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E or I

INTJMom

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I spent several hours with a 23 year old male today.
I told him about the MBTI dimensions, and he was interested in knowing more.
He had trouble deciding if he was E or I.
It seemed like he was half and half.
Then I asked him how many friends he had in high school.
He said, "I had about 10 close friends, and about 30 floaters."
From what I know about MBTI, based on that information, I would say he is mostly E.
Is that a safe assumption, do you think?
I can't imagine an I saying, "I had 10 close friends."
I thought I've read they usually only have a few close friends.
Ten seems like too many.

(I think he's an ENFP, but obviously, I'm not positive.)
 

Metamorphosis

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I would definately say I. To me, it takes multiple one-on-one conversations to make someone a close friend, not to mention knowing them for an extended period of time, so having 10 is a little high (although, not a bad thing). ...and having 30 "floaters" seems like an E thing
 

ptgatsby

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One thing to watch out for is translating E traits and F traits. Liking people is not always a E trait.

I have a friend I had pegged, absolutely, for an E... but upon reflecting, I realised that his hypped up social life was really Fish. He actually prefers small close friends by a fair margin - often doing things with less than 4 people.

If I asked him how many friends he had, he'd have to take out his Palm to tell me. It'd take days.

As it is, I'm pretty sure he is closer to I than E (although in terms of personality, I'm pretty sure he's an X).
 

cascadeco

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I would guess the person was an E, simply because 10 close friends seems kind of high for an I, and him adding the phrase 'about 30 floaters' just seems...interesting to me. Makes it sound like he maintains a large social network.
 

Ghost of the dead horse

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Wouldn't make that question a decider; I'd ask more. Athenian200 suggested many, like the preferred group size.


10 friends sounds about right high for a male of that age and setting, considering he may be at about on the middle of the E/I scale. I'm not sure what "floater" means. 30 casual buddies sounds like something that might come from group settings rather than individual situations, and it's more of an E thing to consider most people in a group as your buddies.

mid-E/I could also reasonably separate people in to closer and farther groups; Intoroverted person would be more likely to only mention the closest people with affection and the other people unaffectionally.

I remember reading that the number of different social settings where the person participates is somewhat correlated with intelligence. The study didn't exactly point out number of friends/buddies tho, but it was more action/theme related.. like that if the person goes to church, computer club, plays baseball, etc, etc. If this is true, and a person gets to know more people in such different activities, the number of buddies might not only be related to E, but also to IQ. Just hypothesising tho.
 

Usehername

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but you have to consider more...
for instance, i was in a class of roughly 80 for 6 years; you get to know people, you grow out of friendships but still have a solid relationship with them if anything comes up that you want to talk to them about....

i had probably 25 close friends from high school, and was friends with all 80. b/c we grew up together. when i was younger, it was the jocks who i was friends with b/c of activities. as i got older, my friendships changed.


given the context of my high school, i don't think that's too unusual for an I to have that many friends. I just floated to a new social group a few times as I figured out who I was, making friends along the way.
 

INTJMom

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One thing to watch out for is translating E traits and F traits. Liking people is not always a E trait.

I have a friend I had pegged, absolutely, for an E... but upon reflecting, I realised that his hypped up social life was really Fish. He actually prefers small close friends by a fair margin - often doing things with less than 4 people.

If I asked him how many friends he had, he'd have to take out his Palm to tell me. It'd take days.

As it is, I'm pretty sure he is closer to I than E (although in terms of personality, I'm pretty sure he's an X).
Thanks for that.
That's an important thing to remember.

In that case, I may switch back to I, because he does tend to think before he speaks, and he's quiet.
But that would make him an INFP, and he doesn't believe any conspiracy theories.
It seems like the INPs I have known have at least one conspiracy theory they believe in.
Of course, that by itself doesn't decide anything.
Just muddying the water. :D
 

INTJMom

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He plays several instruments and likes to "produce" music recordings.
 

INTJMom

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but you have to consider more...
for instance, i was in a class of roughly 80 for 6 years; you get to know people, you grow out of friendships but still have a solid relationship with them if anything comes up that you want to talk to them about....

i had probably 25 close friends from high school, and was friends with all 80. b/c we grew up together. when i was younger, it was the jocks who i was friends with b/c of activities. as i got older, my friendships changed.


given the context of my high school, i don't think that's too unusual for an I to have that many friends. I just floated to a new social group a few times as I figured out who I was, making friends along the way.
You bring up an important point.
A few weeks ago, he told me that he is from a small town I am familiar with.
It's likely "everybody knows everybody" there.
 

INTJMom

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Wouldn't make that question a decider; I'd ask more. Athenian200 suggested many, like the preferred group size.

10 friends sounds about right high for a male of that age and setting, considering he may be at about on the middle of the E/I scale. I'm not sure what "floater" means. 30 casual buddies sounds like something that might come from group settings rather than individual situations, and it's more of an E thing to consider most people in a group as your buddies.

mid-E/I could also reasonably separate people in to closer and farther groups; Intoroverted person would be more likely to only mention the closest people with affection and the other people unaffectionally.

I remember reading that the number of different social settings where the person participates is somewhat correlated with intelligence. The study didn't exactly point out number of friends/buddies tho, but it was more action/theme related.. like that if the person goes to church, computer club, plays baseball, etc, etc. If this is true, and a person gets to know more people in such different activities, the number of buddies might not only be related to E, but also to IQ. Just hypothesising tho.
Thanks for referring me to that thread.
(I was being too lazy to go read it.)
mid-E/I could also reasonably separate people in to closer and farther groups
He must just be mid E/I like he said he was.
I guess I was trying to find which side of the line he falls on, but I guess it just won't be that easy.
 

substitute

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Quite a few ENxx's often need time alone just as any introvert does, especially ENTx's. An ENTJ for example might be sullen, hibernating occasionally and could be mistaken for an introvert. Personally I often need time to myself simply because being around people is like a sugar rush to me and sometimes it exhausts me always being 'on', so I need to be alone in order to not feel the pressure and expectations to 'perform' and be constantly accommodating. The constant adapting of ENxP's to our environment can sometimes leave us with a sense of needing time out to remind ourselves who we really are and get in touch with our secondary functions.

I'd say not to home in on whether someone likes being with people or not, because that could just as easily be about Feeling as Extraversion. I'd say to focus on what their primary function seems to be.
 

INTJMom

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Quite a few ENxx's often need time alone just as any introvert does, especially ENTx's. An ENTJ for example might be sullen, hibernating occasionally and could be mistaken for an introvert. Personally I often need time to myself simply because being around people is like a sugar rush to me and sometimes it exhausts me always being 'on', so I need to be alone in order to not feel the pressure and expectations to 'perform' and be constantly accommodating. The constant adapting of ENxP's to our environment can sometimes leave us with a sense of needing time out to remind ourselves who we really are and get in touch with our secondary functions.

I'd say not to home in on whether someone likes being with people or not, because that could just as easily be about Feeling as Extraversion. I'd say to focus on what their primary function seems to be.
I haven't studied primary functions, so I don't know enough.
I would say a lot of what he was saying was very intuitive feeling stuff.
Is that Ne or Fe?
 

Schizm

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I spent several hours with a 23 year old male today.
I told him about the MBTI dimensions, and he was interested in knowing more.
He had trouble deciding if he was E or I.
It seemed like he was half and half.
Then I asked him how many friends he had in high school.
He said, "I had about 10 close friends, and about 30 floaters."
From what I know about MBTI, based on that information, I would say he is mostly E.
Is that a safe assumption, do you think?
I can't imagine an I saying, "I had 10 close friends."
I thought I've read they usually only have a few close friends.
Ten seems like too many.

(I think he's an ENFP, but obviously, I'm not positive.)

Ambivert.
 

ygolo

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If I asked him how many friends he had, he'd have to take out his Palm to tell me. It'd take days.

My Dad is like that. One more reason I may consider him an INFJ (pretty sure he's an INJ).

Though, I had an acquaintance in High School who tested INTJ who is rather entrepreneurial and has a lot of people in his "network", with quite a large number that he has had regular contact with throughout High School, college, grad school, and his entrepreneurial escapades. I'd be surprised if he named less than 10 of them "friends".

I have more than 10 people I consider friends, and I am an introvert (I can go missing from family and friends for long periods, w/o realizing it). I recharge when I am by myself. Although, I may enjoy certain socializing, I find it drains me rather quickly. Also, idle "chatting" drives me batty, unless I'm in love with the woman doing the chatting.
 

TenebrousReflection

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Some interesting reading on I vs E...

INFJ or INFP? a closer look

I tried to find a good intro to cognitive processes, but I realized I learned the basics from books, and all the on line stuff that helped make sense of what was in the books "Please Understand Me II" by David Keirsey and "Was That Really Me" by Naomi L. Quenk. You could jump into reading at Understanding the Eight Jungian Cognitive Processes / Eight Functions Attitudes and try to piece things together as well.

I'll try to give an explanation and maybe it will make sense.

J/P determines which of the judging (F/T) or perceiving (N/S) processes is Extroverted. If you are a J, then you extrovert your judging process and introvert your perceiving process and the opposite of that for Ps. An INFJ, would extrovert feeling and introvert intuition. An INFP, would extrovert their perveiving process (INxPs both extrovert intuition)

E/I determines which of those is your dominant process.
For an INFJ, introverted intuition is their dominant process, and extroverted feeling is their auxiliary process. For an INFP, introverted feeling would be their dominant process and extroverted intuition their auxiliary process.

Your tertiary process is the same I/E as your dominant process, but uses the opposing value of your dominant process. for an INFJ that would be Introverted Thinking. For an INFP who's dominant process is introverted feeling, it would be introverted sensing.

Your inferior process (sometimes called aspirational process) uses the opposing trait of your auxiliary process (for INFJs that would be sensing, for INFPs it would be thinking). I've seen theories for it being the opposite and the same as the dominant process for I/E use.

Basically, if you can determine their dominant process, and their auxiliary process (which is not necessarily the same as their second most used/favored process) you can use the information at cognitiveprocesses.com to make a best guess as to their type and let them evaluate if it feels like a good fit to them or not.
 

substitute

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I haven't studied primary functions, so I don't know enough.
I would say a lot of what he was saying was very intuitive feeling stuff.
Is that Ne or Fe?

Could be Ne-Fi if ENFP, Fe-Ni if ENFJ, or the other way round if an introvert. Depending whether you thought he gives higher precedence to the feeling or the intuition, which one leads the other, would give you whether E or I.
 

INTJMom

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Could be Ne-Fi if ENFP, Fe-Ni if ENFJ, or the other way round if an introvert. Depending whether you thought he gives higher precedence to the feeling or the intuition, which one leads the other, would give you whether E or I.
Thanks.
 

INTJMom

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Some interesting reading on I vs E...

INFJ or INFP? a closer look

I tried to find a good intro to cognitive processes, but I realized I learned the basics from books, and all the on line stuff that helped make sense of what was in the books "Please Understand Me II" by David Keirsey and "Was That Really Me" by Naomi L. Quenk. You could jump into reading at Understanding the Eight Jungian Cognitive Processes / Eight Functions Attitudes and try to piece things together as well.

I'll try to give an explanation and maybe it will make sense.

J/P determines which of the judging (F/T) or perceiving (N/S) processes is Extroverted. If you are a J, then you extrovert your judging process and introvert your perceiving process and the opposite of that for Ps. An INFJ, would extrovert feeling and introvert intuition. An INFP, would extrovert their perveiving process (INxPs both extrovert intuition)

E/I determines which of those is your dominant process.
For an INFJ, introverted intuition is their dominant process, and extroverted feeling is their auxiliary process. For an INFP, introverted feeling would be their dominant process and extroverted intuition their auxiliary process.

Your tertiary process is the same I/E as your dominant process, but uses the opposing value of your dominant process. for an INFJ that would be Introverted Thinking. For an INFP who's dominant process is introverted feeling, it would be introverted sensing.

Your inferior process (sometimes called aspirational process) uses the opposing trait of your auxiliary process (for INFJs that would be sensing, for INFPs it would be thinking). I've seen theories for it being the opposite and the same as the dominant process for I/E use.

Basically, if you can determine their dominant process, and their auxiliary process (which is not necessarily the same as their second most used/favored process) you can use the information at cognitiveprocesses.com to make a best guess as to their type and let them evaluate if it feels like a good fit to them or not.
Thank you for explaining that.
I guess memorizing it is the hard part for me.
 

"?"

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One thing to watch out for is translating E traits and F traits. Liking people is not always a E trait.

I have a friend I had pegged, absolutely, for an E... but upon reflecting, I realised that his hypped up social life was really Fish. He actually prefers small close friends by a fair margin - often doing things with less than 4 people.

If I asked him how many friends he had, he'd have to take out his Palm to tell me. It'd take days.

As it is, I'm pretty sure he is closer to I than E (although in terms of personality, I'm pretty sure he's an X).
As an introverted thinking type, I usually can easily make the distinction between friend and acquaintance. I could not name more than five people throughout my life that I have considered friends. I am totally unclear why you would consider this person an introverted type. I probably could not name 30 people that I associate with in a year, with the exception of my co-workers.
 
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