[NF] NF professors

[Thalassa]

I think one of my professors was a really fussy, older INFJ. We did not get on well, believe it or not. She was very sensitive, easily moved by the pain of others, taught a class on the Holocaust, and was one of those Shakespeare-obsessed people. You'd think I would love her, but she was so persnickety and self-righteous and obsessed with grammar that I found her to be one of my least favorite English professors while in college.

I had another prof who I think was either INFJ or INTJ who was younger and had this really cool, dry sense of humor. I loved her to death, but she may have been INTJ not INFJ. She was extremely....unexpressive, like she was so good at being dead-pan, that I'm inclined to lean INTJ.

For me, personally, I think academia is not a place I want to be. I'm even afraid to go to grad school as a student because I've heard about so many people becoming depressed and despondent there, not to mention that I find the pretentiousness of academia annoying.

On the other hand, at one point I did imagine I wanted to be a professor because it seems to provide more creative control than being a public school teacher.

 

[Devil Flamingo]

I've considered it, and I'm still considering it, in fact. I'm not sure yet if it's something I simply wanna do at some point in my life, or if it's something I definitely want to do as a career. Either way, I'd be teaching Spanish (my first lang, hurr durr) and/or maybe a couple Linguistics courses, like Historical Linguistics, or Spanish Linguistics (i.e. a linguistics course in Spanish about Spanish). But we'll see, I guess; while I can see myself being a prof, and a pretty good one if I do say so myself, I want to try or consider other stuff first. I like to keep my options open. :3

 

[Intricate Mystic]

I'm planning to get a MFA degree in painting in the future, and then look for a more conservative college that would be interested in hiring me to teach traditional art techniques. The combination of speaking to the class as a whole, but then shifting to talking to students one-on-one during the class to help them in their approach to art-making is appealing to me as an introvert.

 

[EJCC]

My mom is a college professor. All her students love her. A couple of years ago she was walking down the hall and people went down on their knees and bowed to her. It was like the Dead Poet's Society or something

Edit - to answer the OP, she's on the keyboard faculty at a state university music department.

 

[Elfboy]

I think one of my professors was a really fussy, older INFJ. We did not get on well, believe it or not. She was very sensitive, easily moved by the pain of others, taught a class on the Holocaust, and was one of those Shakespeare-obsessed people. You'd think I would love her, but she was so persnickety and self-righteous and obsessed with grammar that I found her to be one of my least favorite English professors while in college.

I had another prof who I think was either INFJ or INTJ who was younger and had this really cool, dry sense of humor. I loved her to death, but she may have been INTJ not INFJ. She was extremely....unexpressive, like she was so good at being dead-pan, that I'm inclined to lean INTJ.

For me, personally, I think academia is not a place I want to be. I'm even afraid to go to grad school as a student because I've heard about so many people becoming depressed and despondent there, not to mention that I find the pretentiousness of academia annoying.

On the other hand, at one point I did imagine I wanted to be a professor because it seems to provide more creative control than being a public school teacher.

I can relate to the whole INFJ thing. it would seem on the outside like ENFPs and INFJs would be like peanut butter and jelly, but oddly enough, it's often more like oil and water. INFJs are extremely emotionally delicate and sensitive and frequently perceive ENFPs (especially ENFP 4w3s like us) as self absorbed and vain (personally I don't see what's so bad about either of these lol). my dad is an INFJ and he is offended by pretty much anything I say that isn't completely goody 2 shoes, positive and agreeable. I mean, let's face it though, 4w3s (especially if they're ENFP) just aren't agreeable people (most agreeable people to me seem non authentic and unwilling to find the truth of things). he also hates my brutal self honesty the same way I hate his guilt tripping and wishy washy emotions. Don't get me wrong, I've met some wonderful INFJs who made great conversation and were some of the most intelligent people I've ever met, but other INFJs just make me want to myself.
INTJs on the other hand I pretty much always like. every INTJ I've met was extremely open minded, witty, honest, and never was offended by anything (I love NTs for this reason. even other NFs get so pointlessly offended sometimes)

 

[Thalassa]

I can relate to the whole INFJ thing. it would seem on the outside like ENFPs and INFJs would be like peanut butter and jelly, but oddly enough, it's often more like oil and water. INFJs are extremely emotionally delicate and sensitive and frequently perceive ENFPs (especially ENFP 4w3s like us) as self absorbed and vain (personally I don't see what's so bad about either of these lol). my dad is an INFJ and he is offended by pretty much anything I say that isn't completely goody 2 shoes, positive and agreeable. I mean, let's face it though, 4w3s (especially if they're ENFP) just aren't agreeable people (most agreeable people to me seem non authentic and unwilling to find the truth of things). he also hates my brutal self honesty the same way I hate his guilt tripping and wishy washy emotions.

Yes, I think this pretty much sums it up! It's one of the reasons why I just don't think I could be INFJ even if I get that result occasionally on some tests. It just doesn't make sense - I'm too brutal and often am perceived as being offensive and self-absorbed by some FJs. Not all of them, of course.

Don't get me wrong, I've met some wonderful INFJs who made great conversation and were some of the most intelligent people I've ever met, but other INFJs just make me want to myself.

Same here! I really love some INFJs and even admire them, wish I had their self-restraint and social tact, but others I just want to run far, far away from ...screaming bloody murder.

INTJs on the other hand I pretty much always like. every INTJ I've met was extremely open minded, witty, honest, and never was offended by anything (I love NTs for this reason. even other NFs get so pointlessly offended sometimes)

Yes, I think INTJs are much more difficult to offend (mostly, but not always) and seem to be more taken aback by open displays of emo than anything else.

 

[skylights]

yeah. certain INFJ (two profs) have been confusing to me in the past because to me it seemed like there was a mismatch between the way they claimed to feel and the way they behaved. like, they would seem very strict and rigid (J), and really not interested in others (I), but claim to be warm and empathetic inside (NF). that comes off as deceitful to me - if you don't behave in an understanding or even genuinely interested way on the outside, then i have no reason to believe you're really as compassionate as you claim inside. so then their talk about other people in a compassionate way would just come off as fake and whiny. plus i really don't get Ti at all. and then on the opposite side of the coin, i'm sure they saw me as warm and fuzzy outside (E/Fi) but moralistic and unyielding inside (Fi), especially when debating with Te.

fortunately thanks to an excellent INFJ professor and in discussing with INFJs on this forum, i understand this better and know all of these perceptions are just that - perceptions - but it makes a lot of sense in terms of the existence of tension.

 

[the state i am in]

i feel like i can fall into this category as listed above. not everyone gets imagined from the inside out. i feel like Fi types don't do this either, but they have a more stable framework of personal values that is more grounded in registering emotions as truths. we register conceptualizations as truths and use those to identify with the context of others situations based on exterior things.

also, e5s like me tend to miss a lot of social information. i feel like a jerk today, actually. i'm trying to monitor this shit better, but i keep missing the mark, and it's difficult not to feel too badly about it when i do. it's so much easier to avoid it, because it's easy to overlearn and the knowledge i have isn't really the issue (tho sometimes i can be just oblivious to basic social facts as well). it's more so that i'm kind of out of the moment and don't respond very fluidly in the moment when i am deeply immersed in my own mind, like i am sitting in the back row of a stadium and ican't quite see waht's going on on the field.

i think it's also, in my case, being an sx/sp, i have a natural tendency to objectify others (into desired objects/contents). i think sx types in general have a tendency to do this and this is part of their selfishness. i think i annoyed an infp friend of mine the other day when we got breakfast with an intj friend of ours bc i started talking to the intj about something the infp obviously didn't care about and kept talking about it for a few minutes. i didn't even really notice until i was driving home and i was like, he seemed kind of off, wait, that might have been because of what i was doing!! i mean, there were parts of the conversation that i was simply out of bc i didn't know anything or have any interest/relevance, and while i usually don't really like that, i think i'm okay with it. so i don't know.

i do care about people, but it is not as focused on an individual level for most people. some people i identify with strongly in some way and i care about them very much. others i care about them as an abstract idea of humanity. i feel like a systems analyst. i have a deep compassion for plight, for conflict, for issues of the self and all its remainders, for inner struggle, for tough decisions, huge overwhelming desires, for a specific sphere of life, sx intensified self-seeking issues, i guess. the enneagram has been really helpful for making more things not like me feel like my own, like i could identify, but i can't identify a lot of the time. i'd never be able to get anything done. i'd always be losing myself. and, as a e5, there's no way i can be an e2. that's not what i'm meant to do, i can't overidentify with the feelings of others (instead i underidentify). it provides usefulness when it becomes non-attachment (more fluidly circulating through feelings) rather than detachment (more avoidance, when it's just a pressure pushing us out of ourselves and what we know). i don't even have enough emotional self-awareness to know if others think i'm warm or cold. i think i am way more extreme than most people, and pretty reserved in general unless i am deeply passionate or thawed by honesty, sincerity, real expressiveness, very strong trust, and faith about the integrity and authenticity of the interaction. if not, i'm kind of stiff and formal in general (with regards to how i conduct myself). i wish it were easier to flow better and be more free.

 

[Thalassa]

yeah. certain INFJ (two profs) have been confusing to me in the past because to me it seemed like there was a mismatch between the way they claimed to feel and the way they behaved. like, they would seem very strict and rigid (J), and really not interested in others (I), but claim to be warm and empathetic inside (NF). that comes off as deceitful to me - if you don't behave in an understanding or even genuinely interested way on the outside, then i have no reason to believe you're really as compassionate as you claim inside. so then their talk about other people in a compassionate way would just come off as fake and whiny. plus i really don't get Ti at all. and then on the opposite side of the coin, i'm sure they saw me as warm and fuzzy outside (E/Fi) but moralistic and unyielding inside (Fi), especially when debating with Te.

fortunately thanks to an excellent INFJ professor and in discussing with INFJs on this forum, i understand this better and know all of these perceptions are just that - perceptions - but it makes a lot of sense in terms of the existence of tension.

I think my INFJ professor saw me as the devil.

Other people in the class noticed it, too.

My outspoken nature was not appreciated.

She also was really mean about telling people in the class that their ideas weren't original enough or had been done before. It was like, "Wait. This is intermediate Expository Writing, and not everyone in this class is even an English major."

 

[Neutralpov]

I am doing research for my masters this semester (9 hours original research required for one) and it is not me. It is removed, no loving on people and just not my tea cup. Professors at the university are very pressured for newsworthy research at University of Texas. Constantly proving themselves and teaching is a background. I prefer the teaching so I would rather be a "practitioner" as they call us master's peeps who teach without going on to PhD.

Edit: Marmie the cat eating ice cream made me lol pretty hard and the ice queem pun. That is my cup of tea- Cheeeesy pun.

 

[Tricksie]

I've been a professor, in women's studies and Asian studies. I currently work more in advising--love engaging with students and "teaching" them, whether in the classroom or in advising sessions. Love seeing minds open and students become more of who they are. I do love being in the classroom--miss that in my current job. But love my job.

I do NOT like research much. Too solitary, too detail-oriented, too unrewarding for me. I do like presenting on my research, though.

 

[chocolatethundaa]

My current plans are to study chem and performing (maybe literature) arts and then convert one into a high school level teaching degree. Mostly due to how much I lesbian some of the key teachers if had and desire to become such an inspiration and help to kids who are just like me when it comes to schooling.

 

[Ethelred the Unready]

I'd love to be a college professor. Currently I'm a teacher in a private language school. I teach small groups (2 to 10 people), I have students from all walks of life, aged from 13 to 65, and it' s wonderful to talk to so many different people and learn from them...

I absolutely adore my job

The funny thing is I became a teacher purely by accident...

 

[musttry]

I am an INFJ and I am planning to begin my Ph.D. next year. I also want to be a college professor, just like in the video

However, my masters is in marketing and have been working as an analyst for nearly 4 years. I wish to do a ph.d in management and I am confident (perhaps naively), that I will be able to use my ph.d to become a professor or a consultant.

 

[garbage]

I teach at the graduate level from time to time

Mostly computer science, artificial intelligence, and modeling.

It's great when you have like four students and can just hold somewhat of an open discussion about the subject matter