Can teens type themselves?

[PerpetuallyScreaming]

Here's my dilemna.

I don't know if it's been brought up before, but it's been bothering me for a while now.

Should you even bother to attempt to type yourself when your brain is still in development and you're not 20/21+? I'm asking because I'm 17, and most older folk profess that there is an overemphasis on emotional development and finding out who you are that invades your mind in adolescence, but not necessarily afterwards.

Is there too much bias and lack of development to be accurate? Should I even bother to attempt to classify and understand myself to this extent when I might potentially change later? And this applies to anyone. Thoughts?

My second question is, to what extent does mental illness/depression and things like anxiety disorders distort your understanding of yourself? How do I determine whether I'm in a loop or whether I'm imitating/irrationality is imitating another type? Do things like traumatic experiences erase simplistic theories? Just curious.

 

[Norrsken]

It is true that the tertiary and the inferior functions do not show up until later on in life. However, it should be easy for you, a 17 year old, to determine what your dominant and auxiliary functions are, and from there, you may be able to determine what MBTI type you are. It's not impossible, just more fickle. Man, I'll never forget my 18 year old INFP diagnosis. Those were the days.

 

[PerpetuallyScreaming]

It is true that the tertiary and the inferior functions do not show up until later on in life. However, it should be easy for you, a 17 year old, to determine what your dominant and auxiliary functions are, and from there, you may be able to determine what MBTI type you are. It's not impossible, just more fickle. Man, I'll never forget my 18 year old INFP diagnosis. Those were the days.

Thanks. I'm pretty certain that I'm an INFP, but I always want to gather more information to double-check since I'm inexperienced.

And maybe not knowing for sure until later isn't a bad thing.

 

[Verona]

These are good questions.

I learned about cognitive functions later in life (mid-30's) and I have tried to look back and see what was dominant and secondary during my childhood/teen years and I have a hard time finding a functional pattern that would work for who I was then and who I am now.

I took my first MBTI test at the age of 18 and I got ISTP which is very unlike who I am. Maybe I was in an Se grip if it is possible to suffer inferior grips in your teen years? Can teens suffer from loops if their tertiary hasn't really come into play yet?

I do think mental illness can have an effect on your type as well as neurological conditions.

Maybe it is easier to figure out your type in your late teens since your dominant and secondary should be more obvious?

 

[Lia_kat]

I think typing yourself in your teens is good to have an idea of your type. At 16 I typed as ENFP. Early twenties until months ago I typed as INFP, but I suffered from depression & anxiety for a long time. Mental illness does affect how you view yourself and the world so naturally it will skew your results. Other factors come into play too like your level of self-knowledge and awareness, understanding of the different functions, etc but I think 25 and older is a good age range for accuracy.. when the brain is fully mature.

 

[Hawthorne]

I think the reason why adulthood is recommended has to do with being less influenced by the desires and restrictions of authorities (parents, teachers, etc). It's really only once you're regularly making important decisions independently that you can examine your instinctive cognitive preferences.

Less certain about mental illness - especially those that develop during formative years. It seems kinda chicken and egg and requires sourcing the maladaptive behavior to its root motivation (assuming there's just one) which seems very in line with enneagam but harder to connect with MBTI.

 

[PerpetuallyScreaming]

I think the reason why adulthood is recommended has to do with being less influenced by the desires and restrictions of authorities (parents, teachers, etc). It's really only once you're regularly making important decisions independently that you can examine your instinctive cognitive preferences.

Less certain about mental illness - especially those that develop during formative years. It seems kinda chicken and egg and requires sourcing the maladaptive behavior to its root motivation (assuming there's just one) which seems very in line with enneagam but harder to connect with MBTI.

Oh, that makes perfect sense to me. Thanks for the new perspective. In that case, it'll give something for me to look forward to anyway. Most of the time, I'm not around the sort of people that would allow for extreme individuality, to say the least. And even if I wasn't, I can see your theory being true of most any situation.

That's definitely accurate in my eyes. There really is technically no wrong answer though I suppose, MBTI does revolve around a certain set of principles, but at the end of the day ultimately you are the one who decides what you are. Enneagram is very helpful to me regardless of circumstance, which is nice because as you say it is more about motivation than anything.

 

[fetus]

I think as a teen it's easy to have a poor understanding of Fi. Be careful not to view Fi as "finding yourself" because that's something most teens are doing.

I'm 17 as well. I think at this age we can start seeing traces of our tertiary, and that's pretty cool, I think.

 

[PerpetuallyScreaming]

I think as a teen it's easy to have a poor understanding of Fi. Be careful not to view Fi as "finding yourself" because that's something most teens are doing.

I'm 17 as well. I think at this age we can start seeing traces of our tertiary, and that's pretty cool, I think.

Right, I can see that being the case. However, I'd like to think that I have a very accurate understanding of the Fi process regardless of my age. Aside from the physicalities, age is just a number. I don't think I've ever been a "I need to know who I am, I must be an __ (artist, worker, single, etc.)" type of person. I think that there are exceptions to every rule, even though there are definitely norms.

For me, it's more a matter of "I decide what is right and wrong. I have a very intricate set of values that I have created over time. I know how I feel at nearly every moment, I've experienced nearly any emotion I can think of and I remember how it felt for me. I compare from the perspective of the self, not because I mean to be stuck-up or selfish but because that is how I relate to ideas and display empathy. Sometimes I can become too self-focused and lose sight of what matters most and not give others the attention they deserve, but when I am doing the right thing I am capable of being extremely loving and caring towards others."

That's kind of the gist of how I would describe my experience with it, even though that isn't exactly an exhaustive list of everything I know about it as a function. (P.S. Glad to see an ESFJ for once)

 

[Merced]

Because the auxiliary function usually becomes solidified by middle school age, I think a person becomes typable by age 12-13. I am currently 16 and I am very confident in my typing and understanding of MBTI. With the proper reading and studying and understanding of functions, you should be fine.

Mental illnesses, especially ones that effect behavior, do have an impact observation based typing. A mental illness could send you into a loop or grip, which could make you appear as a totally different type.

 

[PerpetuallyScreaming]

Because the auxiliary function usually becomes solidified by middle school age, I think a person becomes typable by age 12-13. I am currently 16 and I am very confident in my typing and understanding of MBTI. With the proper reading and studying and understanding of functions, you should be fine.

Mental illnesses, especially ones that effect behavior, do have an impact observation based typing. A mental illness could send you into a loop or grip, which could make you appear as a totally different type.

Thanks. That makes sense to me. Again I'm not really completely doubting my typing so much as making sure that my understanding of the Myers Briggs theory is as accurate as possible.

Do you know where to find any good information on loops and grips? That's one aspect I'm more interested in learning about, but there doesn't seem to be much info on it. Unless of course, I'm missing the obvious.

 

[Merced]

Thanks. That makes sense to me. Again I'm not really completely doubting my typing so much as making sure that my understanding of the Myers Briggs theory is as accurate as possible.

Do you know where to find any good information on loops and grips? That's one aspect I'm more interested in learning about, but there doesn't seem to be much info on it. Unless of course, I'm missing the obvious.

This blog is what introduced me to the concept initially. I haven't really done much else reading on it, but then again, they explain it so well and after understanding the concept, it is very easy to identify and carry it further. Grips and loops are about not only function stacking, but function health. So yeah.

Oh and I know you didn't ask, but my first steps into advanced MBTI research was Youtube. Michael Pierce, an INFJ MBTI enthusiast, is one of my favorite youtubers of all time. While many may be off put by his voice, I think he does an excellent job explaining and elaborating on concepts. I recommend watching his videos loosely in chronological order, as his ideas and thoughts on somethings have evolved and he builds on older thoughts constantly.

 

[Siúil a Rúin]

I first took an MBTI test when I was 16 and got INFX, so it's pretty much the same as now.

 

[cascadeco]

I think the reason why adulthood is recommended has to do with being less influenced by the desires and restrictions of authorities (parents, teachers, etc). It's really only once you're regularly making important decisions independently that you can examine your instinctive cognitive preferences.

Less certain about mental illness - especially those that develop during formative years. It seems kinda chicken and egg and requires sourcing the maladaptive behavior to its root motivation (assuming there's just one) which seems very in line with enneagam but harder to connect with MBTI.

I think this is extremely relevant.

I can only speak for myself, but I think my pre teen self was fairly 'pure' and the I and F were obvious, but everything got super muddled from pre teen into mid 20's. Then even into early 30's I was still addressing things from my teens/formative years, which could skew my self perception and self evaluation. I am probably not the greatest example, though.

I didn't know about mbti until right out of college, and on that first online test I got INTJ. Well, we all know I'm not THAT.