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Difference between INFP 4w5 and INFJ 4w5?

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23K views 9 replies 8 participants last post by  mino  
#1 ·
I cant decide which one is me and cant find any useful info about this. Maybe you can help me. I would be really grateful. So what kind of differences exist between these two?
 
#2 ·
No useful information at all? I would've thought the question was rather common.

To be honest, the only difference is one is an INFP and the other an INFJ. Enneagram 4w5 is just that: 4w5.

INFP 4s are probably at ease, I suppose, with their type; are constantly in sought for their own authenticity, doing things differently with intentions. If you look at the functions for an INFP -- Fi, Ne, Si, Te -- there isn't anything within that dynamic that would indicate an external consideration for outer reality. A type 4 would thus be very common for INFPs in this regard.

INFJ 4s, however ... I've always had trouble seeing INFJs as type 4s. It's a very Fi-based enneatype: not wanting to conform, enhancing emotions to almost ensure they're not like everybody else, etc, but INFJs in theory aren't like that. INFJs know they're different -- they've felt isolated their whole life, envisioning ideal futures for people and society and thus find themselves in disappointment, questioning why society is the way it is -- but INFJs don't want to be isolated or outcasted or the lonewolf. They want to fit in and be part of the group, which doesn't really emphasis a type 4. Looking at their functions -- Ni, Fe, Ti, Se -- I think to be type 4 would be very conflicting to an INFJ, which in itself paradoxically makes sense as to why INFJs are type 4s.

I think INFJs as an idealistic type are more likely to be 1s than 4s. An INFJ scoring double withdrawn at 4w5 would probably indicate a cynic, or a disappointed idealist, whilst INFP would get the tragic artist.
 
#4 ·
This is all from my personal experience with an INFJ I'm quite close to.

INFPs and INFJs are only one letter apart, but their driver processes are completely different. They don't share a single one. INFP and INFJ can both be individualists, but I feel like INFP has simpler needs than INFJ. INFJ's mind is more complex and harder to satisfy than INFP's. INFP wants peace and comfort, but INFJ can feel a greater sense of purpose. I feel INFJ needs to connect with something greater, to connect with humanity while INFP wants to connect with a few people and with nature. INFJ's better at fitting in when it needs to, because of Fe and because INFJ doesn't always let sentiments get in the way, but for an INFP just about everything we do has to either reflect our identity or we need to reconcile it with out identity. If something doesn't quite fit we'll have a hard time getting started on just about anything. INFJ seems to have an easier time taking action whenever it feels like it needs to.

INFP is hard to crack on the outside but very soft on the inside. INFJ can be the opposite. You might not know when you've crossed the line with an INFJ, but when they push back it's like "Whoa......" INFP's can be like that to a degree, but INFP's seem to be more forgiving even when they've been mistreated.

If both INFP and INFJ represent "water" energies, INFP is lunar energy that's more raw and emotional. INFJ is like Uranus, Neptune, or Pluto that's more trans-personal, yet so out there. With this INFJ I'm close to, sometimes he has a hard time understanding things I do when I'm purely driven by feelings and he asks me "why" but I have a hard time coming up with an answer.
 
#5 ·
I don't see the INFJ as being as much like the Enneatype 4, as the INFP. Because for the INFP, the Feeling function is predominant, and this matches with both the 4's heart-based type, and the 4's strengths and weaknesses -- in particular, the way they can be blinded by their feelings, and snared and stuck in feelings. But the INFJ has Intuition as the dominant function, which is quite different. Such a person would not be as likely to get stuck in emotions, or to become depressive or self-pitying, full of shame, as 4s can easily be in their less healthy functioning.
 
#6 ·
4 will feel spontaneous capability whether they do/don't feel they're very skilled. 5 wing makes them on average less eager than 3 wing to exact this confidence upon the outer world. 'Cuz imperfection and untamed faith in oneself can lead one astray and to embarrassment. Ni and Fi doms both use greater discretion with ideas, taking more liberties with meanings. Ni has an affinity for comparisons that can seem unsupported to its users and to outside observers. Ni doms will take time to develop ideas until they figure out why the unexplained idea persists in them. It's usually a reasonable pattern they've caught onto, provided they they take their time. Probably why people boast they're "psychic." Fi doms similarly analyze behaviours in people, like Ni doms do comparisons. Fi tends to make the user keen with adapting roles at a pace specific to individual people (roles catering to a herd is more Fe's forte). Fi doms I've known tend to focus on objectives unique to the person they share them with. If you have a problem, they'll contribute by addressing their independent references, as opposed to more standard outside references.

So, INFJ 4w5 is attuned to sudden, subconscious information (bit of an intensive, focused expression), and somewhat clandestine about their self-image - so as not to allow others the chance to define in them what they may be unsure of before they themselves can. Mouthful, I know. Ni-dom may make 4s more selective about what others know about them.

INFP 4w5 has a more inviting disposition - in my opinion. Intentionally disarming for better or for worse, but just enough to draw modest attention, so they can keep their comfort levels in check. They seem to reflect light atmosphere despite what's going on around them. Similarly careful with self-image, but I think they're softer once they know you better.
 
#7 ·
I'd think that being a double withdrawn type(4 and 5 being withdrawn), introverted 4w5s in general would be more likely to fall into their tertiary functions

For an INFP, that's Si. Some of the classic descriptions of the 4w5s are very easily drawn from the Fi-Si INFP where they become locked into internal subjective world, melancholic, the past, how their emotional states compose who they are, how their subjective experiences compose who they are however fluid and seemingly nonsensical in building a coherent image. They become engrossed in their internal, subjective experience. They're more likely to not give a shit what others think and to feel that classic 4 pride in it

I would like the point one thing out...4s are image types. No matter how much a 4 might dismiss it and deny it, we want to fit in. That's actually one of the core issues. We just feel inherently incapable of doing so so our relationship with the external world becomes dysfunctional and we find ways to compensate

for the INFJ, of course, we have Ni-Ti. I feel like this is more likely to create a being with an incredibly rich internal world that they find impossible to put into words but they're on a quest to do so as in doing so they might find vital pieces of who they are. They may become engrossed in this internal world to the point of perhaps falling into the 5 rabbithole of solipsism if they're not careful since Ni-Ti can be scarily detached from the world. They might either be more demure on the surface, or purposely rebellious

I don't actually think Fi relates to emotions anyway. Both INFJs and INFPs can be extremely emotional creatures, and then some will say they're not sensitive at all. So it's not that Fi or that Ni.
 
#8 ·
I'd think that being a double withdrawn type(4 and 5 being withdrawn), introverted 4w5s in general would be more likely to fall into their tertiary functions

For an INFP, that's Si. Some of the classic descriptions of the 4w5s are very easily drawn from the Fi-Si INFP where they become locked into internal subjective world, melancholic, the past, how their emotional states compose who they are, how their subjective experiences compose who they are however fluid and seemingly nonsensical in building a coherent image. They become engrossed in their internal, subjective experience. They're more likely to not give a shit what others think and to feel that classic 4 pride in it

I would like the point one thing out...4s are image types. No matter how much a 4 might dismiss it and deny it, we want to fit in. That's actually one of the core issues. We just feel inherently incapable of doing so so our relationship with the external world becomes dysfunctional and we find ways to compensate

for the INFJ, of course, we have Ni-Ti. I feel like this is more likely to create a being with an incredibly rich internal world that they find impossible to put into words but they're on a quest to do so as in doing so they might find vital pieces of who they are. They may become engrossed in this internal world to the point of perhaps falling into the 5 rabbithole of solipsism if they're not careful since Ni-Ti can be scarily detached from the world. They might either be more demure on the surface, or purposely rebellious

I don't actually think Fi relates to emotions anyway. Both INFJs and INFPs can be extremely emotional creatures, and then some will say they're not sensitive at all. So it's not that Fi or that Ni.
Why did solipsism have to be mentioned - I was literally just questioning this earlier.

...... this is further proof that only my mind exists. There’s no evidence that anything else exists - including you (at least, that can’t be contradicted by the relativity of existence outside of my mind).

(this is half-joke half-loop crisis. I’ve been given substantial evidence that I use NiFe, but there’s always the possibility that this is all a simulation of my mind to compensate for the fact that I fail to fit in to “reality,” even though all I really want is to fit in.
 
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#10 ·
Thanks, I guess. I’ve been around for quite a bit, but I don’t really comment. My personality type has kind of been an issue for me as of late (though I’ve been given a lot of evidence that I’m an INFJ, there’s so much contradictory information out there that certainty seems unattainable).
At least now I can say that I probably am a 4w5 (I initially typed as a 5w6).
 
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