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Hitler Analysis

sleepless

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I searched here and there on the net and was quite surprised that many people seem to think of Hitler as an MBTI idealist - INFJ, ENFJ and even INFP (!) are some of the various suggestions I encountered. (Among other things I read through an old thread on INTJforum and some people even said he was a sensor.) From how I understand MBTI and the eight functions this is nothing but ridiculous, but then, it seems like people understand the functions differently, or they don't understand them at all but are happy with just the letters.

I thought about this some time ago before I had checked with anyone or anything, and my conclusion was - and still is - that he was INTJ, and I'm quite sure of it. I don't really get it when even some of the "experts" think he was ENFJ (so I read... somewhere).

Okay, here's his functions, one by one:

Introverted Intuition
Anyone who doesn't agree with this? Well actually, this far people does seem to be agreed, more or less. Hitler was driven by an inner vision, Deutschland Über Alles, Lebensraum, World Domination, all that crap. When he was younger, hanging out with his NSDAP buddies, he could be silent for long periods of time, and then suddenly burst into speech, and when he talked he could do so for hours.

Extraverted Thinking
Secondary function, according to me then, is Te - organization, efficiency, decisiveness, toughness. Te is impersonal and sees what needs to be done (whatever that is) and how to get there, no matter if other people will protest or, ultimately, get hurt by it. It doesn't, like Fe, stop and say: "Is everyone okay with this?" People are secondary to the project at hand.

Introverted Feeling
This third function, sadly misdirected, undoubtedly helped to fuel the little moustasche-man's feeling of humiliation and thirst for revenge: "The jews didn't let me in to their art's school, so I hate them", "The war was unfair and so was the Treaty of Versailles, just wait till next time", and so on. And yes, the Versailles-thing was very unfair, but in a more balanced person, and with a more developed Fi, the hurt feelings would have had a chance to transform into acceptance and forgiveness, instead of being a source of sheer hatred.

Extraverted Sensing
The least interesting, and same for all INJs anyway, but if I'm not mistaken Hitler was yet another of all these INJ people who cared about what he ate (his doctor suggested that he eat less meat, or something like that). Also, he was in fact an painter in his youth, also potentially INJ-ish (expressing one's Ni through one's Se, as discussed in my last thread).


So, this is how I see it, and I just can't understand why people think of him as NFJ! Let's look at some descriptions of NFJs and of Extraverted Feeling:

INFJ Characteristics - Dolphin Cove
They are activists there for the cause, not for the power, fantasize about getting revenge on those who victimize the defenseless [...] They can become aware of another's emotions/intentions before that person is conscious of them. This leads to strong empathic abilities, an unusually strong desire to contribute to the welfare of others [...] When working with others, they are very sensitive to conflict and cannot tolerate it very well. They will prevnt/avoid it at all costs.

"Oh my, I am so sensitive to conflict, I better start a World War...?"

Extraverted Feeling
The process of extraverted Feeling often involves a desire to connect with (or disconnect from) others and is often evidenced by expressions of warmth (or displeasure) and self-disclosure. The “social graces,” such as being polite, being nice, being friendly, being considerate, and being appropriate, often revolve around the process of extraverted Feeling. Keeping in touch, laughing at jokes when others laugh, and trying to get people to act kindly to each other also involve extraverted Feeling. Using this process, we respond according to expressed or even unexpressed wants and needs of others. We may ask people what they want or need or self-disclose to prompt them to talk more about themselves. This often sparks conversation and lets us know more about them so we can better adjust our behavior to them. Often with this process, we feel pulled to be responsible and take care of others’ feelings, sometimes to the point of not separating our feelings from theirs. We may recognize and adhere to shared values, feelings, and social norms to get along.

OK, now, this might not be _the_ definition, but it says pretty much the same as others I've seen. What more is there to say?? Hitler was so NOT Extraverted Feeling! He was so NOT caring, nice, friendly, considerate and he was definitely not sensitive to conflict! Everyone knows Te is the forceful function; brutal, aggressive, insensitive people are often unbalanced Te-users, I think. There is a risk for unbalanced Fe-users, and especially NFJs, to become manipulative, that is true, and maybe why many think this ought to be the Führer's type. But Hitler wasn't *manipulative* like an NFJ, he wasn't a "people-person"; he was rhetorical, his speeches were passionate, fierce and aggressive, and lots of people were moved by it.
YouTube - Adolf Hitler - Speech (1932)

In the INTJ-forum-thread I looked over lots of people seemed to think Hitler was F, and also, thinking of these anti-feeling threads which have been going on now ever since (and before) I joined the forum, there seems to be a common understanding that F = emotion, and that to act on emotion is per definition dangerous, chaotic and best avoided. My understanding of the MBTI is that F/T is a difference between personal/impersonal reasoning. After that, the difference between Fi/Fe and Ti/Te makes it hard to generalize any further. But to act on emotion is not really Fe, which concerns itself with interpersonal connection and harmony, it is Fi, and to some extent Te. Fi-Te are on the same axis, remember? (my latest thread again) In the Hitler speech above, what function is he using? Clearly he's using both. Fi alone doesn't make an aggressive speech, Te alone doesn't make a speech at all. "Oh German people, we have been humiliated - now we shall have revenge!"

And I want to point that out - Fi alone doesn't make an aggressive or somehow "dangerous" person, though that is almost the feeling you get when reading those anti-feeling threads...

Having read this far I hope everyone agrees with me that Hitler was not an INFJ! (and yes, I admit this is something of an ego-thread)

Now I want a hundred comments :D
 

Magic Poriferan

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Hey man, I'm one of the people seriously considering that Hitler was an F, and I've been busting my ass sticking up for Feelers on this forum. :dry:

Anyway, I thought of him as being more Fi than Fe.
 

ygolo

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I kind of thought he was an INFP myself, but I haven't done much analysis.

Whatever type he was, I think root of his rise to power and the ideology he picked up was the placing of responsibility one's situation on someone else.

Himmler, I think, was and NTJ of some sort.
 

Dark Razor

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Here is Hitler's psychological profile, created by the OSS, maybe you'll find some hints there, it's at least a very interesting read.

I cannot really imagine him as an INTJ, he sucked too much at military strategy and he was better at understanding people and their motivations than at understanding logistics and strategy.
 

sleepless

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Haha, okay, you don't seem to agree with it that much then... ><

Haphazard said:
Hitler can't be an INTJ. It'd be too obvious.

How do you mean?

Magic Poriferan said:
Hey man, I'm one of the people seriously considering that Hitler was an F, and I've been busting my ass sticking up for Feelers on this forum.

Anyway, I thought of him as being more Fi than Fe.

Yeah, sorry I didn't mean all people are idiots to consider him to be F, if you or anyone thinks he could be F, then I am of course interested in hearing how you're reasoning.

He's Fi, yes, and the thing is, if we all agree that he is Ni (there is less disagreement on that) then he couldn't be a Feeler/Idealist. And also, what I think is that Te must be stronger than Fi to create this sort of agressiveness.

Dark Razor said:
Here is Hitler's psychological profile, created by the OSS, maybe you'll find some hints there, it's at least a very interesting read.

I cannot really imagine him as an INTJ, he sucked too much at military strategy and he was better at understanding people and their motivations than at understanding logistics and strategy.

Hm, well, military strategy I can't say much about myself, as I don't know... but just because you're Te you don't absolutely have to be good at all Te-stuff. How was he good at understanding people? It seems to me he wasn't especially good with people at all.

Thanks for the link, I'll read it later.

Kanamori said:
Well, how much have you really researched about Hitler?

Haha, well this is nothing professional of course, just some various facts I have picked up during the years, through documentaries, history class or whatever... but after all it isn't that hard to do get a feeling of how he was, I think. And the facts I've been using to support my understanding of him as INTJ are quite basic.
 

Haphazard

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How do you mean?

You seem to be describing his political characterization, plus a few odds and ends from his personal life, but mostly you're just force-fitting that Hitler himself was the embodiment of the Nazi regime.

Okay, fine, the Nazis as a whole seem like they were trying to be INTJ. Germany probably wanted an INTJ, so the Nazi party worked hard to make sure they got what they want. But that doesn't necessarily mean that their leader is an INTJ. Considering how politics is, he probably wasn't. A politician's public persona is never the same as their personal one. In politics, you need to blow your 'at work' personality out of proportion and give the people what you think they want. Typing him to be the same as his public persona would be, well, too easy.

Also, there's the whole INTJs and charisma thing. They kind of suck at that.
 

entropie

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I aggree, with him being not an iNTj. I have seen quite some biographical movies about Hitlers past now and I heard people talking, who actually have seen Hitler in person.

In the weimarer republic after the first world war, there was a strong desire among the population for a new government. Hitler new that and when he first spoke to a handful of people annoucing his ideology, he was completly on his own.

I dont think iNTj thrive for leadership of that sort.

My first guess on Hitler was eNTp or eNTj, while I tend more to think of him being eNTj. But when I dug deeper into the matter and became him to know through movies and historical books, I completly lost the track of Hitler being an NT at all.

I started to get intrested in the idea of Hitler being a F-Type. Bismarck the first Reichskanzler in the 1st World War was a T, he quit the war, when it was going nowhere, to not face total destruction. Hitler didn't.

I have come up with a completly new and hypertheorethical theisis on Hitler. When he was young he wanted to become a painter, but his paintings sucked and he was dismissed. That seemed to be a crucial point. Art in itself means expressing something, maybe your emotions, maybe your ideas. Or maybe your ideology. After being finished with arts, he started to write a book in wish he formed his view of a perfect world. And from this day on, he would have do nothing else than to pursuit his on drawn view of the world. He annected countries to widen his influence and killed all the people he didnt see to fit into his brave new world. On its peak he wanted to build the new center of europe a gigantic monumental office building in Nuernberg and it is known that his realtional connections to the artist, were of a profound personal nature.

In my opinion, Hitler was iSfP. It is hard to imagine that but those times were different and this personality was ill to the bone.
 

Sunshine

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Erm do we really need to type Hitler?
On the other forum mostly everyone came to an agreement on what type he was and then all the people with his same type got a whole bunch of crap from then on out. It was horrible. People would even use him as examples of common behavior for that type...ugh how stupid...Hitler didn't display common behavior of ANY type, even the type he was because it's a rare thing for someone to become that psycho.
 

Jae Rae

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Erm do we really need to type Hitler?
On the other forum mostly everyone came to an agreement on what type he was and then all the people with his same type got a whole bunch of crap from then on out. It was horrible. People would even use him as examples of common behavior for that type...ugh how stupid...Hitler didn't display common behavior of ANY type, even the type he was because it's a rare thing for someone to become that psycho.

Brilliantly right on!
 

entropie

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Erm do we really need to type Hitler?
On the other forum mostly everyone came to an agreement on what type he was and then all the people with his same type got a whole bunch of crap from then on out. It was horrible. People would even use him as examples of common behavior for that type...ugh how stupid...Hitler didn't display common behavior of ANY type, even the type he was because it's a rare thing for someone to become that psycho.

I agree. I thought for some time before replying on this thread. I came to the conclusion that people could handle that topic but I was not convinced by it.

I posted because I agreed with Haphazard that has never happened before :).
 

sleepless

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Haphazard said:
You seem to be describing his political characterization, plus a few odds and ends from his personal life, but mostly you're just force-fitting that Hitler himself was the embodiment of the Nazi regime.

Okay, fine, the Nazis as a whole seem like they were trying to be INTJ. Germany probably wanted an INTJ, so the Nazi party worked hard to make sure they got what they want. But that doesn't necessarily mean that their leader is an INTJ. Considering how politics is, he probably wasn't. A politician's public persona is never the same as their personal one. In politics, you need to blow your 'at work' personality out of proportion and give the people what you think they want. Typing him to be the same as his public persona would be, well, too easy.

Also, there's the whole INTJs and charisma thing. They kind of suck at that.
Of course you act differently when holding a speech to your country than you would in private, but that doesnt' mean you switch personality - this wasn't forced upon Hitler, he wanted it himself, he wanted the power and to force his vision onto other people, and I don't think he "gave people what they wanted" as much as politicians do today.

And I don't think an INTJ can't have personal charisma, at least ENTJ's can, and I think there are big individual differences here.


I have read through some of "Hitlers psychological profile" (Dark Razor's link), and it pretty much strengthens my conviction that he was INTJ. Here are some various bits of it:

"I am one of the hardest men Germany has had for decades, perhaps for centuries, equipped with the greatest authority of any German leader... but above all, I believe in my success. I believe in it unconditionally."

Hitler is also a man of incredible energy and endurance. His day consists of sixteen and eighteen hours of uninterrupted work. He is absolutely tireless when it comes to working for Germany and its future welfare and no personal pleasures are permitted to interfere with the carrying out of his mission. The ordinary man in the street cannot imagine a human being in Hitler's position not taking advantage of his opportunity. He can only imagine himself in the same position revelling in luxuries and yet here is Hitler who scorns them all. His only conclusion is that Hitler is not an ordinary mortal.

"The people, in an overwhelming majority, are so feminine in their nature and attitude that their activities and thoughts are motivated less by sober consideration than by feeling and sentiment."

During these periods of activity Hitler is wholly consumed by the task confronting him. He has an amazing power of concentration. His judgements are quick and decisive. He is impatient to get things done and expects everyone to apply himself with an ardor equal to his own. He, therefore, demands great sacrifices from his associates.

I don't know, I think it's quite obvious that this is a thinking type. Otherwise I must have misunderstood the MBTI completely.



entropie said:
I dont think iNTj thrive for leadership of that sort.
Well, certainly more than ISFP...?

entropie said:
I started to get intrested in the idea of Hitler being a F-Type. Bismarck the first Reichskanzler in the 1st World War was a T, he quit the war, when it was going nowhere, to not face total destruction. Hitler didn't.
I don't get it, can't T types be stubborn? On the contrary, an F would be likelier to end a war - and less likely to start it in the first place. Above all, Hitler was mad, Bismarck probably wasn't.

entropie said:
In my opinion, Hitler was iSfP. It is hard to imagine that but those times were different and this personality was ill to the bone.
I'm sorry, but I really don't understand this. His Ni can't be his third function, and still come up with all these super-visions which seemed to be the sole meaning of his existence, and above all, Fi as 1st function could never make a person so concerned with - actually - exterminating millions of people *inferior* to himself. Are you sure you actually know how Fi works? Granted that it should be your own 7th function (no offense meant)...

Another quote from the psychological profile:

The world has come to know Adolph Hitler for his insatiable greed for power, his ruthlessness, cruelty and utter lack-of feeling, his contempt for established institutions and his lack of moral restraints. In the course of relatively few years he has contrived to usurp such tremendous power that a few veiled threats, accusations or insinuations were sufficient to make the world tremble. In open defiance of treaties he occupied huge territories and conquered millions of people without even firing a shot. When the world became tired of being frightened and concluded that it was all a bluff, he initiated the most brutal and devastating war in history - a war which, for a time, threatened the complete destruction of our civilization. Human life and human suffering seem to leave this individual completely untouched as he plunges along the course he believes he was predestined to take.

Sunshine said:
Erm do we really need to type Hitler?
On the other forum mostly everyone came to an agreement on what type he was and then all the people with his same type got a whole bunch of crap from then on out. It was horrible. People would even use him as examples of common behavior for that type...ugh how stupid...Hitler didn't display common behavior of ANY type, even the type he was because it's a rare thing for someone to become that psycho.
I suppose there's some truth to this... I wondered what people might think out of pure curiousity, though no matter what type he was, I think he was utterly mad, first of all. Of course it's not that I'm anti INTJ's, I know several of the type and generally find them to be deep and intriguing people.
 

entropie

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I apologize, I have to agree that I am not so well adjusted with how the single functions like Fi and Ni work. That does not bother me that much, I am more concerned with the whole and their working dependently.

I just know that he saw himself as an artist and that he looked at his ideology as a creation. My interpretation would be based on him being an F-Type. Stubborness and Cleverness are two pair of shoes. Bismarck wanted to take revenge for the 1st World War like every general wanted in those times, but they retreated, when defeat was imminent. I am glad Hitler was stubborn, I would not want to imagine whereelse I would live today.

If you want to go on with the conversation, I would be glad if we do it via Private Message in the Forums. I have some things still to say to underline my theory, but I agree with the fact that should be not done publically.
 

Magic Poriferan

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Hitler's obsession and dedication could very much be a product of Fi. He's burrying himself under his own standards of merit.

A notice how, while he's always working, he makes decisions quick and impatiently. Is that an indication that he really knows what he's talking about, or is it just a manifestation of his Fi + Ne making him hasty in seeing what he wants to see.

Also, vastly imposed moral values could definitely come from the combination. Fi are good/bad values that are derived from ones personal ideals, that don't necessarily pay heed to anyone elses. Ne of course often drives people to be very expansive, and often rather presumptuous. They fancy themselve the only ones that can see the big picture, see the future, see all the possibilities. So, putting the two together, we have a classic case of someone that thinks they know what the better course is for the people than the people do themselves.

Hey... Captain Chick is an ENFP. Did you see her talking about how she knew which moral values were objectively real, and most people didn't?

If you want more superficial or archetypical similarities to an ENFP(especially an unhealthy one) then consider some of these things:

He was theatrical and flamboyant in manner, and a huge attention whore.
Until his experiences with war, Hitler hadn't seriously considered taking political office. He was mostly interested in being a great painter or architect.
He was a sexual deviant, and many have suspected that he also became a drug addict later in life.
He was a big idea kind of guy(surprise) who took a mostly romantic view of things.

That could definitely pass for unhealthy ENFP. Now, I personally just want to focus more on the possible implications of the functions, but I provided that to show you that Hitler doesn't even stand far from many ENFP cliches.

I'm well aware that Hitler doesn't represent normal behavior, but he has to have some kind of type, because he can't not use cognitive functions. In the Dark Knight thread, I argued that it was perhaps too hard to figure out the Joker's type. Hitler, though, is a real person with a life history, and a lot of documentation. We have enough to work with, I think.
 

The Ü™

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Okay, I'll bite.

I believe I saw Keirsey list him as an INFP. I forgot where I found it, though.
 
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