond to success or failure, criticism and feedback, unexpected events or challenges, and the future. It’s an overall indicator of how confident someone feels in their abilities and how they make decisions.^{[4]
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- If someone has a turbulent or assertive personality, they’ll have a “-T” or “-A” attached to the end of their 4-letter Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) code (for example, INFP-T).

Section 3 of 4:

Who added the turbulent-assertive scale?

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The Identity Scale comes from the personality type site 16 Personalities. It’s considered a clarifying addition to the existing MBTI system. However, critics of the new axis say that the qualities of turbulence and assertiveness are already accounted for in the existing 16 personality types.^{[5]
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Section 4 of 4:

Signs You Have a Turbulent Personality

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You’re constantly trying to do and be better. Growth is the name of the game for a turbulent person. You may enjoy exploring new ways to improve yourself, learn new skills, and approach obstacles from different points of view. You feel comfortable accepting new ideas that help you and rejecting those that aren’t a good fit.^{[6]
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- Remember to balance self-love with self-improvement. It’s entirely possible to grow and improve while still respecting who you currently are!
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You’re driven by success and perfection, but they frequently feel elusive. Few things are ever perfect, and this can be a challenge for someone with perfectionist tendencies. You may feel an overwhelming urge to fix problems or “imperfections,” sometimes to the point that it becomes counterproductive (for example, working out or dieting so extremely that it negatively impacts your health).^{[7]
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- You might often feel constantly incomplete when your standards of perfection are unattainably high.
- Remember that few things are as all-or-nothing (imperfect or perfect) as you might think. Success is a gradient, so try to widen your perspective and forgive yourself for your perceived shortcomings.
- Try anxiety-reducing techniques like doing breathing exercises, journaling, or exercise like yoga or jogging to soothe yourself when you feel down for not being “perfect.”
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You think you’re under near-constant scrutiny. This is called the spotlight effect, or the belief that other people observe your appearance and behavior more often or closely than they really do. This can lead to increased social anxiety and a constant need to address your self-perceived “flaws.” You might feel this way around colleagues and superiors, or even in a crowd among strangers.
- Remember that other people are typically wrapped up in their own worries or tasks and don’t have much energy to spare for observing and judging others. It might be comforting to think that most people aren’t paying nearly as much attention to you as you think!
- Studies have shown that while people with an “embarrassing” quality estimate that 50% of people will notice it, in reality, only 10-25% of the surrounding people noticed anything unusual at all.
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You’re super detail-oriented. This one almost goes without saying. Nothing slips past you, especially when it might impact your success later. Even very minor things, like a wrinkle in your work blazer, will stay on your mind and might make you think “What if my boss notices?” While this is normally a helpful trait, it can sometimes bog you down and make it hard to distinguish the minutiae from the bigger picture.
- On the other hand, someone with an assertive personality might see that same wrinkle and think, “No one will notice!”
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You might often feel sensitive or anxious and compare yourself to others. Since most people with turbulent personalities measure their self-worth by their successes, the persistent urge to be perfect and accomplish more may make you feel frequently stressed, overwhelmed, or like you’ll never be worthy. A lot of the time, this self-doubt is caused by constantly comparing yourself to other people, taking criticism personally, or being hyper-aware of personal issues that go unnoticed by others.
- To stop comparing yourself to others, focus on competing with only yourself. Try journaling or using another tracking system to measure your personal progress toward your goals and celebrate your wins, no matter how small!
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You might suffer from imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is a psychological phenomenon where high-achieving people fear being exposed as a fraud since they (often mistakenly) attribute their success to luck or outside help instead of their own talent and effort.^{[8]
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Research source} People with imposter syndrome are often perfectionists and have unpredictable self-confidence, anxiety, and/or self-consciousness—all traits that are related to the turbulent personality type.
- Cultivate mindful self-awareness to ease the shame or fear of exposure you may feel. Your aversion to failure is what has driven you to succeed so far and has helped you develop skills worthy of your achievements.^{[9]
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- Lots of famous and successful performers, business leaders, or politicians feel imposter syndrome at some point. Remember that you’re in good, high-achieving company if you feel this way too.
- Not sure if what you’re feeling is imposter syndrome? Take our Do I Have Imposter Syndrome? quiz to find clarity.
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You may neglect self-care to focus on work or other projects. Because you’re so driven to succeed, you might prioritize things like work, your social status, or other competitions and work past the point of healthy boundaries. Other times, you may throw yourself whole-heartedly into work to avoid sitting with deeper feelings like self-consciousness or a sense of inadequacy.^{[10]
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- Try to maintain a healthy work-life balance. If you can, stop taking calls or replying to emails after hours, delegate tasks to others when you’re overwhelmed, and schedule plenty of time to practice self-care and spend quality time with your loved ones.
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Other people seem to think you don’t have much empathy. People with turbulent personalities are often solution-driven, so when a friend or family member comes to you with a problem, you may gloss over the “listening and supporting” part of the conversation and jump right into how to fix it. This can come off a bit cold or impersonal, even though you have the best intentions and genuinely want to help.^{[11]
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- Take the time to actively listen when someone comes to you for support and wait to offer advice until they ask for it (you can always ask them if they want your advice, too).
- Remember that sometimes, people just need someone to vent to or let off steam around. In these cases, simply being there is enough of a solution.