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Timing is everything?

cafe

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 19, 2007
Messages
9,827
MBTI Type
INFJ
Enneagram
9w1
Do you say that to your daughter because you're almost positive she's an NF? Have you ever tried that personality page link for kids? I do it for the kids in my class (I also send the link to their parents) just do see if their results match mine. Some parents are thrilled to read about their child. Some results I never get back so I just go with my thoughts. Most times the answers match up (the parents and mine). It's a real help to me to have an idea of their type. So again don't know if you'd tried but maybe you'd like to.
Yes, because I'm pretty sure she's an NF, I sometimes use what she and I have in common as a starting point for explaining our differences with the wider population. She has always been a mommy's girl and she loves to feel that identification with me.

I tried the link after you posted it. I got through three of the kids before I had to stop for awhile. All three came out as I expected, but I suspect it is difficult for me to perform such a quiz objectively.
 

Littlelostnf

New member
Joined
Apr 23, 2007
Messages
645
MBTI Type
ENFJ
I'm glad you could use it. Perhaps you could ask their teachers to take it for you and see if the results come out the same.
 

faith

New member
Joined
Apr 25, 2007
Messages
408
MBTI Type
INFJ
I took the keirsey sorter when I was 12. I came out INFP. It was sort of interesting, but not fascinating. I didn't spend much time studying it or trying to understand the system.

In college, I tested again as an INFP.

Just before going to Russia to teach ESL, in the middle of intensive boot-camp style training for ESL teachers, I tested INTJ.

Some years later I began to test INFJ.

I grew up in a family of Js, so I tried to take on a passive role of "whatever you want" in order to keep the peace--problems inevitably arose when my J asserted itself. It took a few years of being on my own before I became comfortable with expressing myself in a J-ish manner, seeing that it was good and okay and didn't have to mean that I was automatically being rebellious and stubborn and selfish.

Discovering MBTI more in-depth over the past 6 years has been full of "Ah-ha!" and "So I'm not crazy after all...!" moments. And it's helped me understand others so much better. I've become more conscious of their strengths and flaws--so I know what to ask of them, and when to back off and just offer empathy.
 

Littlelostnf

New member
Joined
Apr 23, 2007
Messages
645
MBTI Type
ENFJ
I took the keirsey sorter when I was 12. I came out INFP. It was sort of interesting, but not fascinating. I didn't spend much time studying it or trying to understand the system.

In college, I tested again as an INFP.

Just before going to Russia to teach ESL, in the middle of intensive boot-camp style training for ESL teachers, I tested INTJ.

Some years later I began to test INFJ.

I grew up in a family of Js, so I tried to take on a passive role of "whatever you want" in order to keep the peace--problems inevitably arose when my J asserted itself. It took a few years of being on my own before I became comfortable with expressing myself in a J-ish manner, seeing that it was good and okay and didn't have to mean that I was automatically being rebellious and stubborn and selfish.

Discovering MBTI more in-depth over the past 6 years has been full of "Ah-ha!" and "So I'm not crazy after all...!" moments. And it's helped me understand others so much better. I've become more conscious of their strengths and flaws--so I know what to ask of them, and when to back off and just offer empathy.

What made you decided on INFJ as the ultimate fit after going thru so many? More Ahha's! with the description of INFJ?
 

"?"

New member
Joined
May 2, 2007
Messages
1,167
MBTI Type
TiSe
I was 39, when I found out about MBTI and just recently have been able to determine my best fit type (now 46). I read somewhere recently that attempting to determine type, by this age, is quite arduous due to all of the experience gained and development of functions.
 

Totenkindly

@.~*virinaĉo*~.@
Joined
Apr 19, 2007
Messages
50,187
MBTI Type
BELF
Enneagram
594
Instinctual Variant
sx/sp
I was 39, when I found out about MBTI and just recently have been able to determine my best fit type (now 46). I read somewhere recently that attempting to determine type, by this age, is quite arduous due to all of the experience gained and development of functions.

That's what others of us here have thought as well. Once someone gets well-rounded, it becomes theoretically hard to "unmix" and see which traits were stronger to begin with.
 

Rhu

Morlock
Joined
Apr 23, 2007
Messages
108
MBTI Type
Pfft
It was in gifted class in seventh grade that I first became aquainted with my MBTI type. My gifted teacher had me write an essay about it, and I seem to recall her liking it... As did my parents, actually. I think they locked that essay away somewhere, I should look for it next time I visit.

Did it affect my development into an adult? Not really. I had already self-identified as a smartassed nerd who was fine with not caring about what needed to be done to fit in.

Towards the end of highschool, I did a little bit more studying of MBTI with a good friend of mine, an ENFP. Reading the descriptions of SJs and the statistic that 80% of people practice no sort of introspection filled him with a sort of infectious rage.

Now, that gave me a ready excuse to not interact with anyone in college. And, aside from my professors and the occasional student who would be fascinated enough by my comical rants to listen to me occasionally, that's exactly what happened. With the exception of a year withdrawing from everything as completely as I could manage, I'd say that I managed to make college the most depressing and lonely experience of my life.

There were some bright spots. As I went through college, though, I seemed to continue to get part time jobs as a cashier or in some direct customer-service sort of capacity. It's not typically a sort of job that a withdrawn introvert wants for themselves, but it was certainly good for me. I found that my "gift" for bantering with people on the Internet really did have applications in real life. That placing myself in a position above everyone was foolish. That everyone has a story or insight that will surprise a blase elitist smartass.

Thanks to the OP for the reminder.
 

thirtyfour

New member
Joined
Apr 26, 2007
Messages
53
MBTI Type
INTp
The first time I figured out my type I was 16 or 17 and it was part of one of my business classes. I didn't really think about it again for a long time after that. I always assumed it was one of those tests where every answer sounds kind of like you. I wish that I'd have thought more about it sooner. During that time I was in denial that I was a T because it wasn't very "womanly" of me and I was a new parent trying to "do things the right way." I tested T anyway and that probably further encouraged me to ignore my type. I rediscovered it about a year ago (at 22) and it's helped mostly with interpersonal relationships.

I learned my type at 18. It still didn't help me avoid law school. In other words, knowing it still hasn't helped me avoid the pitfalls of being an INTP.

Me either. :-(

Primarily Ahha! It more helped me to see where other people were coming from. For instance, I realized that my husband wasn't intentionally foiling all my plans, he's just a P and feels differently about plans and decisions than I do.

Agreed! I am so much more able to relate to my ExFP mother now! It has taught me how much "random" acts of kindness mean to F's and how to keep her from getting angry at me for being me.

Fortunato mentions that knowing about MBTI earlier would have helped him during his adolescence. Anyone here feel differently? I'm wondering if those younger forum members can be or have been overly influenced by knowing their type. I'm just fleshing this out in my head so this is all just a process but...I'm wondering if it would simply be better to have parents know a childs type and be able to work with their adolescent with understanding then to have an adolescent know their type. Could it be that knowing could be detrimental to some extent...JUST ASKING.

I think if I'd known more about it in my youth it would have helped me get over my belief that i was supposed to be something else. I wish I'd have realized that being an INTP (most notably the NT part) didn't mean that I was some sort of freak and it didn't mean that I was a bad parent. I think it would have helped me have an easier time in college.
 

Jaguar

Active member
Joined
May 5, 2007
Messages
20,647
I was 39, when I found out about MBTI and just recently have been able to determine my best fit type (now 46). I read somewhere recently that attempting to determine type, by this age, is quite arduous due to all of the experience gained and development of functions.

I highly suggest people refrain from trying to type themselves
if they are going through an unusual period of time in their life.
The result can be typing a temporary period of time, rather than typing a human being.

On a side note, I find it appalling how many are using "type" against others like a weapon.
They don't even know the person.
The deluded, think they DO.

To think that someone would actually write, "now I know why I don't like you"
after seeing four letters of the alphabet, is tantamount to insanity.

I think personality typing can be more destructive in society, than constructive.
The "label war" and stereotyping continues.
 
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niffer

New member
Joined
Apr 26, 2007
Messages
1,217
MBTI Type
ENfP
Enneagram
8w9
Instinctual Variant
sx/sp
Heh. Kids my age surf around too much maybe. Actually, I'd read about it at least 2 years ago, but since I didn't really have anyone to talk to about it, I dropped all interest.
 

Noel

Member
Joined
Apr 23, 2007
Messages
613
MBTI Type
INFP
I was about 22/23 when I first found out my MBTI type. At that point, I had two decades and change worth of living that I could look back at and start to determine how my life up to that point fit in with what my "type" was suppose to be like. Also at that point there wasn't nearly the flood of information both supported or unsupported about personality and temperment as there is now. I didn't go back to college until I was 28 and then I truly studied psychology and particularly personality. My point is I had some time behind me when I seriously started contemplating personality....and what that meant for me.

My question to you all is..What do you all think the age at which your type is determined has to do with your development. Is knowing what your type is suppose to be lead you one way or another?

Thoughts...experiences.....strong opinions....thanks.

I learned about my type when I was nineteen. I tested as an IXFP. My best friend (intp) encouraged me to take this MBTI test and well, needless to say, I was intrigued. I'd consider it the highlight of my sophomore year of University.

At this point in time, my parents were getting divorce, I despised my living situation with my roommate, hated all my classes, was broke and unemployed, and was in a stage of re-evaluation. Those days consisted of waking up in the afternoon, making some ramen, getting my laughs from watching some Christian Broadcasting Network and browsing the internet. Furthermore, I needed to discover myself.

I have an older ESTP brother whom is only older by less than a year and a half. Growing up, I was his shadow. We always played together, we had the same interests and we were inseparable. I never wanted to let him down, so I developed in the sense to appease him. He was the older brother I wanted to be. As high school approached, I began to develop my individuality slightly, but it wasn't until our separation that I truly began to find some path, any path to my individuality.

Despite conforming my values to my older brothers', deep down, I knew I saw things differently than him. In fact, his values disagreed with mine substantially. I would only catch a glimpse at these values every so often. I was trapped in a box and only had a few breathing holes. Sometimes, I would look through these holes and see a world outside this box of mine, but most of the time, I was concerned with breathing and surviving. I could see these images but they weren't in the slightest bit clear. What was this reality I was breathing but couldn't see nor reach? One day, my box was left open but my older brother was no where to be found. That was rather careless of him, he'll be back. Well, he'll be back soon. He's just gone away for awhile. In the meantime, I'll emerge a little bit from this box to see what this brave new world has to offer - don't want to overstimulate myself. He's gone and the box is gone. I've been thrown away and tossed out into this wasteland rather than this grandeur vision I once had.

I was naked, sheltered and inexperienced. I was scared. He has abandoned me. I am alone. I tried to reconstruct the box but much like the two little pigs, my ingenuity to create a stable structure was lacking. I had no foundation. Why couldn't the world be like the world I could envision outside of the box? Then MBTI came along...

I read both of profiles of an ISFP/INFP. At last, it seems as if I've found something that describes these visions I've had. For awhile, I wasn't very sure of what type I was. I knew for the most part, that I heavily identified with the Fi as my primary function. I wasn't sure about my auxiliary function. I knew only one thing for sure though, I didn't want to be my brother. Forget about abandonment, how could I of fallen for this trap of being kept in a dark box? I'm an individual! A different individual than him. I wanted to find this idealism and channel its creative force into this wasteland constructively.

Throughout high school and the first two years of University, I began to notice a pattern of how well I would do on written assignments vs. definitions on exams. I always like the sound of words, the construction and etymology of words and how words help shape the overall concept, finding the right word to say at the right time, planning out my sentences, etc. I knew after reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance that I was an INFP.

Even though that Spring semester was quite shitty academically, much like a wayfarer, I was happy to be walking on some metaphysical path. After that semester, I tried a few English courses and have been an English Major ever since. MBTI is a mountain a part of a much larger mountain range and this wayfarer intends to travel through it to see what remains to be yielded.
 

Kyrielle

New member
Joined
Apr 26, 2007
Messages
1,294
MBTI Type
INFJ
Enneagram
4w5
I learned about the MBTI test in sixth grade. I forgot about it mostly after that year...still remembering my results and I wish I could remember the results of my classmates. I tested INFJ then, and I test the same now, but I didn't pick back up on studying the subject until last year. I wish I had sooner, though, and I wish we had learned about functions and usage back in sixth grade. I'm curious as to how my life would have been. (Probably no different, except fewer sensations of being alienated and backwards.)

I'm not sure it's done anything to change how I've grown other than to give me a better understanding of how my brain works, which is always handy to know. It's a nice tool in figuring out how other people work in comparison to myself...and learning that they aren't "wrong" in their natural behavior, they're just operating and thinking in a completely different way. (This has mostly been the case with E's. For a long time I didn't have a very good understanding or perception of E's.)
 

Totenkindly

@.~*virinaĉo*~.@
Joined
Apr 19, 2007
Messages
50,187
MBTI Type
BELF
Enneagram
594
Instinctual Variant
sx/sp
It's a nice tool in figuring out how other people work in comparison to myself...and learning that they aren't "wrong" in their natural behavior, they're just operating and thinking in a completely different way. (This has mostly been the case with E's. For a long time I didn't have a very good understanding or perception of E's.)

Word.

(I found them annoying and overbearing and intrusive, especially because I felt judged because I wasn't extroverted. The MBTI concept helped me adjust and accept them as they were and see value in it...)
 

Littlelostnf

New member
Joined
Apr 23, 2007
Messages
645
MBTI Type
ENFJ
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kyrielle
It's a nice tool in figuring out how other people work in comparison to myself...and learning that they aren't "wrong" in their natural behavior, they're just operating and thinking in a completely different way. (This has mostly been the case with E's. For a long time I didn't have a very good understanding or perception of E's.)

Word.

(I found them annoying and overbearing and intrusive, especially because I felt judged because I wasn't extroverted. The MBTI concept helped me adjust and accept them as they were and see value in it...)


That's really funny because sometimes...I still feel a bit judged by I's. I personally love I's and get along quite well with them...but I do think that E's are much more willing to allow for differences than I's. I'm always surprised when I hear I's on this board say that E's judging them....I feel the same way.
 

Littlelostnf

New member
Joined
Apr 23, 2007
Messages
645
MBTI Type
ENFJ
Originally Posted by Kyrielle
It's a nice tool in figuring out how other people work in comparison to myself...and learning that they aren't "wrong" in their natural behavior, they're just operating and thinking in a completely different way. (This has mostly been the case with E's. For a long time I didn't have a very good understanding or perception of E's.)

Originally Poster by Jennifer

Word.

(I found them annoying and overbearing and intrusive, especially because I felt judged because I wasn't extroverted. The MBTI concept helped me adjust and accept them as they were and see value in it...)


Originally Posted by Littlelostnf
That's really funny because sometimes...I still feel a bit judged by I's. I personally love I's and get along quite well with them...but I do think that E's are much more willing to allow for differences than I's. I'm always surprised when I hear I's on this board say that E's judging them....I feel the same way.

Well I'm prob going to get slayed by bringing this up again but I recently had a conversation with someone regarding this very thing. We've recently made each others acquaintance and she couldn't believe that I was an E besides my ability to be at ease in most social situations. Other than that she feels that sometimes I appear more introverted than she does. She considers E's to be loud, overbearing, totally inflexible and on and on.

I really think that E's are alot more likely to accept I's than I's are to accept E's. The things I think about when I think about I's are much more positive then the things I hear said about E's. What's the deal...why are I's so down on E's?
 

nightning

ish red no longer *sad*
Joined
Apr 23, 2007
Messages
3,741
MBTI Type
INfj
I really think that E's are alot more likely to accept I's than I's are to accept E's. The things I think about when I think about I's are much more positive then the things I hear said about E's. What's the deal...why are I's so down on E's?

Maybe because if the E find the I too quiet, they can move on to another person... where as when the I find the E too exuberant, they can't get away at all.
 

Littlelostnf

New member
Joined
Apr 23, 2007
Messages
645
MBTI Type
ENFJ
Maybe because if the E find the I too quiet, they can move on to another person... where as when the I find the E too exuberant, they can't get away at all.

Ummm I don't think so. I've never found that to be the case in my experience. I don't think I've met someone who was too quiet. In fact I think I'm more intrigued with a quiet person because I think perhaps they have something to say. (at times that been true and sometimes it's just because they are boring) :) E's can be boring having to much to say) I've met boring people both E and I.


As for not being able to get away from an E. I would think you'd simply walk away. It works for me when someone is getting on my nerves or they are draining my energy.
 

nightning

ish red no longer *sad*
Joined
Apr 23, 2007
Messages
3,741
MBTI Type
INfj
As for not being able to get away from an E. I would think you'd simply walk away. It works for me when someone is getting on my nerves or they are draining my energy.

Really? I tend to be stuck listening to whatever junk they ended up saying while trying to find a way of escaping without offending the person.
 

samIam

New member
Joined
Nov 28, 2007
Messages
103
MBTI Type
ENTP
If If someone is too quiet I consider him or her to be rude. At least that's the feeling I get. I figure they don't care to talk to me and I move on usually thinking what an asshole that person is f-them.

But then again I wont say anything to someone that seems to be in his or her own world. You know the glassed over eyes, staring into space. I figured they’re already having a good time without me
 

alcea rosea

New member
Joined
Nov 11, 2007
Messages
3,658
MBTI Type
ENFP
Enneagram
7w6
I was about 22/23 when I first found out my MBTI type. At that point, I had two decades and change worth of living that I could look back at and start to determine how my life up to that point fit in with what my "type" was suppose to be like. Also at that point there wasn't nearly the flood of information both supported or unsupported about personality and temperment as there is now. I didn't go back to college until I was 28 and then I truly studied psychology and particularly personality. My point is I had some time behind me when I seriously started contemplating personality....and what that meant for me.

My question to you all is..What do you all think the age at which your type is determined has to do with your development. Is knowing what your type is suppose to be lead you one way or another?

Thoughts...experiences.....strong opinions....thanks.

I wish I would have got into MBTI in my 20ties. I learned about this stuff in my thirties after I have graduated and worked in business that really is not best suited for me!
 
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