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Maturity and Type

Dreamer

Potential is My Addiction
Joined
Jul 26, 2015
Messages
4,539
MBTI Type
ENFP
Enneagram
794
How does maturity and life experience change how one person appears, versus someone of the same type, at younger age? I have a suspicion the more maturity one has, the more neutral one becomes, and less definitive of a type. Not neutral in the sense of every type coming to a singular point, but that they have rounded out more and fleshed out their functions so they aren't so dominant function heavy for example. We have many members on this forum, from all walks of life, and it's interesting to me, though obvious too, how different people of the same type could be.

Yes, this all seems rather obvious, that there are so many people on this planet, only 16 types, and each person coming with their own experiences to the table, but I would like to specifically look at age and maturity, and how, at a given stage in someone's life, may alter how that personality type will ultimately appear to the outside world.

Any thoughts? If it helps to narrow the spectrum, how do you see your own type evolving with maturity?
 

Norrsken

self murderer
Joined
Nov 27, 2015
Messages
3,633
MBTI Type
ENFJ
Instinctual Variant
sx/so
I believe the confusion comes from the fact that, as people age, they discover and engage their four primary functions so much so that they appear more mellowed out, as you described it. A young child will obviously engage their dominant function first, and very quickly their second function will come trailing behind soon after, until they reach somewhere in their teens or their twenties that they will engage through another function. It is said that during middle age is when we will comfortably engage all four primary functions, hence why we won't appear as intensely as our type like when we were younger and less inhibited by life experiences, I suppose.
 

Lady Lazarus

Permabanned
Joined
Jun 30, 2014
Messages
2,148
MBTI Type
INFJ
Enneagram
9w8
Instinctual Variant
sx/sp
Weird as it may sound I feel as if I was simultaneously "more" and "less" ISFJ when I was younger. Is one "most" one's type at the shadow type? I'm unsure on that but that was the overall feel of my experience anyway. As little sense as I can put to any of it.
 

Verona

New member
Joined
May 9, 2016
Messages
590
MBTI Type
INFP
Enneagram
6w5
Instinctual Variant
sp
I think maturity means that we have had more time to develop our functions and our type may not always be easy to determine because we have learned more balance. Theoretically there is a set formula for how your functions are supposed to develop as you age but I think life experience can mean you develop other supporting functions that may not be in your stack. For example if you are working a job that requires the use of Te you may develop it even though it isn't in your stack. I think this can make it harder to figure out your type when you are older because your functions are more developed. I wish I had learned about the functions when I was in my early 20's because I think it would have been easier to figure out my type.
 
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