Typing others

[wrldisquiethere]

I read on these forums where so many people know what type all of their friends and family members are. I can only assume that this is due to the fact that you type them yourselves more often than they have taken a test and shared the results with you. So, I just want to know...

How in the cow do you do this? Seriously. I have only tried to type a few people in my whole life (one of which was mistyped). Sometimes if a friend is talking or something, I'll think to myself, "She has to be an NF" or something, but I've never just stopped to figure out what all of my friends are. If I did, I wouldn't even know where to start.

Do you have some kind of method for typing other people? Do you know of ways to speed read them? How do you determine what you think other people are?

 

[VagrantFarce]

At best, it's just informed guessing. For example, I think that my Dad is an ISTJ because he likes to be alone, he's an obsessive neat-freak, he's a no-nonsense hard-worker etc. You just have to play "join the dots" with all the little details that make up a person. Try to familiarise yourself with the 8 functions and see if you can identify them in people's behaviour.

 

[garbage]

To me, it's pretty much subjective. It's kind of like classifying someone as "like me" and "not like me" in a few categories; that is, the dichotomies, and dealing with them on a personal level.

As an example, I classify my sister as EsFJ (which means "Definitely E, F, and J, and probably S"). however, she tested as INFJ, and.. really, there's no way she's an introvert. So I still think of her as EsFJ, because she's kind of like other ESFJs I know but with "less S" than my ISFJ mother. My perception of another's type can change as my own definitions change or if I see more traits in that other person, but this is one instance where it has not.. yet.

But since I treat it subjectively, I don't exactly impose my own view of someone's type as some objective measure, nor do I use it to prejudge them. My own perception of my own type (see also: just yesterday) has changed enough that I know not to do that

For me, then, it's not about giving them the "correct type" at all. It's just not useful for me to do so.

Here's an old guide that describes my mental typing model, although my model has changed slightly since I posted it. It might be a good example of a mental process that one goes through when typing another, however.

I don't know if I use my classifications of other people for anything useful anymore, since typology (and psychology in general) is so subconsciously ingrained in how I approach people on the whole anyway. But typewatching is fun anyway.

 

[laughingebony]

I'm not entirely consistent in how I type people, but my general method is as follows:

1. Determine each of the four domains separately. This might help you.
2. Compare the resulting type with descriptions I've read of that type.
3. If it doesn't fit, change the one domain from step one about which I am most unsure.
4. If it doesn't fit, try changing a different domain. Repeat as necessary.
5. Consider type dynamics if I still can't figure it out.
6. Go with my gut.

 

[Quinlan]

I'm only certain about my wife and I, anyone else I don't really see what's going on inside.

 

[Phantonym]

I rely solely on my gut feeling and I don't care if I'm right or not, the people are still the same.

 

[AphroditeGoneAwry]

haha. i know what you mean. i think a lot of people with a little bit of knowledge get sorta cavalier about typing others......but, having said that, i HAVE taken the test 'for' other people in my life. people i know very, very well (close friends or family members) who refuse to take the test themselves, for whatever reason!

i have the hardest time with knowing if someone is an N/S. do y'all know what i'm talking about? i can figure out e/i. f/t (usually). and j/p (usually), but that n/s gets me every time.

sometimes i have a conversation with an acquaintance and prod them with the pertinent questions (you learn these when you've taken the tests as many times as i have!) and to challenge myself i'll guess what someone is and then get them to test and see how close i was.

i agree with greed too when he(?) said you can go by how like you they are. this works when they are particularly uncannily similar to you, or someone else you know the type of. over time the type descriptions get familiar and you can get them close to the 'right' category.

but i always remember that i'm just guessing. because as mbti ethics states, it's really up to the individual person to identify their own type.

 

[OrangeAppled]

I'm not entirely consistent in how I type people, but my general method is as follows:

1. Determine each of the four domains separately. This might help you.
2. Compare the resulting type with descriptions I've read of that type.
3. If it doesn't fit, change the one domain from step one about which you are most unsure.
4. If it doesn't fit, try changing a different domain. Repeat as necessary.
5. Consider type dynamics if I still can't figure it out.
6. Go with my gut.

Yeah, I do something like this also. I consider the individual functions and then see how that person stacks up against the whole profile. If it doesn't ring true, then I just keep tweaking it. At the end of the day, I go with instinct.

There's a few people I cannot type with confidence. For instance, I've put my aunt down as an ENTJ, but I'm not fully sold on it. If you want to help me: clicky

 

[wrldisquiethere]

haha. i know what you mean. i think a lot of people with a little bit of knowledge get sorta cavalier about typing others......but, having said that, i HAVE taken the test 'for' other people in my life. people i know very, very well (close friends or family members) who refuse to take the test themselves, for whatever reason!

i have the hardest time with knowing if someone is an N/S. do y'all know what i'm talking about? i can figure out e/i. f/t (usually). and j/p (usually), but that n/s gets me every time.

sometimes i have a conversation with an acquaintance and prod them with the pertinent questions (you learn these when you've taken the tests as many times as i have!) and to challenge myself i'll guess what someone is and then get them to test and see how close i was.

i agree with greed too when he(?) said you can go by how like you they are. this works when they are particularly uncannily similar to you, or someone else you know the type of. over time the type descriptions get familiar and you can get them close to the 'right' category.

but i always remember that i'm just guessing. because as mbti ethics states, it's really up to the individual person to identify their own type.

I typed my mom as an ISFP and as I read the differences between the letters to her and then the ISFP description she agreed. So that was successful.

However. I also typed my boyfriend as an ISTP. There were a couple of those letters I was a little unsure of...I knew the T was a definite, but the others were a little iffy. The ISTP description seemed to fit him very well so I settled on that. But then when he took the test he come out an ENTJ. I was off on three letters! However, I did read that ENTJ's can sometimes appear as ISTP's because of the Se function, so that made me feel a little better, as did the fact that he tested very close on E/I, S/N, and J/P. Still! I was surprised that I was off as much as I was.

It might come more easily to me if I knew more about the functions, but I know barely anything about those. I'm also not super familiar with the descriptions of each type--there are only a few I really know.

 

[garbage]

I typed my mom as an ISFP and as I read the differences between the letters to her and then the ISFP description she agreed. So that was successful.

However. I also typed my boyfriend as an ISTP. There were a couple of those letters I was a little unsure of...I knew the T was a definite, but the others were a little iffy. The ISTP description seemed to fit him very well so I settled on that. But then when he took the test he come out an ENTJ. I was off on three letters! However, I did read that ENTJ's can sometimes appear as ISTP's because of the Se function, so that made me feel a little better, as did the fact that he tested very close on E/I, S/N, and J/P. Still! I was surprised that I was off as much as I was.

As with my experience outlined above, the tests aren't infallible, either. He could well be ISTP.

But since he's so close on three of the dimensions, you weren't really "wrong" in any case, and it doesn't quite matter. Taken as sliding scales, it's like labeling -1 a positive number.. it's almost there, and it's certainly "more positive" than, say, -320.

You were pretty sure that he was T but likely balanced on the other dimensions. So it seems that you had a pretty good idea of the kind of person he was. And that's what MBTI should be about.

 

[Athenian200]

How do you determine what you think other people are?

Simple. I convince them to take the test. That's the right way.

 

[AphroditeGoneAwry]

I typed my mom as an ISFP and as I read the differences between the letters to her and then the ISFP description she agreed. So that was successful.

However. I also typed my boyfriend as an ISTP. There were a couple of those letters I was a little unsure of...I knew the T was a definite, but the others were a little iffy. The ISTP description seemed to fit him very well so I settled on that. But then when he took the test he come out an ENTJ. I was off on three letters! However, I did read that ENTJ's can sometimes appear as ISTP's because of the Se function, so that made me feel a little better, as did the fact that he tested very close on E/I, S/N, and J/P. Still! I was surprised that I was off as much as I was.

It might come more easily to me if I knew more about the functions, but I know barely anything about those. I'm also not super familiar with the descriptions of each type--there are only a few I really know.

i know what you mean. my husband is a fucking enigma when it comes to typing him. he always tested as intj and the intj type description fits him well (but mostly in work mode--he's a programmer--and prefers to do software architecture), but istj fits him better. i've also wondered about him being istp because at times, his spontaneity really shines through, and he was kind-of a daredevil in his youth. but i think he's growing out of his istp-ish-ness. his dominant function is definitely Se, and i say he puts the 'Se' back in sexy. haha. (my intj son actually made that up for me, he's intj and very witty). so. if i go by functions that would make him an 'estp' or 'esfp' but he's in no way, shape, or form either of those. so i just have settled on him being ixtj with a well developed Se and Ti (his auxiliary function).

my daughter usually tests istj, but also intj. she's very sensate, but intuitive also. the istj fits her better, but she's only 13. over time it will be interesting to see how her n/s ratio falls out.

i was intimate with a guy that tested istp, and seemed mostly istp in the needing personal space ways, and other ways. but as i got to know him better, i think he's maybe more isfp.

i think some people just have close functions and can almost go both ways, depending on the situation. and i think that's a cool thing. my husband can be my dependable istj, my intellectual intj, or my fun-loving istp.

i can be the airy-fairy-head-in-the-clouds-and-loving infj, or the super-organized-multi-tasker intj.

i got the book functions of type recently, and forget it to point you in the 'right' direction for typing. i think it's neat to be able to line up my functions, but beyond my first two, it doesn't follow john beebe's hypothesis for typing. and not even the first function matches for my husband. and other, wiser, typers on this forum have said that doesn't really work for them either.

 

[the state i am in]

first pass is base oppositions.
second is cognitive functions, dominant and inferior are stressed.
third would include narrowing it down to like types, types that either look like each other or share the same cognitive functions in different order.
fourth is listing people who remind me of/share resemblance with said person.
fifth is an intuitive leap of left- vs right-brainedness.
sixth is all gut instinct.

i find N-S to be pretty easy. actual interaction makes this easy, especially with social dynamics. it's all in the leaps.

P-J is next. extraverted judging-introverted perceiving or introverted judging-extroverted perceiving. left or right brained dominant. this tells more than T-F immediately does.

T-F is not easy. at this point i'm guessing both cognitive judging functions together and kind of averaging my sense of type based on the first two functions. lenore says these provide the base of any type, and i'm kinda going with that for now to see how it works. developmentally it makes a lot of sense to me.

i may consider child development as well and try to get more information. 12-13 years auxilary, 20ish tertiary, 35ish inferior.
inj
enp
ifp
itp
efj
etj
isj
esp

i also always try to narrow down enneagram types for clues as to correlations between enneagram and mb type. or to understand how something would be expressed differently with a specific ennegram vs my kind of changing set of expectations.