MBTI: My Unhealthy Obsession

[Atomic Fiend]

I believe jeffster would be the best medicine for BA. And I'm not even kidding, I'm deadly serious.

 

[BlackCat]

Have you read the INFJ profile? You do indeed give off an INFJ vibe, my best friend is one. You have that certain writing style that they seem to have.

 

[garbage]

I still end up questioning my type, but then I end up telling myself that I'm an idiot for doing so. I've resigned to defining myself as "An ENTJ first and an ENTP second. Also, there's a lot of ENFP in there." That way people don't think I'm a total jerk to everybody

I thoroughly enjoyed SolitaryWalker's discussion

 

[beyondaurora]

You're welcome!

BTW, I've read several of your other posts/threads and they also have an INFJ vibe to them. I hesitiate to recommend yet more reading material for your poor overloaded brain at present, but the best published authority on the Inferior Function is Naomi Quenk:

Amazon.com: Was That Really Me?: How Everyday Stress Brings Out Our Hidden Personality: Naomi L. Quenk: Books

Her description of inferior Se in INFJs and INTJs was so accurate for me that it was the final piece of the puzzle in determing my own type for sure.

Highly recommended, but please take a break first!!

Thanks! Someone else recommended this to me recently, and despite searching the inventory at all Borders and Barnes and Noble's within ~100 miles, I cannot find it! I think I'm just going to have to order it from Amazon. And you know it's going to be impossible for me to not order it TODAY.

The more time you spend focused on others, the less time you have to be self-obsessed.

Thanks for all your words of encouragement. I have been thinking a lot about focusing more on others as a remedy for my ails. Thanks for the affirmation.

 

[JAVO]

Do not seek an MBTI box in which to confine yourself. In times of stress, it is tempting to seek its structure and definition for security, but it is a false security which limits growth.

Define who you are after this difficult time, rather than borrowing someone else's definition.

Nobody says, "When I grow up, I want to be a four letter acronym!"

 

[simulatedworld]

ISFP.

 

[wildcat]

This won't be news to many of you...I am obsessed with figuring out my type. And the word 'obsessed' isn't to be taken lightly.

I spend every free moment (truly) trying to figure out my type. I drove 30 miles yesterday to purchase 'Gifts Differing' and 'Personality Type: An Owner's Manual'. I do as little work as possible at my jobs, instead endlessly browsing the same sites I've explored before, but each time following some new idea (that surely, this time, will unlock the answer!). This weekend, like the last and the one before it, have been spent laying in bed reading 'Understanding Yourself and Others' or enneagram books, hardly getting up but for the necessities.

I just keep going in circles and circles.

And this isn't the only subject with which I do this. I am also obsessed with the 'Color Me Beautiful' color-coordinated dressing system. My mom will no longer go shopping with me because I hold every piece of clothing to my hair or skin to see if it is congruent. I would spend the daylight hours of my weekend time not with my husband but outside trying to capture my skin's 'undertone' in the natural light so that I could determine whether I am a 'warm' or 'cool'. (It's amazing that I want so desperately to match colors perfectly, yet I while doing so, my room continues to look like this.)

The problem is, with both of these obsessions, I am apparently ill-equipped at utilizing the systems. One day I will determine with absolute certainly that I am such and such type or that I am a 'warm'. The next day, I 'see' with absolute clarity that I am wrong! I will purchase 'warm-colored clothing' then take the items back because I realize I was wrong. Every cycle includes a 'Eureka' moment followed by disillusion followed by a 'Eureka' moment and on and on.

For whatever reason, I cannot recognize these things on my own. I don't know what's wrong with me. And the more I realize I cannot recognize them, the more I want to re-read the rules of the system and try again! I just know I can do it!

The strange thing is, even in my posting of this, I have faith that the 'answer' is in my obsessions themselves! That the pairing of my tertiary and inferior are responsible for this unhealthy loop.

I'm at the point where I feel the only thing that will help me is to quit these obsessions cold-turkey, but I fear that unless I understand the functions at work, I will do the same thing with something else (previously I was obsessed with finding the 'perfect' career, which ultimately brought me to MBTI which which has obviously gotten me nowhere).

I'm not sure what I even expect anyone to say...I'm just lost at the moment.

A good post.
You can only find what you have lost.

 

[redacted]

I feel the same way beyond; it's because there's too much contradictory information out there. I spent a long time (two years of constant thinking/discussion) developing my own understanding of the system such that it's simple, contains no logical inconsistencies, and is somewhat representative of reality.

It was because I, too was obsessed with figuring out my type, and thinking of MBTI in the way it was taught to me (four dichotomies) couldn't capture any of the nuance I wanted to capture in describing my personality. I was searching so hard for an answer because for some reason I thought it would offer some sort of deep insight into who I am.

But honestly, now that I'm satisfied with my understanding of the system (which can only be considered one interpretation of MBTI, since there are so many out there), it doesn't really help me much that I know my type. Sure, I'm technically INFJ. But that's still not enough -- I always have to use extra qualifiers to even capture what I want to capture. Look at my type, I call myself NiTi...not even necessarily because I use Ti more than Fe. But because I use Ti more than other INFJs I know...or even maybe because I use Ti more than the descriptions give room for... or maybe because I want people to know that I'm good at logic and I don't want them dismissing me as some emotional or silly F.

But for whatever reason, I've kind of gotten to the end of the road in terms of understanding...and it's not like I finally get something huge about myself! I just get that MBTI is a limited system -- a dimensionality reduction of personality. And all that a dimensionality reduction does is simplify data by throwing some of it out.

But when asking deeper questions about psychological motivations, genetic predispositions, relationship dynamics, or whatever, it makes no sense to do the dimensionality reduction to the data FIRST (because then you're just losing information meaninglessly). Personality is a point in bajillion-dimensional space, other people are other points, and relationships are paths through that incomprehensible space. We may as well accept how complicated it all is and do as little reduction of data as possible (which is inevitable).

But yeah, using MBTI to talk about relationships or personalities or anything is like this: you're taking 2.4 to the 4.4th power. 2.4 is kinda like 2, right? And 4.4 is kinda like 4, right? So the answer is kinda like 16 (2^4). So yeah. The answer is about 15. But the real answer is 47. Okay so maybe not so severe...but still, you get the point.

MBTI is merely a reduced-down set of adjectives. They're useful to get a vague general sense of people. But there's really nothing deeper there. Annoying but true. (Annoying because it causes lots of cognitive dissonance to know you've spent so much time on such a worthless problem, to put it bluntly).

 

[Apollanaut]

Evan, whilst I understand your position and even share something of the same dilemma, being an INFJ who has developed a powerful Ti function (I am a scientist and have to use Ti frequently in my work) I have to say that my experience of MBTI is entirely different from yourself.

Maybe it's because I'm more interested in the Jungian basis behind the theory than the later simplifications, but I find that the more I explore Type, the more I discover. Even though I use multiple alternate models, including NLP and the Enneagram, I continually return to Jungian Type as a powerful, versatile and even practical tool for understanding both myself and other people.

I think, perhaps, that we agree that it is easy to be overwhelmed or confused by the wealth of misleading information on the subject. If you are still interested in exploring Jungian type to a deeper level, it is best to suspend any preconceptions, grab onto an idea that seems appealing opr compelling to you and then see where it takes you. Since you have Ni-dominant, this approach should feel natural to you and may take you in some surprising directions!

 

[redacted]

Evan, whilst I understand your position and even share something of the same dilemma, being an INFJ who has developed a powerful Ti function (I am a scientist and have to use Ti frequently in my work) I have to say that my experience of MBTI is entirely different from yourself.

Maybe it's because I'm more interested in the Jungian basis behind the theory than the later simplifications, but I find that the more I explore Type, the more I discover. Even though I use multiple alternate models, including NLP and the Enneagram, I continually return to Jungian Type as a powerful, versatile and even practical tool for understanding both myself and other people.

I think, perhaps, that we agree that it is easy to be overwhelmed or confused by the wealth of misleading information on the subject. If you are still interested in exploring Jungian type to a deeper level, it is best to suspend any preconceptions, grab onto an idea that seems appealing opr compelling to you and then see where it takes you. Since you have Ni-dominant, this approach should feel natural to you and may take you in some surprising directions!

I'm not saying MBTI is completely worthless, just mostly

Edit: Seriously, though, I do think it helps some people a lot. But those same people are at risk for forgetting that it's a simplification and viewing it as some deeper truth.

 

[kiddykat]

I didn't read through all the replies, so apologies ahead of time if I repeat anything.

I think regardless of type, it's good to find balance.

I think finding out more about our personality is great. I also think that focusing on strengths is better, as well as learning about our weaknesses so it makes us well-rounded as individuals.

Enjoy life no matter what, right?

 

[SolitaryWalker]

MBTI is close to completely worthless and is culpable for the problems people have determining their type. It is simplistic and misses the point. (Is concerned not with the unconscious dispositions of the persons but the crude behaviors they manifest. ) This is problematic because such behaviors are not indicative of the true nature of our mind.

Jungian typology however, is indeed of great service to philosophy of psychology.

 

[kiddykat]

MBTI is close to completely worthless and is culpable for the problems people have determining their type. It is simplistic and misses the point. (Is concerned not with the unconscious dispositions of the persons but the crude behaviors they manifest. )

Jungian typology however, is indeed of great service to philosophy of psychology.

Agreed! =) Great point.

 

[Apollanaut]

Edit: Seriously, though, I do think it helps some people a lot. But those same people are at risk for forgetting that it's a simplification and viewing it as some deeper truth.

Agreed. My own approach is actually to use type as a roadmap for exploring the psyche, rather than as an absolute truth. The contents of the psyche are where the real treasure lies, and type is but one of many possible tools for getting there. However, IMHO, when used properly it is one of the more powerful of those tools.

 

[alicia91]

I haven't read this entire thread yet but I have to comment. I have been here since Nov. 2007 and still don't know my type yet. The only thing that is definite is that I'm a Thinking-Sensor. I get so frusterated because when I use a book like Do What You Are (which is what I started with), which is based on the dictomies, I end up with one thing, but when I go by the cognitive processes, I end up with another. Bottom line for me is that I am happiest when I act SJ, but my independance, and suspicion of authority, etc. points more to SP. ANyhow, I keep going back and forth...I go in phases where I feel that I HAVE to know... Lately I've been wondering if all my confusion is because I'm Te, Si, Ne, with really well-developed Ne....?? This is what my hubby insists I am... and I see it also. Perhaps you have developed your secondary or tertiary and it's messing up the test results? Have you asked anyone close to you to do a test on you? Might be insightful - some of us are not always accurate in describing ourselves.

When I'm not here I co-moderate a small private PERSONAL COLOR THEORY board called the Color Connection. This is a place for personal color analysis - we help each other find their best colors, styles etc. PM me for a link if you are interested (you can't find it with a search engine). On the color board, we have talked about MBTI and we have all types on there - and we are ALL obsessed with color analysis! Several of us are T-types - I guess we like to use a 'system' to analyze these things.

 

[Apollanaut]

I haven't read this entire thread yet but I have to comment. I have been here since Nov. 2007 and still don't know my type yet. The only thing that is definite is that I'm a Thinking-Sensor. I get so frusterated because when I use a book like Do What You Are (which is what I started with), which is based on the dictomies, I end up with one thing, but when I go by the cognitive processes, I end up with another. Bottom line for me is that I am happiest when I act SJ, but my independance, and suspicion of authority, etc. points more to SP. ANyhow, I keep going back and forth...I go in phases where I feel that I HAVE to know... Lately I've been wondering if all my confusion is because I'm Te, Si, Ne, with really well-developed Ne....?? This is what my hubby insists I am... and I see it also. Perhaps you have developed your secondary or tertiary and it's messing up the test results? Have you asked anyone close to you to do a test on you? Might be insightful - some of us are not always accurate in describing ourselves.

I hope you don't mind me commenting here, but I like to help people clarify their MBTI type - I know how frustrating it is when you have narrowed down some of the options, but cannot decide between several options!

First of all, while I consider type functions/cognitive processes to be invaluable when you know what your type is, they are actually not very helpful for helping to decide your type in the first place. This is because, as you have guessed, our life experiences may cause us to attain different levels of development in the 8 processes, regardless of our innate type.

For example, my Ti function gets used a lot because of my training and work as a scientist. If I were to approach my type via the functions, I'd probably get INTP instead of INFJ.

At least you are certain of 2 letters (ST) which narrows the field considerably. Temperament is usually the next place to look - you are torn between SJ and SP, but you say that you are "happiest when I act SJ". I am definitely happiest when I act NF, as I am doing right now! Just because you value independence etc. does not make you an SP type - no-one says that SJ guardian types are pushovers! If you had said you valued "freedom of action", "improvisation" or even just "having fun" that would be a much stronger indicator of you being an SP-type.

To help decide between E and I, it can be useful to remember what you were like as a child (typically our dominant function is the first to appear, maybe between the ages of 4 to 10). Were you, like me, quiet, introspective and dreamy (Introvert with Intuition)? Or were you more outgoing and talkative? If Te is your dominant, it often manifests in young children as early development of language skills, especially verbal but also written. Other possibilities include a desire to bring clarity to uncertain or confusing situations, a certain level of competiveness, and possibly an early development of leadership traits.

The type descriptions for ESTJs (if that is your type) are not written in as much depth as for some other types, and are not always as appealing as the descriptions of more "popular" types. This merely reflects the bias of the writers (usually N's) and does not reflect the true complexity of a developed ESTJ.

Just some of my random thoughts - I hope you find them interesting!

 

[whimsical]

you dont find your type by thinking of what you are, you interact with the world and by doing this you learn who you are (ie which type you are/could be)