[suicidal_orange]

OK this got a bit long - if you don't want to read my situation skip to the *, it wont affect your ability to reply :happy:

I'm trying to type myself by looking at the functions but the more I read about them the more I get confused. Yes, I don't engage in much conversation or obey social obligations, but is this because I use Fe not very well or because I use Fi and have decided for myself this isn't important? I do feel much happier when I'm helping someone but the help usually comes on a practical level based on my perceived personal experience often of the non provable variety (weak Se?).

There is no doubt I use a lot of N (though I'm struggling to work out e or i) and this doesn't stop in my self analysis - I can see all the options for why I may have done something, but at the time just did it. I do not know why.

I have noticed that although I'm never going to be sat in the waiting room 20 minutes early I'm never more than 5 minutes late and those who are annoy me, and although my desk at work looks a complete mess it is the same mess everyday, thus organised. I may want to take a long walk to nowhere particular, but instead of being spontaneous I will plan it for tomorrow afternoon... my prized flexible P is very much in doubt.

From reading the "Many faces of INFJ" thread I really relate to the accademic description, especially having developed in a school environment and living with Ti parents. Not long ago I would not have entertained the idea of being an F but the desire to help appears too strong for an INTP and INFJ is functionally closest.

The only person who should be able to work me out is me, but I can't. I'd like to be a stereotypical INTP (logical, flexible, believes same for everyone must be fairest...) so taking a test that's exactly what I come out as, there is no doubt. But there is something missing from the profile (the caring for others ahead of oneself) and I've been far more comfortable talking with INFPs than INTPs, for whatever reason. Maybe I just like the niceness :blushed:

I've written lots to try and explain myself yet still feel I've failed, please do ask questions if you want to - I want to have an answer so I can go back to posting (to post my opinions in the wrong section feels wrong, it's not being genuine so I've not posted in over a week!)

*

So as INFJ's do you know why you do what you do in the moment, or is this what dominant Ni does - you just do it? Hope that made sense

Thanks for any thoughts :happy:

Oh and if you're good at functions it would be great if you could have a look at my "type me" thread http://personalitycafe.com/whats-my-personality-type/30606-what-functions-do-you-see.html. I can't do it so any input would be appreciated

 

[vel]

... I've been far more comfortable talking with INFPs than INTPs, for whatever reason. Maybe I just like the niceness :blushed:

or may be you are one

With respect to knowing reasons behind what I did, most of the time I have some sort of a plan and my actions are based on that. So I know why I did something. However, some more subconscious responses usually require conscious analysis. For example: "why didn't I contact my boyfriend during my vacation? oh yeah, i must have been falling out with him emotionally already at the point and didn't realize it". So really it is a mix.

Differences between me and INTPs:
- I like interconnecting information that I have learned into one whole something. Usually spend a lot of time wondering how the pieces of a puzzle fit together and experience a eureka moment when I finally get it. INTPs seem to be interested in taking something and pulling it apart and analyzing how the pieces are related with each other. Their main cognitive function is a judging one, Ti. Ti is only a tertiary function for INFJs so I really struggle with trying to apply it. This often comes out as getting a vibe that I understand something but then struggling to put it into words correctly to convey this understanding to others. Or may be I will try to explain something but not be sufficiently descriptive. If you visit INTP and INFP forums you will see that they can put a lot of effort into the posts that they make and strive for great precision in self-expression. I have also had much trouble on multiple choice exams because I am very sensitive to possibilities being present. So where people with judging function as primary will see clear choice A my mind will be very much alerted to the fact that choices B,C,D,F,H and G are also possible.
- My feeling function is higher up my cognitive ladder and really I have been developing and working with it since I was age 10-11. It works sort of like a people radar. It puts my attention on people, on relations between people, makes me feel strong negative emotions when people are fighting or devaluing others without any good reason, when I join groups of people I pay attention to what the relationships are between the individuals and usually have a decent sense of it. I literally am unable to not mentally track people around me, which is difficult at times living with roommates. Their presence serves as a distraction to me, thus when studying I usually crave for complete isolation from other people. For INTPs their feeling function is inferior one, so called Achilles heel, and they will simply not see a whole lot of point in expressing sympathy or positive emotional affirmation to others. It also leads them to feel as if they are quite separate from other people. They may say things that are perceived as too critical by others and not sense it themselves.

Here is actually a good description of stereotypical INTP: An INTP Profile
The very few INTPs I have gotten a chance to observe would have fit about 70-90% of traits described in this profile.

 

[suicidal_orange]

or may be you are one

Yup, maybe I am. The key to an answer lies in the orientation of my N - it's a big part whichever type I may be :happy:

some more subconscious responses usually require conscious analysis. For example: "why didn't I contact my boyfriend during my vacation? oh yeah, i must have been falling out with him emotionally already at the point and didn't realize it".

So you think and there is only one option? You do not think that maybe you were having too much fun, or that you didn't bother because you had nothing exciting to tell him?

INFJs ... This often comes out as getting a vibe that I understand something but then struggling to put it into words correctly to convey this understanding to others. INTP and INFP forums you will see that they can put a lot of effort into the posts that they make and strive for great precision in self-expression.

Yup, both struggle to get from head to paper. I try by writing lots, but does that really prove anything?

I have also had much trouble on multiple choice exams because I am very sensitive to possibilities being present. So where people with judging function as primary will see clear choice A my mind will be very much alerted to the fact that choices B,C,D,F,H and G are also possible.

Yeah, INFJs aren't proper J :tongue: If they were I could rule the possibility out in a second...

- My feeling function is higher up my cognitive ladder and really I have been developing and working with it since I was age 10-11

I had amnesia at age 13, dad worked away and mum was on painkillers after a car crash. Teenage boys at school do not encourage F! My helpfulness only really started at age 18 when I moved out to live with fellow students, before this I helped my sister and hold a lot of resentment that I did such a bad job. But she is so unlike me it was probably inevitable...

[Fe] works sort of like a people radar. It puts my attention on people, on relations between people, makes me feel strong negative emotions when people are fighting or devaluing others without any good reason

Like cutting out a friendly colleague for being two faced towards another? I've done that...

For INTPs their feeling function is inferior one, so called Achilles heel, and they will simply not see a whole lot of point in expressing sympathy or positive emotional affirmation to others. It also leads them to feel as if they are quite separate from other people. They may say things that are perceived as too critical by others and not sense it themselves.

I see the point but I'm not good at it. In fact I'm terrible. I try to cheer people up by offering alternative explanations for the (in)action of others which have no negative connotations to the person who is upset rather than accepting their perception of the situation and making them feel better about it.

Here is actually a good description of stereotypical INTP: An INTP Profile
The very few INTPs I have gotten a chance to observe would have fit about 70-90% of traits described in this profile.

The only place help appears in that profile is in the inferior section which "doesn't begin to take shape until well into middle age. " Unless amnesia accelerates development rather than retarding it 25 is really not middle age :crazy: Other than that it's a good interpretation of one of the options for why I am as I am...

Thanks alot for your help here and on the typing thread :happy:

 

[vel]

Ni types are really good at shifting their inner perspective on things. This is usually how they deal with reality - by internally adopting to it. The motto here is study reality, its trends and patterns, accept it and love it, and project those trends into the future to know what strategy to adopt. This makes Ni bearers sometimes very good at predicting things to come but also at times overly pessimistic when past has been negative thinking it will just repeat itself. They also get challenged by new variables being introduced and may not quickly deal with them until they process and integrate them with all that they already know.

Ne types are really good at actually seeing how things in environment can be put together to form something new, new options, new opportunities. I heard it being described as seeing many points of action, that then get filtered by the judging function. They are good at introducing those new variables and may thus strive to adapt environment to themselves rather than changing their internal point of view on it. However usually their predictive capability is lacking which may lead them to jump onto opportunities that in the long-run are not good.

The above description is biased by my interaction with ENxPs mostly. I am not sure how Ne plays out as secondary function in INxPs but I believe it prompts them to take novel actions once in a while, not as often as ENxPs however for whom Ne is dominant. To the contrary INxJs and ENxJs may fall into same patterns of acting and living more often and spend more time doing the similar things over and over again and not changing course significantly until some big stimulus comes along.

 

[MissNobody]

My brother is an INTP and I'm an INFJ - for the most part we do NOT get a long. We tolerate each other to a point and I do love him. However if I try to connect with him on my views about life, religion, science, music or other interests of mine we clash BIG TIME.

I know that if I show him my writing or my drawings/paintings or I play a piece of music in front of him the first things he does is pick out everything that is wrong with it. So for example if I show him my written work he will pick out all the spelling mistakes, grammar and all the bits that he doesn't think fit.

If I want him to tell me how the piece makes him FEEL or if he thinks my work is any good he doesn't seem to get what I mean and will not give me a straight answer. He will usually say “yeah, it’s all right.” Or “not my taste but it’s all right”. He is the most frustrating person! But I value him for his constructive criticism because I know that I can go to him if I want the spelling and grammar check etc.

Does this sound like you?

 

[suicidal_orange]

Does this sound like you?

In a word, no. I would notice the mistakes instantly, but I don't point them out unless I'm supposed to be "checking" it (like if it were an assignment) as it's just not a nice thing to do. I might struggle to express how anything makes me feel though, but I would have an opinion and be able to point out at least something in it that I liked. Even if just the colour of your pen :crazy:

Most of my important views aren't very solid since having them destroyed by an INFP - I think that if I were a Ti type I'd need some kind of proof before dropping them, but I didn't. I lost 3 debates to a person who I have no idea what their opinion was... inexperience? Or just Fe being overly respectful of the ideas of others. Once again, I just don't know :mellow:

 

[vel]

P-types more often than not have some strong opinions about things. This is because the P at the end points out that their auxiliary function is a perceiving one which means that their primary function is a judging one. Which means that they do spend a whole lot of energy mentally judging the world around them - hence the strong opinions they hold. It is said that P-types have structured inner world and fluidic outer world, while J-types have fluidic inner world but structured outer world. I would agree that the INxPs that I have met so far do appear to hold stronger judgements and convictions and beliefs than I do even though I am supposedly a J, a judger. The nomenclature is a bit misleading :crazy:

So as far as verbal debates go and expressing one's own convictions with supporting evidence, I believe P-types perform best in those. But as far as making attempts to structure world outside to fit some vision, this is usually domain of Js.

 

[GreenCoyote]

I am not sure this is going to help much but I just wanted to say that a lot of people are mistyped or do not know their type and communicating while deciding how you feel about others and others types in accordance to your own can be a total pain in the butt.
not knowing your type can be a pain int eh butt.

I want to recomend looking into other systems like socionics and reading some articles there.

Wikisocion - Socionics Wiki - ????????? ????

this is the current personality website I have found that helps.
sorry... I didn't read much of this thread.
might go back and hit up some hot points though.
peace, don't stress out too much about type. not worth the time.

unless it is for you... then by all means...

 

[sbhamilton21]

Dear Asmit,

You might know yourself very well and be able to pick out which personality type best fits you, but from what I understand self-psychoanalysis is often a very difficult thing to do. The problem is mainly that no one is 100% a specific personality type, but that we have stronger tendencies towards one over another. I recommend trying to find a way to actually take the official Myers Briggs test and then reflect on the percentages to determine your personality type.

Personally, in a situation in which I have had time to reflect, I often know exactly why I act and react the way that I do. In more spontaneous situations, I might not immediately know why I feel the way that I feel, but there is generally an underlying conviction. If I realize that I am doing something that is against those convictions, I almost immediately try to find a means of rectifying it.