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[NF] How do INFPs intuit things about people compared to INFJs and Vice Versa?

G

Glycerine

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Both types seem highly intuitive about people but I'm curious about what each type's strengths and weaknesses are in relation to reading people? What are the differences?
 

jaku

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hmm
i think the ability to read other people is more or less the same for both types, though i think infjs are more... thorough?
but i don't really know what that means. or what it entails, rather.

what are the differences?!!!

ooooh i really hope infps and infjs start posing here because just the topic of behavioral pattern recognition and intuiting peoples'... everythings is something i would much like to understand better.

k somebody post something that makes sense.
 

Paisley

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Interesting question considering they get their abilities "to read people" from different places altogether it seems, from dominant right to inferior:

The INFJ is: IN, EF, IT, ES
The INFP is: IF, EN, IS, ET.......hahaha, they're just a little e.t., not a lot.....

INFJ's have a stronger introverted intuition, whereas the INFP's have a stronger introverted feeling. So on the one hand you have an empath almost capable of seeing things happen before they happen and on the other, one that is able to understand peoples feelings and ideals very quickly. The INFJ's ability is almost supernatural, and the INFP's is from a tuning so fine, no other type can feel it. By supernatural I mean, they've deducted several personality traits and characteristics as readily as the person entered the room, without even questioning them, like a mentalist or psychic, jumping from point a to point g, without explaining b,c,d,e,or,f, and then giving a response based on their feelings. By fine tuning, I mean an ability to process and read someones emotions with the same speed, however giving a response from a place of expressing intuition of that persons feelings.

Almost the same response, expressed in a completely different way. The INFJ's intuition is second nature and readily available in all matters all the time unlike any other, whereas the INFP's understanding of feelings is second nature as they are primarily interested in the ideal behind the object, and so read out of the person (infp) not into (infj). If that makes sense.

By all means disagree with me, but that's what the data seems to indicate.
 
Last edited:

hakuna

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Very well said paisley1! So right about the INFP aspect it's not even funny, but these things do come naturally to you, you INFJ.

As an INFP, I feel like I also use my Si to relate the situation or person, whatever it is to situations that I've already experienced, which will then feed my Ne again causing me to consider new possibilities about the subject at hand. I even feel that my Te kicks in sometimes as it lends me attention to detail.

Hooray omniscience!
 

Paisley

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Dear Hakuna,

I would just like to say, matata.

kudos.....(improper usage)....,
paisley1
 

jaku

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paisley1:
i have a significant concentration of infps in my life and have been curious about understanding / putting into words everything that you understand and put into words.
your conclusions about people reading (or knowing) coincide with my observations and experiences and that makes me feel good.

thank you.
 

eclare

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paisley1 is completely right about jumping from a to g and bypassing b,c,d,e, and f. Unfortunately, though, in order to convince other people that g is correct, you have to learn how to go back and recreate your intuition through observation and logic. It can be very frustrating and I think that a lot of INFJs (myself included) tend to even doubt themselves until they can figure out the reason behind their intuitive leap.
 

nolla

Senor Membrane
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I can't really compare my people reading to anyone except my mom, who is INFJ. I don't think I have done this with any other INFJ. We have occationally had many conversations about people we both know and of some people who she knows. I don't see really that big difference in the way we talk about them.. this might be because I have learned this from her anyways. She used to talk with me about this kind of stuff a lot when I was a kid. I think I always had more "scientific" way to approach it. It's like if she gave some example, I would think about some theories I had read about and then she would continue from there. She was very logical with this also, but there is something there that is about "just knowing".

The most obvious difference between us is that from time to time she comes off as very judgmental. I don't know if this is an aspect of the way she reads people or is it just her being judgmental. One time we were talking about self-actualization and she'd say something like "For some people, there is no option, they never even had the chance to be better" and I was more like "Why would it be impossible for anyone to change now so that they started living a whole different life" and she said something like "Yeah, sure, but that's very unlikely". Maybe this is because she is the kind of person who really tries to help people be more themselves. Me, on the other hand, I believe in the person's own ability to change. So, I don't plan on changing anyone.

I might have gone off topic by now, I'll shut up...
 

Paisley

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I thought of saying this in my first response but didn't, I'd place the INFJ's introverted intuition as an immediate deductive response, and the INFP's introverted feeling as an inductive response; to a person, for example, just entering a room. The INFJ's response, is probably faster because they start at answer g and then go back to f,e,d,c,b,a to confirm answer g as correct. The INFP would start at a, and then induce b,c,d,e,f to confirm answer g as correct. INFJ's may get lost in the backtrack, but the answers always seem so self evident. INFP's build layers of fine complexity, that I, as an INFJ, find riveting and fascinating as well as long winded, drawn out, and sometimes boring. The difference between listening to a prophet speak about things that there is seemingly no evidence to support, and a writer who is painting a picture with words. This has happened you just don't realize it yet, vs., this might happen through these people's feelings and actions and this series of events. Nathan the prophet vs. William Shakespeare.

The INFJ's introverted thinking, IT or Ti if you will, is like a button that must be pressed a lot, not so much for yourself, but for the world around you so they can understand you. If the INFJ isn't pushing themselves and pushing that Ti button they're lost in defining themself and the world around them. It may be a tertiary function of the INFJ, but read books, be informed, stay on top of concepts and systems, and try not to get lost in the details. Fortunately my mom is an INTP, and did nothing but push my buttons for defining and answering all the time, and we truly frustrated each other as I made wild leaps that always needed clarification. A usual conversation was "But mom, why do I need to explain myself when I know the answer?" followed by "SHOW YOUR WORK DAMNIT, you're too smart for your own good!" (In typical INTP style)

As far as doubting myself, I think that's one of the reasons I'm here. I constantly feel alone (not lonely) in my ability, as no one gets it. Does that explain anyone here?

Wow, Jakuwhat, that really inflates my ego, I'm grateful to have moved you, and in the words of Steve Smith from Red Green, "Keep your stick on the ice, we're all in this together!"
 

Apollanaut

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Interesting question considering they get their abilities "to read people" from different places altogether it seems, from dominant right to inferior:

The INFJ is: IN, EF, IT, ES
The INFP is: IF, EN, IS, ET

INFJ's have a stronger introverted intuition, whereas the INFP's have a stronger introverted feeling. So on the one hand you have an empath almost capable of seeing things happen before they happen and on the other, one that is able to understand peoples feelings and ideals very quickly. The INFJ's ability is almost supernatural, and the INFP's is from a tuning so fine, no other type can feel it. By supernatural I mean, they've deducted several personality traits and characteristics as readily as the person entered the room, without even questioning them, like a mentalist or psychic, jumping from point a to point g, without explaining b,c,d,e,or,f, and then giving a response based on their feelings. By fine tuning, I mean an ability to process and read someones emotions with the same speed, however giving a response from a place of expressing intuition of that persons feelings.

Almost the same response, expressed in a completely different way. The INFJ's intuition is second nature and readily available in all matters all the time unlike any other, whereas the INFP's understanding of feelings is second nature as they are primarily interested in the ideal behind the object, and so read out of the person (infp) not into (infj). If that makes sense.

By all means disagree with me, but that's what the data seems to indicate.

A fantastic description, which accords well with my own knowledge and experiences of both INFJs (mostly myself!) and INFPs (various friends and my father). I further discern the presence of your tertiary Ti in formulating such clear and logical descriptions.

Oh, I've just read your later post where you discuss this. I didn't have the benefit of a Ti role model like yourself (my family is pure F) but I am a scientist, so I got to develop my Ti during my studies. Also I live with an ENTP, so there are plenty of examples there for me to learn from.

BTW, I've been asked if I'm psychic so often, I've given up trying to explain how my Ni works. Now when someone asks I simply reply: "Yes, I am!". It saves a lot of time and seems to make people happy!
 

bronte

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A fantastic description, which accords well with my own knowledge and experiences of both INFJs (mostly myself!) and INFPs (various friends and my father).


+1! So well put and in a way which validates and values both types :hug:
 

Paisley

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Apollanaut, FINALLY, someone who totally gets me! I not only feel things that are going to happen, but I'm up at night and can't sleep, for example, 3 days before the tsunami on the Indian Ocean, I was up at night and had this horrible feeling something bad was going to happen coupled with a deep sense of helplessness. No one knew why, it was Christmas, and didn't make sense. I've had dreams that in more than one case have come true. It's not so much that they happen all the time, because they are very rare, it's just that when they do, they are cosmic. So when people ask if I'm a psychic, I never go so far as to say yes, but simply, I dunno. Most of it, I take with a grain of salt, and don't put much stock in, but some of it affects me so personally, I barely have the words to express it.

And to Bronte, many hugs, especially for John Denver's "Grandma's feather Bed" avatar. LOL!
 

Apollanaut

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Apollanaut, FINALLY, someone who totally gets me! I not only feel things that are going to happen, but I'm up at night and can't sleep, for example, 3 days before the tsunami on the Indian Ocean, I was up at night and had this horrible feeling something bad was going to happen coupled with a deep sense of helplessness. No one knew why, it was Christmas, and didn't make sense. I've had dreams that in more than one case have come true. It's not so much that they happen all the time, because they are very rare, it's just that when they do, they are cosmic. So when people ask if I'm a psychic, I never go so far as to say yes, but simply, I dunno. Most of it, I take with a grain of salt, and don't put much stock in, but some of it affects me so personally, I barely have the words to express it.LOL!

Yeah, that's exactly how I am, too! There's a lot of discussion on this forum trying to explain Ni - how it isn't really mystical or psychic or whatever, and a lot of the time it isn't, but sometimes.....

I have had many prophetic dreams or visions in my life which later came true - often involving major disasters such as plane crashes, earthquakes and yes, the 2004 Tsunami, which actually came to me in a waking meditation several years before it actually happened.

Of course, skeptics could say that it's just coincidence, but the details in the vision were just too similar to the actual event for me to dismiss it in that way. At the time I had the vision, I "knew" that it was showing me something that wouldn't happen for years.

Oh, Wow!, typing this now, I'm getting that familiar tingle which precedes another Ni revelation. This one is telling me that there will be more events like the Asian Tsunami in the not-too-distant future, possibly even more destructive. The frustrating part for me is that there is nothing I can do about these images. I cannot say exactly when the events will happen (in the past it has varied from a few minutes to several years for them to occur).

There is no valid warning I can issue, nor any action I can take to do anything about them, save to trust my intuition to warn me to avoid a specific danger area at a certain time (this has happened in the past - I have a sort of "Spider-sense" for danger which I ignore at my peril).

Do you have that as well?
 

Anja

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I've also learned to "listen" to my intuition. It's been easy in the past to let others convince me I'm silly but I've ignored my intuition too many times in the past with unhappy conseqences to ignore it.

I have been given many messages over the years from my subconscious (or whatever it is.) Sometimes they're frivolous and other times serious. Some of them don't happen. Some have happened decades after the fact.

It rarely costs me any problem to pay attention and when my premonitions are accurate I am glad that I've been mindful of them.

I rarely discuss them anymore with Sensors because I got tired of my reality being discounted.
 

Paisley

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Spider-sense is a good way of putting it, because that's the feeling, usually followed with a great big, WHY, feeling. Why am I feeling this way? Is it something I ate? As it came out of the blue, and I have no earthly reason to feel this way. Then, lots of deductive and rational questions strongly trying to disprove the highly personally affecting feelings, I really don't want to feel. There's a difference between just dreaming, random and normal REM sleep, and one dream that you talk about and think about all day, week, month, years to come, that affects me, as though, the core of my innermost being has somehow been touched with an unexplainable reality, either in the past, present, or future...??....

Very burdensome, and unwelcome, when they do happen, at least to me.
 

nolla

Senor Membrane
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Hmm... that kind of spider-sense intuition I don't have. My mom does, though. She doesn't talk about it much anymore (probably because she has been in an institution and they might have made her more skeptical about it), but she used to. She had a "weird feeling" and then a big ship sunk on the baltic sea. She has sensed some people dying and so on...

My intuition is more connected to human behavior. Most of the time I know feelings other people have even if they don't show them at all. There are people who give me the creeps for no reason at all and then, if I am forced to spend a lot of time with them, they see that I see them and become really freaky when I am around. This "ability" has made me very critical about movies, actually. I can see so easily when an actor isn't really in the character that it has many times ruined my movie watching pleasure :)

Oh, I do have dreams that came true. They were all about very mundane situations. I have tried to figure out why I saw them, but haven't found any answers...
 

Neo Genesis

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Hmm... that kind of spider-sense intuition I don't have. My mom does, though. She doesn't talk about it much anymore (probably because she has been in an institution and they might have made her more skeptical about it), but she used to. She had a "weird feeling" and then a big ship sunk on the baltic sea. She has sensed some people dying and so on...

My intuition is more connected to human behavior. Most of the time I know feelings other people have even if they don't show them at all. There are people who give me the creeps for no reason at all and then, if I am forced to spend a lot of time with them, they see that I see them and become really freaky when I am around. This "ability" has made me very critical about movies, actually. I can see so easily when an actor isn't really in the character that it has many times ruined my movie watching pleasure :)

Oh, I do have dreams that came true. They were all about very mundane situations. I have tried to figure out why I saw them, but haven't found any answers...

This is all very true for me as well. Most of the time when I have those prophetic feelings, they're wrong. I’m fairly decent at judging people’s intentions, however. The problem for me is that I typically read people off of the vibes that they're sending, making it a very black and white situation, so occasionally I’ll be mistaken. It’s difficult for me to trust my intuition anymore, unless it’s a situation where it only affects me.
 

Paisley

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This is all very true for me as well. Most of the time when I have those prophetic feelings, they're wrong. I’m fairly decent at judging people’s intentions, however. The problem for me is that I typically read people off of the vibes that they're sending, making it a very black and white situation, so occasionally I’ll be mistaken. It’s difficult for me to trust my intuition anymore, unless it’s a situation where it only affects me.

Oops, I thought you were an INFJ, but your an INFP, so that makes sense that you don't experience it the same as us.

If you were an INFJ.....

Then I'd submit that you haven't experienced those feelings to the extent that we have, yet. Honing your tertiary Introverted Thinking is mandatory for making clearer intuitive assertions. One helps the other, and in our case, our IT, helps us a lot. In the dream or premonition, the subject is always secondary to the primary feeling of how it affects me. If I feel safe, then the message will lead to an understanding towards something to do with how I will feel safe. The feeling is always the guiding qualifier for deconstructing whatever the subject or image is. I may have a dream about a river and people are in the river, but it's the feeling of either peace or panic, that qualify's the objective insight that the dream is portraying. Normally, when I have had these dreams, it's often, fear, panic, anxiety, hopelessness, helplessness, and tragedy. Those are felt, almost apart, from the image and subject matter itself, like a disconnect from what is happening in the dream and the feelings about the dream. Very hard to explain. My mind often confuses images and subjects in dreams, and I can clearly tell apart those dreams with lasting significance, and the ones that are normal REM. I know by the definitive feeling qualifier. One touches the core of my being, the other does not.
 

Apollanaut

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OK, now I'm really spooked! I just got back from my lunchbreak, which I spent in the local mall. I was browsing in a bookshop when I felt drawn towards a corner I never usually explore.

Staring at me on the shelf was a huge hardback book with the title "TSUNAMI". Sure enough, it was all about the 2004 tsunami, literally minutes after our discussion here! When I opened the book it immediately fell open on a page discussing how a large tsunami could strike without warning in many locations around the world, possibly with even more casualties than in 2004.

At this point, I got one of those unmistakable Ni tingles down my spine; for me these are usually the hallmark of a genuine Intuition rather than a mere coincidence. :eek:
 
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