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How to distinguish INTJ and INFJ

entropie

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i sort of like this, especially if you look at how NiFe and NiTe have a different idea about what "things" are. (things that ought to be know)

I cant help myself but I find the idea of knowing everything quite boring :D
 

nanook

a scream in a vortex
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I cant help myself but I find the idea of knowing everything quite boring :D

i have not yet downloaded ALL porn from the Internet, so ... (can't make a final judgment yet, but some patterns became apparent)
 
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violaine

Guest
i agree with your intj analysis, but the infj analysis is totally wrong. we do not and cannot compartmentalize anything, which is what makes it so fucking difficult to communicate our inner world, which is what we want to do MOST OF ALL.

altho this may have to do, also, with me being an enneagram 5w4 wing with an sx preference. revealing my inner world is what i feel compelled to do in life more than anything else, it is what i identify myself with, who i am, what i can do, how i can be seen, etc. vision is of such paramount importance, it is just never done, finished, completed. its articulation eludes me at all steps along the way. the desire to invent a new way of speaking.

we have spent so much time being disappointed that we could not communicate our holographs and technicolor images. we may, as a result, look especially recalcitrant and seriously walled off on the outside.

I do compartmentalize, if I am understanding the use of the word correctly. I never used to and I have to have been through a lot to get to that point. :/ I can keep things separated inside though if painful and when I just need to get through... I don't think it's the best way to be though (for me).

I also compartmentalize in that I tend to do what I want in life and I won't necessarily tell anyone about it. I keep my relationships quiet. I don't even tell my family most of the time until it is unavoidable. (I am very close to my family.) I don't like the scrutiny. It takes me out of my little world with my boyfriend.

I tend to keep my inner world to myself as well. Often times, I don't want to communicate what I think/feel/conceive/am pondering. Putting things into words is an unwieldy process. Unsatisfying and one dimensional. It lessens my enjoyment of the experience, especially if the person you are with isn't into the kind of things you are pondering.

(Though, there are not many things better than an exchange of ideas with someone where you can follow each others' trail and build/refine concepts and understanding together. :drool:)
 

TaylorS

Aspie Idealist
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so/sp
This is my experience with INTJ acquaintances, too. Not that they're unfiltered, but just that once they get started on a topic, they're so focused on following their train of thought that they don't pick up on other people's cues. The INTJs I know will sometimes keep talking long after their audience's interest has waned. INFJs seem to be much more attuned to how they're being perceived by others and will act accordingly, which sometimes means not expressing our thoughts. I think that's the reason there's a general perception that INFJs are so secretive. It's not always that I don't want to share (okay, sometimes it is), but often I won't if I don't get the sense that the other person is truly interested. In some sense, INTJs can sometimes be too uninhibited while INFJs are too inhibited. That's something, I guess?

Hmmm...this makes me wonder if I'm actually an INFJ, since T is usually the weakest preferences on most tests I have taken and my Asperger's could be making my extroverted judgment resemble Te when it's actually Fe, because unlike a lot of "aspies" I seem to just "know" when the other person isn't interested in what I'm talking about.

And to relate to what SolitaryWalker is saying, I definitely have "inner turmoil" issues.
 
S

Sniffles

Guest
There is no doubt in my mind that this is the type most affected by inner turmoil.

Very good post SW, and I'll add my agreement to the above especially. There's always some kind of internal battle going inside myself.
 

the state i am in

Active member
Joined
Feb 12, 2009
Messages
2,475
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infj
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sx/sp
I do compartmentalize, if I am understanding the use of the word correctly. I never used to and I have to have been through a lot to get to that point. :/ I can keep things separated inside though if painful and when I just need to get through... I don't think it's the best way to be though (for me).

I also compartmentalize in that I tend to do what I want and I won't necessarily tell anyone about it. I keep my relationships quiet. I don't even tell my family most of the time until it is unavoidable. (I am very close to my family.) I don't like the scrutiny. It takes me out of my little world with my boyfriend.

I tend to keep my inner world to myself as well. Often times, I don't want to communicate what I think/feel/conceive/am pondering. Putting things into words is an unwieldy process. Unsatisfying and one dimensional. It lessens my enjoyment of the experience, especially if the person you are with isn't into the kind of things you are pondering.

(Though, there are not many things better than an exchange of ideas with someone where you can follow each others' trail and build/refine concepts and understanding together. :drool:)

i think we compartmentalize our lives out of necessity, maybe. but that we don't want to, or that it takes us a long time to come to terms with and accept that (the image of compartmentalization feels melancholic to me). i know that my moods seem more ephemeral and slip along into other aspects of my life in ways that are much more pronounced than for most other types, ESPECIALLY intjs. who can compartmentalize and prevent contiguity, preventing the colours from bleeding across the lines, whose objective/destination is far more immersive and easily detaching.

i feel like the desire to transcend the bolded part is my biggest frustration and my highest reason for living. we want to communicate our vision and our grasp of complexity, beauty, truth, etc.
 
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violaine

Guest
^Yes, I think my compartmentalizing is a coping/reactive strategy rather than the way I normally approach the world in the first instance. I definitely feel all things crashing together the first chance I get if I have been keeping something painful at bay in order to work or fulfill some responsibility.

I agree the desire to communicate the inner world is there. I think I have just developed a very particular preference for expression. Most often in writing, (usually just for myself), often through what I do for work at those times I get to please myself, rarely in speaking with someone. Failing that I will keep it to myself.
 

entropie

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^Yes, I think my compartmentalizing is a coping/reactive strategy rather than the way I normally approach the world in the first instance. I definitely feel all things crashing together the first chance I get if I have been keeping something painful at bay in order to work or fulfill some responsibility.

I agree the desire to communicate the inner world is there. I think I have just developed a very particular preference for expression. Most often in writing, (usually just for myself), often through what I do for work at those times I get to please myself, rarely in speaking with someone. Failing that I will keep it to myself.

I am curious. Are you ever bored by analyzing yourself and wish for someone to find it out on his own or are you just fine with that being not true ?
 

maliafee

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Feb 10, 2009
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I have to share this because it's so cute.

When my mom (INFJ) had my older brother (INTJ) she said she'd hold him for hours and say things like "My boy," really softly, with him responding (as early as a 1 year old) "My mama." One day, he turned the tables on her and started saying, "My boy," with her instinctively answering, "My mama," -- and they did it that way from then on. Pretty interesting to me. So sweet though. Both just quietly loving. :D
 
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violaine

Guest
I am curious. Are you ever bored by analyzing yourself and wish for someone to find it out on his own or are you just fine with that being not true ?

Lol, nope. I love turning things over in my mind, I'm fascinated with my own conclusions. I sometimes feel that sharing certain ideas before they are fully formed dilutes them.

I like discussing certain things with someone like-minded or penetrating though.
 

entropie

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OK. I cant totally make my head around the fact that one on his own could possibly understand himself. For me it feels like founding a party and bring germany to war, if you have come to a decision about how things are totally by yourself.

But I know it first hand to some degree that INFJ have brilliant insights. I am just still wondering what the world needs me for then
 

Synarch

Once Was
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INFJ are better dressers. They also use more emotes.
 

Lauren Ashley

Revelation
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Lol, nope. I love turning things over in my mind, I'm fascinated with my own conclusions. I sometimes feel like sharing certain ideas before they are fully formed dilutes them.

Me too. In my head, boredom never exists.

But I know it first hand to some degree that INFJ have brilliant insights. I am just still wondering what the world needs me for then

For INFJs to kick?
 

Synarch

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Me too. In my head, boredom never exists.

This is probably the most interesting thing about INFJ's. They are like little jeweled eggs with clockwork and magic inside. INTJ is more like clockwork and more clockwork with sealed little doors that no one ever enters. For me, my mind is like a map from the 15th century. Many areas well known, but a large part is demarcated with "here be dragons".
 

Lauren Ashley

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This is probably the most interesting thing about INFJ's. They are like little jeweled eggs with clockwork and magic inside.

Like a Faberge egg to the nth power?
 
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