I'm pretty sure I'm an INFJ after a LOT of research and contemplation. So I would consider myself one. I'm also curious how to spot fake ones, as I'm not really sure how and I know they're out there, and I'd like to talk to other INFJs and stuff. What are some telltale signs of fake ones?
How to spot a fake INFJ?
odetoanathema
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If that is your goal, wouldn't it make more sense to ask how to spot a real one? I actually think you're better off seeing who you're naturally drawn to and leave type out of it, but that's just me.
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ohhh ok thanks, I was a bit concerned but that clears it up! I gotta agree though, what's even the point of some of these responses?
They got the jokes. Also, don't worry about this red mark on my face, @Kaboomz threw a ball at me for some reason, go figure.
But yeah, my best guess is to read more about the functions and how they would manifest themselves in certain scenarios, ordinary stuff, nothing too fancy. I'd say for you to focus more on Ni at first, sometimes you can just "feel" that a person exhales Ni, things in how they would talk, choice of words, observing the world around and that faint "hmmmm" expression that feels like they are plotting something (but that Fe saves their facial expression a bit making they seem approachable...an INTJ would probably be actually plotting something). But, like with anything else, you'd have to spend some time with someone to know more about them and settle other doubts you might have about them, and that would go double to some INFJs that are more insecure and can be the cliched "chameleon" in social situations (and check that inferior Se kicking in later, they might just have an existential crisis afterwards while listening to weird music and muttering "why can't you bastards just live in harmony more often?" to themselves).
I would think "fake", as in someone pulling a prank, trying to make fun of a particular group, knowingly deceiving, would be quite easy to spot for someone with heightened empathy and ability to read others' cues. Feigning empathy around INFJs would be sort of like pretending to be fluent in French with a native speaker. The only difference is, unlike the French, we wouldn't really care.
I might be another kind of fake, mis-identified. You could certainly give me feedback, suggestions, point me to a nice forum. I like to meet new people =). I did not set out to find a glamorous MB identity and confess I don't think it's super special other than that it gave me an "aha" about myself.
In particular, I have some conflict about thinking vs. feeling, and actually aspire toward I guess an ethical INTJ? I think society run too much by feelings is dangerous. But I don't know if this reflection is more INFJ or INTJ? I discussed the rise of contemporary populism with an INTJ the other night actually, and his response was to not worry because I'm not a vulnerable member of society (economically, racially, in terms of citizenship). I felt on an analytical level we could both reach the same conclusions, based on our values of freedom, civil society, etc., but our emotional reactions were different. So maybe the feeling part isn't needed so much?
I might be another kind of fake, mis-identified. You could certainly give me feedback, suggestions, point me to a nice forum. I like to meet new people =). I did not set out to find a glamorous MB identity and confess I don't think it's super special other than that it gave me an "aha" about myself.
In particular, I have some conflict about thinking vs. feeling, and actually aspire toward I guess an ethical INTJ? I think society run too much by feelings is dangerous. But I don't know if this reflection is more INFJ or INTJ? I discussed the rise of contemporary populism with an INTJ the other night actually, and his response was to not worry because I'm not a vulnerable member of society (economically, racially, in terms of citizenship). I felt on an analytical level we could both reach the same conclusions, based on our values of freedom, civil society, etc., but our emotional reactions were different. So maybe the feeling part isn't needed so much?
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What if we are all fake INFJ's?!? :shocked:
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It's really hard to be sure of someone unless you know them intimately (and objectively).
Some things that I've been mulling over though:
- If their type is a core part of "who they are" are a person. Fe doesn't really do personal identity, except as a way to relate to others. An INFJ that's totally obsessed with expressing their INFJ-ness gives off big red flags for me.
- If they naturally go by the facts first and the ideas later. There's probably loads of ISFJ's out there that read the (often very badly written) type descriptions and couldn't see themselves in the ISFJ stereotype. An INFJ that doesn't need to be told every so often to "live in the real world for once" might not be an INFJ
- If they keep spewing ideas without coming to a cohesive picture. INFJ's mull things over for hours, they don't 'brainstorm' well.
- If they go for decisiveness over correctness. INFJ's tend to dislike 'quick fixes' to problems. If you're not doing it perfectly you might as well not do it at all. (granted, peer pressure can be a big factor in 'faking' decisiveness for INFJ's, so look out with this one.)
Just a few thoughts in this. But mostly: get into the cognitive functions if you want to know for sure. The whole story is in there.
Some things that I've been mulling over though:
- If their type is a core part of "who they are" are a person. Fe doesn't really do personal identity, except as a way to relate to others. An INFJ that's totally obsessed with expressing their INFJ-ness gives off big red flags for me.
- If they naturally go by the facts first and the ideas later. There's probably loads of ISFJ's out there that read the (often very badly written) type descriptions and couldn't see themselves in the ISFJ stereotype. An INFJ that doesn't need to be told every so often to "live in the real world for once" might not be an INFJ
- If they keep spewing ideas without coming to a cohesive picture. INFJ's mull things over for hours, they don't 'brainstorm' well.
- If they go for decisiveness over correctness. INFJ's tend to dislike 'quick fixes' to problems. If you're not doing it perfectly you might as well not do it at all. (granted, peer pressure can be a big factor in 'faking' decisiveness for INFJ's, so look out with this one.)
Just a few thoughts in this. But mostly: get into the cognitive functions if you want to know for sure. The whole story is in there.
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They puke if you give them some durian.
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Maybe you have really high Ti? But I definitely agree society run by feelings entirely is a terrible idea
What does that mean? Your quote strikes me as really powerful.
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It means that there's a whole lot of people out there who are mistyping themselves as INFJ's. The INFJ type is rare, unique, special. A lot of people who want to think of themselves as having those same qualities thus just latch on to the INFJ type. This is not to say that real INFJ's are not in existence. It is to suggest that most people who are claiming to be INFJ are either lying or else self-deceived.
When you say "really confused ESTPs" are you saying they are the type most likely to misidentify as an INFJ or are you just giving a random example by reversing all the letters?
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Random example by reversing all the letters. It felt more grammatically drastic for the purposes of my thesis than saying the "probably more prone to mistype as INFJ types" like ISFJ or INFP.
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So... let's say for sake of argument that INFJ's are 0.5% of the human population. Pretty rare right? Well, with 7 billion people out there, that's still 35 million INFJ's. That's significantly more people than live in my entire country.
Couple that with INFJ's being attracted to personality theory (such as MBTI), and them being on forums relatively often (with them being introverts and all...) and suddenly we have a whole different story.
I mean, I'm not saying that you're wrong per se, but Just saying "They're rare, so most people on here aren't INFJ's" is crap.
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There are probably no more than 40-50 active posters in the PerC INFJ subforum.
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I'll make a bold statement then and claim that that is less than 35 million.
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What would be interesting to know is the percentage of Personality Café members who self-identify as INFJ's. There should only 1% of members who do so identify.
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How many PerC members are there in total? How many of these self-identify as INFJ's? These are the questions.
117902 members, 2359 who have INFJ in their profile.
Amount of real INFJ = Real INFJ + Fake INFJ + INFJ who identify as something else / 3
Everything is fake since it is made up.
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It's funny how many times someone has to say this, and still people complain about fake INFJs. It's also funny that one of the only logical things said in this thread was from an INFJ and not all the supposed "NTs". It just so happens that lots of INFJs love personality types. It's an interest that's perfectly suited for INFJs because it combines understanding and reading people (NF) with discrete categorization (J). And since we're Introverts, we enjoy online forums. Ergo, there are lots of INFJs here.
Although this only comes out to 2%....
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There's a few ways you can spot fake infj's but I've found these to be the 2 best ways:
1: Tie a boulder to their ankle and throw them into a large body of water. If they float, INFJ, if they sink then they're INTJ's.
2: Try to set them on fire, if they don't burn congrats you found a real INFJ. If they do burn then they're INFP's.
1: Tie a boulder to their ankle and throw them into a large body of water. If they float, INFJ, if they sink then they're INTJ's.
2: Try to set them on fire, if they don't burn congrats you found a real INFJ. If they do burn then they're INFP's.
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