• You are currently viewing our forum as a guest, which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community, you will have access to additional post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), view blogs, respond to polls, upload content, and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free, so please join our community today! Just click here to register. You should turn your Ad Blocker off for this site or certain features may not work properly. If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us by clicking here.

[ENFP] Do ENFPs keep an INFP locked inside?

animenagai

New member
Joined
Aug 22, 2008
Messages
1,569
MBTI Type
NeFi
Enneagram
4w3
ENFPs "inside" lack the complexity that an INFP has. ENFP are filled with the gooey xNFP material, but the material is much more dense inside INFP, and at the very center of it is a super-hard core.

Care to share? :blush:
 

tkae.

New member
Joined
Sep 4, 2010
Messages
753
MBTI Type
INFP
Enneagram
5w4
Instinctual Variant
sx/sp
Care to share? :blush:

I don't mean that ENFPs aren't complex.

I just mean that where INFP take all of their individual growth and cram it inwards, inside themselves, ENFP let it grow outward. So everything that an ENFP has, an INFP has packed inside the original shell they were born with.

Does that make sense?
 

animenagai

New member
Joined
Aug 22, 2008
Messages
1,569
MBTI Type
NeFi
Enneagram
4w3
I don't mean that ENFPs aren't complex.

I just mean that where INFP take all of their individual growth and cram it inwards, inside themselves, ENFP let it grow outward. So everything that an ENFP has, an INFP has packed inside the original shell they were born with.

Does that make sense?

I know lol, I'm not offended. I'm asking for examples of your individual growth, in complicated, internal form.
 

ilovereeses

New member
Joined
Dec 29, 2009
Messages
116
MBTI Type
eNFP
Enneagram
9w8
I've always felt like I was on the borderline of ENFP/INFP because I grew up as an INFP (with their traits) but slowly turned into an ENFP. I don't know if that's because INFPs and ENFPs have similar traits (especially shyer ENFPs) or if I actually did change personalities.

I know that I'm definitely an ENFP right now, and can see it in my past as I grew up (always thinking about my friends and the group's harmony more than my own internal peace of mind).

I wonder if it's because of my enneagram type, being a 9 instead of the typical ENFP 7 image.
 

speculative

Feelin' FiNe
Joined
Jul 15, 2008
Messages
927
MBTI Type
INFP
Enneagram
4w5
Do we ENFPs actually keep an INFP locked up inside like a caged animal??

Let me out!! :D

Just chatting with the ENFPs on this site, I think the lines do blur between these two types for some reason, even though I know it's not a simple E/I conversion...
 

skylights

i love
Joined
Jul 6, 2010
Messages
7,756
MBTI Type
INFP
Enneagram
6w7
Instinctual Variant
so/sx
I don't mean that ENFPs aren't complex.

I just mean that where INFP take all of their individual growth and cram it inwards, inside themselves, ENFP let it grow outward. So everything that an ENFP has, an INFP has packed inside the original shell they were born with.

Does that make sense?

:thinking:

i dunno, i think i'm pretty self-absorbed sometimes too. we're both Fi, after all.

INFPs can be more restricted in terms of what they'll "let out" but both of us do grow inwardly in terms of perspective and decision-making. perhaps it is simply easier to see those changes in an ENFP because we tend to show them off.
 

KDude

New member
Joined
Jan 26, 2010
Messages
8,243
Hmm.. yeah, we're very similar in that respect. I guess that's the case for many IFP - EFPs (even for S's, there may be some mixup). I think Te and Si is the way to spot the difference though. Maybe.
 

rowingineden

New member
Joined
Jul 21, 2010
Messages
107
MBTI Type
iNfp
Enneagram
9w1
I probably took this post entirely wrong but for some reason it made me giggle.
Then I think you took it correctly. :D I was being Super-Aspie and taking the question literally.
 

rowingineden

New member
Joined
Jul 21, 2010
Messages
107
MBTI Type
iNfp
Enneagram
9w1
If I were to take the question seriously, let me say that a lot of my friends are ENFPs. What my ENFP friends tend to do for me is introduce me to people, help bring me out of my shell, etc., and what I tend to do for them is provide them when the insight on themselves and their life situations they already had, but just weren't fully aware of yet. I think most ENFPs do have INFP qualities, they just... uh, they don't know much about that side of themselves, don't pay much attention to it.
 

Coco

Member
Joined
Aug 8, 2010
Messages
271
MBTI Type
ENTP
Enneagram
7
Yes. My lung is a INFP.
My liver is a ESTJ tough, and they really don't get along together.
=/

If you mean on the spiritual philosophical abstractical meaning, no.
 

Elfboy

Certified Sausage Smoker
Joined
Nov 26, 2008
Messages
9,625
MBTI Type
ENFP
Enneagram
5w4
Instinctual Variant
sx/sp
Do we ENFPs actually keep an INFP locked up inside like a caged animal?? Strange question I know but so many ENFPs that I speak to have said that they feel as though they are in fact INFPs or are at least confused by the term extrovert when it is applied to them? They do not think it appropiate somehow.

Also there seems to be a common story emerging amongst the ENFPs that I have had contact with IRL, As very young children they seemed to display definite INFP traits which were either trampled on by parents or schools etc. They then went on to develope a false sense of confidence to make a better fit into the world. Most of the ENFPs mention a particular time in their lives when they chose to be more confident. This process could be simply maturity, something that happens to us all, it could even be an explanation for extraversion in general. Have other Es had a similar experience?

I do know that the difference bewteen ENFP and INFP is not simply a difference in extroversion and introversion but I think that more so than many other types, the lines between ENFPs and INFPs are blurred.

What are your thoughts or experiences?

omg this sounds so much like me. although it really sounds more like an INFP with an ENFP inside than the reverse. I do remember a time in 8th grade were I all of a sudden decided "no, I WILL get what I want, I WILL do what I want, I WILL be who I want!" from then on, I gradually became more assertive, more forceful, more gregarious and more confident. sometimes I feel like I'm Robery Downie Jr. on the outside and Joan of Arc on the inside. when I get really mad, this side comes out and my friends are like "wow, I didn't even know people like you were real" (this is probably an Fi thing. when angered, Fi begins talking in a formal, authoritative and unusually poetic way that is much more dramatic, intense and idealistic than what people are used to. if you pull it off, most people will be left extremely surprised and confused)
 

Serenes

New member
Joined
Oct 22, 2010
Messages
75
MBTI Type
INFP
INFP has secondary Ne and they act like ENFP when they let it out to play.
ENFP has secondary Fi and they act like INFP when they defend themselves with it.

incidentally, high-demand social situations can drain me too. too much Fe'ing.

Well I'm not an ENFP but.. I'm saying no to the question anyways :p

As a child, I was very outgoing around people I was familiar/comfortable with compared with strangers I was totally shy/quiet. When I was in school, during classes I was totally silent... but when I was out on the playground with my friends, I was totally outgoing and loud (teachers were a bit puzzled by this). As I grew older... I had to force myself & learn to be more extroverted around people(I didn't know well) to be more friendly. So now, the current friends I have... When they first got to know me, they all thought I was very extroverted and not an introvert at all because I could be friendly & talkative with everyone even if I didn't know people well (but that's just me acting & trying really hard to appear that way). This extroversion does not come naturally to me, I have to put a lot of effort into it so I get really drained after socializing for awhile. I need to go and recharge myself or I get a bit irritated and annoyed XD... The more people I have to deal with, the more drained I become (especially if it's people I don't know well)... this is why I prefer one-one, or a small group of close friends.

Even though I love people's company sometimes, can talk a lot with those I'm comfortable around, and can appear outgoing because I try to be friendly with most people.. I Know I'm not extroverted. I've never had a hard time figuring out if I was more I or E because naturally I have no problems keeping to myself(sometimes prefer it.. I can for the most part entertain myself) and usually get drained by the presence of people instead of being energized. Just thinking about going to a party full of strangers can make me feel dread/panicky too :ninja:. Being alone can be very peaceful and energizing to me and comfortable. I sort of seek people out when I have energy to put up with them :D instead of seeking them out to get me going.

Therefore, I'm naturally like an INFP (because I am naturally very quiet and reserved) but when someone tries to get to know me, I may seem like an ENFP in how I communicate & act. So it may seem like I'm an INFP that keeps an ENFP locked inside?? which is not true... therefore ENFPs keeping an INFP locked inside probably isn't true either. :newwink: probably just very borderline I/E maybe, that could be why it's hard for them to determine.
 
Top