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X?

tigerlily113

New member
Joined
Nov 23, 2009
Messages
24
MBTI Type
INFP
Enneagram
4w3?
Can people really have Xs in their type? I know people will put an X in their type if they aren't sure what the letter is yet, but is it actually possible for someone to be perfectly balanced? It seems to me like every person would have a preference for each letter, but i don't really know. :confused:
 

VagrantFarce

Active member
Joined
Nov 19, 2008
Messages
1,558
The problem is that the four dichotomies don't really help illustrate the differences between the types very well - every type can intuit and sense, every type can think and feel, and so people who quite naturally can't decide feel stumped and just put an "X" there.

How the types really differ is in how they prefer certain ways of thinking over other ways of thinking in different situations - this is illustrated in the functions and function order. :)
 

jackandthebeast

New member
Joined
Jan 30, 2009
Messages
115
MBTI Type
IXFX
Enneagram
tert
I would disagree and say that there are X types, but I've done it on other threads, the current one being "Venture to Type the Writing of a Self-Proclaimed IXFX?", so I'm not going to do it here.

And Tigerlilly113, at first when I read your signature I interpreted it as "When life gives you lemons, make apple juice. Then sit back and watch the world wonder how you did it.
Of course it is happening inside your head, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?"
 

Siúil a Rúin

when the colors fade
Joined
Apr 23, 2007
Messages
14,037
MBTI Type
ISFP
Enneagram
496
Instinctual Variant
sp/sx
The MBTI sources are not entirely consistent either. By some sources I'm an INFJ and by others I am INFP. I see the legitimacy in tracing it back to Jung, but his approach is quite different from MBTI. Once you start comparing MBTI sources whether it is Kiersey, Similarminds, Typelogic, etc. then the descriptions do not maintain consistency. When there is enough diversity within a category, you can reach a point where the differences between categories are not significantly greater than what can occur within a category.
 

Lark

Active member
Joined
Jun 21, 2009
Messages
29,569
The MBTI sources are not entirely consistent either. By some sources I'm an INFJ and by others I am INFP. I see the legitimacy in tracing it back to Jung, but his approach is quite different from MBTI. Once you start comparing MBTI sources whether it is Kiersey, Similarminds, Typelogic, etc. then the descriptions do not maintain consistency. When there is enough diversity within a category, you can reach a point where the differences between categories are not significantly greater than what can occur within a category.

That's a good point and context or even stress can result in different traits presenting more strongly too, appearing to invalidate the ascription of a particular type, I also think that people can have preferences for particular traits, strong enough to give the wrong answers in a quiz, which then gives phony results.

I've been unsure about perhaps X-ing out some of the traits I'm unsure about in my own results, although most of the books that I've read would seem to suggest that I'm consistently NTJ if not I or E strongly, the only thing is that it doesnt seem to tally with the results that I've got from other typologies apart from MBTI, like enneagram and socionics (though I think the socionics result corresponds more to what my work is).

There's another prsonality matrix that I cant seem to get proper titles for which includes vigilance, conscientiousness, adventuriousness, idiosyncracity and stuff like that but it further complicates things because I've got vastly contrasting results depending on when I've completed this.
 

slowriot

He who laughs
Joined
Dec 1, 2008
Messages
1,314
Enneagram
5w4
Its as Vagrant says it. If seen as the theory of Myers and Briggs there is clearly no way you can be balanced eventhough you might be able to use a function more than others with the same type dont mean that you are an X. Balance is good I agree but the idea you have difficulty deciding what you use more, dont mean you are balanced, it just means you've not figured out who you are. Like me, Im not sure if Im INTP or INTJ, if I read the descriptions that Myers made. Since that is the "extreme" type which I have difficulty completely recognizing in myself, I do see a stronger preference to the INTP description, even those on the internet. I dont know if any of this made sense
 

BlueFlame

New member
Joined
Feb 8, 2010
Messages
181
MBTI Type
ENFJ
Enneagram
3w2
No, theoretically speaking, you cannot *be* an X. There are those who are unsure because of the various reasons people have already mentioned, and there are those who are simply trying to make the point that they are borderline between two opposing function preferences. Kind of gives the illusion of being in between two types.
Personally, I know my oddly high use of Te confused me for quite a while, but I'm still an ENFJ...with an over-developed Te.

(Which, weirdly enough, I read something last night that mentioned that ENFJs who were repressed tend to over-develop their Te, which I thought was interesting. But off topic)
 

tigerlily113

New member
Joined
Nov 23, 2009
Messages
24
MBTI Type
INFP
Enneagram
4w3?
And Tigerlilly113, at first when I read your signature I interpreted it as "When life gives you lemons, make apple juice. Then sit back and watch the world wonder how you did it.
Of course it is happening inside your head, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?"
hmmm.. that actually makes it a lot more interesting. I could separate them more so people don't get confused, but I kinda like how it could mean different things.

Its as Vagrant says it. If seen as the theory of Myers and Briggs there is clearly no way you can be balanced even though you might be able to use a function more than others with the same type dont mean that you are an X. Balance is good I agree but the idea you have difficulty deciding what you use more, dont mean you are balanced, it just means you've not figured out who you are.

No, theoretically speaking, you cannot *be* an X. There are those who are unsure because of the various reasons people have already mentioned, and there are those who are simply trying to make the point that they are borderline between two opposing function preferences.

This makes more sense to me because it's always been hard for me to believe that someone can be perfectly balanced.
I know I wouldn't be satisfied having an X in my type.

I guess I do kind of agree with what Toonia said, though.
 

MVE

New member
Joined
Feb 26, 2010
Messages
2
I will not be happy to put an "x" on my profile, I want to figure out my correct type... very frustrating.
 

nightning

ish red no longer *sad*
Joined
Apr 23, 2007
Messages
3,741
MBTI Type
INfj
Technically the answer is no. The chances of somebody being exactly 50/50 on some function is infinitely close to zero. A lot of people, including myself, hover closely between two though. However upon closer inspection, you're likely more of one than the other.

It's just a matter of identifying your inane preference in the usage of the 8 cognitive functions. To use myself as an example, some people (mostly Ne dominants) see me as an INFP because I'm always eager to jump into something new and they identify with portions of my thinking style as Ne. Yet I'm INFJ in that Ni for me is stronger than any other function. Which makes me INFj. Lower on the judging preference but still a J.
 

edcoaching

New member
Joined
Jun 30, 2008
Messages
752
MBTI Type
INFJ
Enneagram
7
Technically the answer is no. The chances of somebody being exactly 50/50 on some function is infinitely close to zero. A lot of people, including myself, hover closely between two though. However upon closer inspection, you're likely more of one than the other.

It's just a matter of identifying your inane preference in the usage of the 8 cognitive functions. To use myself as an example, some people (mostly Ne dominants) see me as an INFP because I'm always eager to jump into something new and they identify with portions of my thinking style as Ne. Yet I'm INFJ in that Ni for me is stronger than any other function. Which makes me INFj. Lower on the judging preference but still a J.

Was inane an intentional slip?

And, INFJs are dominant Perceiving types, Ne, showing judgment to outside world but having a rich inner life of pursuing information.
 

nightning

ish red no longer *sad*
Joined
Apr 23, 2007
Messages
3,741
MBTI Type
INfj
Was inane an intentional slip?

And, INFJs are dominant Perceiving types, Ne, showing judgment to outside world but having a rich inner life of pursuing information.

Inane was not a slip. I meant inane preference as something that you're born with because that's how I feel the dominant function is like from personal experience. To some degree you can vary the use of your secondary, tertiary blah blah (however they're ordered) with practice but under stress or when doing things unconsciously, I find that I always revert back to Ni Fe... when normally I use Ni Ti deliberately for most of my work and play down on Fe.
 

BlueFlame

New member
Joined
Feb 8, 2010
Messages
181
MBTI Type
ENFJ
Enneagram
3w2
Inane was not a slip. I meant inane preference as something that you're born with because that's how I feel the dominant function is like from personal experience. To some degree you can vary the use of your secondary, tertiary blah blah (however they're ordered) with practice but under stress or when doing things unconsciously, I find that I always revert back to Ni Fe... when normally I use Ni Ti deliberately for most of my work and play down on Fe.

Do you mean * innate?* Or that you think it's irrelevant? Do you find using Ti to be draining when you use it all the time?
 

nightning

ish red no longer *sad*
Joined
Apr 23, 2007
Messages
3,741
MBTI Type
INfj
Do you mean * innate?* Or that you think it's irrelevant? Do you find using Ti to be draining when you use it all the time?

*smacks head* innate not inane. Thanks BlueFlame. Gah. Maybe I'm dyslexic after all.
 

lunalum

Super Senior Member
Joined
Dec 20, 2008
Messages
2,706
MBTI Type
ZNTP
Enneagram
7w6
Instinctual Variant
sp/so
I doubt that someone would be exactly even on any of the four, but maybe it is a useful shorthand for "I'm torn enough between the two that it should be clear that my preference is very weak here."
 
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