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What are the most and least common MBTI types?

Apollanaut

Senior Mugwump
Joined
Aug 27, 2008
Messages
550
MBTI Type
INFJ
Enneagram
9w1
Instinctual Variant
sx/sp
Accurate statistics are hard to come by, and it probably varies from culture to culture, but most experts agree that INFJs are possibly the rarest type, closely followed by the other INXX types.
 

BlackCat

Shaman
Joined
Nov 19, 2008
Messages
7,038
MBTI Type
ESFP
Enneagram
9w8
Instinctual Variant
sx/sp
NJs are pretty rare in general, then NPs. S types are common.
 

/DG/

silentigata ano (profile)
Joined
Mar 19, 2009
Messages
4,602
Yeah, I hate how I'm common. I wish I was special. :(

Haha.
 

Paisley

Strolling Through The Shire
Joined
Jan 14, 2009
Messages
498
MBTI Type
INFJ
Enneagram
5w4
I'd happen to agree that you are special disneygeek, you have a huge group of people who relate to you very easily, us INFJ's aren't so fortunate. Here's the list of frequencies:

Estimated Frequencies of Types - CAPT.org

Hope that helps. Think of it this way, us INFJ's are very alone in our struggle for bringing about world integrity, although, not very lonely.

INFJ Profile
ISTJ Profile
 

Apollanaut

Senior Mugwump
Joined
Aug 27, 2008
Messages
550
MBTI Type
INFJ
Enneagram
9w1
Instinctual Variant
sx/sp
Haha, you must be a rarity then.

I've met several hundred people in real life who know their MBTI type with a fair degree of confidence. Out of those people, I've met maybe three or four INFJs, all of them female. I've yet to meet a fellow male INFJ.

And being rare is highly overrated! I've gotten used to being misunderstood all the time, or labelled as different, weird, eccentric, dreamy, odd etc, but sometimes I think life would be so much easier if I belonged to a more common or accepted type.
 

the state i am in

Active member
Joined
Feb 12, 2009
Messages
2,475
MBTI Type
infj
Enneagram
5w4
Instinctual Variant
sx/sp
i've never met another infj male. i might have met an infj female, once.
 

Paisley

Strolling Through The Shire
Joined
Jan 14, 2009
Messages
498
MBTI Type
INFJ
Enneagram
5w4
I know a couple infj females, but never met another infj male.
 
D

Dali

Guest
I've met several hundred people in real life who know their MBTI type with a fair degree of confidence.

Wow. I only know two people that knew what MBTI was. Did you attend conferences or something? Are there even MBTI conventions?
 

Paisley

Strolling Through The Shire
Joined
Jan 14, 2009
Messages
498
MBTI Type
INFJ
Enneagram
5w4
My social circles for the most part, know their mbti if I just ask them for their myers briggs or personality type, or if they're still lost, then start using the letters like estp or infj, then they know or try to remember what it is. For the most part, male S types that I know (clear S types that you can see coming a mile away) don't know their mbti. If your circle of friends are N types, you'll know more people that know their mbti, is all I'm getting at. I know about 20 N types and 2 S types, that know for sure what their mbti is.

Nice attempt at humor with the mbti conventions though.
 

Quinlan

Intriguing....
Joined
Apr 6, 2008
Messages
3,004
MBTI Type
ISFP
Enneagram
9w1
I know a thousand people that know their type and 764 of them are INFJs.
 

BallentineChen

New member
Joined
Apr 3, 2008
Messages
152
MBTI Type
INFJ
Enneagram
3w4
A lot of my friends know their MBTI. It helps that many of us know each other through volunteer work for youth development, so we have a natural interest in this sort of stuff. Secondly, I wouldn't trip over the rarity thing. In my experience, the only thing it plays to is your ego, and I bet all INFJs know that they're supposed to be the rarest type. I've seen that this really might not be the case, I don't remember where I saw the statistic. I would be skeptical of any statistics that I saw to begin with. A self-select survey, for example, would be very iffy. I wasn't able to find the backing for the statistics provided at CAPT. Don't feel bad about being a common type. You can think that it's just a greater opportunity to further break the mold.
 

Paisley

Strolling Through The Shire
Joined
Jan 14, 2009
Messages
498
MBTI Type
INFJ
Enneagram
5w4
When I first realized the rarity of my type I felt more distant from the world than unique. It was only those who brought it to my attention that rare is good, did I make that connection, that I offer something distinct. More like extinct! I see it as a hindrance for life and relationships. I was already aware of how dissimilar I rationalize, compared to everyone around me, and learning I was an INFJ didn't really help. Most people just call us weird, and I happen to agree, we're weird compared to you. Being an INFJ in my opinion is not a good thing, statistically and financially speaking. I think of it as a predestination for a harder life compared to other types. Not a "boo freaking hoo, woe is me" but simply a gap in commonality is created by being INFJ which makes life a little harder.

As far as the CAPT statistic being accurate, most stats that I find hold the INFJ and INFJ male to be the lowest percentage.

My MBTI Personality Type - My MBTI Results - How Frequent Is My Type?
Personality Type Indicator | web.forret.com
MBTI® Type Frequency Table for USA | Mivista Consulting, Inc. Michelle Villalobos, Sales Consulting, Workshops & Seminars based in Miami, Florida. Delivering hands-on, interactive, business skills-building workshops to corporations, chambers of comme

It's not really up for that much question in my mind. Maybe if we took a sample in a profession dominated by INFJ's like religious studies professors, than maybe we could fix the results, but in a fair cross section of humanity, it makes sense we're the lowest frequency. What are we clearly capable of and how important are those roles? Not that important really. Genetic lottery losers imo. It's hard saying that, when I know there are positive traits among fellow INFJ's with our dominant introverted intuition about relationships.
 

Lightyear

New member
Joined
Jul 3, 2008
Messages
899
but in a fair cross section of humanity, it makes sense we're the lowest frequency. What are we clearly capable of and how important are those roles? Not that important really. Genetic lottery losers imo. It's hard saying that, when I know there are positive traits among fellow INFJ's with our dominant introverted intuition about relationships.

Can you please stop bringing down my type? I like my type and think that we are emotionally and intellectually very gifted and find it offensive to be called a "genetic lottery loser" just because we happen to be rare.
 

Paisley

Strolling Through The Shire
Joined
Jan 14, 2009
Messages
498
MBTI Type
INFJ
Enneagram
5w4
I already said we have "positive traits" and already conceded we're highly talented and gifted, the lot of us male INFJ's, like I said with our natural introverted intuition and extroverted feeling sitting on a higher cognitive playing field than the rest of the world, but still at a disadvantage as far as commonality with the world. I'm not a pessimist, I'm a realist, and as far as commonality with the world we're at a disadvantage. Do you see yourself a man of the people or a man for the people? I'm definitely the latter! My highly tuned abilities seem contrary and unnecessary to the norm.

How about I put it this way, if the mbti types were 16 ice cream flavors chocolate and vanilla would be ISTJ and ISFJ, and INFJ would be like all the flavors combined. If this were a pop metaphor it would be the equivalent of coke and pepsi to swamp water (all the current fountain drinks in one). It's just not something you want everyday.

Genetic lottery loser/winner is interchangeable by how you look at it really, but in this aspect, we haven't been given the easy go.

Oh, I didn't preface, I'm talking about MALE INFJ's not female. There are more female INFJ's which precludes them from this line of thinking. I could maybe make a case for female INTP's 3% or female INTJ's 3% (not substantially), but not female INFJ's 4%.
 

tibby

New member
Joined
Nov 22, 2008
Messages
682
MBTI Type
fool
What is the reason why some types are more common and some are rarer?
 

Paisley

Strolling Through The Shire
Joined
Jan 14, 2009
Messages
498
MBTI Type
INFJ
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5w4
Mo really doesn't like sarcasm, but I'll forgive him/her/it! Tone is never conveyed on a post and may be seemingly hurtful however all is said in the funniest possible way. And I wouldn't call it ripping, Wolfys post came out of left field!

Why some types are more common and some are rarer? Well, I'd say the predestination of God. It's God's way of administering his sovereignty and perfection. A sovereign imprint onto our social order. Do you have an evolutionary reason? Just cuz? Is there a way of tampering with the genome to get the proper balance of personality types necessary for a functioning society? Predestination and the sovereignty of God is the best answer in my mind.
 
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