[spiritraveler]

Hey ISFJs, I wondered if there is someone who has similar experiences as I have just simply because we have the same personality type. I've been reading many posts by ISFJs here and am amazed at how similar my experiences are to theirs.

Last night, my friends, who are extraverts, and I were having some fun since we're in college and this semester is almost over. Even though, I got pretty tired by putting so much energy by socializing with them for one whole day but I was having fun. One friend of mine is so into personality types since I told him about the differences between introverts and extraverts, that there are 16 personalities, and all interesting stuff.

He found a demographic on the personalitypage website on each personality type and told us about the intelligence level according to personality type listed from highest to lowest. All of their personality types were listed higher than mine and all of them looked at me like I'm stupid. I didn't make a comment on that because I felt judged by them, and I didn't really care about this demographic and thought it was pointless. It doesn't prove our achievements because we can be successful no matter what type we have. Another friend was trying to explain to me what was on the website and tried to show me the demographic. I repeatedly told him that I can read and will read it later. I just wanted to talk about something else but they were so obsessed about this demographic as they felt so superior, regardless of how often they ask me what the vocabulary words and the sentences mean and I could answer all of them. I'm known as a sensitive person, and I got so upset and hurt that I became withdrawal and just wanted them to leave. Around an hour later, they finally got a hint that I wasn't interested in their talk anymore.

Throughout my life, I've been told that I'm very intelligent. But I'm still struggling with my self-esteem and used to believe that I was stupid because of the way other people treated me for years. Things have been improving for me but it takes time. So, does my reaction to this situation make sense? If you were put in this situation, how would you respond to it?

 

[Despotic Nepotist]

I'm not an ISFJ, but I can tell you with absolute certainty that intelligence isn't limited to one particular type, so don't let the stereotypes bug you down. Heck, I've had no shortage of stupid moments, I can assure you. Type statistics, interesting as they can be, IMO, are also very limiting when it comes to individual people and shouldn't be used in determining an individual's worth.

 

[General Lee Awesome]

im sure a lot of people think i m dumb because i tend to act like a kid. yesterday I was volunteering for an event, and there was a make your own fish with toilet paper role table. i made a fish and glued 5 eyes on it and called it my Fukuashima fish lol.

 

[spiritraveler]

im sure a lot of people think i m dumb because i tend to act like a kid. yesterday I was volunteering for an event, and there was a make your own fish with toilet paper role table. i made a fish and glued 5 eyes on it and called it my Fukuashima fish lol.

Haha :wink:

 

[General Lee Awesome]

lol if people say ISFJ have low intelligence level, i would say great! make it easier for me to become their leader . then i ll have 16% of the population as my minions

 

[spiritraveler]

lol if people say ISFJ have low intelligence level, i would say great! make it easier for me to become their leader . then i ll have 16% of the population as my minions

lol totally! ISFJ tends to be a follower rather than leader, but we can make great leaders

 

[earthtopaige]

Personally, I'm an honors student, in AP classes throughout high school and just got accepted to the honors college of the college I'll be attending next year. I think it's incredibly stupid to group a bunch of people who have the same personality type and generalize them by stupid or not. I believe everyone has the potential to accomplish what they want, and I've found that even if you're not accedemically smart, you're much smarter in other areas of life. When I was younger, people thought I was stupid and I was highly offended but some tragic events happened to me that made me focus more on school, so I haven't gotten a comment about my intelligence in forever.

But I DEFINITELY would've reacted the same way you did in your situation if I was in it. I get so offended when people think of themselves superior to me. I would've been very defensive and told them I'm not incompetent and know how to read... Probably get a bit sassy and tell them *they* are stupid for actually basing people's intellegence off of some stupid demographic they found on the Internet. Like bravo for you, you must be a freaking genius.

If they bring it up again, try to stick up for yourself as best as you can. But their opinions really don't matter in the long run

 

[cheapsunglasses]

…sniff
detects something tangy with a soupçon of troll…

...wanders off

 

[Zen Lizard]

I'd like to see the link to this particular webpage. I haven't come across any website yet that lists personality types in order of "intelligence" and I would find any to be highly suspect, regardless of my particular personality ranking.

 

[Deadly Decorum]

This is why I don't share my type. People are black and white as hell about MBTI. It's a box, not a door opening gateways.

Don't let people bog you down. I know it's hard, but you can't. You can always prove to your friends how smart you really are. Outsmart them. Fool them.

Or if you want an example rather than physical proof, say "Rory Gilmore is an ISFJ". Extremely intelligent. Si dom as clear as day.

Also, if we're going to use stereotypes and correlate memory with Si, photographic memory is correlated with high intelligence, so even if Si is not a memory function, that's still an argument you can use towards your clearly biased friends.

Also if it helps... I have a little sis I swear is an INFP, and she's autistic, and while she can read and do math on target, she was behind in maaany milestones. She wasn't toilet trained until maybe 6 or 7? She took her swimsuit off in public or her clothes off when people were over at at 7 and 8. She cannot swim, ride a bike, the like. She still needs to be prompted to brush her hair. And she acts younger than her age. People asked if she was slow all the time, but she has clear Fi and really no sign of Se.... She's definitely not an ISFJ, LOL

The only function I can see correlating with intelligence is Ni, but hell, even people with high IQs can't do everything. Did you know people with high IQs can be learning disabled in specific areas? So yes, the higher the IQ, the more likely you are to master development, so the majority of people with low IQs have a lag in all developmental camps, but there are people with high IQs who struggle in math or coordination or are dyslexic. I've studied this intensively. My hunch was high IQ individuals have higher success in coordination, but there are exceptions (since I have lagged motor development and it makes me feel slow). So I googled it... I was correct. Hehehe.

 

[Scuba]

What your friend's saying isn't true

 

[angelcat]

Some people are dumb as rocks. It's not dependent on type, and you're probably not one of them.

 

[General Lee Awesome]

Some people are dumb as rocks. It's not dependent on type, and you're probably not one of them.

lol

 

[angelcat]

Here is the thing: do YOU think you are stupid?

I grew up thinking I was smart, and in a lot of ways, I am. Maybe I can't solve advanced math problems, but I know more about history than anyone else in my life. I could hold an intelligent conversation with adults at age 13, when my peers were acting stupid. I learn from other people's mistakes and avoid repeating them, which has saved me from a lot of heartache. I have read many great philosophers, politicians, novelists, etc., and absorbed their wisdom. I can talk intelligently on any subject, from politics to religion to shallow stuff like Harry Potter. If thrown into a situation, I can usually problem solve my way out of it. I'm also really smart in knowing how to get around, work with, and appeal to, people. I can easily make people like me, in order to get things done or motivate them to make the right decision.

What IS intelligence? What defines it? Ask three people, you may get three different answers.

I think intelligence is not being stupid, not making the same mistake twice and expecting a different outcome, and the ability to think rationally in a bad situation. In that light, I am intelligent. Are you? Are your friends? Or are they so stuck on being intellectual -- which is not intelligence so much as self-perception and ego -- that they lack any kind of "street smarts" or survival skills?

If you feel your friends do not find you intelligent, or are treating you differently, or did not even STAND UP FOR YOU when the question of intelligence arose, it's time to find new friends. Friends should be on even footing.

 

[Massiv0r]

I'd say a lot of ISFJs are playing dumb to test the water and see if anyone can "really see through them" and read their mind and they do tend to take a sociopathic approach in life.

 

[Trigun64]

ISFJ's are a lot more discerning then they let on. If they do not do something, they usually have good reason for it. A lot of ISFJ's do not seek higher education. This does not mean they are less intelligent. Its more likely they understand the futile degree they would be getting for an exorbitant cost, and deem its not worth the effort. This is a part of our efficient nature.

I have consistently scored in the top 1% on tests to measure my intelligence, and I am an ISFJ. I got sick as a child and had to take these test every so often because they feared if I was not paralyzed, I would suffer from some form of mental retardation. Even as I did poorly in school, they would test me every so often to see if I needed remedial classes, but I always scored off the charts.

See, Intelligence is really an illusion. Some individuals got together to combine the ideas of Wisdom and memorization, but to believe an amalgamation of such ideas is quantifiable is absurd. Everyone has the capacity to memorize information, its simply an issue of discipline. Wisdom is the ability to apply information, but without a solid base, is simply inapplicative conjecture. Another way learned men have defined this is abstraction. To them, being abstract or thinking in such ways is good, when really abstraction could be easily be defined as madness. Nevertheless, ISFJ's are actually abstract when it comes to their primary function: Introverted Sensation, which is actually removed from the object of focus, as it is truly conceptual perception. This baffles most, and quite often its description is filled with fluff, bias, or merely the definition of memory, as when things are not understood they are simply dismissed. Now with abstraction, it more often actually means conjecture, which as stated previously is baseless Wisdom. Thus, abstraction and Wisdom are not the same thing. By this, the very definition of intelligence is flawed, as those who define it are not genuine in their description of it. Intelligence generally comes down to an INTJ scientist knowing that a donkey is more closely related to a kangaroo than a cow, than a ISTJ mechanic being able to take a car apart and put it back together again. But that is what its really about, making a comparison. If the INTJ scientist was put next to the ISTJ mechanic and they were both told to take apart the a car and put it back together again, the INTJ would seem very unintelligent, yet only the reverse is considered true. Because the ISTJ does not know the things that a group of "intellectuals" decided everyone should know, despite being a mechanical savant, is deemed unintelligent and incapable of "higher" thoughts, when really his mind is to preoccupied with his passion and simply does not care for such things. Its not an issue of capability; its an issue of desire. Likewise, when there are things that everyone really should know, its not an issue of inability to learn them, but of being disciplined enough to. This matter lies in that people are taught only enough half-baked facts to fit a narrative, instead of being taught morality, which leads to discipline, which leads to learning, which leads to Wisdom, which leads to character. Really, the situation could be reversed, where it is an ISTJ scientist and an INTJ mechanic, but this does not fit perpetuated misconception that abstract = intelligent.

Honestly though, all we want is to be accepted. You want to be accepted by your friends, just as those who defined intelligence, promote Intuitive superiority, or propagate "intellectual" elitism want to be accepted at some level. If your friends are in a group-think mentality, and trying to perpetuate this demographic, its really they who are insecure. Either tell them how it is, that they are putting this demographic above your friendship, and it reflects more poorly of them than you, or do not associate with them any more. You do not have time to be held down by people who will only constantly try to force you into a box you were never meant to fit in. Personally, I have learn to be myself, and to do what I am called to, despite people or circumstances. And always, do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

 

[OutOfThisWorld]

I'd say a lot of ISFJs are playing dumb to test the water and see if anyone can "really see through them" and read their mind and they do tend to take a sociopathic approach in life.

Can you clarify what you mean about "sociopathic approach in life"? Usually XNTPs are classified as sociopaths:kitteh:

I've consciously withheld my thoughts or downplayed a lot of personality in order to "fit in" or "not rock the boat" quite a bit. I watch people like a hawk to see who they are as a person. Majority of the people I've met are unable to see through me or make the effort to know who I really am. I can only say that one person I know that can read me is my ENFJ friend. Even then, she sometimes get it wrong.

A good portion of the ISFJ population have a hard time trusting people, so they have to see that others are willing to break down the "socially acceptable" mask of an ISFJ to uncover the real person underneath in order to fully trust them.

 

[spiritraveler]

I'd like to see the link to this particular webpage. I haven't come across any website yet that lists personality types in order of "intelligence" and I would find any to be highly suspect, regardless of my particular personality ranking.

My friend found this site (personalitypage.com/demographics.html) and said that the personalities are arranged by the intelligence level. Later, I read it myself and he was totally wrong. It only showed the demographic of education level, and it's not related to intelligence level. However, the statistics aren't validated and there are no sources to it. It's just the data.

 

[cheapsunglasses]

My friend found this site (personalitypage.com/demographics.html) and said that the personalities are arranged by the intelligence level. Later, I read it myself and he was totally wrong. It only showed the demographic of education level, and it's not related to intelligence level. However, the statistics aren't validated and there are no sources to it. It's just the data.

Thank you for coming back to this thread and posting the above. I really thought you were trolling this forum. I apologize.

 

[spiritraveler]

Thank you for coming back to this thread and posting the above. I really thought you were trolling this forum. I apologize.

haha I spend a little time on leisure, so I don't have much time on here. I appreciate many responses here, that's why I clicked "thank".