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[INFP] What's a high-functioning INFP like?

momoness

New member
Joined
Jan 12, 2012
Messages
33
How does an INFP who has learned to use their primary functions well come off? I am in a funk in my life right now, and want to come out better, stronger.
 

momoness

New member
Joined
Jan 12, 2012
Messages
33
Here are some of my ideas how they're like:

- a healthy INFP knows how to use her/his extraverted intuition to generate ideas, solve problems and situate themselves in social situations in a slick manner.
- a healthy INFP accepts the Higher Calling in life and refines their conscience whether it's to solve problems in the world or daily problems.
 

Ene

Active member
Joined
Aug 16, 2012
Messages
3,574
MBTI Type
iNfj
Enneagram
5w4
Here are some of my ideas how they're like:

- a healthy INFP knows how to use her/his extraverted intuition to generate ideas, solve problems and situate themselves in social situations in a slick manner.
- a healthy INFP accepts the Higher Calling in life and refines their conscience whether it's to solve problems in the world or daily problems.

I know an INFP like this. In fact, I didn't recognize her as an INFP until I really got to know her and analyzing her, but she is the most well-rounded, highly developed INFP I have come across. She teaches a program for gifted and talented children and is constantly working to improve the quality of education for children in rural communities. She has found her "higher calling" and is living up to it. She's a quiet and gentle force to be reckoned with.

Also, she is probably about 60 and is planning to retire soon. What a great loss to our community that retirement will be. She's moving to Florida.
 

Azure Flame

Permabanned
Joined
Aug 26, 2010
Messages
2,317
MBTI Type
ESTP
Enneagram
8w7
A high functioning INFP actually knows how to access their frontal lobe in the event that they enter a recursive temporal emotional reaction.

When feelers get emotional, usually their temporal lobe is activated. If they can catch themselves and start questioning their own behavior, their frontal lobe activates. Thus, an INFP becomes less sensitive to perceived criticism and is able to prevent themselves from giving off unnecessary emotional reactions. The same applies to other feelers.

Feelers also benifit from dating thinkers because thinkers are more prone to ask questions and get to the bottom of the emotional reaction. When you ask another person a question, such as "what are you afraid of?" it forces the person to think and analyze themself, which places them into their frontal lobe and the emotional reaction dissipates as it no longer builds upon itself and the person's cognition is no longer restricted to their temporal lobe.

An INFP who learns how to access their analytical side, is going to be much better defended against extroverted sensing, which is often very forceful and aggressive in its use, a weak spot for INFP's.
 

Rasofy

royal member
Joined
Mar 7, 2011
Messages
5,881
MBTI Type
INTP
Enneagram
5w6
Instinctual Variant
sp/sx
I knew a woman whom I believe was a 9w1 INFP. She had the highest grades among about 400 students during her high school senior year, and our school was be the best of the state at the time.

She had a pretty eccentric voice. It was kinda monotone, though calming in a way. She was an yoga enthusiast, and was constantly involved in volunteering.

She used to be a colleague in my English classes, and then we went to the same Law School (predictably, she got approved in 1st place).

She was pretty much a perfect human being. Kind, caring, accepting, trustworthy, and everyone seemed to like her. She was fairly attractive, but her clothes rarely highlighted her physical atributtes.

Function-wise, she seemed to have a strong Si usage, like she had silenced her Ne. She usually looked distracted, in a passive contemplation kind of way. Once in a while, a teacher would think she was sleeping in class.

She was so pure and without malice that she looked like a saint at times.
 

OrangeAppled

Sugar Hiccup
Joined
Mar 20, 2009
Messages
7,626
MBTI Type
INFP
Enneagram
4w5
Instinctual Variant
sp/sx
Most INFPs I've met over the age of 50 have been high-functioning & pretty cool all around. The ones who are less high functioning still function pretty well, but have had more turbulent life circumstances which I think has held them back (ie. divorce, ill children, etc).

As the age, INFPs get more comfortable in their own skin - aka confident in who they are. They get out of "Fi-Si" loops of lamenting what is & what has been & feeling doomed to never fulfilling potential. They use Ne more to connect inner ideals to potential ways those ideals can manifest. Basically - they get out more & DO more :D .

As for emotions - MORE expressive. More comfortable with emotions & less needing to hide vulnerability. Less worry of invalidation - not needing to carefully have it all reasoned out in advance so as to make a defense, but knowing they can if necessary. The Te self-critic has been shushed. Te is just for organizing drawers now & paying bills on time. There is a security in the soundness of their ideals, stability with their identity (strip away shame), and sureness in their own abilities to do what they need to do.

To me, this is the positive Si - a stabilizing of one's own "place" in the world. They find their niche, calling, cause, whatever you want to call it. They have a grasp of "how it's done", although absent-mindedness and creative approaches are still there. It's more like a sureness they can figure it out as they go (confidence in Ne).

They assert their needs more clearly, are less apologetic about needing &/or, er, existing. They seem to know they have something to contribute that's of value to the world. Inspiring, motivating, healing to others. They're not motherly (even if moms)....they're like some cool aunt who is way more honest with you about life than your parents would ever dare to be. They know themselves so well, that by just being them they help others find who they are. I find this heartening, as that's more the person I would like to evolve into, as far as options go.

And the female INFPs are usually artfully and/or elegantly dressed. Sometimes kinda wacky too. I had an art professor who I am sure is INFP and she looked like Patti Smith :D . She taught art (obviously), was a working artist with her stuff in galleries & with reviews in papers & stuff, was an animal rights activist, infused her students with enthusiasm for art, was very "motivating", but also had a grasp of negative realities without being bogged down in them. A lot of BALANCE basically. They basically find a way to communicate their value-concepts in ways that enrich their lives & the lives of others. They lead by example a lot, quietly.

And no, they don't look like ISTJs or ENFPs - they're possibly more readily identifiable as INFP. When I see the inferiors differentiated (or what I am calling that), they don't become equal in the mentality as the dom/aux. In fact, they almost seem to subside (stop trying to compete with the preferred functions..? feel less antagonistic...?), but appear to take on minor, supporting, positive roles in the person's mind. It's like, as the person is more conscious of this as a part of themselves & stops trying to repress it, they find a niche for it, so it's still subject to the dominant. I think this is the "balance" that results - NOT making people into one blob with no distinguishable preferences or personalities (which experience should teach us is not real).
 
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