THE TWOYTLES:
THE GULLIBLE PERSONALITY
This personality results from inner insecurity. Having little faith in one's own ability to perceive and understand on one's own, the gullible personality has great trust in what is told to him or her, because some other respected else has said it.
The Twoytles, in this sections are, like the others, extremes of this personality type. The story satirizes those people who tend to generally believe what another is saying because that person is rich, has high social status, has a trail of intellectual creditials, is famous, is a master manipulator, and often, simply just some other person. THE GULLIBLES GIVE OTHERS TOO MUCH CREDIT FOR BEING SMART.
Of course, in the normal course of life, people must have some faith in someone in authority (political, social, cultural, intellectual, professional), and can not distrust everyone. But each person should be more discerning and evaluate to some degree what is presented to him or her as truth. This personality may be discerning at times but has a tendency to give credence to an idea, not so much because of the quality of the idea itself, but because someone else presented it. This is especially so when someone with charismatic influence gives the idea.
In addition, the gullible person is very vulnerable to those who give suggestions with the underlying hint that if the suggestion is not followed they (the people giving the idea) will be insulted.
There is a potential for great difficulty if not danger with this type of personality. If the source of influence is forceful , the gullible personality might become what is called a "the true believer." The "true believer" clings to some selective idea or set of ideas and strongly supports them, without any reason other than the person who spouted the dictums is someone they respect as omniscient. If the ideas are deleterious, the situation could go from problematic to dangerously tragic.
And so it has happened in history that people have become gullible true-believers to the detriment of the society as a whole. The Nazi era in Germany is a good example.
Click to read about
the Twoytles*
