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Why do people pack-rat?

Are you a pack-rat?

  • Yes

    Votes: 9 60.0%
  • No

    Votes: 5 33.3%
  • Don't know

    Votes: 1 6.7%

  • Total voters
    15

sticker

New member
Joined
Jan 16, 2010
Messages
135
MBTI Type
ISTJ
Enneagram
6w5
Are you a pack-rat for your areas of interest? If so, what do you collect, to what extent do you go to amass them and why?

I was searching through the forums regarding people hoarding stuff and stumbled upon a rather relevant topic. http://www.typologycentral.com/forums/sj-guardhouse/3275-isjs-collectors.html
This came across as interesting as it seems like keeping/collecting things of interest seems like a very Si thing to do, yet I do see plenty of other non SJ types who collect them too. I guess the difference then is the reasons why people packrat, what they packrat and how they do so?





For me, I'm usually a minimalist in my external environment, I clear away things I don't need. However, I'm a packrat for things regarding my area of interests. The difference though, is that I mainly hoard and collect information.

Directly taken from Lenore Thomson's Personality Type book:
ISJs pursue their interests so intensively that they sometimes develop expertise of an esoteric sort, but they scarely know this is happening to them. One day they simply find that they know more than most other people about an obscure area of experience.
I can see that in me plenty of times, for many different interests. Some examples are:

- From the time I knew about typology, I started researching on it, reading up as many articles online about it as much as possible, taking plenty of online tests, read about what others have to say about it, borrowed books from the library, totally loving the information gathering aspect of it all. When I explained to my friends how to get the first 4 functions (and the order) and other topics regarding typology, they either said "You think too much." or "You are one scary person."

- When I started learning 3D modeling in school, I downloaded video tutorials online and borrowed books and cds from the library. The problem is, when I download a video tutorial, and see other links to more video tutorials dealing with other aspects of 3D modeling, I feel this itch to download them too, especially if it's part of the same 'series' of tutorials. Just in case and for the sense of completeness. Raz pointed out a very good point on Ventrilo too, that ISxJs obtain information just for the sake of obtaining it.

- I collect pictures of things I like. Cats. My picture folder for my favourite anime character is in gigabytes. I lost count on the number of different images I have... Maybe at least 5000? :wtf: When friends show me any picture of that character, 99% of the time, it's one I already have or seen. I had to burn them all onto a few dvds to clear up space on my laptop. I also ended up collecting physical items relating to that series, such as manga and merchandises.

Long story short, my information gathering mode never turns off.
Are there any non ISxJ members here who are like this too?
 

Totenkindly

@.~*virinaĉo*~.@
Joined
Apr 19, 2007
Messages
50,191
MBTI Type
BELF
Enneagram
594
Instinctual Variant
sx/sp
When I was younger, I had lots of accumulated garbage.
Learning to throw things out was a skill I acquired as an adult, only because I had to.

With me, it was:
(1) I like to "have access" to things that impulsively come to mind, if and when.
(2) I like a comprehensive view of things.
(3) Having these things increases my options; throwing them out directly feels like a reduction of options. (I think the truth is more counter-intuitive, though. Less can be more.)

Over my life I collected rubber erasers, wooden coins, stuffed animals, books, comics, trading cards, artwork, etc. But I tend to be a packrat; I just do not like to throw things out because I fear one day I would have found a use for them or need them. So it ties more into #3 above.
 

Lark

Active member
Joined
Jun 21, 2009
Messages
29,569
I'm a total clutter bug when it comes to books and I've regularly got to discard them or sell them or give them away or do something to free up space for more or other things.
 

cafe

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 19, 2007
Messages
9,827
MBTI Type
INFJ
Enneagram
9w1
I don't intentionally pack-rat anything besides books and a lot of the books I purposely keep are books I think another family member might want to read.

I still have a fair bit of clutter, though, because it's a boring, time-consuming job to sort, get rid of, and organize stuff.

INTJ daughter and E?T? son are not pack-rats, but the INTP husband, INFP daughter, and INTP son are pack-rats.

INFP daughter says she's worried that without the objects, she won't be able to hang onto the accompanying memories. I'm not sure how common that motive is.
 

Spamtar

Ghost Monkey Soul
Joined
Sep 1, 2009
Messages
4,468
MBTI Type
INTP
Enneagram
5w4
Fair fighting is honorable but less efficient. Nothing quiet as fullfilling like bashing in their nose from the side as they respond to your partner checking their lower kneecap. ;)
 

Vasilisa

Symbolic Herald
Joined
Feb 2, 2010
Messages
3,946
Instinctual Variant
so/sx
I was wondering if there was any evidence of personality types and hoarding. It seems like hoarding is getting a lot of attention lately, with all these television shows and now "celebs" are coming out. Dealing with hoarders is sooo hard, thats why I was curious if there was any way to make it easier to understand.

I mean no disrespect to this thread, I understand it is about collecting, which is not the same. I tend to be sentimental about certain things. Like saving love letters and keeping memory shoeboxes. But interfacing with hoarders has made me realize how important purging can be. Moving helps, too.
 

sticker

New member
Joined
Jan 16, 2010
Messages
135
MBTI Type
ISTJ
Enneagram
6w5
When I was younger, I had lots of accumulated garbage.
Learning to throw things out was a skill I acquired as an adult, only because I had to.

With me, it was:
(1) I like to "have access" to things that impulsively come to mind, if and when.
(2) I like a comprehensive view of things.
(3) Having these things increases my options; throwing them out directly feels like a reduction of options. (I think the truth is more counter-intuitive, though. Less can be more.)

Over my life I collected rubber erasers, wooden coins, stuffed animals, books, comics, trading cards, artwork, etc. But I tend to be a packrat; I just do not like to throw things out because I fear one day I would have found a use for them or need them. So it ties more into #3 above.
Ah yes, #3 too. Reducing a potential option or useful nugget of information is also one other reason I keep thinking 'just in case'.

I was wondering if there was any evidence of personality types and hoarding.
I was wondering that too, so I wanted to know if the reasons behind the action are different and fueled by other functions (e.g. attachment to objects for its sentimental value Fi and Fe), thus making other types susceptible to hoarding.

I mean no disrespect to this thread, I understand it is about collecting, which is not the same. I tend to be sentimental about certain things. Like saving love letters and keeping memory shoeboxes. But interfacing with hoarders has made me realize how important purging can be. Moving helps, too.
Nope, collecting and hoarding are considered in this thread's discussion, it's just the idea of someone collecting things (most likely in excess) on an area of interest. I do agree with moving houses, my mum had no choice but to throw out a lot of stuff when moving to a smaller house. :D
 

JoSunshine

That's my name biotch!
Joined
Dec 17, 2009
Messages
659
MBTI Type
eNfj
Enneagram
2
I saved things and felt like I couldn't throw things away when I was younger...I wouldn't even say to the point of being a clutter bug...but I still had a bunch of crap that I certainly didn't need and didn't really even want...I hung on to it becuase I was afraid that I would want or miss it as soon as it was gone.

Now if I don't need it or I don't want it...out it goes...even a lot (but not all, I keep what I deem "important") of the sentimental stuff. I have my memories and that's enough for me. For me, life is much easier with the occassional, "Damn, I wish I kept that _____!" than living in chaos everyday.
 

Valiant

Courage is immortality
Joined
Jul 7, 2007
Messages
3,895
MBTI Type
ENTJ
Enneagram
8w7
Instinctual Variant
sx/so
I hoard books. There are books everywhere in my apartment.
My parents are even worse. I think they have about ten roof to ceiling book cases and two smaller ones in a room they call the library, and then they have bookshelves and book cases scattered throughout the house as well, numbering at least as many in books.
Besides that, they've got metric tonnes of it in the attic.
INFJ mother and ENTP father with INTJ me, INTJ younger sister, ENTP older brother and ISFJ older sister...
All but my older sister (ISFJ) are total nerds.

Edit: crap, I forgot about the personal books of us "kids". Add a few hundred give or take. I've got more than I care to remember. ARfgh.
 

magil

New member
Joined
Jan 31, 2010
Messages
99
MBTI Type
EXFP
I pack rat so that when I'm old and have got nothing better to do with my time, I can go threw all my old stuff I've refused to throw away over the years which will sereve as a keys in unlocking all my wonderful memories of youth. :D That's the plan.
 

Queen Kat

The Duchess of Oddity
Joined
Apr 3, 2009
Messages
3,053
MBTI Type
E.T.
Enneagram
7w8
Sometimes I start collecting something, but after a while I get bored. When I was younger I collected gem stones, but later my mother (ISFP) had to finish that collection. She still loves doing it.
 
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