Do animals have a Personality Type? mbti for animals, personality type of beasts

[Zarathustra]

Eric, I've always found it difficult to read your posts like the above, cuz you declare so many things like they are absolute truth, when I have seen no empirical evidence to support any of it, and I have my doubts that you have as well, but, over the last couple years, I've also learned to respect your knowledge of typology, as, when I have read your more detailed posts, they've often ended up spurring productive thought in me, usually over the next several months, but, yeah, *bump for pictures of doggies*.

 

[SillySapienne]

[MENTION=2102]SillySapienne[/MENTION] has three dogs, and I swear their MBTI types are all very noticeable.

For the most part, I think animals tend to be Ss and Fs.

Jack - Miniature Dachsund - ISFP
Blanca - Pitbull - ESFJ
Frankie - French Bulldog - ESTP

These are all really just based off their dominant functions.

Jack is the most independent dog I've ever seen; it's ridiculous; if you take him on a walk, and he wants to go one way, if you try to go the other way, he digs his feet into the ground and will not budge. No matter how much you try and cajole him, he will not go the direction you want him to. It's his way, or the highway. If you won't go his way, then he'll just start walking back home. It's fucking ridiculous. Because of him, I understand why Fe users call Fi users selfish. He's totally an Fi-dom.

Blanca is the sweetest fucking dog I have ever seen. She's a big ol white pitbull, and I love her to death. Her big smiley face is the screensaver on my phone. I have never met a dog so needy, though. She literally needs someone with her every second of the day. All she wants is to give and receive love, and she would cuddle non-stop, all day long, if you'd actually willing to. She's also super-obedient, and super-submissive. Total Fe-dom.

Franky is the newest addition to the pack, and he's like hell on wheels. The little guy is just a fucking hedonistic pleasure-whore. Food, sex, excitment, food, sex, excitement. I swear the dog would OD on drugs if he knew how to. I'll take him to the park and throw the ball around with him until he starts puking up white foam and just collapses. Then, after five minutes, he's back and ready to do it again. Total Se-dom. You can see it in his eyes.

 

[Glycerine]

My German Shepherd sounds exactly Blanca but in addition to that description, he's the biggest suck up (if he gets yelled at, he tries to lick you and nuzzle you). My dog gets away with it because of how gorgeous he is.... it's ridiculous.

The real color of his eyes.

 

[Neveraskedtobeborn]

Humans are animals.

 

[Stansmith]

Animals mainly use Se and Si, with bits of Fe, Te, and possibly even Fi depending on the species.

 

[Stansmith]

Se - Animals tend to live in the moment.

Si - Many, if not most, tend to stick to some sort of routine.

Fe - Caring for their young. Pack mentality.

Te - Focus on task. Killing without remorse. Males leaving their young to procreate with other females.

Fi - Not liking, or being unnecessarily hostile towards another member of your species for some unknown reason. The "lone wolf" that's out for noone but themselves.

 

[Jaq]

Probably not, but boy have I seen some depressed looking animals before.

 

[Infinite Bubble]

Functions are symbolic representations of certain thinking styles that have become habit. All animals on Earth have generally similar characteristics - most earthling brains are structured a certain way. But humans have, as far as we know, the most advanced brain on this planet. So I think that they won't have an MBTI type per se, but will have thinking styles that are similar to "human functions", except on a more basic level.

 

[RaptorWizard]

Animals are probably the same type as God because he is their Creator.

 

[alcea rosea]

Animals have personalities but not necessarily personality types. Unless somebody defines the animal MBTI.

 

[Chad of the OttomanEmpire]

I've worked with animals enough to know that they definitely do have individual personality traits--some are shy, some are aggressive, some have greater or lesser energy, etc. Even siblings from the same litter can show remarkable differences. They also do have working brains and emotions, they take in information, they make decisions, and they even come up with new ideas (rats especially--they're clever lil things).

So it wouldn't surprise me if animals did indeed utilize cognitive functions similar to what humans have. But, beyond the E/I split that's already been noted, I'm not really sure how we'd assess what they are--I worked with my mother's 3 dogs for several years and still couldn't tell you what MBTI types I think they have. I could give you a vague approximation of their enneatypes (one is almost stereotypically sx-6w7ish) but beyond that, not much.

Others have pointed out that humans have developed the MBTI largely to suit human needs, so that's a further barrier to actually knowing in what way other species might think. What would Fe mean to a non-social species, for instance? Would being Ti-dom have any evolutionary purpose for, say, a coyote? What would be the cognitive differences between reptilian brains versus mammalian brains? Etc.

I don't have the answers here, but it seems premature to rule that other animals (remember, humans are also animals) don't have some sort of cognitive processes, though they may not work for them the same as they do in humans. People are only starting to study the brains of other animals, and MBTI isn't even "scientific", so it's unlikely we'll ever get a definitive answer on that.

(As you might guess, I personally think there's something to it, but that's mainly just my personal feeling on it.)