[Stray Heart]

I was just curious about how you guys tell what other peoples personality types are? Are there any ways you that make you more sure of someone's personlity type, or is it pretty impossible to be so sure of what someone is?

 

[ButIHaveNoFear]

I spend a lot of time around them before I try to make a judgement. It's trial and error and research on the cognitive functions. Also, I see how they relate to me(I can tell an Ne user pretty quickly since I share it in common). I decide if they're introverted or extraverted, and I entertain different types until I can narrow it down to a few choices.

Look at the traits of their extraversion, then see what colors it. ESTPs are extraverted people-persons that seem superficially nice and relatable(tertiary Fe). They have a serious, logical Ti mode, and you realize that this is what happens beneath the surface all the time. The T game is stronger than the F game. Similarly, in ESFPs, they speak in a way that is colored by Te, but you can see the Fi under the surface. It's a little bit harder to do this with introverts because you'll normally see that second extraverted function when they are stressed out. But by what the extraverted function does say, you can tell if they prefer N or S.

The more I know about how I am, the more skilled I am with determining someone's type. I'm still trying to learn how to type people by their writing.

 

[a peach]

I recall reading something that fits in with what @ButIHaveNoFear says about looking/noticing the extraverted functions first:

(1) The aspect of your personality that you show people when they first meet you is known as the function that you "Extravert." This describes how people first see you. This is what you present to the world.


Extraverts (those whose first letter is "E") show the world who they really are. When you meet an Extravert, they show you their Dominant function.

But not so for Introverts. A person who has a Type with the first letter being "I" ( indicates they have a preference for Introversion) will not show you who they really are at first. They will show you the function they Extravert, which is not their Dominant function.

This is why getting to know Introverts is a little harder at first, besides the fact they are more quiet and less likely to initiate a conversation than an Extravert.

For example, look at the 4th Personality Type in the list, INTJ. Their Dominant function is iNtuiting. But they Extravert (show you) their Thinking (T) function instead.

All Introverts keep their Dominant function hidden and instead show you something else. Thus when getting to know and Introvert, you have to take more time to look a little deeper and to get them to talk about what is really important to them.

Extraverts are much easier to get to know because they will usually be talking about what is important to them.

As odd as it may sound however -- while I truly can relate to all that this article is saying! -- I can also spot Si a mile away. I find it to be a very easy function to pick up on; it just involves listening to what someone is talking about, and how often they bring up memories, or how something relates to what they've previously experienced. Very interested in learning the details of something, also may have a sort of "tense" or "nervous" air to them. Actively seeks comfort.


If you're looking to be better able to type others and don't know where to start, I find this link here to be helpful~
Tell me what you think! ♡

 

[Syvelocin]

For me it's not so much something that comes from having some technique or explicit knowledge on the differences, it just improves with experience being around people and the more I familiarize myself with function theory. I wish there was a trick to it, but I don't think there is. For INFPs though, work on objective analysis. I know I can get caught up in my similarities to a person that I miss what makes us different, and especially the other way around. Like it took a long time to confirm my sister as an INFP because we are so different. Put Fi to the side for awhile and get Ne and maybe even Te in on the typing action as much as possible.

 

[entheos]

I can't type random people or acquaintances. I type my immediate family, friends, people I date on a consistent basis, and people at work that I spend a lot of time with.
And even then after all that time spent together, I still can't type the majority of my coworkers, bosses and friends. Even if I spend years with them, I just can't figure it out. But some people are quite obvious. Depends. What I perceive first of all is whether they seem more E or I, and then I go for the T/F. Once I figure that out, because it's the easier in terms of letter, I look into the rest of it.

I focus on their two most evident functions, and go from there.
I also do a process of substraction. Instead of figuring out what functions they use, I figure out the ones that they don't (seem to) use, and by discarding you get to meat of the type, more or less. Like I figured easily that my brother in law was an ENTP because his Ne is absolutely fucking crazy. The Ne is so loud it's undeniable. So knowing that, I can start to put together the puzzle. Took me years to type him, though. And I still have friends from high school that I spent years with, and to this day I still can't tell what functions they used.

 

[bigstupidgrin]

It just depends on a few tip-offs. I can tell perceiving vs judging, usually Introversion vs extroversion. After that is usually guesswork and comparing type descriptions.

 

[attic]

I think it is really difficult to type others, and I am not sure I want to, even if it is fun to ponder and guess about. But I always take my guesses with a big grain of salt. One mistake I tend make is comparing them to myself, guessing first that someone is extroverted because they are not as introverted as me, or that someone is S because they are not as N-ish as me, or in a different way, or that they areTs because they are more that way than I am.

 

[Micky1994]

Yeah I tend to have to know the person pretty well to form any kind of conclusion on their type. But usually the type I come to is wrong. The only ones I can guess right is other family members because I've known them for so long long. I can usually guess whether people are intuitive or a sense quite quick, I don't know why though lol.

 

[Whisperdream28]

I love trying to figure out what other people's types might be, but I'll usually avoid it until I've known them for at least a few months. And even then, it's with the awareness that I could very well be way off, and that even if I'm right, that doesn't really mean I understand the person well because a type description doesn't say that much about who someone really is.

That being said, for some reason I seem to spot people who are probably INTJs fairly easily. I had a professor and a friend who after several months I was almost certain they were INTJs because of the way they explained their thought process when making decisions. ENTJs and ESTJs are also fairly easy to spot (or at least, to spot people who are very similar to either description), and I think that's because my sister is an ESTJ, and also because ESTJs almost always rub me the wrong way when I interact with them lol (it doesn't always stay like that, obviously).

But I think some people are just easier to type (or rather, guess at their type) than others, because not everyone fits as cleanly into one personality description. The introvert/extrovert thing is usually the easiest, but again, if you don't know someone very well, you could still be wrong.

Ultimately it's an interesting thing for me to consider because it encourages me to try to understand the people around me more so I can better relate to them. But I don't ever want to get caught in the trap of thinking that I've got someone figured out just because I think I know their type. People are so much more complex than that.​

 

[twirler]

I love this game. I always leave meeting new people thinking "I wonder what they they are... I MUST FIND OUT!" I usually start E/I and then go T/F, but if I sense a connection, I gladly skip all of that and focus on N/S. I think I do this because I assume most of the people I meet are likely going to be S since that is how it has been in my experience of life. All S unless proven otherwise.

 

[drizzy lake]

Thats how I do it (and I think I'm damn good at it hehe): First I decide if someone's a Feeler or Thinker. As an INFP you may even have an advantage here, because you know exactly how a Feeler works, and therefore also how one doesn't work = Thinker, and once you know what to look out for, I personally feel like its the easiest to determine. Then figure out if they use their dominant judging function intro or extraverted (again, once you know how they look like its not that tough). Lets say you figured out they use Ti. That leaves you with ISTP, ESTP, INTP and ENTP. From that point its just about spending more time with them and over time you'll naturally figure out if they're intuitives; introverts or nah. Sometimes it takes 2 minutes, sometimes months, usually depending on how comfortable they are with their natural self. But yea, I think INFPs are actually pretty well equipped for typing people, but I'm usually only comfortable with typing people through direct real life experience.