[ENFP] ENFPs, do you ever feel more like SPs or NTs than NFs?

[Elfboy]

I'm certain my function order is Ne-Fi-Te-Si, but a lot of the time, I don't really relate to NFs and feel more like an SP. sometimes I just wanna cut loose and not take life too seriously and some of the things NFs say make me wanna vomit it's so cliche (no offense intended, but seriously, you know it's true lol)
being that ENFPs are a pretty dynamic, versatile type, do you guys ever feel more like SPs or NTs (or SJs)?

 

[King sns]

My thought process can change, yeah. I think I mostly feel like an NF in my natural state. A lot of times I can mold to the people around me, and I think the most pleasant and easy change is an SP. So if I'm around SP's, (specifically at work where a lot of lightening up is needed), I will easily adopt that. Sometimes it's just nice to be out in a hurricane without listing all of the ways I can die

 

[Qlip]

I don't know that I feel like anything. But people have suggested that I might be either NT or SP in the past. The SP maybe from that I have learned to how to 'cut loose' and am interested in visual aesthetics. The NT probably comes from the fact that I can go technogeek. Type really shouldn't be taken too seriously.

 

[animenagai]

I do think that there's a myth that F's, Fi users especially are emotional all the fucking time. Most of the time I'm in my room doing philosophy readings or just messing around in general. Not much to get pissed about.

 

[Elfboy]

I do think that there's a myth that F's, Fi users especially are emotional all the fucking time. Most of the time I'm in my room doing philosophy readings or just messing around in general. Not much to get pissed about.

that stereotype offends me so freaking much lol

 

[Dialetheism]

Confirmation Bias ="It is the peculiar and perpetual error of the human understanding to be more moved and excited by affirmatives than by negatives." --Francis Bacon. CB runs rampant on MBTI sites. Honestly it's more than a little frustrating. Dependent on my mood and at any time in my life, I have been capable of acting like any of the types, and people evolve over time as well into different types. Anyone is capable of being as cold-hearted and logical as an INTJ, anyone can be as silly as an ESFP, and anyone can act like an ENFP it that is what they aspire to. I have found that people who have really "dug in" to MBTI are sorta typists and frequently take a know-it-all approach with those who disagree. You are a human being, capable of a great variety of feeling, thought, experiences and choices, with the only limiting factor being your attitude. We exist more in the gray area then black and white.

 

[alcea rosea]

ENFP's with strong Se of who have grown in "Se" environment might be seen as SP. A ENFP growing up might use Se as an outlet for Ne (as I did as a child). Se feeds Ne, I think. On the other hand, I don't think there are "normal" ENFP's. We're all different, but alike in some things, and that is why there isn't a typical ENFP at all. There are just people who share similar traits on some parts of their personality.

 

[AgentF]

ENFP's with strong Se of who have grown in "Se" environment might be seen as SP. A ENFP growing up might use Se as an outlet for Ne (as I did as a child). Se feeds Ne, I think. On the other hand, I don't think there are "normal" ENFP's. We're all different, but alike in some things, and that is why there isn't a typical ENFP at all. There are just people who share similar traits on some parts of their personality.

interesting. i grew up in a very NT environment and have also spent my career in one. as a result i think i present more like an ENTJ in business settings.

or so i thought, until Steve Jobs died and i had to present to a venture capitalist the next morning. when asked about the inspiration for my current product, i teared up. i knew i'd be asked this question going into the meeting and positioned the tissues nearby. (you'd think emotion would have negatively impacted our business discussions, but the VC got choked up, too. my awesome [and slightly alarmed INTJ] investor redirected the discussion while we dabbed at our eyes.)

all quite highlarious in retrospect. i mean, who makes VCs cry?

ENFPs.



p.s. happy monday <3

I have found that people who have really "dug in" to MBTI are sorta typists and frequently take a know-it-all approach with those who disagree. You are a human being, capable of a great variety of feeling, thought, experiences and choices, with the only limiting factor being your attitude. We exist more in the gray area then black and white.

beautifully put. +1.

 

[Zarathustra]

Type really shouldn't be taken too seriously...

... says the guy not too sure of his type.

 

[CzeCze]

interesting. i grew up in a very NT environment and have also spent my career in one. as a result i think i present more like an ENTJ in business settings.

or so i thought, until Steve Jobs died and i had to present to a venture capitalist the next morning. when asked about the inspiration for my current product, i teared up. i knew i'd be asked this question going into the meeting and positioned the tissues nearby. (you'd think emotion would have negatively impacted our business discussions, but the VC got choked up, too. my awesome [and slightly alarmed INTJ] investor redirected the discussion while we dabbed at our eyes.)

all quite highlarious in retrospect. i mean, who makes VCs cry?

ENFPs.

I don't think this is that strange. Since I also live in 'high tech capital' I drove past Apple headquarters after Steve Jobs passed and there was a steady stream of people visiting the little memorial set up for him outside their building. Well into the wee hours.

When I last worked in a corporate environment I thought it was one of the most bizarre workplace environments because there was an undercurrent of "LOVE your job" (in the feelery sense) and the CEO would give these highly emotional and whimsical speeches as well as pleas to employees. It was very confusing for me. I would have preferred either a straight "business is serious business" vibe or else a "let's hug everyone because people's feelings are more important than meeting quarterly projections" vibe. I think for an Fi user who wasn't really plugged into the company's brand or corporate culture, I was a fish out of water. I think an Fe user, regardless of whether or not they cared about the company Kool-Aid would would be much better able to navigate.

 

[Qlip]

... says the guy not too sure of his type.

Well.. good thing I don't take it too seriously then.

I'm not actually very type confused. ENFP has described my inner processes best, so it's my type I guess. My recent (and unvoiced) questions about MBTI is trying to understand the scope of the useful application of the theory, especially when it comes to predicting behaviour.

 

[Zarathustra]

I'm not actually very type confused. ENFP has described my inner processes best, so it's my type I guess.

Am I confusing you with someone else, or didn't you call yourself an ISFP 6 months ago?

My recent (and unvoiced) questions about MBTI is trying to understand the scope of the useful application of the theory, especially when it comes to predicting behaviour.

It's not meant to predict behavior.

It only describes certain ways in which we process information.

These ways can tend to correlate to certain behaviors, but there are too many other factors in play.

One's genetics, socio-economic background, life experience, enneagram, et al, all factor into who one is and what one does.

 

[AgentF]

I don't think this is that strange. Since I also live in 'high tech capital' I drove past Apple headquarters after Steve Jobs passed and there was a steady stream of people visiting the little memorial set up for him outside their building. Well into the wee hours.

in our context, certainly not: the mourning continues and rightfully so. what a loss. (i've thought about starting a thread on the intersection of design, tech and leadership, using his biography as the initial backdrop...)

anyway, howdy, neighbor! :hi:

When I last worked in a corporate environment I thought it was one of the most bizarre workplace environments because there was an undercurrent of "LOVE your job" (in the feelery sense) and the CEO would give these highly emotional and whimsical speeches as well as pleas to employees. It was very confusing for me. I would have preferred either a straight "business is serious business" vibe or else a "let's hug everyone because people's feelings are more important than meeting quarterly projections" vibe. I think for an Fi user who wasn't really plugged into the company's brand or corporate culture, I was a fish out of water. I think an Fe user, regardless of whether or not they cared about the company Kool-Aid would would be much better able to navigate.

this would also be an awesome topic to explore in another thread...so much b.s. in corporate environments. i'm on my 4th company and, tbh, have not yet found a model of leadership that addresses this. two of the most effective* CEOs i know irl are somewhat Wizard-of-Oz-like in their leadership approach. you'd think their employees would mind but they're quite happy. it may be industry-specific (these are highly profitable videogame companies. and how could they not be happy? one has a hot tub at the office and check out working conditions at the other ).

anyway. back to the thread: i think one of the last phrases that would be used to describe me in the workplace is "feeler." (this from a woman who has affixed a pair of tiny golden bells to her favorite fringed boots so she sounds like tinkerbell when she walks. ETA: i don't wear those bitches to work.)

<-- and how many of us did a happy dance when we discovered this emoticon?! well...i did anyway.



*effective = profitable, have had 2+ exits, low employee attrition.

 

[Qlip]

Am I confusing you with someone else, or didn't you call yourself an ISFP 6 months ago?

The last year has been explosive for me, growthwise. I may have considered ISFP as a type, and it may have been 6 months ago and at other's suggestions. I believe the only time I've ever actually called myself a type was INTP and ENFP. I had a very tentative INFP phase. Anyway, in my mind it graphs like a strongly conclusive straight line progression.

It's not meant to predict behavior.

It only describes certain ways in which we process information.

These ways can tend to correlate to certain behaviors, but there are too many other factors in play.

One's genetics, socio-economic background, life experience, enneagram, et al, all factor into who one is and what one does.

If it wasn't meant in any way to predict behaviour then I think we are all misuing it terribly here. I don't see why anbody would even give MBTI, or any kind of theory or classification system any time of day unless it gave them some insight on how we or others might behave in future situations.

 

[Zarathustra]

If it wasn't meant in any way to predict behaviour then I think we are all misuing it terribly here. I don't see why anbody would even give MBTI, or any kind of theory or classification system any time of day unless it gave them some insight on how we or others might behave in future situations.

There's a difference between giving "some insight" into behavior and predicting behavior.

I most certainly think it gives some insight into behavior.

(I do, however, think many, not all, terribly misuse it on here.)

 

[Qlip]

There's a difference between giving "some insight" into behavior and predicting behavior.

I most certainly think it gives some insight into behavior.

(I do, however, think many, not all, terribly misuse it on here.)

Which is why I'm still trying to.. as I said, "...understand the scope of the useful application of the theory, especially when it comes to predicting behaviour.", i.e. What can it contribute to the process of predicting behaviour?

A lot of my questions have to do with how accurate MBTI is. It is one thing to call myself ENFP, because there are essentially 16 buckets of how people think and anybody will most likely be more like one than any others, but you can classify things by all kinds of arbtrary catagories. What matters is the usefulness of the catagories. Also, the nature of ascertaining somebody's cognitive functions seems very fuzzy because it's internal. And, how much of the validating theory is actually confirmation bias? I'm not sure how to answer these questions without getting a bead on my own cognitive functions, but then again, I have to ask myself those same questions. This is the point where I decide not to take it too seriously.

 

[Cloud of Thunder]

As I've said before, I'm not entirely sure whether I'm INFJ or INTJ, but much of the time I relate more to the cool-headedness of NT than the effusiveness of NF.