Members by self reported type

[ygolo]

This is something everyone can do for themselves, but:

ESFJ
ESTJ
ISFJ
ISTJ
ESFP
ESTP
ISFP
ISTP
ENFJ
ENTJ
INFJ
INTJ
ENFP
ENTP
INFP
INTP

[developer]

Very interesting, ygolo. Thank you for that.
Hm, it tells me something, I just don't know what..... It's just around the corner, I can sense it.

[Metamorphosis]

I didn't even know you could look it up that way...so...good job.

[Zergling]

What would you do with mixed/borderline people?

[The_Liquid_Laser]

Originally Posted by developer

Very interesting, ygolo. Thank you for that.
Hm, it tells me something, I just don't know what..... It's just around the corner, I can sense it.

Heh it tells me pretty much what we already knew. There are tons of INxx's. There are a fair amount of ENxx's and ISxx's. There are almost no ESxx types registered here.

As to reasons why we can speculate, but it's not too far a leap to say that whatever will attract a ton of INxx's will repel most ESxx's.

[ygolo]

Originally Posted by Zergling

What would you do with mixed/borderline people?

Note, it is based on what people self-report. You ought to be able to modify the link to get whatever type you want.

A lot of them come up empty and there are a lot of combinations:

With an X for N-S difference only:
EXFJ
IXFJ
EXFP
IXFP
EXTJ
IXTJ
EXTP
IXTP

I suppose we can see all xxxx's too:

XXXX

[developer]

Originally Posted by The_Liquid_Laser

Heh it tells me pretty much what we already knew. There are tons of INxx's. There are a fair amount of ENxx's and ISxx's. There are almost no ESxx types registered here.

As to reasons why we can speculate, but it's not too far a leap to say that whatever will attract a ton of INxx's will repel most ESxx's.

I think that it reflects a much deeper problem within the MBTI community. Actually, one should expect a lot of ISTJs and ISFJs in a forum like this: MBTI is a very practical and useful tool, and it helps you to get along better with other people, so this should very much appeal to the values of SJs. I see a lot of ISTJs contributing to other online forums (e.g. special interest forums like TimeZone), so the medium should be okay for them as well. This forum here is very friendly and accepting, so the tone should not scare away anybody either.

I think the reason why this forum as well as all other MBTI forums gets so little traction with Sensors is that most of the S type descriptions are offensive for any intelligent person. If you are a calm and orginized person, according to MBTI you can be only a Scientist (INTJ), a Sage (INFJ), a Peacounter (ISTJ), or a Doormat (ISFJ) - sorry for the exaggeration. If you happen to be an N, those descriptions are very flattering (who would not like to be a deep mystic or a super bright mastermind), but if you clearly test on the S side, the options are not flattering at all.

I have a number of super bright ISTJs and ISFJs as friends and associates, and I know the descriptions are way off the mark. Most of you seem to realize that either. But as long as you see what you currently get when you google ISFJ or ISTJ, we will not see many Sensors here.

[Economica]

Originally Posted by developer

I think the reason why this forum as well as all other MBTI forums gets so little traction with Sensors is that most of the S type descriptions are offensive for any intelligent person. If you are a calm and orginized person, according to MBTI you can be only a Scientist (INTJ), a Sage (INFJ), a Peacounter (ISTJ), or a Doormat (ISFJ) - sorry for the exaggeration. If you happen to be an N, those descriptions are very flattering (who would not like to be a deep mystic or a super bright mastermind), but if you clearly test on the S side, the options are not flattering at all.

I agree that the N descriptions are generally much more flattering than the S descriptions. I once wrote this about the discrepancy:

It seems like the N profiles are written as best cases, whereas the S profiles are written as averages. Sure, there may be a lot of ISTP mechanics out there, but what are my colleagues in business going to find aspirational in that description? If the INTP description was rewritten as an average, it would probably be "The Unemployed Geek" instead of the philosopher-sounding "The Thinker". Similarly, what INTJ doesn't prefer the sound of "The Scientist" to the probably more universal "The Know-It-All"?

Just last night I had my ISFJ friend over and got her to take meanlittlechimp's new MBTI test in order to help improve the algorithm. It typed her as an ESFJ with, like, five other options, including ISFJ, which she obligingly identified as her correct type despite not recognizing herself in the following description:

ISFJs are interested in maintaining order and harmony in every aspect of their lives

She thought this was kind of blah.

and are steadfast and meticulous in handling their responsibilities.

Check.

Although quiet,

We laughed at this one. She is only quiet when uncomfortable.

they are people-oriented and very observant and compassionate, especially with their family and friends.

Check.

They constantly take in information about people and situations that are important to them, and store it away. This database of information is usually incredibly accurate because the ISFJ has an exceptional memory about things that are vital to their value systems.

She says she has a good memory but she didn't really recognize this 'database of information' thing. Maybe she will when she gets older (she's 24).

You will rarely catch an ISFJ offending someone

Intentionally, no, unintentionally, yes.

Edit: Grr, the rest of the post got cut off (and hitting 'back' does no good).

I don't have time to rewrite it all, but the main point was that she's a soon-to-be chemical engineer with excellent grades whose master's thesis is laying the foundation for several Ph.D. projects (!) and she has to roll her eyes at ISFJ descriptions suggesting that the most prestigious profession open to her is nursing. She says she's identified plenty of ISXJs at her engineering department, but try telling that to, say, personalitypage. (Admittedly I haven't tried. Maybe I should.)

Extra edit for the sake of mlc: She also doesn't recognize the self-effacing parts of hiddenpsyche's ISFJ profile ("they'd rather avoid confrontation than to badmouth a person, even if that person deserves it!" "even if it means neglecting their own wishes"). Confrontation may not be her forte, and she may be more lenient than, say, I am, but she can and will confront people when she feels it is the right thing to do. She's no doormat and she resents how that particular problem area gets stressed so much in some ISFJ profiles so as to practically define the personality.

[Jennifer]

Originally Posted by Economica

I don't have time to rewrite it all, but the main point was that she's a soon-to-be chemical engineer with excellent grades whose master's thesis is laying the foundation for several Ph.D. projects (!) and she has to roll her eyes at ISFJ descriptions suggesting that the most prestigious profession open to her is nursing. She says she's identified plenty of ISXJs at her engineering department, but try telling that to, say, personalitypage. (Admittedly I haven't tried. Maybe I should.)

I wonder how much of it involves a cultural/national bias. (How many of these descriptions were written by researchers/theorists from the United States?)

Honestly, I don't see ISFJs here doing much of the sort of thing that you describe, and the average descriptions actually seem realistic in regards to the majority ISFJs where I am. That is generally how ISFJs (and especially the ISFJ women) behave.

But culturally we are very conservative in the social roles of men and women, and I'm speculating that most Europeans have moved onto a more egalitarian view. I think studying the differences in the cultural representations might help us find points of commonality which are more true to the "essence" of ISFJ.

In regards to Developer's comments, despite the usefulness of MBTI as a tool, I find most SJs offended by the idea that some sort of theory could collect them into an archetype. S's tend to bristle over this a lot more than N's do, in my experience. And theory has little practical value, unless someone sits down and shows the Sensor how the theory can have positive practical ramifications, and they understand enough of how the theory can be implemented FOR it to become a tool that they can use productively. I think this has to be factored in, among the other complaints.

If Sensors really did find the MBTI a valuable tool, why does it seem so few of them are interested in producing a "valid and fair" description of themselves? Shouldn't this problem have been self-corrected by now? It's difficult to accept that S's on a whole value a system like MBTI and yet keep claiming that somehow the N elitists are misrepresenting them; if they truly cared, wouldn't there be enough S's who would have taken time to correct things? The fact that N's continue to seemingly dominate the field, in the least because of interest, seems to fly against the extremities of what you are saying.

[FDG]

Even ISFJs that are very smart and have excellent grades will indeed share a lot of similarities with ISFJ profiles.

Honestly, the intellectual elitism of this forum stinks. What does being a chemical engineer with a brillant master thesis has to do with not being a typical ISFJ? Excelling academically should not be used as means of forming a correspondence between people that do and "people that are extraordinary". There is nothing intrinsecally better in somebody that dedicates her life to school in comparison to somebody that dedicates her life completely to her children and family. I actually admire much more the latter. Sorry for the emotional rant, but some things make my blood boil.