• 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.

Function order, type mismatch...

TickTock

Mud and rain and chaos...
Joined
Jan 18, 2008
Messages
948
MBTI Type
INFP
Enneagram
4w3
So I took. The function order test I got:

Fi excellant
Ni excellant
Ne good
Etc

What the fudge does that mean. If I am INFP and the function order is xyz, how can my order be different. Surely I am not an INFP but something completely different and unique. I.e. One of the 44,000(or whatever the number is) combinations of function orders.
 

Amargith

Hotel California
Joined
Nov 5, 2008
Messages
14,717
MBTI Type
ENFP
Enneagram
4dw
Instinctual Variant
sx/so
Doesn't mean squat. I score high on Ni, Ne, Fi and Fe. It's what you prefer doing that matters, not what you're good at.
 

TickTock

Mud and rain and chaos...
Joined
Jan 18, 2008
Messages
948
MBTI Type
INFP
Enneagram
4w3
Doesn't mean squat... It's what you prefer doing that matters, not what you're good at.

Which is what the function test suggests. So, your type and all it's jargon means diddley.
 

VagrantFarce

Active member
Joined
Nov 19, 2008
Messages
1,558
The secret is to not rely on tests, since it's easy to misconstrue the questions. :) Ni and Ne are hard to tell apart anyway, without having to rely on vague questions.
 

TickTock

Mud and rain and chaos...
Joined
Jan 18, 2008
Messages
948
MBTI Type
INFP
Enneagram
4w3
Yes good point. I actually don't rely on tests Im just getting caught up in the technicalities. It's all vague when it comes to self analysis, because it means having a set standard, and one persons 'somewhat' is anothers 'most'.
 

Thalassa

Permabanned
Joined
May 3, 2009
Messages
25,183
MBTI Type
ISFP
Enneagram
6w7
Instinctual Variant
sx
Mine go Fi Ni Ne Fe Se Ti Si Te according to tests I've taken. This is probably why I frequently test INFP, and occasionally even INFJ.

The truth of the matter is that in many ways I'm more like an ENFP, though not completely unlike an INFP.

So, really, don't go on one of those tests to determine your type with absolute certainty.
 

Two Point Two

New member
Joined
Dec 10, 2008
Messages
200
MBTI Type
INTJ
It may help you to think less about how much you use them, how good you are at using them, and how much you prefer to use them, and think instead about what kinds of roles they fill - how you use them. I don't know the details on all of them, but dominant, auxiliary, tertiary and so forth are not just rankings of quantity - they're supposed to take on qualitative differences, too.

That helped me a lot. I may use Ne a lot, but I use it for fun (or to anticipate bad possibilities). I don't live it the way I do Ni. Similarly, I use Ti a lot, but again, it's recreational - Te is what I rely on to keep me alive.
 

VagrantFarce

Active member
Joined
Nov 19, 2008
Messages
1,558
and how much you prefer to use them

Actually, this is the point of the MBTI - to identify preference. But you're right in that you shouldn't focus on how often you use a function, just which you prefer and feel most natural using.
 

BlackCat

Shaman
Joined
Nov 19, 2008
Messages
7,038
MBTI Type
ESFP
Enneagram
9w8
Instinctual Variant
sx/sp
With tests a few things can effect how you score.

1. How you WANT to be and how you ideally do things. This can make you say "Oh yes I do this all the time!" when in reality you don't.

2. The forer effect.

3. Being stuck in how a personality is supposed to function. If you see yourself as INFP and you're totally aware of their functions, you will want the test to score you "correctly."

The tests, if taken as objectively as possible, only measure STRENGTHS and not the actual usage within someone.
 

TickTock

Mud and rain and chaos...
Joined
Jan 18, 2008
Messages
948
MBTI Type
INFP
Enneagram
4w3
With tests a few things can effect how you score.

1. How you WANT to be and how you ideally do things. This can make you say "Oh yes I do this all the time!" when in reality you don't.

2. The forer effect.

3. Being stuck in how a personality is supposed to function. If you see yourself as INFP and you're totally aware of their functions, you will want the test to score you "correctly."

The tests, if taken as objectively as possible, only measure STRENGTHS and not the actual usage within someone.

You've just described the whole MBTI model.
 

Two Point Two

New member
Joined
Dec 10, 2008
Messages
200
MBTI Type
INTJ
Actually, this is the point of the MBTI - to identify preference. But you're right in that you shouldn't focus on how often you use a function, just which you prefer and feel most natural using.
Yes, MBTI is definitely about preference, but focusing just on quantity can be misleading - functions you use less but are more conscious of can seem more salient than those you fundamentally prefer.

Example: I often prefer to use Ti to Te. I enjoy analysing, breaking theories down, identifying inconsistencies, and so forth. And for a long time, I thought I was an INTP, because if I had a choice between a Ti task and a Te task, I'd take the Ti task any day.

But the thing is, Ti is a luxury. It's fun. Te, it turns out, is something I have a more fundamental preference for, because I'm inclined to apply it to just about everything I do - it's a natural inclination that I was not fully aware of because it was so natural and so generalised.
 
Top