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[MBTI General] Could an INFJ be confused with an ISTP?

skylights

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perhaps, especially if the INFJ's Ti was particularly strong, and possibly also if the INFJ had a less NF-y enneatype, like 5 or 6. i think the two keys in that situation would be to figure out whether the person is a primary iNtuitor or Thinker, and/or whether they prefer iNtuition or Sensing more. how much they relate with Se would probably be useful, being that is INFJ's last function.
 

INTP

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both use same functions, but in different order, not to mention that both are introverts, so why not? but the INFJ would need to hide his Fe and developed some Ti.
 

esidebill

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perhaps, especially if the INFJ's Ti was particularly strong, and possibly also if the INFJ had a less NF-y enneatype, like 5 or 6. i think the two keys in that situation would be to figure out whether the person is a primary iNtuitor or Thinker, and/or whether they prefer iNtuition or Sensing more. how much they relate with Se would probably be useful, being that is INFJ's last function.

I've always been a little "lost" when it comes to my own personality, because I feel like I'm the only person who would truly know. Then I figure that people who talk to me might also know. I think most of the time I get terrible opinions from people.
 

Totenkindly

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Just food for thought here. I'm curious.

Funny thread -- because I have just that issue with my best friend here at work.

I can't place her type, and the closest I get is either ISTP or INFJ. It's the Ni+Ti thing, and I'm not quite sure which dominates.

She grew up in ghetto and keeps her social circle small and prefers to avoid Fe style interactions even if she remains aware of them and how a situation will unfold. Her biggest battles at work are with her ESFJ supervisor (who is gushingly Fe and rather lacking on a T perspective). She's into sports, even blogs about them, on a level that usually ISTP tomboys are into compared to other types.

Yet she's not really a "detached" person (as ISTPs typically are) and she's got more of an organizational sense of an INFJ -- likes to keep her environment controlled and very "clean" and is even picky about it. She has very sharp intuitive judgments, where she just automatically will read a situation a certain way and have a big grasp of everything going into it. Her rational spirituality is pretty sound, as well as how she approaches personal growth. And she tends to struggle with our highly technical work the way I've found that F's can struggle rather than T's -- she has to work the issue with diligence and willpower, unless she finally understand things, versus the way T's usually settle right into requirements analysis as a natural way to think.

The INFJ women who have good Ti perspective I've met online tend to take the more detached/robotic approach of an INTP when discussing a topic -- it reads an abstracted clinical breakdown/analysis of the situation. My friend is not like that -- she's very engaged on a low level and I think has a hard time not personalizing something even if she also typically keeps herself independent and can delineate well. She just doesn't take that "step back to get some distance" perspective. She said she found the movie Crash fascinating because of how things pinged off other things, and she is very good at foreseeing things like that.

She is just a really interesting mix of values, organized expression, sound reasoning, etc.

I'm inclined to go with INFJ (because she is passionate about things externally, rather than detached as T's tend to become)... but a very unique one... yet I'm just not sure.
 

Little Linguist

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I'm really a non-entity when it comes to typing, but I'm curious about something, which is why I'm throwing it into the mix:

Isn't the driving motivation and perspective of an NF and an SP supposed to be fundamentally different? So while I see the two resembling each other superficially, wouldn't their inner cores be extremely different? It is hard to perceive that, though, so I can see someone confusing an INFJ for an ISTP, especially if they don't know each other very well.
 

Rasofy

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I think the basic motivations and behaviour patterns of INFJs, specially the Enneagram type 5 ones, are closer from INTJs and INTPs than ISTPs, but i guess it's possible.
 

ilovelurking

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I've been confused with being ISTP before. During those times I had to take a very detached approach to everything and very, very aloof, Thinker-ish of sorts.

But Little Linguist is right, our cores are different. I was confused why would anyone would compare me to an ISTP acquaintance. Then again, I'm good at mirror-ing.
 

esidebill

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Well I've just had certain occurrences where I don't feel like an ISTP. Mostly being detached from everything. I'm a very approachable person and was always having random heart to hearts with people when I worked at a grocery store. There were times where I would just randomly ask people about their scars. I could tell peoples feelings and if they weren't feeling great that day. I could make friends with just about anyone. If I cleaned something I might get a little obsessive over it.
 

freeeekyyy

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You could just be a more mature ISTP. Some people never really develop their entire personality. Fe may be low for an ISTP, but it's still present. I, as an INTJ, can still recognize when I'm using Se. I guess a good question for you would be, do you prefer to interact with people or things? Speaking for myself, I prefer to interact with things, but I still like people and enjoy spending time with them, especially if it's somebody important to me who I really care about. T types still feel and F types still think, but what you find yourself going to more naturally and more often is what you want to pay attention to.
 

esidebill

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You could just be a more mature ISTP. Some people never really develop their entire personality. Fe may be low for an ISTP, but it's still present. I, as an INTJ, can still recognize when I'm using Se. I guess a good question for you would be, do you prefer to interact with people or things? Speaking for myself, I prefer to interact with things, but I still like people and enjoy spending time with them, especially if it's somebody important to me who I really care about. T types still feel and F types still think, but what you find yourself going to more naturally and more often is what you want to pay attention to.

I play multi player games because I usually get bored of single player (I enjoy talking and making friends heh) :p I mean, I feel like if I've proven I'd rather deal with other people rather than formulate my own opinion.
 

cascadeco

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I play multi player games because I usually get bored of single player (I enjoy talking and making friends heh) :p I mean, I feel like if I've proven I'd rather deal with other people rather than formulate my own opinion.

Well, I as an INFJ tend to like to interact with myself and do things on my own, and tend to be more solitary and have a tendency to want to avoid people and go birdwatching instead. ;) The people vs. things thing, in terms of free time, could easily be attributed to introversion as well.

Also, I think going by Activities /interests/hobbies is the wrong path to take when trying to type. With that, there are INFJ's out there that might seem ISTP by virtue of some of their hobbies/interests (perhaps with linkages to Se?), whereas there are ISTP's out there who might seem more INFJ if, as freeky said, there is more maturity and interest in other people.

I guess I'd recommend for you to just start really browsing INFJ threads and issues INFJ's bring up. Look at the patterns of INFJ's on here, and see whether you relate to a lot of it (relate to their thinking/concerns/perceptions, and relate to their stumbling blocks), or whether in the end you don't relate to most of what INFJ's on here are talking about, and view things/life from an entirely different angle. :shrug:

In the end this stuff is about cognition - about how different types think, perceive, process, decide, etc. An ISTP at root is going to have a very different preference/priority in viewing the world & processing than the INFJ.
 

Oaky

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Yes, but it is usually the INFJ that would be confused for ISTP and not vice-versa. Such is because of the INFJ inclination towards the habits and stereotypes of the ISTPs I would think. But it shows far more in the young than the old.
 

Speed Gavroche

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Yes sometimes. Mel Gibson, for example. ISTP or INFJ? He is typed the both.
 

esidebill

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I've just always figured I might have high levels of Fe.
 

Speed Gavroche

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You can be high on your inferior function, there's not contradictons.
 

Totenkindly

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I'm really a non-entity when it comes to typing, but I'm curious about something, which is why I'm throwing it into the mix:

Isn't the driving motivation and perspective of an NF and an SP supposed to be fundamentally different? So while I see the two resembling each other superficially, wouldn't their inner cores be extremely different? It is hard to perceive that, though, so I can see someone confusing an INFJ for an ISTP, especially if they don't know each other very well.

They're supposed to be, but you know I'm not superficial.

For some reason, my friend befuddles me.
(Which is actually more typical of INFJs than ISTPs, who I naturally grasp quickly, so...maybe that's my answer. I just can't see into that Ni space.)
 

skylights

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I've always been a little "lost" when it comes to my own personality, because I feel like I'm the only person who would truly know. Then I figure that people who talk to me might also know. I think most of the time I get terrible opinions from people.

well. the internet does harbor the same people who created pedobear and 4 chan. ;)

you are, though - the only one who knows best. especially for an introvert who probably shows less of yourself to others. i'm guessing what's going on is that you have both strong Ni and Ti and that's making it hard for you to differentiate.

I'm really a non-entity when it comes to typing, but I'm curious about something, which is why I'm throwing it into the mix:

Isn't the driving motivation and perspective of an NF and an SP supposed to be fundamentally different? So while I see the two resembling each other superficially, wouldn't their inner cores be extremely different? It is hard to perceive that, though, so I can see someone confusing an INFJ for an ISTP, especially if they don't know each other very well.

i think it really depends on the person in question... your average INFP 4w5 and ESTP 7w8 are going to be very different, with the drive for the INFP really being reflection and depth, and the drive for the ESTP being experiencing and enjoying life. but if you take an INFJ 6w7 and an ISTP 4w3, they could end up looking very similar.

maybe it's important to separate drive from the MBTI... i don't know what keirsey says, but i'm not much a fan of the idea of our cognitive patterns producing a certain drive. as far as i understand it, the letters are meant to describe your thinking patterns, and that's about it. more INFJs are likely to be interested in humanism and paradoxes and more ISTPs are more likely to be interested in applied science and physical pursuits, but whether that's because of interest or facility, or both, or something else entirely - i don't think that can be determined. i'm just afraid to use keirsey temperament correlations because you could end up accidentally boxing someone in because of behavior or interests, but it's not their actual thinking process. myself, sometimes i come off pretty NT, and i would usually identify myself as more "knowledge seeking" than "identity seeking". but knowledge paves the road to identity...

but i think throwing motivation in there is a great idea - actually less as help in identifying and more as help in seeing what could be confounding. for example, if you have your enneagram figured out i think that could help you see why your type might not be so clear. myself, i was not as clear an E as many e7s. i have seen many ENFP 4s also echo that, because we are not so extraverted on the surface - though when we dig deep down we find that we are more extraverted than not. since bill is a 5w4, we know he's going to be particularly analytical and drawn to depth. for an ISTP that would probably mean looking a little more like an INTP, and for an INFJ it would probably mean looking a little more like an INTJ. LL aren't you a 1? i could definitely see that making an ENFP typing more difficult.

i also think how you were raised can have a significant impact. i was raised by an ESFJ and an INTP in a medical environment - no surprise then that i am relatively more quiet, less P, and more T than your average ENFP.

esidebill said:
Well I've just had certain occurrences where I don't feel like an ISTP. Mostly being detached from everything. I'm a very approachable person and was always having random heart to hearts with people when I worked at a grocery store. There were times where I would just randomly ask people about their scars. I could tell peoples feelings and if they weren't feeling great that day. I could make friends with just about anyone. If I cleaned something I might get a little obsessive over it.

bill - i dunno if you've gotten into function theory, but this guy beebe proposed "roles", based on jung's archetypes, for the functions as used by each type, and that helped me figure out whether i was an INFP or ENFP.

it's a bit like:

1 - the "hero" - the main character of the story. is the protagonist and the one who "saves the day". always "on".
2 - the "supporting parent" - the guide. encourages and redirects self and others. always "on", but lower priority.
3 - the "eternal child" - also known as "relief", steps in when the first two aren't cutting it. has an "on-or-off" quality. can be narcissistic.
4 - the "anima/animus" - one's idea of the opposite of themselves, a source of creativity and/or pertrification.

so for an INFJ this would look something like:

cognitiveprocesses said:
INFJ - Foreseer Developer
Theme is foresight. Use their insights to deal with complexity in issues and people, often with a strong sense of “knowing” before others know themselves. Talents lie in developing and guiding people. Trust their inspirations and visions, using them to help others. Thrive on helping others resolve deep personal and ethical dilemmas. Private and complex, they bring a quiet enthusiasm and industry to projects that are part of their vision.

1 - Ni - internal intuition leads and is the primary problem-solver. addresses paradigms, probability and outcomes.
2 - Fe - extraverted feeling encourages and redirects actions of self and others. addresses dynamics between people.
3 - Ti - introverted thinking supports thought processes when Ni and Fe alone cannot solve the problem at hand. you can engage logic (not just rationality - good reason - but strict, impersonal logic) when you want, but it doesn't naturally run all the time. can make you feel superior.
4 - Se - extraverted sensing - can propel you into interacting with and/or producing in the real world.

or for an ISTP, perhaps something like:

cp said:
ISTP - Analyzer Operator
Theme is action-driven problem solving. Talents lie in operating all kinds of tools and instruments and using frameworks for solving problems. Keen observers of the environment, they are a storehouse of data and facts relevant to analyzing and solving problems. Thrive on challenging situations and having the freedom to craft clever solutions and do whatever it takes to fix things and make them work. Take pride in their skill and virtuosity, which they seem to effortlessly acquire.

1 - Ti - introverted thinking - impersonal, neutral logic and system integrity - leads and is the primary problem-solver.
2 - Se - extraverted sensing - acting upon and interacting with the tangible world supports Ti and redirects how and where Ti is applied.
3 - Ni - internal intuition, which can be turned on and off, is engaged when logic + action aren't enough to address problems. can make you feel superior.
4 - Fe - extraverted feeling - can propel you into warm interactions and dealing with people.

perhaps that can be a little helpful for you also :)
 
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