WORLDVIEW: Resources are scarce: I must conserve energy, time, and knowledge.

FIVES thirst for knowledge and use emotional detachment as a way of keeping involvement with others at a minimum.

Emotionally detached, private, and highly independent — autonomous may be a more accurate description — Fives have an insatiable need to know, particularly about areas that interest or concern them. Fully understanding how everything works and fits together helps Fives believe that they are on the path to wisdom, but just as important, accumulating knowledge helps them feel prepared for the inevitable surprises they would prefer to not experience. The quest for privacy is a constant among Fives, although the areas they consider private vary widely. Some Fives like to share their knowledge, while others consider this proprietary. Some Fives are highly private about what they do in their spare time, while others consider their age, marital status, and other such personal information to be in the confidential realm.

All Fives emotionally detach in the actual moment of a feeling experience, choosing to reactivate some of these feelings at a more convenient and private time, and all Fives compartmentalize or isolate aspects of their lives from other parts. However, the content of what Fives compartmentalize can differ widely. Some Fives compartmentalize their work life from their home life; others keep their friends separated from one another; and other Fives keep themselves isolated from other people. In addition, many Fives are extremely wary of intrusions on their physical space, their time and energy, and demands for intense interpersonal interactions. Some keep extremely controlled boundaries and are attached to their seclusion, coming out for more engagement at specifically selected moments; others are more outgoing and social – though the content of their conversations tends to be information and facts that interest them – and are so drawn to super-ideals that they lose interest in everyday life; yet others engage primarily with the few others they completely trust and with whom they feel a special bond.

In the following YouTube short clips that reveal two famous Fives – Georgia O’Keefe and Bill Gates – you will see the Five interpersonal style very clearly. Although willing to be interviewed and discuss their respective topics, O’Keefe and Gates appear forthcoming yet remote, engaging in a way that attracts the viewer while making it obvious that there are clear boundaries on what they will discuss and how they will discuss it. Self-controlled and self-contained, displaying little animation in their voice tone or body language – although Gates waves his arms and hands, his torso never moves – both O’Keefe and Gates appear to almost shrink away from the camera by choice. In a sense, they are there, but also not there.

Remember: While we can all be emotionally detached and many people enjoy interesting information, for Fives, the pursuit of knowledge and wisdom and the avoidance of intrusion and loss of energy is their primary, persistent, and driving motivation.

Georgia O’Keefe – Click here to see clip

Discussing her work and beloved New Mexico, O’Keefe keeps her comments terse, sharing facts more than feelings. As O’Keefe herself says, the spartan beauty of New Mexico reflects her own nature. Watch how O’Keefe keeps her distance from the viewer through her physical distance from the camera, her lack of direct eye contact, and the way in which she phrases language.

Bill Gates – Click here to see clip

Watch Bill Gates talk about facts and rarely feelings; notice the way in which he does and does not make eye contact with the interviewer and the audience; and count the number of ways he talks about thinking.