Very strong, as well as very weak, basic desires can dominate a person's life to the point of defining the individual's personality. When this happens, some experts speak of a “personality type.” In this chapter, we will consider seven personality types: workaholic, competitor, humanitarian, thinker, romantic, loner, and ascetic. I will show how the sixteen basic desires might explain each of these types. I also will comment on the normality of these types, even though some experts have suggested otherwise.

Workaholic

Tom is a professor of sociology, teaching at a Texas university. I have known him personally for more than twenty years. Tom is friendly, likeable, and pleasant. He played football in high school and still works out every day. Yet Tom's two most outstanding qualities are his intellect and his capacity for work. Tom always seems to be reading, thinking, writing, teaching, or lecturing.

When it comes to working, Tom takes the cake. He seems to read everything published in his field. His knowledge of sociology is voluminous. When I visit him, I am interrupting his work. When I leave him, he immediately goes back to work. When I call him, I am interrupting his work; when he calls me, he is almost always calling from work.