[curious0610]

You guys all know what i'm talking about. ;] PEOPLE WATCHING. We do this... even without consciously making the effort.

I'm curious to hear everyone's thought process or reflections on their observations on people. And I'm especially eager to learn about what other INFJs have picked up on in their observations. The ISTJs have a similar thread, and it seems that they do things such as "throwing curveballs" to observe someone's reaction and "figure them out." Do INFJs do anything familiar?

Anyway, interested in hearing all of your thoughts on all this. :]

 

[nikkii]

I just observe people, before I talk to them If I can. I usually study body language more then anything. It's easy to get into people's heads. See how their brain processes things.

 

[kateykinz]

When I am observing people, for example on transit during my commute, I watch their behaviour and try to ascertain the internal thought process behind the actions. It can be most entertaining watching people play out their role in the ballet of everyday life.

 

[myjazz]

Ahh people watching I certainly do this. My earliest memories was of people watching . As far as curve balls I only do that sometimes an example would be the little debate I had with that Faust guy. For most of the debate we had going on he thought it was about manipulation.

 

[curious0610]

Ahh people watching I certainly do this. My earliest memories was of people watching . As far as curve balls I only do that sometimes an example would be the little debate I had with that Faust guy. For most of the debate we had going on he thought it was about manipulation.

Yeah... I sort of caught that, but i wasn't sure of where you were trying to take it, so i stayed out of that part of the debate.

I relate to everyone's experiences on here so far. I haven't yet examined my own process too in-depth, ironically, but I've picked up on others. For ex, my ISTJ friends often ask questions they know the answers to... and this sort of confirm their understanding of people. It's an interesting curve-ball for me, because it's not really "tricky" but at the back of my head, I'd be wondering, "well why do they need to ask that...? it's like they are trying to test me hm..."

I guess I study body language a lot and try to determine other people's thought process. I also study their interactions with other people a lot and I tend to make a lot of assumptive theories based on those observations. Otherwise, i think i'm really bad at actively trying to figure things out like what ISTJs do with asking questions. Based on your answers, they confirm their understanding of you. ENFJs I've known seem to do this, too. But they base their understanding of your relationship, based on the emotional dynamics of your response. I think I do a lot of comparing.... if I want to see what someone feels towards me as a friend, I compare and observe how they act with other friends.

 

[kateykinz]

Here's a more detailed description of one of my observees to give you an idea of my thought processes. There's a guy who gets on at the same skytrain station as me and we travel together from skytrain to seabus and over to North Van. I started noticing him a few months ago when I was trying to find inspiration for the look of the character I had invented for my novel. I know that he has noticed me, we always sit in the same section and we've occasionally sat right next to each other when no other choice, and at one point we almost smiled at each other but we kept to the strict standard of commuting - no eye contact, no smiling. The Commuter's Code never fails to amuse me.

A month or so ago I noticed that he sports a tattoo on his arm. It is written in some language that I've not seen before - perhaps some sort of Slavic script. Since then I've been wondering why he has a tattoo that nobody can read. Is it a secret code for others who can read it? Is it something personal that means something specific to him but that he doesn't want others to know? Is it deliberately cryptic to give people a way of opening conversation with him? Is it merely a phrase that wouldn't look so good in the English script?

That sort of thing...