Selfishly Breaking Rules

If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun. – Katharine Hepburn

OK. Admit it. You break a rule once in a while, right? If you do, is it for personal gain, pleasure, or just for the heck of it? Whether you do or you don’t may have something to do with your personality type and traits.

We asked our community to agree or disagree with the following statement: “Breaking the rules for selfish reasons is okay once in a while.” The question didn’t ask whether respondents had fallen into anarchy, ignoring the rules as a habit – it asked about “once in a while,” those occasional times where we may thumb our noses at authority for our own selfish reasons.

If you think about the statement, the rule-breaking could be something as innocuous as shopping online while at work to something as serious as cheating on taxes. (Not that anyone reading this would!) The degree is not specified in the statement, but “once in a while” certainly describes something less than a criminal career. So it may not come as a surprise that the majority of respondents (67%) owned up to occasionally breaking the rules for personal gain, but the results did illuminate which personality traits make some types more likely to do so than others.

Roles

Analysts (78% agreeing)

What is it about being an Analyst and breaking the rules? Overall, respondents with the Thinking trait (73% agreeing vs. Feeling at 63%) and the Intuitive trait (71% vs. Observant at 59%) were among the most likely to agree with our research statement – and these are the core traits of the Analyst Role. These two traits were only surpassed by the Prospecting trait (73% vs. Judging at 59%), meaning that Analyst personality types with the Prospecting trait – Debaters (ENTP) (84%) and Logicians (INTP) (81%) – agreed at the highest rates of all respondents.

Analysts by definition have less of a regard for stability than other types. Their interest lies more in advancing and improving. These personalities don’t mind shaking things up, if doing so produces something that they perceive as better. Because of this, they probably rationalize – in a highly logical manner – why breaking the rules in certain circumstances is acceptable, even for selfish reasons.

Diplomats and Explorers (67% each)

Like Analysts, Diplomat personality types share the Intuitive trait, but instead of the Thinking trait, they rely on the Feeling trait to guide how they see the world and process information. Diplomats’ Feeling trait might cause them to consider how breaking the rules would affect others. Even if they adopted a casual regard for following rules, they would temper it with their desire to keep harmony and preserve the feelings of others. For Diplomats, there may even be a little tension between the “what-if” pull of their imaginations and the need for down-to-earth cooperation and guidelines, which may influence whether or not they choose to break a rule.

Explorers may feel tension too, between their practical Observant trait and their more spontaneous Prospecting trait. The former is all about pragmatism, habits, and focus. The latter is about improvising and nonconformity. When we describe Explorer personalities, we often mention their willingness to break rules. But it’s important to recognize that their deviation from guidelines is likely a matter of expediency, rather than indulgence. Explorers like to solve problems. They like being the ones who swoop in and save the day. Think of their rule-breaking like that of MacGyver, the Virtuoso (ISTP) personality type who never ended an episode without finding unconventional solutions. Incidentally, Explorers possessing the Thinking trait – Entrepreneurs (ESTP) (76%) and Virtuosos (74%) – agreed with our research statement more than the other personality types in their Role.

Explorers, therefore, may naturally break the rules more than Analysts, if bending the rules leads to success. However, the inclusion of the word “selfish” in our research statement may have colored Explorers’ responses, making them less likely to agree. Even if their rule-breaking is ultimately self-serving in some way (including boosting their own reputations), in Explorers’ minds, it’s primarily about getting the job done.

Sentinels (55%)

With the realistic Observant and orderly Judging traits at their core, Sentinels value consistency. One of the best ways to ensure consistency is through rules, so Sentinel personalities are apt to respect rules more than others. That said, some Sentinels possess the Thinking trait and the Turbulent trait (see the discussion on Strategies below), both of which encourage a stronger impulse toward rule-breaking. The fact that 55% of the ever-conscientious Sentinels agreed with the statement would seem a high number were it not for these influences, which were particularly dramatic in the case of Turbulent Executives (ESTJ-T) (72%), who agreed just as much as some Analyst types that they occasionally break the rules for selfish reasons. Still, unlike Analysts, the last thing these personality types want to see is a shake-up in law and order.

Strategies

Social Engagement and Constant Improvement (72% and 68% agreeing)

Overall, personality types with the Turbulent trait were more likely to agree with our research statement than those with the Assertive trait (69% vs. 61%, respectively). We see that tendency reflected in the responses of those who follow the Social Engagement Strategy (Extraverted, Turbulent types) and the Constant Improvement Strategy (Introverted, Turbulent types). The Turbulent trait is distinguished from the Assertive one by a level of sensitivity to stress and a constant striving to be “better.” Perhaps Turbulent types see something selfish in that striving. It may even be the case that they are so intent on improvement that it becomes more important that following rules. As perfectionists, both Social Engagers and Constant Improvers are also more sensitive to their own flaws and may focus more on their transgressions as a result.

People Mastery and Confident Individualism (63% and 59%)

Is it possible that the more confident Assertive personality types who belong to the People Mastery and Confident Individualism Strategies break the rules for selfish reasons just as much as their Turbulent counterparts? The somewhat lower agreement rates of these Strategies may indicate that, because of their sense of self-assuredness, People Masters and Confident Individualists didn’t see rule-breaking as a big enough deal to pay much attention to it. Less likely than their Turbulent cousins to be plagued by feelings of guilt over their personal failings, these types may simply not have felt as compelled to own up to occasionally breaking rules for personal gain. The 8% difference between the Turbulent and Assertive personalities is significant, but not dramatic. Further research might delve into whether greater differences would emerge based on how serious the rule-breaking is and how frequently it is done.

It is also worth noting that Extraverted types (People Masters and Social Engagers) were slightly more likely to claim that they break rules for selfish reasons than were Introverted types (68% vs. 65%, respectively). Perhaps Extraverts’ innate enthusiasm for social situations played a role in this small difference. Since they are more likely to be out and about in the world where the rules exist, they are more exposed to opportunities to break them.

The singular personality type with the highest percentage of agreement was from the Analyst Role. At 85%, Turbulent Debaters (ENTP-T), with their Extraverted, Intuitive, Thinking, Prospecting, and Turbulent traits, were most likely to break a rule for self-serving reasons.

The type with the lowest percentage was from the Sentinel Role: Assertive Defenders (ISFJ-A) scored 43%. Interestingly, Defenders are the pure opposites, trait by trait, of the Debaters. What is the difference between the two personality types? Debaters are verbal scrappers who enjoy winning arguments to prove their intellectual prowess. Defenders take care of others by preserving order and honoring traditions. It’s easy to see how one might be more prone to breaking the rules than the other.

Conclusions

In a world as complex as ours, surely rules are necessary. It’s safe to assume that as complexity rises, so will the number of rules, and that, in turn, we’ll be more likely to break a few of them now and then – whether selflessly or selfishly. Understanding how your personality traits motivate your impulse to break rules may make you think twice the next time you’re faced with temptation.

What is your experience with breaking rules? Leave a comment below, and let us know how you think it relates to your personality.