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Do animals have a Personality Type? mbti for animals, personality type of beasts

curiousel

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Jan 3, 2010
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From observation I think they do have a personality, is it possible to categorize an animal personality type.
For example dogs and cats?
 

mujigay

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Not really. MBTI was pretty much built around how traits evidence themselves in humans.
 

citizen cane

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A personality type could not likely be assigned to animals; at least not an MBTI type. Perhaps they could be typed using some other man-made construct, though the odds of being able to effectively apply said construct to both humans and other animals are quite slim.
 

AphroditeGoneAwry

failure to thrive
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I think it's breed dependent.

But then. Does that mean different 'breeds' of humans have different personality traits? We aren't allowed to say that are we? It sounds like stereotyping at the least, racism at the most?

:thinking:
 

INTP

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Ofc you can create a typology for cats, dogs or other animals, but you cant apply MBTI to animals
 
A

Anew Leaf

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My bunny was an IXFP. She loved only me and shied away from strangers. But with me she was very, very sweet. Except when she nipped me with her Teeth... :)
 

King sns

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My dog Rue is this socially awkward INFJ phobic 6w5 but I love him anyway. When stressed, he runs away and doesn't come when he's called like a regular rebellious ESTP. I think he goes off and gets laid and smokes some weed and drinks some beers but then he comes home remorseful but I forgive him and he goes back into his normal state of deep thought on the couch.

attachment.php
 

lunalum

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^ :laugh:

I think that nearly all animals have a responsiveness variance to them that creates different personalities to them in a way that resembles extra/introversion in humans. And depending on the animal it can probably get a lot more complex than that. But some traits like sensing/intuition probably just don't exist much at all other animals. (Not that we know of anyway.... but I bet animals like dolphins, chimpanzees, and bonobos have some chance of having personality types in an almost-MBTI way but just more simplified. Too bad we can't know them yet because the types are on a self-reporting basis ;) )
 

King sns

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^ :laugh:

I think that nearly all animals have a responsiveness variance to them that creates different personalities to them in a way that resembles extra/introversion in humans. And depending on the animal it can probably get a lot more complex than that. But some traits like sensing/intuition probably just don't exist much at all other animals. (Not that we know of anyway.... but I bet animals like dolphins, chimpanzees, and bonobos have some chance of having personality types in an almost-MBTI way but just more simplified. Too bad we can't know them yet because the types are on a self-reporting basis ;) )

See, this is what Rue's problem is. First, no one understands him because of all that Ni. Secondly, no one believes he can be an Ni because he's a dog! :cry:

(On a slightly more serious but still silly note, someone caught me at the vet the other day asking my dog if he knew what asymptomatic meant. )
 

Elfboy

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Labrador Retriever = ENFP =P
 

Spamtar

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MBTI is easily transmuted to anthropomorphising.


My cat was clearly an INTJ.
 

lunalum

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Well, come to think of it, my latest cat definitely had the "INTJ stare"....
 

Red Herring

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Well, it came up in conversation this morning how one of my two cats (called Holmes!!!) acts like an intuitive introvert (probably INTJ): he is very reserved and has that absent-minded zoned out gaze ...and is a criminal mastermind.
His brother Watson on the other hand is a sweet cuddly sociable gluttonous ESFP :D

IMG_0708b.jpg
IMG_0719b.jpg


Guess who is who!
 

lunalum

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See, this is what Rue's problem is. First, no one understands him because of all that Ni. Secondly, no one believes he can be an Ni because he's a dog! :cry:

(On a slightly more serious but still silly note, someone caught me at the vet the other day asking my dog if he knew what asymptomatic meant. )

I should've seen it earlier :doh:

How did Rue respond to your question?
 

Spamtar

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Well, it came up in conversation this morning how one of my two cats (called Holmes!!!) acts like an intuitive introvert (probably INTJ): he is very reserved and has that absent-minded zoned out gaze ...and is a criminal mastermind.
His brother Watson on the other hand is a sweet cuddly sociable gluttonous ESFP :D

IMG_0708b.jpg
IMG_0719b.jpg


Guess who is who!

Watson is in the second cat pic.
 

King sns

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I should've seen it earlier :doh:

How did Rue respond to your question?

That's what the lady who caught me asked!
While Rue was busy debating the implication of not getting blood work at his age just because he was "asymptomatic"- given that I don't know his exact breed and different problems that he could have at different stages of his life- and also berating me for asking such a question- (all hushed because he didn't want to make a scene)

I blushed and responded to the lady, "oh, he just said- 'squirrel'?" And while the lady and I started to giggle at Rue's expense, he just gave me the cold shoulder- and he didn't talk to me for the rest of the day and went into ESTP mode later that night.
 

King sns

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Well, it came up in conversation this morning how one of my two cats (called Holmes!!!) acts like an intuitive introvert (probably INTJ): he is very reserved and has that absent-minded zoned out gaze ...and is a criminal mastermind.
His brother Watson on the other hand is a sweet cuddly sociable gluttonous ESFP :D

IMG_0708b.jpg
IMG_0719b.jpg


Guess who is who!

Aww, I want to invite the bottom one to the next big catnip social! The other guy I would probably hire if there was mass mice invasion requiring a lot of focus and cat-egic planning.
 

Zarathustra

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[MENTION=2102]SillySapienne[/MENTION] has three dogs, and I swear their MBTI types are all very noticeable.

For the most part, I think animals tend to be Ss and Fs.

Jack - Miniature Dachsund - ISFP
Blanca - Pitbull - ESFJ
Frankie - French Bulldog - ESTP

These are all really just based off their dominant functions.

Jack is the most independent dog I've ever seen; it's ridiculous; if you take him on a walk, and he wants to go one way, if you try to go the other way, he digs his feet into the ground and will not budge. No matter how much you try and cajole him, he will not go the direction you want him to. It's his way, or the highway. If you won't go his way, then he'll just start walking back home. It's fucking ridiculous. Because of him, I understand why Fe users call Fi users selfish. He's totally an Fi-dom.

302386_261514167224466_100000976535103_802532_1284416139_n.jpg


Blanca is the sweetest fucking dog I have ever seen. She's a big ol white pitbull, and I love her to death. Her big smiley face is the screensaver on my phone. I have never met a dog so needy, though. She literally needs someone with her every second of the day. All she wants is to give and receive love, and she would cuddle non-stop, all day long, if you'd actually willing to. She's also super-obedient, and super-submissive. Total Fe-dom.

319180_247762441932972_100000976535103_757053_38322043_n.jpg


Franky is the newest addition to the pack, and he's like hell on wheels. The little guy is just a fucking hedonistic pleasure-whore. Food, sex, excitment, food, sex, excitement. I swear the dog would OD on drugs if he knew how to. I'll take him to the park and throw the ball around with him until he starts puking up white foam and just collapses. Then, after five minutes, he's back and ready to do it again. Total Se-dom. You can see it in his eyes.

312108_260361134006436_100000976535103_799210_207974737_n.jpg
 
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Eric B

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^ :laugh:

I think that nearly all animals have a responsiveness variance to them that creates different personalities to them in a way that resembles extra/introversion in humans. And depending on the animal it can probably get a lot more complex than that. But some traits like sensing/intuition probably just don't exist much at all other animals. (Not that we know of anyway.... but I bet animals like dolphins, chimpanzees, and bonobos have some chance of having personality types in an almost-MBTI way but just more simplified. Too bad we can't know them yet because the types are on a self-reporting basis ;) )
Type is a combination of behavioral and cognitive factors. The behavioral breaks down into "affective" (interaction Styles) and "conative" (what we know as the Keirsey groups). Or, respectively, social and leadership/action skills.

So yes, animals can manifest the affective factors of expressiveness (i.e. E/I) and responsiveness (directing/informing or how much interaction we "want" from others), which make up what amounts to the four Interaction Styles.
These are what were observed by Pavlov in the four temperaments he assigned to dogs. He called the factors Passivity: (Active or Passive) and Extremeness: (Extreme or Moderate response) and the four temperaments as Weak inhibitory (Melancholic), Strong excitatory (Choleric), Lively (Sanguine), Calm, imperturbable (Phlegmatic).

It is the cognitive area animals do not have. The functions are basically interpretations of data. Animals experience things, but do not cognitively interpret them. They just react according to the limbic system of instinct and emotion (basically, archetypes).
We experience things and also react from the limbic system, but in addition use the frontal cortex to interpret the limbic system's images freighted with emotion. The functions translate this limbic motivation into cognitive data, allowing us to redirect the instinctual "energies" the limbic system mobilizes.

The way this works, is that we're faced with a situation. We take in data from what is happening. If it is a negative situation, then our instinctual reactions and emotions such as fear kick in, just like they do for animals. The difference is that the animals remain guided by the instincts.
Both have "sensation" of what is happening, but the human cortex interprets the data, and if the person's cognitive preference is 'sensation' itself (S), then the person will focus more on what is seen, heard, felt, etc. and react to it based on these factors. (So animals aren't even "Sensors" by that criteria!) If the preference is iNtuition (N), the person will instead connect the data to a larger meaning that is not immediately seen, such as the possible or likely outcomes.
If the person prefers Thinking, they will focus on the cause and effect of the impersonal elements of the situation, both in analyzing why it happened, as well as in deciding on courses of action. If the person prefers Feeling, they will focus on the more "humane" or personal aspects of the situation. How it affects people, especially emotionally. That any courses of action should take into consideration their needs and well being.

Animals do not do all of this, so they do not possess any of the dichotomy preferences beyond E and I. (Which is likely based on neurological stimulatability anyway, rather than being fixed to human "[dominant] function-attitudes". We just pair our dominant function with that dominant orientation, and the rest of the functions fall into place for us).
So they can be seen as having somewhat of an Interaction Style, with E/I, and the other factor; which for us is connected to T/F or J/P combined with S/N; but for them stands alone.
They will not have a whole type, or even a Keirseyan temperament. (Which are determined by functions, despite Keirsey's claim to the contrary). They won't even have the other Keirseyan factor of "cooperative/cooperative", or the cross factor of "structure/motive". So their "conation", "leadership style" or "area of Control" is undefinable. That stuff is part of what distinguishes us as humans.
 
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