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When MBTI becomes your entire identity

Chad of the OttomanEmpire

Give me a fourth dot.
Joined
Jun 9, 2013
Messages
1,053
MBTI Type
NeTi
Enneagram
478
Instinctual Variant
sx/so
Thanks for accepting my vent and responding to it. :) I do appreciate it.
It's a great thing. We just cannot create boundaries over this stuff. We all are capable of utilizing all the functions. It's about preference. It makes life more interesting and productive when we all are a bit different. But let's not get too caught up into this stuff, people! ;)

On principle, I agree. I sometimes feel like this stuff draws lines between us where none existed before..."You are an ESFJ 2w3, so I can't POSSIBLY understand you. You're a complete alien to my mindset". LOL. Thus defeating the purpose of these systems--they should encourage empathy and be empowering, not divisive.
 

Azure Flame

Permabanned
Joined
Aug 26, 2010
Messages
2,317
MBTI Type
ESTP
Enneagram
8w7
When I learned I was Se Ti over Ti Se, it showed me my own potential. So now I get out there and do things instead of sit around the house and be a bitch.
 

AzulEyes

New member
Joined
May 16, 2012
Messages
622
MBTI Type
ENFP
Enneagram
7w6
Instinctual Variant
sx/so
On principle, I agree. I sometimes feel like this stuff draws lines between us where none existed before..."You are an ESFJ 2w3, so I can't POSSIBLY understand you. You're a complete alien to my mindset". LOL. Thus defeating the purpose of these systems--they should encourage empathy and be empowering, not divisive.

well said :)
 

taylord

New member
Joined
Sep 27, 2013
Messages
55
MBTI Type
INFP
Enneagram
4
It's kinda funny, because I think a lot of people are dead wrong about their types anyway, but then they get that identity that they crave and they just go with it. I identify as an INFP but I get into way too many debates to conform to the generally avoidant personality an INFP is supposed to be.
 

Evo

Unapologetic being
Joined
Jul 1, 2011
Messages
3,160
MBTI Type
XNTJ
Enneagram
1w9
Instinctual Variant
sp/sx
I could be percieved as someone that uses MBTI too much.

I try to use it as a tool though.

Being Te dom is not fun when surrounded by feelers your whole life...

The real me is too abrasive, unapproachable, and not politically correct enough for people.

Knowing what I know now...I filter some of that before speaking with others...it helps me in interacting a lot...

Just like I didn't know that everyone else is more sensitive than I am, other people don't know that I am more like a robot in some aspects....:shrug:

I think that people do abuse the concept and make stereotypes...yes.

But I don't think that someone can overanalyze anything. So it doesn't bother me when people are "overly" interested in identifying with an MBTI type..
 

Coriolis

Si vis pacem, para bellum
Staff member
Joined
Apr 18, 2010
Messages
27,230
MBTI Type
INTJ
Enneagram
5w6
Instinctual Variant
sp/sx
On principle, I agree. I sometimes feel like this stuff draws lines between us where none existed before..."You are an ESFJ 2w3, so I can't POSSIBLY understand you. You're a complete alien to my mindset". LOL. Thus defeating the purpose of these systems--they should encourage empathy and be empowering, not divisive.
Interesting. I often have the opposite result, when I find that someone I have been on good terms with for years is a much different (and unexpected) type. It reassures me that we can and do have something in common, and can work together and get along.
 

Evo

Unapologetic being
Joined
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1w9
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sp/sx
Interesting. I often have the opposite result, when I find that someone I have been on good terms with for years is a much different (and unexpected) type. It reassures me that we can and do have something in common, and can work together and get along.

Yea, I have that happen to me much more with Enneagram than MBTI though. If I understand what a person's enneagram is, I am much more apt to understand where they're coming from. However with MBTI I still don't see the other side sometimes especially with Ji types.
 

Chad of the OttomanEmpire

Give me a fourth dot.
Joined
Jun 9, 2013
Messages
1,053
MBTI Type
NeTi
Enneagram
478
Instinctual Variant
sx/so
Interesting. I often have the opposite result, when I find that someone I have been on good terms with for years is a much different (and unexpected) type. It reassures me that we can and do have something in common, and can work together and get along.

That's good, though. It means you see the differences between the types, but you still "get it" that we get along. I was talking more about people who use "my SJ parents" as the sole source of misery in their lives. ;)
 

Coriolis

Si vis pacem, para bellum
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sp/sx
That's good, though. It means you see the differences between the types, but you still "get it" that we get along. I was talking more about people who use "my SJ parents" as the sole source of misery in their lives. ;)
It goes both ways really. I'm not very good at guessing people's type, even in person, so I tend to interact with people without thinking about type at all. There are people I get along with, and a few with whom I don't. Every now and then, I learn someone's type. I suppose it just gives me more insight into whatever relationship we have - lets me peek behind the curtain, as it were, and helps me see why we get along, or why we don't.

For instance, I actually did have SJ parents. I can see there were pluses and minuses to that, as with any type. I appreciate the pluses, and now understand better why we sometimes disagreed in the specific ways that we did.
 

Chad of the OttomanEmpire

Give me a fourth dot.
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NeTi
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sx/so
It goes both ways really. I'm not very good at guessing people's type, even in person, so I tend to interact with people without thinking about type at all. There are people I get along with, and a few with whom I don't. Every now and then, I learn someone's type. I suppose it just gives me more insight into whatever relationship we have - lets me peek behind the curtain, as it were, and helps me see why we get along, or why we don't.

For instance, I actually did have SJ parents. I can see there were pluses and minuses to that, as with any type. I appreciate the pluses, and now understand better why we sometimes disagreed in the specific ways that we did.
But, you're still using it as a tool to understand, rather than as a firm dichotomy between people. You're applying it to reality and your own life, rather than getting caught up in theories about why thus-and-such a type shouldn't date another type, or whatnot, which I think is more what the original complaint was about.

I'm not saying there aren't differences between us (obviously, I wouldn't be here if I thought that!). Believe me, learning my parents were both Fi-dom tells me a lot about why I was influenced as I was. I'm saying we shouldn't let that become the be-all, end-all. I think you've got the right idea, in short.
 

Coriolis

Si vis pacem, para bellum
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But, you're still using it as a tool to understand, rather than as a firm dichotomy between people. You're applying it to reality and your own life, rather than getting caught up in theories about why thus-and-such a type shouldn't date another type, or whatnot, which I think is more what the original complaint was about.
Yes - I would never use type as a reason for not dating someone, or not befriending someone, or even not considering a certain job or academic field. Instead I would use it to give me some idea of what problems and benefits might be involved in various relationships or occupations.
 

Cellmold

Wake, See, Sing, Dance
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Mar 23, 2012
Messages
6,266
When I learned I was Se Ti over Ti Se, it showed me my own potential. So now I get out there and do things instead of sit around the house and be a bitch.

See I just find that weird.

That's you deliberately associating yourself to the type when it works better the other way around. But then again I never had the "oo it's me" revelation with this theory, not even from the start, so maybe I don't understand the influences from a personal point of view except as I see them come out on forums like this.

And how they sink into the collective forum consciousness. Perhaps there should be an 'un' in front of that...
 
G

garbage

Guest
That's you deliberately associating yourself to the type when it works better the other way around.
It was sort of iterative for me during the self-discovery phase. I figured -- "if (if!) the theory's true, and I'm such-and-such a type, then perhaps action x is natural for me. Let's try that out. If not, then maybe I should reevaluate my type, then see which other actions might be natural for me."

(I know how ridiculous that seems, but :shrug:)
 

Azure Flame

Permabanned
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2,317
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ESTP
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8w7
It was sort of iterative for me during the self-discovery phase. I figured -- "if (if!) the theory's true, and I'm such-and-such a type, then perhaps action x is natural for me. Let's try that out. If not, then maybe I should reevaluate my type, then see which other actions might be natural for me."

(I know how ridiculous that seems, but :shrug:)

yarp
 

Julius_Van_Der_Beak

Up the Wolves
Joined
Jul 24, 2008
Messages
19,448
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sp/so
When I learned I was Se Ti over Ti Se, it showed me my own potential. So now I get out there and do things instead of sit around the house and be a bitch.

I find it helps me realize my strengths also, and feel proud of them, instead of ashamed of them. It also tells me why I suck about certain things, and hints at ways I could maybe suck a little less. It also allows a lot of room for complexity, more than most people think.

And I'm pretty sure I wouldn't understand people I already wouldn't understand. Now I at least know why I wouldn't understand them.

I also like it because it destroys individuality and reduces people to cookie-cutter templates. That's awesome because it lets me have power over them. I command legions through MBTI.
 

skylights

i love
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Jul 6, 2010
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7,756
MBTI Type
INFP
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6w7
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so/sx
It was sort of iterative for me during the self-discovery phase. I figured -- "if (if!) the theory's true, and I'm such-and-such a type, then perhaps action x is natural for me. Let's try that out. If not, then maybe I should reevaluate my type, then see which other actions might be natural for me."

(I know how ridiculous that seems, but :shrug:)

This makes me remember this one day, when I was very much caught up in trying to settle on my enneatype. I had woken up very early to go on an errand before having to get to work at 5 am, and I had on a dark hoodie and black exercise pants and my outdoor rugged sandal/shoes. I feel very comfortable in the still and dark of the early morning, and I did a bit of running, and was fairly stupidly appreciating how awesome I felt, and somehow that overall conceptualization made me think that I felt particularly 6ish, and somehow suddenly that clicked it into place for me. I guess it was the realization that the "vigilant guardian in the night" was a very familiar archetype for me.
 
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