• 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.

Differences between INTJ and INFJ

Amalie

New member
Joined
Apr 16, 2010
Messages
66
MBTI Type
INxJ
Enneagram
5
INTJs and INFJs are in fact extremely similar. Both are Ni dom, which is a huge deal w/r to understanding both types. Ni doms can often just "know things" without really knowing why. The aux is Te for INTJ and Fe for INFJ, and that's where the difference lies. Even then Te and Fe act very much the same, they differ in motivation more than in what specific choices are made.

If it matters more to you how the people in your life are affected by your decisions, if it matters more to you what others think about you, then you're more INFJ. If you tend not to give a damn what others think, if you tend to put your foot in your mouth and unintentionally say something bluntly honest but accidentally very hurtful, then you're INTJ.

What motivates INFJ is connecting with people in general. They aren't extroverted about it, but a lack of connection hurts. INTJs really don't care about connecting with people, but more about how "things" work. It isn't that people don't figure into INTJ thinking, but it's how they come into play. INTJs will care more about what a person can do, e.g., w/r to a project, while the INFJ will care more about what kind of person it is, whether they're trustworthy, etc.

Also, another point of confusion is when one is very "feeling", but that feeling side doesn't seem to match the INFJ description. Often, it happens to be the case that one can be a "feeling" INTJ, where the feeling side is a strong Fi tertiary. Read the INFP description, and see if that kind of feeling describes your feelings better than INFJ feelings. If so, then I'd say you're INTJ.

That's an initial summary; I'd rather not spam you with details. Let me know if this helps. :)

Thank you. Everything helps. :)

I'm new to the forum, so I don't know where things are yet. I looked for the INFP description, but can't seem to find it. I'd be grateful if you could link it to me. :)
 

Coriolis

Si vis pacem, para bellum
Staff member
Joined
Apr 18, 2010
Messages
27,230
MBTI Type
INTJ
Enneagram
5w6
Instinctual Variant
sp/sx
INTJs like to work with challenges that occur in the moment -- the ones right before their eyes. If you want to see an INTJ in top form, watch them respond to changes in travel plans. If a flight gets cancelled or delayed, they will rapidly move from Plan A to Plan B, and so on, until they exhaust all possible contingencies.
I disagree here. Most INTJs I know, myself included, tend to work on long term challenges, often things that other people don't yet even realize will be useful or necessary. The "challenges of the moment" like upset travel plans, are merely bumps in the road to the end goal. The contingency planning aspect serves to maximize the possibility that said obstacles can be overcome or accommodated. INTJs are often so successful at this precisely because, in their focus on the end goal, they see many ways to reach it.

When an INTJ starts to include you in their plans, it means you are a very special person to them indeed!
Or, you can be of use to them.

INTJs have a penis
Female INTJs may keep theirs in a velvet-lined box, in fond remembrance of its original owner.
 
Top