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[MBTI General] Are ISFPs more N-ish than INFPs?

OrangeAppled

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OA,
I don't think I have crap Ne. I require a hell of lot of intellectual stimulus, and my job is not routine at all, but I do have strong preference for things....and habitual quirks. I mean I've worn the same perfume since I was 17, but my life is not routine by any stretch of the imagination. I just have little anchors of farmilarity.

I would guess that everyone has a few habitual quirks or anchors of familiarity, but mine just don't define me as much as my pursuit of novelty. My INFJ is the one who orders the same thing at the same restaurant every time & shocks everyone when he finally changes it up. He changes slower, but then it will be a dramatic change.

I'm always doing new for the sake of new. That includes ideas, theories, etc. Once something becomes static to me, I'm moving onto something else. It will happen with Jungian theory also, as it has with any other ideas I've gotten hung up on for a time.....the less complex they are, the faster I move on too.

When I repeat something or stick with it long-term, I feel the need to change at least some details or see some other angle on it. If I don't, I feel trapped. It is very much about ideas though. The idea of something new motivates me more than a need for experience, if that makes sense. This is why I often enjoy the idea of newness more than the new experience itself. My Si comfort indulgence comes when I am stressed because of that; then, I'm spread too thin to risk the new.

So I definitely have some signature stuff I do, but even within that I vary the nuances. I mean, when I worked in an office, I'd take a coffee break nearly every afternoon, but I'd vary the shops I'd go to, the walking route I'd take to get there, the kind of coffee I ordered, etc. That's about as close as I got to routine, and I'd also attribute that to a caffeine addiction :D. I tend to do what my mood dictates, which throws a wrench into routine & planning.

The one area I like little change in is PEOPLE. I like the same, old people I am comfortable with, but discussing new ideas & experiencing new things with them. I do like to meet new people, but it gives me some anxiety, and I prefer 1-2 new people at a time in an otherwise familiar group. I think this is more related to shyness than MBTI type though.

EDIT: I will also say that I don't consider a preference for novelty in certain areas an indicator of Se/Ni or Ne/Si so much as he WAY person prefers to process that info, the REASON they pursue it, etc. It's the thinking behind the action that indicates the preferred cognitive process, IMO.
 

Thalassa

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honestly I think the strongest correlation with independence has to do with whether one has Fi or Fe :yes: Fe by it's nature is a very social function; Fi says "I do it MY way"
that's not to say that Fe users can't be independent, but if they are, they are independent via strong use of another functinon (say Ni, Ti or Ne).
that being said, the I think ISFPs are the most N of the Ss because they seem to be the most introspective. I think Fi kinda forces one to introspect and think of things conceptually because it needs to have it's own opinions/believes on things as opposed to adopting them like Fe users do (Ti probably does this as well in ISTPs) when I first got into MBTI, I had 2 ISFP acquaintances typed as INTJ :D

Yes I do think Fi can make someone fiercely break into a rendition of "My Way." It's one of the reasons very early on I suspected that a supposed ISFJ was actually ISTJ in an Si/Fi loop, and he is. Or rather, he was. He's using his Te more and more now and coming out of it a bit. So I can see how you could type ISFPs as INTJ (my first guess on my ISTJ was "oh you're ISFP not ISFJ what is all of this Fi you have!!!??" ....but as I got to know him, really know him, over time I saw that indeed he is SJ and Si dominant, but that it's just that he is a very strong Fi type rather than an Fe type...in fact Fe pisses him off so much he was ranting about his ENFJ co-worker the other day, and the details he described were a hilarious Te/Fe clash lol.)

 

Thalassa

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I don't know if they are more "N", however, ISFP's have struck me as the "N"est S's- sometimes it is hard to tell the difference between the two. ISFP's have that daydreamy quality to them.

Apparently ISFPs are most likely to mistake themselves for NFs.

However, I still think some ISFJs think they're INFJs.
 
R

ReflecTcelfeR

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I am pretty sure you're just witnessing those types within introverted loops. I would think that N's would be more interconnected because the whole theme behind intuition is to connect seemingly impossible objects to each other.
 

Elfboy

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I think what might have caused me think what I did in the OP is that ISFPs tend to be a little more assertive and connected with their gut, so they're usually more confident and direct about their individuality. INFPs tend to be more subtle and express it more agreeably.
 

Thalassa

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I think what might have caused me think what I did in the OP is that ISFPs tend to be a little more assertive and connected with their gut, so they're usually more confident and direct about their individuality. INFPs tend to be more subtle and express it more agreeably.

I think Se does tend to act on the external environment more strongly or in a more immediate way, making SFPs seem more direct or less concerned with other people perhaps...which is why I've kind of bought into the argument some have made for me...that while I have Te it's not always necessarily Te that makes me the way I am but in fact, Se. And it's mostly types with Te in a more prominent position that have said this to me.
 

Elfboy

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I think Se does tend to act on the external environment more strongly or in a more immediate way, making SFPs seem more direct or less concerned with other people perhaps...which is why I've kind of bought into the argument some have made for me...that while I have Te it's not always necessarily Te that makes me the way I am but in fact, Se. And it's mostly types with Te in a more prominent position that have said this to me.

I would agree with them. you're earthier than most ENFPs :yes:
as for NFPs, it seems like ENFPs often care less what people think than INFPs.
 

NegativeZero

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One of my best friends is an ISFP. He's very spontaneous and thrill-oriented, so he's fun to be with, but definitely not intuitive in any sense. I don't think the two would be confused because the auxiliary function is so patently different... extroverted sensing is so much different than extroverted intuition.
 

passingby

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I don't know... for me personally, intuitve means the deeper i dig into the person the more i find out that their thought process is original/unique and what not in the sense that one can cut through the thickness of surface reality and explore the unknown. It picks up patterns and creates foresights based on these patterns and then having some kind of trust in these conclusions without necessarily experiencing them. Isfps tend to be driven toward experience at first hand due to their Se so perhaps their Fi (gut instincts and what not) feeds on Se. But infps in my experience are generally more N than isfps.

When a person acts the way they do, i ask myself why? If an infp is co-operative, i'll be curious to know what's going on inside them. If an isfp is independent, i'll want to know what drives them to be as such. Simples.

Having said that, i know isfps that are more co-operative than independent and i know infps who are more independent than co-operate. And vice versa. It depends on the person. Being independent is a personal choice requiring certain processes to achieve the level of independence desired. I suppose different people opt for different types of independence-- some want social independence, others want financial independence, and then some just want to be independent with their lifestyle choices and all sorts.

Also, SPs tend to be socially tactful whereas NFs are socially diplomatic (even though these two are almost similar by definition, if you observe the difference closely you'll know why NFs come off as more co-operating than SPs who will come off as though they're much more willing to take the plunge in a situation or context).
 
A

Anew Leaf

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I would agree with them. you're earthier than most ENFPs :yes:
as for NFPs, it seems like ENFPs often care less what people think than INFPs.

lololololololololololol

If this is true then I guess I better start creating some threads asking for lots of external guidance on what type I am. :wink:
 

Elfboy

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lololololololololololol

If this is true then I guess I better start creating some threads asking for lots of external guidance on what type I am. :wink:

that's not quite the same thing. I'm talking about an emotional attachment to what people think. it's like the difference between

"I hope he likes me" vs
"I don't care if he likes me or not, but I want to know if he likes me"

it's caring about knowing what people think rather than the actual opinion itself.
 

Randomnity

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general trend: ISFPs seem adamant about most of the things that Ns are all about like independent thinking and not following the herd because they are highly introspective. INFPs can sometimes seem like Sensors because they tend to be service oriented and cooperative

Well there's your problem. You have a piss-poor idea of what N is and what S is. Doesn't that seem more plausible than "ISFPs are more N than an N"?

It is true that ISFPs will usually show more Ni than INFPs, and INFPs will usually show more Si than ISFPs. But N is not solely Ni, and S is not solely Si.
 
A

Anew Leaf

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that's not quite the same thing. I'm talking about an emotional attachment to what people think. it's like the difference between

"I hope he likes me" vs
"I don't care if he likes me or not, but I want to know if he likes me"

it's caring about knowing what people think rather than the actual opinion itself.

Ehl oh ehl. I care about what very few people think of me. The few that I do care about, I care about a great deal... but it still doesn't replace how I think and feel about myself. If a close family member or friend says, "dude, wtf are you doing here in this situation?" I will take their observation under consideration and check it over to see if there is something I need to address. If I don't see a reason to modify my behavior, then I don't. But if I see, oh duh! I have been so blind to this side of myself, I need to up my A game, etc... then I will take it seriously and work at being better at it.

And with your example... how does that even apply? If someone is interested in someone else they usually are hoping that the person reciprocates regardless of personality type, it's human nature.
 

Elfboy

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Well there's your problem. You have a piss-poor idea of what N is and what S is. Doesn't that seem more plausible than "ISFPs are more N than an N"?

It is true that ISFPs will usually show more Ni than INFPs, and INFPs will usually show more Si than ISFPs. But N is not solely Ni, and S is not solely Si.

I think you got that impression because I worded the thread title terribly (which is my fault)
I was going to name it "Do ISFPs exhibit more directly observable N characteristics and seem more outwardly N than INFPs" but I got lazy and made the thread title was is now.
my thoughts currently are that the Tertiary Function is probably used more deliberately and doesn't have the subtle, natural quality of the Auxilary and Dominant functions which can manifest in more subtle, less obviously apparent ways. of course, this is just a theory
 

Randomnity

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I think you got that impression because I worded the thread title terribly (which is my fault)
I was going to name it "Do ISFPs exhibit more directly observable N characteristics and seem more outwardly N than INFPs" but I got lazy and made the thread title was is now.
my thoughts currently are that the Tertiary Function is probably used more deliberately and doesn't have the subtle, natural quality of the Auxilary and Dominant functions which can manifest in more subtle, less obviously apparent ways. of course, this is just a theory
My main point was that you are expressing ideas about what "directly observable N characteristics" are that are well, wrong. Pretty much none of the things you mentioned in your OP are S or N traits.
 

Elfboy

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Ehl oh ehl. I care about what very few people think of me. The few that I do care about, I care about a great deal... but it still doesn't replace how I think and feel about myself. If a close family member or friend says, "dude, wtf are you doing here in this situation?" I will take their observation under consideration and check it over to see if there is something I need to address. If I don't see a reason to modify my behavior, then I don't. But if I see, oh duh! I have been so blind to this side of myself, I need to up my A game, etc... then I will take it seriously and work at being better at it.

And with your example... how does that even apply? If someone is interested in someone else they usually are hoping that the person reciprocates regardless of personality type, it's human nature.

actually that's sort of what I was trying to get at. my theory is that INFPs desire opinions from less people but take them more seriously while ENFPs desire to get opinions from several people but view it more impersonally. in a sense, ENFPs view the opinions like subjective data and aren't particularly attached to the opinions one way or the other, they just want to see what other people think and why they think that way. at the route of it, the desire is purely to see if anyone can provide them with more useful information. INFPs seem to want more "guidance" than data points. of course, like I said, this is just a theory
 

Elfboy

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My main point was that you are expressing ideas about what "directly observable N characteristics" are that are well, wrong. Pretty much none of the things you mentioned in your OP are S or N traits.

I didn't specify that correctly either (sorry, my Ti sucks. I really need to work on it lol)
I was stating traits that show correlations with S/N more than traits directly related to S/N.
for example, a much lower percentage of Intuitive types "follow the herd" if you will. that's not saying that Sensors are herd animals that run off the cliff together, but what it is saying is that Intuitive types are more introspective (this trait however is a direct result of Intuition, though it can also come from Ti or Fi). introspective people are more likely to come to their own decisions and thus follow the crowd much less of the time.
Sensors on the other hand, aren't necessarily blind followers, but they are more likely to think "no need to reinvent the wheel" so to speak. thus, it might seem more logical to follow the decisions of the group in less important situations as long as it works.
 

Randomnity

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I didn't specify that correctly either (sorry, my Ti sucks. I really need to work on it lol)
I was stating traits that show correlations with S/N more than traits directly related to S/N.
for example, a much lower percentage of Intuitive types "follow the herd" if you will. that's not saying that Sensors are herd animals that run off the cliff together, but what it is saying is that Intuitive types are more introspective (this trait however is a direct result of Intuition, though it can also come from Ti or Fi). introspective people are more likely to come to their own decisions and thus follow the crowd much less of the time.
Sensors on the other hand, aren't necessarily blind followers, but they are more likely to think "no need to reinvent the wheel" so to speak. thus, it might seem more logical to follow the decisions of the group in less important situations as long as it works.
.....

I understand what you're saying, but it's still not true....
 

mrcockburn

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Ni seems more "N" than Ne does - to me, at least. Ni digs in deep to extract the entire meaning, whereas Ne seems to bounce around and skim the surface. ISFP has Ni, INFP has Ne.
 

lunalum

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^ I'm surprised this wasn't mentioned earlier. There is still sometimes the mistake of looking out for something more Ni-ish when looking for an N preference. What they are really looking for is any introverted function, not iNtuition. And then with ISFPs having Ni as tertiary, there is sometimes the mistake of "Ohh wow look at this person's really deep, mysterious side. They must be very intuitive!" Whereas the same untrained eye might not pick up on the N preference of the ENxP saying things like "ooh! look how awesome....let's see what happens if I do this!" Ne is about breadth and externally dependent by definition, and sometimes those things are mistakenly assoicated with Sensing. Someone with this bias might ironically mistake an INFP on the mode of sillybounciness and looking for adventures with other people an an SP. So ya...

N =/= depth
N =/= independence
S =/= ditsy and superficial
S =/= adventures and "sensation seeking"
 
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