MBTI typings by preferences or functions?

[Oaky]

When we learn about MBTI we learn or make our own techniques of typing others. Many new to MBTI prefer giving a typological profile to people based on what they have learnt through the definitions of the preferences or based on the stereotypical perceptions of certain type profiles in their minds.
Those more knowledgeable about the topic would look towards the functions and would try to adhere people to what functions they use. Both, if done with correction, may work to a degree to help typing people.

What is it you tend to do and/or give more credit to and why?



My personal process is typing by preferences and then adhering the person to the functions of the type I believe they are. I would think the explanation of the Judging preference doesn't always adhere to the first functions of what we think the person is so either it may contradictorily confuse us or make us almost certain they are that certain type if the first function of the person works in parallel with the definition of the preference. This would be based on the person's perception of it.

 

[Such Irony]

I am struggling with this myself as I tend to identify most with INTJ going letter by letter and INTP going by the functions.

I identify alot with both the INTJ and INTP descriptions, with the INTP one slightly more.

Actually I'm finding that I identify with quite a bit of the ISFJ profiles as well. Maybe its that whole Ti/Si loop thing. But that's another thread that's waiting for me to be written up.

I guess I put a little more trust in the functions than just going letter by letter. When Jung constructed the psychological types, he was basing it off of functions and he didn't use J/P. J/P was some later thing added to indicate what function is dominant and what's auxilary. If your last letter is J, your extravert your judging function; if you last letter is P, you extravert your perceiving function. If you're an extravert, your dominant function lines up with your J/P preference. But if you're an introvert, it's really your auxiliary function that matches up with J/P. For example an INTP has dominant introverted thinking (a judging function) and auxiliary extraverted intuition (a perceiving function). That's my understanding of it anyway.

 

[Mr. Sherlock Holmes]

I trust functions more (as you can see I don't feel I fit precisely into any type as their function order allows) but I find them sometimes to have a lot of crossover with other functions and more diverse definitions than they should and are not entirely reliable.

 

[IZthe411]

Are they not the same thing? Preference and Function?

 

[Mr. Sherlock Holmes]

Are they not the same thing? Preference and Function?

I think they are reffering to dichotomatical preference.

 

[Thalassa]

Are they not the same thing? Preference and Function?

No.

Like I prefer Introverted Intuitive Feeling Judger.

But if you go by functions someone might say well you just think you're introverted because you're an Ne dominant ENFP who uses a lot of Te which makes you think you're J....

Or that I'm ISFP who uses a lot of Ni, making me think I'm an N...

That's the difference.

 

[IZthe411]

I am struggling with this myself as I tend to identify most with INTJ going letter by letter and INTP going by the functions.

I identify alot with both the INTJ and INTP descriptions, with the INTP one slightly more.

Actually I'm finding that I identify with quite a bit of the ISFJ profiles as well. Maybe its that whole Ti/Si loop thing. But that's another thread that's waiting for me to be written up.

I guess I put a little more trust in the functions than just going letter by letter. When Jung constructed the psychological types, he was basing it off of functions and he didn't use J/P. J/P was some later thing added to indicate what function is dominant and what's auxilary. If your last letter is J, your extravert your judging function; if you last letter is P, you extravert your perceiving function. If you're an extravert, your dominant function lines up with your J/P preference. But if you're an introvert, it's really your auxiliary function that matches up with J/P. For example an INTP has dominant introverted thinking (a judging function) and auxiliary extraverted intuition (a perceiving function). That's my understanding of it anyway.

INTPs and ISFJs have the same functions, but in different order ( I guess this is what oP means by preferences. )
Don't live and die by the text book. You know yourself better than what you can descibe over the net. Take the functions Ti Ne Si and Fe and see which one dominates you, and then order the other 3. You should be able to identify the first 2, and that may help direct you better. ISFJs are a lot different than INTPs.

 

[IZthe411]

No.

Like I prefer Introverted Intuitive Feeling Judger.

But if you go by functions someone might say well you just think you're introverted because you're an Ne dominant ENFP who uses a lot of Te which makes you think you're J....

Or that I'm ISFP who uses a lot of Ni, making me think I'm an N...

That's the difference.

So Ni is the function that you prefer (use the most?) or are you saying you would like to be an INFJ? *dumb question, i know*

I know I am more likely to identify the preferred function that a person uses and start to build from there. I guess the function that's most readily apparent in my interactions- the perception function may not be so evident early on.

 

[Mr. Sherlock Holmes]

ISFJs are a lot different than INTPs.

But on Si/Ti loops they can be very similar.

 

[Thalassa]

So Ni is the function that you prefer (use the most?) or are you saying you would like to be an INFJ? *dumb question, i know*

I know I am more likely to identify the preferred function that a person uses and start to build from there. I guess the function that's most readily apparent in my interactions- the perception function may not be so evident early on.

No. My preferences do not involve functions. This is going by whether you are introvert/extrovert, thinking/feeler, sensor/intuitive, perceiver/judger straight up...Keirsey-type tests, where you answer questions that ask things like do you prefer for things to be settled or open-ended.

I get INFJ on those tests 99.9% of the time. Once I got ENFJ, that had to be a fluke.

I also have scored high on Ni on functions tests, too, but on functions I vary, which I mentioned in the hybrid thread.

 

[IZthe411]

^ yeah but how long would either be in a Si Ti loop? Unless they are batty, they'd be operating normally most of the time.

 

[IZthe411]

No. My preferences do not involve functions. This is going by whether you are introvert/extrovert, thinking/feeler, sensor/intuitive, perceiver/judger straight up...Keirsey-type tests, where you answer questions that ask things like do you prefer for things to be settled or open-ended.

I get INFJ on those tests 99.9% of the time. Once I got ENFJ, that had to be a fluke.

I also have scored high on Ni on functions tests, too, but on functions I vary, which I mentioned in the hybrid thread.

Okay got you.....- the letter method.

THanks.

 

[Craft]

@OP

Both.

Because the "i" in Introvert is the same "i" in "Ni".

 

[Such Irony]

INTPs and ISFJs have the same functions, but in different order ( I guess this is what oP means by preferences. )
Don't live and die by the text book. You know yourself better than what you can descibe over the net. Take the functions Ti Ne Si and Fe and see which one dominates you, and then order the other 3. You should be able to identify the first 2, and that may help direct you better. ISFJs are a lot different than INTPs.

The last time I did the function test there was practically a three way tie between Ti/Si/Ne. Fi was just a few points behind. I suppose if I was ISFJ I'd have stronger Fe.

 

[Mr. Sherlock Holmes]

^ yeah but how long would either be in a Si Ti loop? Unless they are batty, they'd be operating normally most of the time.

Not necessarily. Sometimes this is the norm to have a 1st/3rd loop. One example I can think of right now is Arthur Dent in THHGTTG who is IMO most likely an ISFJ on an Si Ti loop. Or at least as well as I remember from the books. He has also been suggested as INTP.

They don't always have to be unhealthy either. Just different ways of thinking.

 

[cascadeco]

Honestly? Practically speaking, I find typing people by dichotomies to be the most useful and frankly, most straightforward. Most people fairly easily fall into one or the other of each, or there's just one of the four that is borderline. Yes, this method leads to a bit of stereotyping, but in essence that's what's gonna happen when you divide human personality into just 16 overall types. They end up kind of being like rough drafts/summaries. When I then go from what seems obviously & clearly their type by dichotomy, and try to superimpose the matching functions, that's when weird things happen and I start questioning their type. So there's imo a mismatch in terms of the two modes of typing and I've never thought they seamlessly line up.

On the other hand, the functions in and of themselves are more useful when discussing more of the complexities of personality and underlying preferences. I just don't think they belong, necessarily, with the original mbti-dichotomy-theory. Or, at the very least, I think I can easily say function theory as outlined doesn't line up with reality.

So, yeah, for my purposes, it's easiest to just go by dichotomy. He's a J, he's more anal, needing closure, generally very ancy/uneasy when things are unsettled/uncertain, etc. She's an S, she's more grounded in the real world, prefers talking about her day to day life and what she's been up to, rather than some psychological mode of typing that is purely theoretical and is a pointless exercise that doesn't accomplish anything and is a waste of time (as well as silly) to think about (I'm describing my S mom here ).

 

[IZthe411]

The last time I did the function test there was practically a three way tie between Ti/Si/Ne. Fi was just a few points behind. I suppose if I was ISFJ I'd have stronger Fe.

I agree with you there. I think your first 2 (dichotomy?) are the easiest to identify within yourself and by others around you. After that it's a shot in the dark. After Si/Te, I'm more Ne than Fi. Sometimes I wonder if Fi is somewhere in the shadows for me, in place of Se or Ti. Not sure. Maybe Fi is just the last frontier for me.

 

[IZthe411]

Not necessarily. Sometimes this is the norm to have a 1st/3rd loop. One example I can think of right now is Arthur Dent in THHGTTG who is IMO most likely an ISFJ on an Si Ti loop. Or at least as well as I remember from the books. He has also been suggested as INTP.

They don't always have to be unhealthy either. Just different ways of thinking.

I have more Si-Ne loops than I do Si-Fi, but then I'd have to really assess if I have any Si-Fi loops at all. I'm sure I do, just don't have it nailed like I do the other.

 

[Seymour]

If you decompose things and ignore functions, that doesn't mean you give up the qualities of Fe vs Fi and Te vs Ti... they just become the qualities of FJs vs FPs, and TJs vs TPs.

There have been some interesting articles in the Journal of Psychological Type by Reynierse that basically attack type dynamics as not being born out in any measurable way. The influence of J/P on the other dichotomies does not appear to be any stronger than the effect of any of the others. Also, there's no empirical support for an Fi-doms Feeling being any stronger than an Fi-auxs Feeling, for example.

This creates a certain leveling effect for the theory, so dividing things up according any pair of letters (like IJs vs IPs or NT vs ST) are all equally valid. Then, J vs P is no longer a master switch for the whole system. Further, when you remove type dynamics, it becomes possible to subdivide types farther and have INTPs whose strongest preference is Thinking, and compare them to those whose strongest preference is iNtuition or Perceiving.

Personally, I like the idea of the functions and find they help illustrate the qualitative differences between types (especially those only separated by J/P). However, I don't find type dynamics on the whole to be completely convincing (especially given that there are multiple competing models), and suspect there's more individual variation that a less rigid model might capture better. Meanwhile, I'm trying to keep an open mind and am curious about what farther research (including Big 5 research) shows.

 

[Eric B]

No.

Like I prefer Introverted Intuitive Feeling Judger.

But if you go by functions someone might say well you just think you're introverted because you're an Ne dominant ENFP who uses a lot of Te which makes you think you're J....

Or that I'm ISFP who uses a lot of Ni, making me think I'm an N...

That's the difference.

Now where have I heard that method of typing before...

Curious, since you seem to be going so solidly with INFJ now, and all the tests are giving you that; what made you think you were ENFP in the first place? (It did seem to match, IMO, including by directing/informing behavior).