Typing Children?

[justsayin]

Can anyone point me to some good resources for figuring out a child's type?

Or...anyone want to take a guess at the characteristics of my son?

 

[Xann]

I'd take a shot at it, sounds interesting I/E is probably the easiest to gauge in your child, btw, since disorganized play and social behavior in children can make their psychology difficult to understand from an adult pov, but energy levels in regards to people/activites/things can be more self-evident.

 

[Ntuitive]

I think T/F can also be indicated easily in younger children (maybe not toddlers, but certainly school-age kids). But I would definitely save the S/N and J/P judgments for late-elementary (in the US, 5th grade) to middle school. You can't really discern those two functions until they have more complex opportunities to confront moral/intellectual vs. common-sense ideas and see how they organize the real world around them.

Also, another problem is that even during late-elementary until high school, your child might still be experimenting with different social approaches. (I do have to say, though, that I could type most of my friends even around 9th grade since they tended to display solid traits, but I wouldn't say this for everyone. In fact, I even doubt myself now, since my type in high school seems to have been out-of-sync by the time I graduated! )

 

[/DG/]

Ahh... this reminds me of an interesting MBTI personality quiz for children. Here it is if you're interested. The site claims that you generally can only type the first function in a child.

Aside from this, I do think it's quite easy to determine E/I in a young child, but everything else is a bit more difficult.

 

[Ntuitive]

Speaking of which, I have a question for the OP: how old is your child (that can affect the results significantly)?

 

[garbage]

Children are kinda tough but doable. This page presents one perspective on child typing that might be worth a look.

Welcome!

 

[justsayin]

Thanks for the welcome!

And, thanks for the reading material.

I have read that children are difficult, and often only e/i can be determined. I am curious to see if I can figure out more, though. My oldest children are 7 and 5. (girl, boy). I can tell quite plainly that my oldest is IxxJ. I suspect SF, though T is possible. It's hard to know because the whole environment piece. She's got me (iNTJ) for a mama, and I can't help but think her through every scenerio outloud. At times I can tell it's rubbing off. My boy is harder to tell because he is very quiet. Mostly, I just want to try to understand their general outlook, so I can speak directly to it. After reading about mbti, and seeing such strong traits in my oldest, I was able to "speak her language" and get through to her on some important points. When I do the child tests, by the way, both children come out ISJ. I really think my son is an ENJ, though.

Chawie...I'll take you up on that. What do you want to know?

Here's some info for starters...

He seems shy in public, but only because he really hates for people to make a big deal about what he's doing. If he is on his own, there's no telling what he'll do. Once, at 3.5yo, he walked into a house he had never been in before, in search of a man he had never met. And he did it without saying a word to me. As soon as I got into the room, he stopped talking and acted shy the remainder of the visit. He is energized by being with people, though. The more play with others the better. If he has a quiet afternoon, his boredom and lonliness make him a grump. I am confused about e/i because he insists he wants to be alone, he doesn't like to join in activities with other children, but he obviously gets tons of energy from being with others, and does not need recovery time. I think he mostly says he likes to be alone because he is very private, and will even lie, to keep his thoughts and actions to himself. (Even if he has done nothing wrong). Also, he hates to be told what to do.

He prefers to play with much older children, and doesn't enjoy the unpredictability of those his own age. He wants the big kids to make sense, and to build things and show him things that he isn't capable of doing on his own. He also does not want to do something in front of others until he has mastered it. He does like to run around and be crazy, but he also wants to be in control of the situation. In fact, he will do anything if it is his idea, or he is in control. If he feels a tiny bit of control belongs to another, he usually prefers to sit out. He said today that he doesn't care to lead, but he doesn't want to follow. He just wants to do his own thing. He also said that if kids were playing, he wants them to do his plan, and he doesn't want to be told what to do. Anywhere we go, even if he doesn't know where we are going or what we are doing, he will walk far ahead of the rest of us. He often gets far enough ahead to be out of sight, and around a corner. It doesn't strike me as leading, though. It's more like he is just not following, if that makes sense.

We joke about him leaving piles of himself all over the place, but actually he is very organized for a 5yo. I remember how determined he was at a year old to put the sidewalk chalk back in the box correctly. He went back twice, once to put the chalk in straighter, and again to shut the lid. I often find stashes of his things, neatly tucked in together. He does remember where he put them, too.

Okay, that's all I have time for right now. Questions?

 

[/DG/]

Hmm...I really dislike that being "energized by people" and "not needing to recharge" are seen as extravert qualities. As an introvert, I am usually
"energized" by people and I don't need this silly "recharge time" afterwards. However, I identify as an introvert because of my lower energy output (among other things). Perhaps this is a bad way to look at it, but I wouldn't say your son is extraverted simply because he likes talking to people.

Another point I'd like to make is that being shy doesn't mean someone is an introvert either. I've had some friends who were definitely extraverts, but were rather shy and inhibited around people they didn't know well. Again, I like to look at the energy output to determine E/I.

Your son sounds like an IJ to me, but I don't know about anything else.

 

[justsayin]

Hmm...I really dislike that being "energized by people" and "not needing to recharge" are seen as extravert qualities. As an introvert, I am usually
"energized" by people and I don't need this silly "recharge time" afterwards. However, I identify as an introvert because of my lower energy output (among other things). Perhaps this is a bad way to look at it, but I wouldn't say your son is extraverted simply because he likes talking to people.

Another point I'd like to make is that being shy doesn't mean someone is an introvert either. I've had some friends who were definitely extraverts, but were rather shy and inhibited around people they didn't know well. Again, I like to look at the energy output to determine E/I.

Your son sounds like an IJ to me, but I don't know about anything else.

What do you mean by "energy output"?

And what qualties make you think j?

 

[/DG/]

What do you mean by "energy output"?

Now that I think about it, I suppose that this isn't really a good way to type a child, as I'm not sure if this holds true for them. Also, this may or may not be an incorrect way of determining this dichotomy.

I find that introverts tend to be more calm and less "hyper" (I can't think of better words). Conversely, extraverts always seem to be expending more energy. I find that this can also help distinguish between a shy extravert and an introvert. It's a bit difficult for me to describe what I mean, so I'll try to give an example. One of my friends was a definite extravert. She always expended a lot of energy while many of us introverts would just sit back and laugh. Now, when she was in front of people she didn't know, she was very inhibited and shy. To someone who didn't know her, she was an introvert. However, those of us that knew her could plainly see that she was extraverted.

And what qualties make you think j?

These caught my eye:

doesn't enjoy the unpredictability of those his own age

He does like to run around and be crazy, but he also wants to be in control of the situation.

but actually he is very organized for a 5yo

Also perhaps this, but I'm not sure.

He also does not want to do something in front of others until he has mastered it.

 

[Lumpet]

Can anyone point me to some good resources for figuring out a child's type?

Or...anyone want to take a guess at the characteristics of my son?

http://www.personalitypage.com/html/kid_portraits.html this can maybe help

Basically i don't know what is the age of your son, but there are stages of development. I think first thing that you can see is his dominant function from age 5-6. I think aux is developing around age 10. I'm nto sure about this numbers i read an article about it with an example of an INFJ developing long time ago.

EDIT:
found an article: http://www.personalitypage.com/html/development.html

 

[FireShield98]

I'd take a shot at it, sounds interesting I/E is probably the easiest to gauge in your child, btw, since disorganized play and social behavior in children can make their psychology difficult to understand from an adult pov, but energy levels in regards to people/activites/things can be more self-evident.

I disagree. I was very extroverted when I was young, but now I'm more introverted than most introverts (partly due to my shyness).

 

[/DG/]

I disagree. I was very extroverted when I was young, but now I'm more introverted than most introverts (partly due to my shyness).

Do you think you could just be a shy extravert?

If not, then perhaps you really weren't as extraverted as you might have thought. There was a period of time where I was doubting whether or not I was an introvert because I didn't relate to the whole "needing time to recharge" and "being drained by people" sort of thing. So I began to think about it and I came up with the idea that I was actually an extravert when I was younger. Looking back, I can see that this was definitely not the case and it was almost silly to even think so. I could even ask my family members and they still wouldn't have called me an extravert.

 

[FireShield98]

Do you think you could just be a shy extravert?

If not, then perhaps you really weren't as extraverted as you might have thought. There was a period of time where I was doubting whether or not I was an introvert because I didn't relate to the whole "needing time to recharge" and "being drained by people" sort of thing. So I began to think about it and I came up with the idea that I was actually an extravert when I was younger. Looking back, I can see that this was definitely not the case and it was almost silly to even think so. I could even ask my family members and they still wouldn't have called me an extravert.

No, I'm definitely an introvert, because I need excessive amounts of time alone and I can't think as we'll with other people around. When I was younger, I was extroverted in the sense that I was very friendly, energetic, and outgoing in public, but now I'm only like that when I'm with my friends.

Besides, look at my cognitive functions (in my signature).

 

[Eric B]

I disagree. I was very extroverted when I was young, but now I'm more introverted than most introverts (partly due to my shyness).

I had noticed that a lot of introverts seemed more “outgoing” when young, but as they get older, and life starts getting to them, their true preference comes out, and they withdraw more.

 

[Ivy]

My daughter seemed extroverted as a young child, but since about 5th grade or so has started seeming more introverted. I would have sworn she was an ENFP if you asked me to nail it down when she was little. Now I'd say INFP or INFJ.

Just a quibble, though- introvert /= withdrawn.