Do you understand yourself well without typology?

[RomanGuy]

I would say yes. However, I was not aware of how to improve myself and grow. If I hadn't, I would still be stuck in thinking my Si is all I am. Finding this has made me much more self-aware and much more aware of how others think and feel. It has actually helped me connect with many people I normally wouldn't have because I managed to type them and predict their thinking processes.

 

[Flâneuse]

In short, I don't think I understand myself that well with or without typology, but I think typology has been more of a help than a hindrance.

I think both the Enneagram and MBTI/Jung have helped raise my level of self-awareness, especially the Enneagram because it focuses so much on a person's core flaws and blind spots. When I was reading about Nines, I got that stunned, punched-in-the-gut feeling that happens when I discover something about myself that I already knew deep down but didn't want to admit.

However, on occasion I've caught myself misusing typology. There's sometimes a temptation to simply accept my types as The Answers about who I am instead of using it as a framework to help guide further introspection. Also, since I was a kid I've been prone to trying to fit archetypes (for the most part unconsciously) and I think in the past I've focused too much on the archetypal and stereotypical aspects of my personality type, especially when they were appealing to me (for example, INFP as healer, soul-searcher, or withdrawn artist, and 9w1/974 as pixieish dreamer) instead of viewing type as mainly a rough model of how part of a person's mind works and what drives their behavior.
(But, I wouldn't have fully recognized the extent of my tendency to merge with ideas of people and types if it weren't for the e9 description, so obviously typology can illuminate or obscure someone's true tendencies from themselves, depending on how it is used.)

 

[Lady Lazarus]

I like to delude myself into thinking I do.

 

[Sunny Ghost]

MBTI and the enneagram was a good starting point for me to find myself during a time in my life where I felt lost and unsure of my identity.

 

[infiniterandomness11]

Very insightful thread!

Actually, I would say that typology has helped to improve my capacity to introspect and to analyze myself from what I learnt from cognitive functions (and also the workings of shadow functions in an unhealthy state), especially when I am in a messy state (helped me to organize my thoughts ). The only negative thing about using (solely) typology in introspection is that it almost seems mechanical and intellectualizing unpleasant feelings and thoughts.

I am personally more interested in the interaction between personal experience/story and the development of cognitive functions and its effect on different thinking and personality patterns.

 

[Jaguar]

Yes.

 

[Kullervo]

Typology has only confused me more.

The problem is that I naturally want to fit into a group, category, whatever...that makes me feel a lot happier. However, I have constantly found myself sitting on the fence between different types - Enneagram 6 and 4, INTJ and INFJ. So, I am really beginning to distance myself from typology. It is helpful up to a point, but the reality is that most people are going to have aspects of more than one type and the systems we use don't really accomdate for this. I also don't feel that typology takes gender, race and culture into account enough. These factors can have a substantial influence on one's personality as well. It is erroneous to assume that we are all the same, however convinient that may be when categorising people.

Another thing that has somewhat disillusioned me is how Enneagram especially, but all the systems at some extent are misused. Oh, he must be a 3 because he works hard, or a 7 because he parties a lot...we do this kind of shit all the time and it really irritates me.

 

[Hitoshi-San]

This is an awesome thread!

In some ways, yes, in other ways, no, I feel like I can understand myself just fine without typology. I was always a bit confused as to why I was insanely upset by the rules at times, wasn't too touchy-feely with emotions, but still needed concrete evidence when solving a problem, had problems carrying out plans and strategies and had a sense of "brother/sisterhood" when it came to defending others.

Recently I stumbled upon an MBTI table for like Star Wars or something and looked a bit more into it, took the test and came out as ESTP. I went back to the description on the table, then a more detailed one and it all made perfect sense to me and sounded just like me. Now I really appreciate it and use it to some extent to understand the people around me and how they think and make their decisions and why.

 

[Bush]

Leaving the question of 'understanding myself' aside.

A typological system is a framework like any other. A tool. A heuristic. Like any other model (including our own mental model), it has advantages and disadvantages, truths and inaccuracies. The psyche itself is just so intangible that we can't (yet) claim to have captured it once and for all.

Boils down to the fact that any given typological system is not as comprehensive as it's made out to be.

Especially true when one concentrates more on the system's discrete categories than on the ideas behind the framework.

Where it's not true, or where it has gaps, it needs to be supplemented. Other typological systems can be tacked on to help complete the picture, but that patchwork would still retain the disadvantages that typology itself brings about.