1) What aspect of your personality made you unsure of your type?
I've been posting on here for about a month now and some of the things I have read about INFP's from other posters make me question if I am an INFP. There seems to be this consensus that INFP's can appear cold and aren't very in tune with others feelings in nature. There seems to be a lot of backlash against the stereotypes and that is the very thing that led me to the belief that I was an INFP. I feel things very deeply to my very core and it defines the way I feel about the world. Sometimes I feel so much that it makes me feel like I have to shut down because I experienced such intense feelings threw out the day.
The stereotypes are also something that are making me concerned about my type. A lot of posters say that they don't mean anything but they were the very thing that made me believe I was INFP in the first place. Those portraits/profiles of the INFP resonated very deeply within me and I feel that they describe me from the outside as a person. Pretty much 60-80% of it at least. But a lot of posters here seem to disregard them so that makes me thing I may not be INFP and a lot of posters seem to say that the INFP profile better shows an ISFJ rather then an INFP. I guess I am wondering if I share the same cognitive functions as an INFP because I feel kinship with the stereotypes but others are saying that is wrong.
I also am a very warm person around people and I have seen a lot of posters saying that more of a Fe thing then a Fi thing. A lot of times when I see a person describing Fe I feel that way about Fi so that makes me think I am not understanding the functions properly. I understand people threw my emotions and I am able to empathize because I can put myself in their situation. I feel that Empathy is one of my strongest qualities. I think my functions may be messed up. There also seems to be a belief that Fi users don't know how to express themselves and that is something that just isn't true for me. If it is one thing I know it's how I feel about my feelings and emotions. I can always express how I feel about something to someone. So I don't think that is true for me either. My feelings are the one thing I know if nothing else.
Lastly I frequently type as an ENFJ and ENFP threw tests and I can also be very disciplined individual (J). I love being around people but I frequently become bored around them since I get tired of mirroring them and catering to their forums of conversation and that makes me feel tired because I am not being stimulated or catapulted into action. I just start to feel awkward and misplaced because I don't feel in sync with anyone.
2) What do you yearn for in life? Why?
Understanding. I want to understand things, I want to understand my world. I want to know everything about myself fully so that I can better plan out my life and go after what I want. I guess I yearn the most for self discovery and self understanding. Because if I know myself then I know the best way to go about getting what I want and then I can be happy. Then I can do the best to impact the world in a better way. I also wish for a relationship, one where I can completely immerse myself in another person and where they can completely immerse themselves in me. I feel like that would be one of the most intense experiences in life. I guess I also want belonging. Depth.
3) Think about a time where you felt like you were at your finest. Tell us what made you feel that way.
I felt strong because I felt aware. I felt confident because I know what to do. I knew where I was going, I knew what I was doing, I knew what was happening. I felt that I was in the center of a world of events, possibilities, I felt interconnected. I felt that I was apart of something bigger then myself. I felt that I was strong. It was my sophomore year of college and I felt empowered. I felt happy. I felt strong.
4) What makes you feel inferior?
Not knowing how to handle a situation. Being made fun of. I usually feel like humor is mean spirited, even in jest you are often making fun of something based on an inadequacy in the person. But it is often just laughed off because it's 'funny'. I see criticisms and they make me feel naked, bare, like someone is chiseling away at me and marking all the imperfections I see. I don't want to be found lacking. I don't want to be thought of poorly.
5) What tends to weigh on your decisions? (Do you think about people, pro-cons, how you feel about it, etc.)
I tend to think about the best sides of the idea first and foremost. I see the best parts of the idea and then I tend to think about ways the idea could be improved. Usually people factor during the second part of the process but I am first thinking about the best sides of the coin before I bring the hammer down on ways to make it better. It's mostly an idea process then I will think about the ramifications for others and how they will be effected by it.
6) When working on a project what is normally your emphasis? Do you like to have control of the outcome?
I usually let people do what they are most comfortable with, then if they fail in that part of the assignment I assert control and revamp it to make it better. I do have control problems sometimes in group settings just because I fear that people may not have the same standards/ideas I do and I want the project to gel seamlessly together to look like we truly worked together to create the project. I am good at synergy and blending things together into a strong collective unit.
7) Describe us a time where you had a lot of fun. How is your memory of it?
I remember just a haze of fun, it was spontaneous, it was bright, it was colorful. The memory seems faded a bit but I remember just feeling a sense of euphoria and movement. I remember feeling content. I usually have the most fun when I am doing child like things. You know swinging on playgrounds, going to amusement parks, just pure, innocent, fun that has been lost. I guess it feels a bit nostalgic.
8) When you want to learn something new, what feels more natural for you? (Are you more prone to be hands on, to theorize, to memorize, etc)
Clarification. I like to know how something is different from something else and making a comparison so that I can understand the differences and ramifications of something else. The second part comes in how is it being applicable, why is this important, when is this going to be used (in theory)? Why is this way better then another way? What happens if I do this or don't do this? I guess it becomes an all encompassing how to guide and how it's weighted so to speak. I guess I like breaking it down into pieces and shifting it threw my mind to understand how they all function together.
9) How organized do you to think of yourself as?
Not very. I need some kind of order but usually I just have a lot of piles, I am not very orderly. My mother calls me messy. But I know where everything is and what I need. It's an organized chaos.
10) How do you judge new ideas? You try to understand the principles behind it to see if they make sense or do you look for information that supports it?
I usually think about it on my own, shift it threw my own way of thinking, my own feelings, my own impressions, my own internal feelings then I see how it can be applied, if it's practical, if it makes sense. If it does then I bring it up in conversation and see how others respond to it, but by that point I am usually pretty set on it because my internal belief of it has been set. I have confidence in it because I have searched myself and found that it has merit or use.
11) You find harmony by making sure everyone is doing fine and belonging to a given group or by making sure that you follow what you believe and being yourself?
I like being independent. I like being able to deal with things on my own and I tend to think of myself as a loaner in that way. I have my own ideas and ways of thinking. I do wish to belong but not at the price of my individuality, way of thinking and personal qualities that make me the very person that I am. That idea of assimilation terrifies me in a way because I think people can be led astray, I value on knowing what I am outside of the group because the group can be wrong. While I can be right. I don't like being apart of a hive mind.
12) Are you the kind that thinks before speaking or do you speak before thinking? Do you prefer one-on-one communication or group discussions?
I love discussion based groups because I think it's important to hear lot of ideas. However I value the depth that one on one conversations provide when I met someone new. I generally think before I speak and formulate my thoughts in order before expressing myself.
13) Do you jump into action right away or do you like to know where are you jumping before leaping? Does action speaks more than words?
I do think actions mean more then words. I usually will think about something in passing sporadically before I commit myself to action. It's not an extensive ruminating process probably just three or so five minute checks on what this means and then I make my choice after I have assembled knowledge about the situation. When I do act I act quickly because I fear things may change and that my throw my decision out of whack.
14) It's Saturday. You're at home, and your favorite show is about to start. Your friends call you for a night out. What will you do?
I will likely go with my friend, I imagine I haven't seen them for awhile so I jump at the chance to go out and see them/interact with them. I like movement and doing things. I will probably DVR my show. I can watch it later. Unless I am completely drained then I will try to reschedule.
15) How do you act when you're stressed out?
I feel like the world is closing in on me. I feel like the choices I have made weren't the right ones and I feel stuck. Like I can't move. Like I am in front of a highway with all of these cars (obstacles) launching at me and I can't get out of the way of them. I tend to try to hide out until the feeling passes. Maybe go out to out run the anxiety. Go to sleep to escape the feeling. Try to focus myself in other ways. I try not to think about it. Avoidance. After this process I tend to face my problem head on and just deal with it in the best way I can and look on the positive side.
16) What makes you dislike the personalities of some people?
Closed mindedness, intolerance, cruelty, maliciousness, not being kind or showing no courtesy to other people, people who set out to bring negativity to other people. I can't stand a person who hurts other people and makes them feel badly about themselves. If I have a bad day I tend to just enclose myself in solitude because I don't want that effecting another person. I know what it feels like to feel poorly, be angry or be sad and I don't want someone feeling that way because of me.
17) Is there anything you really like talking about with other people?
So many things. Politics, religion, history, race, sexuality, society, humanity, etc. I love hearing opinions on larger things that effect us all in some way.
18) What kind of things do pay the least attention to in your life
I'm not the most practical person in the world. I can forget my bank balance. I can forget about papers or assignments as well as appointments if I don't set reminders for them. I can forget to do things for other family members if they don't push me to remember them like dates, events, calling people, etc. I can sometimes forget my books, bad, binders, etc.
19) How do your friends perceive you? What is wrong about their perception? ? What would your friends never say about your personality ?
One of my closest friends felt that I was judging her and another one felt that I was mysterious, they said that at times I had a kind of wall or shield and that I was "mean". I would say I am not very guarded, nor do I genuinely judge people. I tend to be an open book if anyone wants to know something I will share it with them because it's an opportunity for greater intimacy. If they don't ask I assume they don't want to know. I also don't think I judge people but my friend said that she didn't want to dance in front of me because she thought I would judge her and think poorly of her for it. I felt bad afterwards because she was one of my closest friends. I generally think I am a pretty warm person, who thinks highly of people.
My friend who felt I was judging her didn't think I was very outgoing or impulsive, she thought I was very analytically and sometimes belligerent with my points in discussions with her.
20) You got a whole day to do whatever you like. What kind of activities do you feel like doing?
I would probably go out and explore the city, maybe meet some friends. Do something I haven't done before, go out to my favorite place to eat, go hang out in a park, do something fun. Get outside. Maybe go see a movie. Go to a museum. Experience something.
I've been posting on here for about a month now and some of the things I have read about INFP's from other posters make me question if I am an INFP. There seems to be this consensus that INFP's can appear cold and aren't very in tune with others feelings in nature. There seems to be a lot of backlash against the stereotypes and that is the very thing that led me to the belief that I was an INFP. I feel things very deeply to my very core and it defines the way I feel about the world. Sometimes I feel so much that it makes me feel like I have to shut down because I experienced such intense feelings threw out the day.
The stereotypes are also something that are making me concerned about my type. A lot of posters say that they don't mean anything but they were the very thing that made me believe I was INFP in the first place. Those portraits/profiles of the INFP resonated very deeply within me and I feel that they describe me from the outside as a person. Pretty much 60-80% of it at least. But a lot of posters here seem to disregard them so that makes me thing I may not be INFP and a lot of posters seem to say that the INFP profile better shows an ISFJ rather then an INFP. I guess I am wondering if I share the same cognitive functions as an INFP because I feel kinship with the stereotypes but others are saying that is wrong.
I also am a very warm person around people and I have seen a lot of posters saying that more of a Fe thing then a Fi thing. A lot of times when I see a person describing Fe I feel that way about Fi so that makes me think I am not understanding the functions properly. I understand people threw my emotions and I am able to empathize because I can put myself in their situation. I feel that Empathy is one of my strongest qualities. I think my functions may be messed up. There also seems to be a belief that Fi users don't know how to express themselves and that is something that just isn't true for me. If it is one thing I know it's how I feel about my feelings and emotions. I can always express how I feel about something to someone. So I don't think that is true for me either. My feelings are the one thing I know if nothing else.
Lastly I frequently type as an ENFJ and ENFP threw tests and I can also be very disciplined individual (J). I love being around people but I frequently become bored around them since I get tired of mirroring them and catering to their forums of conversation and that makes me feel tired because I am not being stimulated or catapulted into action. I just start to feel awkward and misplaced because I don't feel in sync with anyone.
2) What do you yearn for in life? Why?
Understanding. I want to understand things, I want to understand my world. I want to know everything about myself fully so that I can better plan out my life and go after what I want. I guess I yearn the most for self discovery and self understanding. Because if I know myself then I know the best way to go about getting what I want and then I can be happy. Then I can do the best to impact the world in a better way. I also wish for a relationship, one where I can completely immerse myself in another person and where they can completely immerse themselves in me. I feel like that would be one of the most intense experiences in life. I guess I also want belonging. Depth.
3) Think about a time where you felt like you were at your finest. Tell us what made you feel that way.
I felt strong because I felt aware. I felt confident because I know what to do. I knew where I was going, I knew what I was doing, I knew what was happening. I felt that I was in the center of a world of events, possibilities, I felt interconnected. I felt that I was apart of something bigger then myself. I felt that I was strong. It was my sophomore year of college and I felt empowered. I felt happy. I felt strong.
4) What makes you feel inferior?
Not knowing how to handle a situation. Being made fun of. I usually feel like humor is mean spirited, even in jest you are often making fun of something based on an inadequacy in the person. But it is often just laughed off because it's 'funny'. I see criticisms and they make me feel naked, bare, like someone is chiseling away at me and marking all the imperfections I see. I don't want to be found lacking. I don't want to be thought of poorly.
5) What tends to weigh on your decisions? (Do you think about people, pro-cons, how you feel about it, etc.)
I tend to think about the best sides of the idea first and foremost. I see the best parts of the idea and then I tend to think about ways the idea could be improved. Usually people factor during the second part of the process but I am first thinking about the best sides of the coin before I bring the hammer down on ways to make it better. It's mostly an idea process then I will think about the ramifications for others and how they will be effected by it.
6) When working on a project what is normally your emphasis? Do you like to have control of the outcome?
I usually let people do what they are most comfortable with, then if they fail in that part of the assignment I assert control and revamp it to make it better. I do have control problems sometimes in group settings just because I fear that people may not have the same standards/ideas I do and I want the project to gel seamlessly together to look like we truly worked together to create the project. I am good at synergy and blending things together into a strong collective unit.
7) Describe us a time where you had a lot of fun. How is your memory of it?
I remember just a haze of fun, it was spontaneous, it was bright, it was colorful. The memory seems faded a bit but I remember just feeling a sense of euphoria and movement. I remember feeling content. I usually have the most fun when I am doing child like things. You know swinging on playgrounds, going to amusement parks, just pure, innocent, fun that has been lost. I guess it feels a bit nostalgic.
8) When you want to learn something new, what feels more natural for you? (Are you more prone to be hands on, to theorize, to memorize, etc)
Clarification. I like to know how something is different from something else and making a comparison so that I can understand the differences and ramifications of something else. The second part comes in how is it being applicable, why is this important, when is this going to be used (in theory)? Why is this way better then another way? What happens if I do this or don't do this? I guess it becomes an all encompassing how to guide and how it's weighted so to speak. I guess I like breaking it down into pieces and shifting it threw my mind to understand how they all function together.
9) How organized do you to think of yourself as?
Not very. I need some kind of order but usually I just have a lot of piles, I am not very orderly. My mother calls me messy. But I know where everything is and what I need. It's an organized chaos.
10) How do you judge new ideas? You try to understand the principles behind it to see if they make sense or do you look for information that supports it?
I usually think about it on my own, shift it threw my own way of thinking, my own feelings, my own impressions, my own internal feelings then I see how it can be applied, if it's practical, if it makes sense. If it does then I bring it up in conversation and see how others respond to it, but by that point I am usually pretty set on it because my internal belief of it has been set. I have confidence in it because I have searched myself and found that it has merit or use.
11) You find harmony by making sure everyone is doing fine and belonging to a given group or by making sure that you follow what you believe and being yourself?
I like being independent. I like being able to deal with things on my own and I tend to think of myself as a loaner in that way. I have my own ideas and ways of thinking. I do wish to belong but not at the price of my individuality, way of thinking and personal qualities that make me the very person that I am. That idea of assimilation terrifies me in a way because I think people can be led astray, I value on knowing what I am outside of the group because the group can be wrong. While I can be right. I don't like being apart of a hive mind.
12) Are you the kind that thinks before speaking or do you speak before thinking? Do you prefer one-on-one communication or group discussions?
I love discussion based groups because I think it's important to hear lot of ideas. However I value the depth that one on one conversations provide when I met someone new. I generally think before I speak and formulate my thoughts in order before expressing myself.
13) Do you jump into action right away or do you like to know where are you jumping before leaping? Does action speaks more than words?
I do think actions mean more then words. I usually will think about something in passing sporadically before I commit myself to action. It's not an extensive ruminating process probably just three or so five minute checks on what this means and then I make my choice after I have assembled knowledge about the situation. When I do act I act quickly because I fear things may change and that my throw my decision out of whack.
14) It's Saturday. You're at home, and your favorite show is about to start. Your friends call you for a night out. What will you do?
I will likely go with my friend, I imagine I haven't seen them for awhile so I jump at the chance to go out and see them/interact with them. I like movement and doing things. I will probably DVR my show. I can watch it later. Unless I am completely drained then I will try to reschedule.
15) How do you act when you're stressed out?
I feel like the world is closing in on me. I feel like the choices I have made weren't the right ones and I feel stuck. Like I can't move. Like I am in front of a highway with all of these cars (obstacles) launching at me and I can't get out of the way of them. I tend to try to hide out until the feeling passes. Maybe go out to out run the anxiety. Go to sleep to escape the feeling. Try to focus myself in other ways. I try not to think about it. Avoidance. After this process I tend to face my problem head on and just deal with it in the best way I can and look on the positive side.
16) What makes you dislike the personalities of some people?
Closed mindedness, intolerance, cruelty, maliciousness, not being kind or showing no courtesy to other people, people who set out to bring negativity to other people. I can't stand a person who hurts other people and makes them feel badly about themselves. If I have a bad day I tend to just enclose myself in solitude because I don't want that effecting another person. I know what it feels like to feel poorly, be angry or be sad and I don't want someone feeling that way because of me.
17) Is there anything you really like talking about with other people?
So many things. Politics, religion, history, race, sexuality, society, humanity, etc. I love hearing opinions on larger things that effect us all in some way.
18) What kind of things do pay the least attention to in your life
I'm not the most practical person in the world. I can forget my bank balance. I can forget about papers or assignments as well as appointments if I don't set reminders for them. I can forget to do things for other family members if they don't push me to remember them like dates, events, calling people, etc. I can sometimes forget my books, bad, binders, etc.
19) How do your friends perceive you? What is wrong about their perception? ? What would your friends never say about your personality ?
One of my closest friends felt that I was judging her and another one felt that I was mysterious, they said that at times I had a kind of wall or shield and that I was "mean". I would say I am not very guarded, nor do I genuinely judge people. I tend to be an open book if anyone wants to know something I will share it with them because it's an opportunity for greater intimacy. If they don't ask I assume they don't want to know. I also don't think I judge people but my friend said that she didn't want to dance in front of me because she thought I would judge her and think poorly of her for it. I felt bad afterwards because she was one of my closest friends. I generally think I am a pretty warm person, who thinks highly of people.
My friend who felt I was judging her didn't think I was very outgoing or impulsive, she thought I was very analytically and sometimes belligerent with my points in discussions with her.
20) You got a whole day to do whatever you like. What kind of activities do you feel like doing?
I would probably go out and explore the city, maybe meet some friends. Do something I haven't done before, go out to my favorite place to eat, go hang out in a park, do something fun. Get outside. Maybe go see a movie. Go to a museum. Experience something.