• You are currently viewing our forum as a guest, which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community, you will have access to additional post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), view blogs, respond to polls, upload content, and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free, so please join our community today! Just click here to register. You should turn your Ad Blocker off for this site or certain features may not work properly. If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us by clicking here.

does type change over time?

quietgirl

New member
Joined
Sep 29, 2007
Messages
401
MBTI Type
INFJ
Isn't there a theory that you develop your functions at different rates? For example, my childhood would be very Ni dominated. Adolescence is when I was working on my Fe. Currently, I'm in my Ti stage through adulthood. Later in life, I'm supposed to work more on my Se? I feel like I read that somewhere & I honestly agree with it.

If, theorectically, that is the way the functions develop then I bet my type seemed to shift a bit throughout the years. It's also why if I take an online test, I'll occasionally test INTP - I'm supposingly in the developing my Ti stage.

Who knows if it's true, but I figured I'd throw that out there.
 

ps646566

New member
Joined
Oct 23, 2007
Messages
32
MBTI Type
INTJ
Probably it does change for many people, and certainly the degree of 'extremism' of various characteristics will. We often hear said about someone older that "they've mellowed with age", and that is evidence of this. Firstly there is pressure to conform, especially in the work environment. Employers would like everybody to fit their mould -- the co-called 'stable extrovert'. Anyone not blending to the mould may be brainwashed into believing that there is something fundamentally wrong with them. So many people will aim for this 'perfect personality' in order to advance in the organisation. Secondly you find that life gets easier if you modify your behaviour somewhat -- be more outgoing, avoid speaking out of turn, be more organised and punctual, be more assertive -- whatever it may be. In time these changes become so entrenched that it appears that the personality has changed. In many cases however in times of difficulty or stress the underlying traits will come to the surface and people will 'revert to type'. What we need is a world where people's individual strengths are played to, rather then one where square pegs are hammered into round holes.
 

Gabe

New member
Joined
Nov 17, 2007
Messages
590
MBTI Type
ENTP
I believe that type 'changes' for people who still have a fairly caricature-based idea of it. Really though, people just stay the same 'type' and evolve within that. That's how the psychology is supposed to really encompass someone's personality: two people of the SAME Type from different backgrounds will still obviously look like different people.
To really 'Change' your type, you'd have to flip your archetypes or something: because with the types are associated ways of viewing things that are instinctual to that type: the hero, the parent, the tendency to react angrily to non-preffered functions.
If you could just "become" another type one day, then it seems like the whole psychology wouldn't be any better than some kind of "What high school stereotype are you" online quiz.
 

alicia91

New member
Joined
Nov 20, 2007
Messages
671
I believe it can change, just how much I'm not sure. I believe that we are 'shaped' by events in our lives and the people that we interact with - OK, call me a bit of a behaviorist!

Anyhow, as you can see in my signature I am 55/45 Introvert and Extrovert. When I was young, I'm sure it was the reverse - but I've mellowed with age. ;)
 

DaRick

New member
Joined
Oct 19, 2007
Messages
100
MBTI Type
INFJ
Enneagram
4w5
I agree it's possible for your type to change, but not drastically going from one extreme to another. There's no way I'll wake up a year from now an ESFP.

Yes, so do I. It is more likely that your type will progressively change during your teenage years and into early adulthood, due to the onset of mood swings (particularly in my case), peer pressure, increasing intelligence and social awareness, greater economic-related desires (may be new, trendy clothes) and so forth. For instance, I went from a probable INFJ as a 13-year old, with strong I and F functions, to an INTJ, with strong I and J functions. Your type can also change when you are stressed or experiencing a heavy workload, as put forth by some websites. In this case, I turn into an ISTJ.
 

Totenkindly

@.~*virinaĉo*~.@
Joined
Apr 19, 2007
Messages
50,187
MBTI Type
BELF
Enneagram
594
Instinctual Variant
sx/sp
Yes, so do I. It is more likely that your type will progressively change during your teenage years and into early adulthood, due to the onset of mood swings (particularly in my case), peer pressure, increasing intelligence and social awareness, greater economic-related desires (may be new, trendy clothes) and so forth. For instance, I went from a probable INFJ as a 13-year old, with strong I and F functions, to an INTJ, with strong I and J functions. Your type can also change when you are stressed or experiencing a heavy workload, as put forth by some websites. In this case, I turn into an ISTJ.

The debate, really, is whether you are actually "changing" type, or whether you are simply adapting to your surroundings by (1) developing parts of yourself that are not your "preferred" functions or (2) abandoning what were just adaptations of yourself to old stressful situations and now revealing your "true" type. This is all done in the name of survival, even if we do not recognize it.

For examples of #1, sometimes you will be forced to acquire a job that demands your skill in areas you really are bad or just average at, in order to survive, because no other job opportunities exist. Or an introvert (for example) might be tossed into a situation where they have to extrovert/interact more than they enjoy in order to survive.

For examples of #2, a child who is very different than the parents and/or siblings will (if the parents are stubborn or dysfunctional or otherwise naive about type differences) sometimes learn to play roles that do not mesh with them... they have no choice, the parents hold the power, and if they do not wear the false clothes, the parents will punish them in some way (either directly, or withholding love and/or resources, etc.) Or perhaps the child goes to a school where all their peers are generally representative of one type and they stick out badly, and they feel that -- to fit in -- they need to act like everyone else.

Especially in the formative years, then, it is hard in these sorts of situations to recognize what is the "true self" and what is the "false/studied" self.

In some ways, the differences are purely academic; but people who are "free to be themselves" usually are much happier and feel much more in sync with life. When you are acting constantly out of your non-preferred functions, it is like driving a car down the highway with a parking brake on; even if you can get the car up to speed for long periods of time, you're still "dragging" or even damaging the vehicle, and once you release the break, things suddenly become much simpler and easier and more pleasant.

This doesn't mean that you cannot become skilled that things that are not naturally "you." Even if later in life you realize "who you are," you can still use what you have learned and the non-you traits you agonized to develop in service of your "true self." So it is not a complete loss. But one really has to have a sense of how one is wired.

As far as percentages go on the MBTI test (like saying you are 60% T and 40% F), well, most of the time those numbers mean nothing -- because you're only being asked yes/no questions. If you T is a little stronger than your F (even just 51%/49%), when you answer T/F questions ("which do you prefer?") you will still pick T every time and you could come out with 100% T. These tests are not really figuring out the actual strength of your preference... just which one preferences is dominant.

The only time it seems useful is when you are very close to 50/50 or when you are extremely strong.

A different sort of test is needed to determine actual strength. (I believe this is what the Duniho test was trying to do, with asking T/F questions and then asking you to evaluate the actual strength of the preference as well.)
 

cascadeco

New member
Joined
Oct 7, 2007
Messages
9,083
MBTI Type
INFJ
Enneagram
9w1
Instinctual Variant
sp/sx
In some ways, the differences are purely academic; but people who are "free to be themselves" usually are much happier and feel much more in sync with life. When you are acting constantly out of your non-preferred functions, it is like driving a car down the highway with a parking brake on; even if you can get the car up to speed for long periods of time, you're still "dragging" or even damaging the vehicle, and once you release the break, things suddenly become much simpler and easier and more pleasant.

I agree with pretty much everything you wrote, but this in particular struck a chord w/ me. This is something that's on my mind right now regarding myself. I can 'play' the NT role extremely well in my job, and it's the direction my father really encouraged I pursue, because I was 'good at math and science' and it would be a shame to not make use of my intellectual skills....but I get no satisfaction out of it, really, and it doesn't add any fulfillment to my life. Although I can coast for a while, I think it's only because I convince myself it makes the most sense given the world - but by convincing myself, I'm also 'stuffing' my true desires and going rather into auto-pilot and becoming more apathetic - 'this is just life, just suck it up' - which is rather like resignation, at least for me.

But I don't think I have to do this...the challenge is to figure out what to do instead, and perhaps take some risks. :)
 

ptgatsby

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 24, 2007
Messages
4,476
MBTI Type
ISTP
As far as percentages go on the MBTI test (like saying you are 60% T and 40% F), well, most of the time those numbers mean nothing -- because you're only being asked yes/no questions. If you T is a little stronger than your F (even just 51%/49%), when you answer T/F questions ("which do you prefer?") you will still pick T every time and you could come out with 100% T. These tests are not really figuring out the actual strength of your preference... just which one preferences is dominant.

The only time it seems useful is when you are very close to 50/50 or when you are extremely strong.

A different sort of test is needed to determine actual strength. (I believe this is what the Duniho test was trying to do, with asking T/F questions and then asking you to evaluate the actual strength of the preference as well.)

As you say, % T/F is confidence level, not strength. Step III, currently being worked on, is meant to determine strength through J/P (in some way).
 

INTJMom

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 28, 2007
Messages
5,413
MBTI Type
INTJ
Enneagram
5w4
It is interesting that he says it switches back quickly. I wonder if these changes are ever considered permanent or temporarily influenced by environment. If they are environment dependent then it not a completely stable change. I would like to read more about that. It is a rather fundamental aspect to this whole personality system.
It sounds like he is describing an eruption of the inferior - as Quenck calls it.
 

TaylorS

Aspie Idealist
Joined
Aug 6, 2007
Messages
365
MBTI Type
INFP
Enneagram
972
Instinctual Variant
so/sp
IMO the only thing I can see that could change a person's type is an injury to the brain. So, for example, a injury (caused by a stroke, let's say) to a part of the Pre-Frontal Cortex may turn a J into a P
 
Top