Biggest problems in typing - People mistyping themselves

[alcea rosea]

This thread (and several other threads I have read) made me wonder about two things that relate to typing people.

1) What are the biggest problems you have encountered when typing people?

2) Why do you think so many people mistype themselves or cannot figure out their true types?

 

[Splittet]

2) Why do you think so many people mistype themselves or cannot figure out their true types?

I think it is a big problem many know next to nothing about function theory.

 

[Totenkindly]

1) What are the biggest problems you have encountered when typing people?

- Inaccurate or highly subjective personal description.
- The data offered is not indicative of the whole person or is only a partial set.
- The challenge to someone's self-identity, if assumed type does not match what the type actually seems to be.

Most of these difficulties are alleviated by interacting with people in person, rather than through an online (or other incomplete) medium.

2) Why do you think so many people mistype themselves or cannot figure out their true types?

- Apparent inequity in the typing system that makes one type look more/less attractive than another.

- Unclear terminology or terminology with social/emotional baggage attached.

- Confusion between observable behavior vs internal motivations.

- Type being concluded on the basis of non-conclusive observations or non-holistic data points. (Rather like the "If the person's eyes flick right when answering a question, this means 100% they're lying." Poppycock.) Type must be considered holistically. The details working together, taken in context of each other, is what pinpoints type.

 

[Ezra]

1) What are the biggest problems you have encountered when typing people?

Personally, it's either that I don't hold enough information about them, and that (perhaps) they refuse to share further info about themselves in order to help me type them i.e. they are a mystery to me, or it's a case of their not taking on board my advice or being too uncertain about themselves and their habits for them to understand who they are. In essence, it's never my fault.

2) Why do you think so many people mistype themselves or cannot figure out their true types?

Here's a quality post from the16types to illustrate the answer to this question.

You know what's revealing, XoX?

You type yourself just as if you were typing another person. You don't look inside yourself, inside your own thoughts, with the unique perspective that only we can have about ourselves. You look at yourself from the outside. You type yourself as if you were holding a mirror. It sort of makes sense that you are more confident in typing others than yourself: it's easier to see others from a distance, from the outside, than oneself. Rather than look into your own heart, or soul, to try to see if you prefer Fi or Fe, you look at yourself from the point of view of external behavior, trying to see if you react more like Fi or Fe is supposed to react.

And that is what some others in this forum are also doing, even if they're being less honest about it than you.

That's your answer.

 

[alcea rosea]

-- Apparent inequity in the typing system that makes one type look more/less attractive than another.

- Unclear terminology or terminology with social/emotional baggage attached.

- Confusion between observable behavior vs internal motivations.

- Type being concluded on the basis of non-conclusive observations or non-holistic data points. (Rather like the "If the person's eyes flick right when answering a question, this means 100% they're lying." Poppycock.) Type must be considered holistically. The details working together, taken in context of each other, is what pinpoints type.

Thanks for the excellent analysis! You put it to words what I have been wondering!

 

[INTJMom]

In my experience, people end up mis-typing themselves because they don't know themselves well enough, or they don't know enough people who are opposite of themselves, or they don't understand the framework in which the questions are couched.

 

[Wandering]

I think it is a big problem many know next to nothing about function theory.

Agreed.

[rant]

The 4 dichotomies irritate the heck out of me, because they are not only incredibly approximative, but they also completely betray the spirit of MBTI/Jungian typology. Only function theory can accurately help someone determine what type they are most likely to be.

Me, for example: I am *constantly* getting typed as an INFP by tests and such. And indeed, if you look at how so-called Perceivers are supposed to be determined, I fall squarely into that category. And yet I am most definitely an INFJ! I may be laid back and spontaneous and always procrastinating and unable to make snap decisions and so on, but I'm still an INFJ.

But then, of course, INFJs DO have a Perceiving function as their Dominant function...

Only by learning about the functions did I realise that, DUH, I am very clearly DomNi and AuxFe and TerTi! And thus, an INFJ.

[/rant]

As to why I never seem to manage to type other people: it's usually because I know them too well and not well enough at the same time. Typing near-strangers is easy, because I only need to look at the few clues laid out in front of me and find the most likely pattern to link them all. Obviously, though, the risk of mis-typing them is extremely high, precisely because the number of clues is so reduced. But typing people I know well is almost impossible for me, because for every detail that would go one way, I can think of another that would go the other way.

 

[alcea rosea]

The 4 dichotomies irritate the heck out of me, because they are not only incredibly approximative, but they also completely betray the spirit of MBTI/Jungian typology. Only function theory can accurately help someone determine what type they are most likely to be.

Me, for example: I am *constantly* getting typed as an INFP by tests and such. And indeed, if you look at how so-called Perceivers are supposed to be determined, I fall squarely into that category. And yet I am most definitely an INFJ! I may be laid back and spontaneous and always procrastinating and unable to make snap decisions and so on, but I'm still an INFJ.

I'm not too familiar of the function theory because I started my MBTI journey by reading Keirsey's books. I'm currently reading Gift's differing from where I read that the second function (extrovert function) of introverts is the one which is visible. That was very interesting new thought for me.

So, when trying to type introverted people I should remember the second function of each introvert type and identify introverts by their extroverted function. This new knowledge makes me want to order some function related MBTI books so I can study more about the functions!

 

[Wandering]

I'm currently reading Gift's differing from where I read that the second function (extrovert function) of introverts is the one which is visible.

Exactly. The type (Judging or Perceiving) of the Dominant function of Extraverts is directly the one indicated by their P/J letter, but it is the other way around for Introverts. IPs *appear* as Perceivers on the outside, because they Extravert a Perceiving function, but at heart, their Dominant function is a Judging one. And vice versa for IJs.

This is how you can run into big problems, most especially with Introverts, when 4-dichotomies tests fail to accurately separate the inside persona from the outside persona, and mis-attribute traits.

(Another, totally unrelated problem, at least in my eyes, is that most questions geared at determining J, actually test for TJ and very little for FJ.)

So, when trying to type introverted people I should remember the second function of each introvert type and identify introverts by their extroverted function. This new knowledge makes me want to order some function related MBTI books so I can study more about the functions!

Good studies !

 

[TaylorS]

I think a lot of people mistype P vs. J because most MBTI tests treat all 4 letters as independent dichotomies instead of notations for Jungian function order, thus often mistyping well-organized Ps and messy Js.

EDIT: Gah, Wandering beat me...

 

[Athenian200]

1) What are the biggest problems you have encountered when typing people?

Unwillingness to follow a process, people's tendencies to go with the first suggestion and entrench it rather than carefully consider whether it's the best fit. It's as though they keep looking for excuses for whatever doesn't fit with what they already believe and claim maturity/growth, thus justifying the possibility rather than trying to find out if the possibility is in fact the case. It probably also doesn't help that it's sometimes offensive to suggest someone else may be mistaken, as this probably leads to many people seeing a discrepancy and either not pointing it out, or minimizing it.

2) Why do you think so many people mistype themselves or cannot figure out their true types?

It seems to be due to misunderstanding the differences between various functions, and putting too much weight on pure dichotomies.