Can you tell?

[fetus]

Something I've come across is people trying too hard to be a certain way. This is "poser" behavior IRL. I can tell who's goth and who's trying to be goth. It's clear to me.
The same thing happens online with type. I've noticed that some people are trying so hard to be a type that they're not. They make everything about their type and even speak in tropes or saturated stereotypes. Yet they're convinced they are. Sometimes they even convince others.

Someone trying to be an INFP might constantly be like, "I'm such a dreamy person! I'm quiet and I want to be alone, I'm super abstract, I never want to live in the real world, I love journaling and thinking! I have strong core values!" You can read their statements and see them breaking it down letter by letter, function by function, or, in extreme cases, repeating type descriptions.

Perhaps I understand this because I used to do it to some extent, before I started delving deeper. So one-dimensional and fake, even without trying to be. Some are even blind to it. So deceived. Why do people do this? Is it a connection to 3, with the image obsession? And can you tell when someone is doing this?

 

[á´…eparted]

Yes I notice the difference more often than not, though sometimes the individual doesn't even know they're doing it and it can make it very hidden. It's most commonly seen in the late teen years and tends to fade in their early 20's but not always.

Essentially there is a big difference between "This is me!" and "I will assert my identity!". The latter is annoying, but I only regard it as a problem is if it has other effects beyond just that, because otherwise it's a learning experience for the individual (i.e. they are trying to figure out who they are). Though I'd be lying if I said I am welcoming to it; I tend to put a distance between myself and these individuals until they start to relax.

 

[Dreamer]

Something I've come across is people trying too hard to be a certain way. This is "poser" behavior IRL. I can tell who's goth and who's trying to be goth. It's clear to me.
The same thing happens online with type. I've noticed that some people are trying so hard to be a type that they're not. They make everything about their type and even speak in tropes or saturated stereotypes. Yet they're convinced they are. Sometimes they even convince others.

Someone trying to be an INFP might constantly be like, "I'm such a dreamy person! I'm quiet and I want to be alone, I'm super abstract, I never want to live in the real world, I love journaling and thinking! I have strong core values!" You can read their statements and see them breaking it down letter by letter, function by function, or, in extreme cases, repeating type descriptions.

Perhaps I understand this because I used to do it to some extent, before I started delving deeper. So one-dimensional and fake, even without trying to be. Some are even blind to it. So deceived. Why do people do this? Is it a connection to 3, with the image obsession? And can you tell when someone is doing this?

Oh there are many reasons why people may do this. Actually, I would argue that everyone goes through this phase more or less, it's just pronounced more in some. I do recognize when someone isn't being genuine, but to know what that genuine self is, I'd have to dig deeper to discover who they really are. Instead, their persona just feels "off", but I can't immediately replace it with another persona I feel they should be acting out. To ask someone to be genuine is actually very difficult for some as they, usually adolescents, are figuring themselves out, and where and how they fit in the world. This process can take years for some too. I wouldn't ask some one to rush this process either as it can be damaging to their psyche. Rather, recognize it for what it is, and allow them to breathe. This is why so many teens go through phases, styles, etc. I wouldn't quite call it ingenuine, but trying on new clothes. A new persona for them to try on a while to see if it fits. In the end, people tend to find something that sticks, which might be a combination of various styles rather than sticking to just one.

So, to try an answer your question as to why people do this, I'm afraid I just don't have the space here to go through all the possible reasons. What makes typology challenging though, is that the language used to describe the functions and the types tend to remain very similar between people, because that is the accepted means through which people accept the theories. You can change the terminology all you want, but is the underlying meaning or definition altered by those swapped words? Perhaps to a degree, but the understanding of the functions are always going to be slightly varied between person to person to begin with simply because there is no way to measure the functions and identify them systematically. It is a theory after all.

So to wrap up this lengthy reply, there are many, many reasons why someone may claim and act as a type they may not actually be, and secondly, when applying that question to typology, it only makes it more difficult since we're dealing with a collection of subjective understandings of the functions and types, so people on this forum will have one variation of what makes an "INFP", and another person will have a slightly different variation of what it means to be an "INFP". You can put together the collective understandings of the types, and then reduce them down to a series of commonalities, but at that point, it's still only going to then be some agreed upon subjective image.

Ugh ok...I'm done
(my brain has been left unused this whole past week of any abstract stimulation, so this post was necessary for me. Thank you!)

 

[Lady Lazarus]

Yes. As one unfavorably connected to 3 and therefore a perpetrator on those grounds, maybe I’m more sensitive to it. But I would be hard pressed to call it a “takes one to know one” scenario as it’s not as if they’re obscure about it so it does take me aback that anyone thinks (though in actuality the better word is "says") it’s organic and sees absolutely nothing off about a person rattling off perfect archetypes.

Is that sort of thing operating under the assumption that the person in question seems to be exclusively describing their experiences or rather defining their experiences by way of a typological lens because they’ve finally got the lingo they’ve been searching for or…?

I have seen those who appear to want to reinforce their own typing in a manner less direct, thus have an alternative agenda, buy into it too. Because there's this whole other, superficially similar people as the defining parameters thing going on here a lot and that's the detrimental by-product.

Or maybe it’s a sort of "doctor-patient", diagnosis style, discourse type thing in play, and that context is why such things aren’t seen as strange?

Or perhaps it’s just a collective matter of politeness going way over my head.

Otherwise, I hope no one in real life actually talks to you the way the convincing do to the extent that you think it’s natural, else you have far too many poor quality interactions.

Ultimately though I think those who do this have their reasons. Be it insecurity, weakness, or simply the only sin on this list: being e9. So, aside from having no right to judge, I hesitate to condemn and take something away from someone who might need it to recuperate (in a manner alternative to etype levels anyway). Not that I want to endorse misuse of personality systems either but I think that whoever actually wants something from this will drop that sort of thing in order to get it and those who are unwilling to let go of their security blanket identity attachments will not get to learn horrible things about themselves. Their loss.

Of course I am biased, although I'm not saying I want any of that mindset to be applied to me. I won't have it. But if someone somehow managed to make this into a witch hunt (I don’t see how, it’s too scattered to be catchy and universally agreed upon a-la my precious Fe) I wouldn’t play as much as my modicum of Caulfield-esque sensibilities are predisposed toward certain things.

But I would watch with popcorn because chaos is always funny.

There go all my allotted words for the month.