[INFP] how an infp is perceived by the general public...

[GirlFromMars]

The most common ones for me are:

Moody, sad, aloof, in a daze, illogical,too quiet, crazy, weird, alternative, deep,spiritual, sensitive, good listener/advice giver, loyal, a b!tch, selfish, caring, overly emotional, creative, obssessive, morbid, rude (read introverted and/or too lost in thought to notice you at that time),lazy, disorganised, loner, clingy, jealous, cute, awesome, funny, nice when she wants to be, who cares.

 

[JustHer]

 

[GirlFromMars]

Shit, how could I have forgot "Emo"

 

[nanook]

man on the street:
"harmless little guy over there, ask him for the way."
"weak guy, threaten him, take all his money. he will cry and he wont even call the police"

women in a dark tunnel:
"shaky, has outgoing body language, might be drunken or attack you in some psychotic way"

a doctor:
shaky
insecure
friendly, smiling a lot and softspoken
tries hard to appear submissive, but ends up predicting and impulsively controlling my perception of him, by chiming in.
probably paranoid

people at work:
non-independend
cant be expected to obey the rules or the protocol since he
messes up details and considers rules to be such.
keeps his views as a secret, which probalby indicates arrogant judgements.
verry earnest, grim and sad probably indicating that he hates being with us.

first impressions of people who are allowed to get to know me in a private setting:
such people are calm behaving people, usually introverted.
very outgoing/approaching people see the withdrawing closed up self that coworkers see.

spaced out a lot, often not in tune with group conversation
but totally perceptive if approached directly
goes out of his way for you to the point where you might feel guilty about having such an impact on him
stands awkwardly in a room, moving alot, going from corner to corner, sometimes standing in the way, jumps out of the way as if it was a skateboard trick. makes 480 turns instead of 90 turns. apparently very unconformable about taking space.
very sensitive
extremely understanding
communicates concepts with clarity
sometimes joins the group conversation in order to mediate understanding between two people
has a bad memory (confused seeking of some language elements)
never knows what he wants, not even what he wants to drink or eat. usually says "no" to avoid such decisions.
is caring, in the moment
but not the guy you lean on, or plan to rely on, since he is too adaptive, too reacting, too shaky.
rather unpredictable
understands any kind of humor
spontaneously reacting to given moment (beware of estp shadow)
'a good sport' in such a case (ongoing process)
often too carefull and to foreseeing to be spontaneous about offered options. (very picky about agreeing about future plans/options, if they imply social complications with third parties. otherwise carelessly agreeing)
often tense or agitated, physically controlled (laughs rather silently, hides open mouth)
often hard or impossible to read, as most of what he says is adapted to the situation.
does not talk about himself, unless asked. may make jokes to get away with vague answers.
humble, underachieving/selfdeprecating about his character/persona but confident about his mind/vision/understanding.
does never shout out thoughtless judgments about anything.
... makes you wonder where he stands.
but experience shows you can hardly say the wrong thing.
displays emotional vulnerability with proud and concentration. (may cry a single tear, staying physically calm. will not wipe the tear away. can cry and smile at the same time). own vulnerability or compassion with someone else are witnessed in the same calm way.

 

[Andy]

First off, let me appologise, because I'm about to upset a lot of INFPs, and I hate to be rude, but it does relate to the topic of the thread.

I hate to say it, but the biggest problem I've ever had with INFPs isn't that they are intimidating, or weird. It's that they bore me witless . (PS, I censored that sentance. I had originally intended to use another word that ended in -itless.).

So many of them don't seem to realise that I not interested in morale debate, and try to engage me in some issues that is important them, but tedious to me. If they feel the need to discuse such things, then fair enough, but I do wish that they would choose their target audience a bit more carefully, i.e. someone else.

It's a shame really, because we were often getting along fine up until then. Then the "debate" starts, and I'm left trying to find a way to excuse myself and leave without looking like a calous asshole who tramples over other people feelings willynilly.

Please don't do this to me any more.

 

[Wiley45]

Haha. This ought to get interesting.

 

[Kastor]

Most common for me are: reserved, aloof, quiet, shy, weird, intimidating (wtf?), serious, sad, and a good listener.

My friend from school recently said that, 'You seemed kind of intimidating and quiet, but I could tell that you were different somehow.'

 

[GirlFromMars]

First off, let me appologise, because I'm about to upset a lot of INFPs, and I hate to be rude, but it does relate to the topic of the thread.

I hate to say it, but the biggest problem I've ever had with INFPs isn't that they are intimidating, or weird. It's that they bore me witless . (PS, I censored that sentance. I had originally intended to use another word that ended in -itless.).

So many of them don't seem to realise that I not interested in morale debate, and try to engage me in some issues that is important them, but tedious to me. If they feel the need to discuse such things, then fair enough, but I do wish that they would choose their target audience a bit more carefully, i.e. someone else.

It's a shame really, because we were often getting along fine up until then. Then the "debate" starts, and I'm left trying to find a way to excuse myself and leave without looking like a calous asshole who tramples over other people feelings willynilly.

Please don't do this to me any more.

Different strokes for different folks.

 

[Scott N Denver]

First off, let me appologise, because I'm about to upset a lot of INFPs, and I hate to be rude, but it does relate to the topic of the thread.

I hate to say it, but the biggest problem I've ever had with INFPs isn't that they are intimidating, or weird. It's that they bore me witless . (PS, I censored that sentance. I had originally intended to use another word that ended in -itless.).

So many of them don't seem to realise that I not interested in morale debate, and try to engage me in some issues that is important them, but tedious to me. If they feel the need to discuse such things, then fair enough, but I do wish that they would choose their target audience a bit more carefully, i.e. someone else.

It's a shame really, because we were often getting along fine up until then. Then the "debate" starts, and I'm left trying to find a way to excuse myself and leave without looking like a calous asshole who tramples over other people feelings willynilly.

Please don't do this to me any more.

Having spent a lot of time around NTJ's, this is EXACTLY the feeling that I got from tons of them. Hopefully needlessly to say, the same feeling often goes the other way as well.

 

[Wiley45]

I've always gotten along fairly well with the INTJ's I know, and they don't seem to be bored by me most of the time. I think they're some of the most fun and interesting people to talk to, although once in a while conversations get a little exhausting. (I think when I was younger we would not have hit it off at ALL. I took everything super seriously and was overly concerned about moral issues.)

ENTJ's, on the other hand, usually annoy me. I've had a lot more trouble relating to them and vice versa. Then again, I know fewer ENTJ's in RL and the one who first comes to mind is an arrogant, stubborn ass who tries everyone's patience.

Also, as long as we're on the subject of how INFP's are perceived, I also have had people who don't know me well get offended because they think I'm glaring at them. In reality, I just get lost in my thoughts and don't realize what my face looks like. Heh.

 

[aeon]

In general, my sense is that I am considered to be friendly and affable when I am out and about in public, e.g., grocery shopping. I have engaged with strangers about this or that when the mood strikes me, and I am almost always met with a smile and return engagement. I don't tend to space when I am out in public so I don't get that slackjaw 1000-yard stare thing going.

I once sang a part of a 3-part harmony of Extreme's "More Than Words" with two total strangers (1 female, 1 male) in a check-out line because - well, I don't know. The song was playing on the overheads and I met eyes with these people and it just started.

That's the only time in recent memory when I have let my freak flag fly. Most times I am keeping to myself.

I have the sense that I am well-liked, but I think and feel part of that is because I like other people and it shows.


cheers,
Ian

 

[Andy]

Having spent a lot of time around NTJ's, this is EXACTLY the feeling that I got from tons of them. Hopefully needlessly to say, the same feeling often goes the other way as well.

Yeah, I noticed that, despite my attempts to be polite. Such is life.

 

[Wiley45]

I expected INFP's to freak out over being called boring and give us a good show. No such luck.

 

[hazzle92]

Haha, where do I begin? hmm

Ok simply:

Odd - I really think people don't get me, they don't know what to say to me, there's always an air of awkwardness, which leads nicely onto:

Intimidating - Only really introverted or really extroverted people talk to me, everyone who's inbetween seem scared. The extreme introverts talk to me because they understand me since they're similar, and extreme extroverts are fearless and will talk to anyone.

Aloof - People find me distant I'm sure, I don't look people in eye and can space out a bit where I block out the conversation around me, if I get interested in the conversation they're often surprised when I talk..sometimes a lot...

I've been called boring sometimes, by supposed 'friends', which made me feel awful to be honest.

 

[OrangeAppled]

Looks like an SP to me

I expected INFP's to freak out over being called boring and give us a good show. No such luck.

Who cares what some INTJ thinks . I think I come off as dull, but I think that's because I don't talk and take a long time to warm up....but engaging people in "moral debates" ? It sounds like someone is mistyping people. How many INFPs are that aggressive? I avoid moral debates as much as possible.

 

[KDude]

From the little I know, I think the shy ones are cute and kindhearted, if a bit spacey. I like it.

 

[Snuggletron]

INFPs would have more colors in their hair and would look more depressed than that.

also, they would not show other people their wrists!

 

[Rhapsody]

Once people get to know me, the often tell me how their perception of me changed dramatically from their first impressions.

Oh yeah, I get this a lot, too. The more people find out about me, the more surprises they get.

I hear a lot of "women don't like me" from a lot of women that I know.

What types do most women like to see in other women, then?

I've never had problems with other women, but I know a lot of women who do, and it's a phenomenon that really intrigues me. There isn't any one type I prefer to see in other women. Over the years, my best female friends have been INTJ, ENTP, ENFP, and ISFJ, and I've had less close female friends of many other types.

I hate to say it, but the biggest problem I've ever had with INFPs isn't that they are intimidating, or weird. It's that they bore me witless.

Haha, personally I'm not offended by this (no one can be interesting to everyone) although I'm sorry your INFP friends bore you. I have often wondered how INTJs feel about having their tertiary Fi engaged in conversation. I don't usually do the whole moral debate thing, but I do often communicate with IxTJs at the level of Fi by talking to them about their deep personal emotions/experiences and sharing my own. Communicating with my tertiary Si gets tiring pretty quickly, so I can see how this would wear on an IxTJ ... although my IxTJ friends never seem bored by it ... hmm ... maybe I can't read people as well as I think.

 

[heart]

I hear a lot of "women don't like me" from a lot of women that I know.

What types do most women like to see in other women, then?

I don't really know. I only know that the close female friends I do make in offline life have been ISFP, ISTJ or INTJ.

 

[Lacey]

I expected INFP's to freak out over being called boring and give us a good show. No such luck.

Meh, I already know how boring I am.

....but engaging people in "moral debates" ? It sounds like someone is mistyping people. How many INFPs are that aggressive? I avoid moral debates as much as possible.

Yeah, I wondered about that too. (But who knows...I know 2 INFPs in real life, including myself, haha.) I really hate debating with people, because in my mind it feels like a "conflict". It's really uncomfortable for me.

The emo thing always amuses me. I listen to some "emo" music, but geez...I am too lazy to do my hair and makeup like that everyday. hahaha