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[MBTI General] Extroversion, introversion, and ambiverts.

CrystalViolet

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I'm coming to the conclusion that I'm slightly mistyped. I, in actual fact, might be a extrovert.
It's a pretty fundamental thing to mix up...I do identify strongly with introverts. So shout out to the ambiverts out there. Do you tend to identify with one or the other, have you mixed up introversion and extroversion.

I think due to some fairly interesting factors in my upbringing, I'm fairly suppressed.
P.S. I know I have posted this before, but bear with me. This is a pretty major shift in the image of me. And for all those skeptical T's out there who think people are pathetic for setting a store by your MBTI type....I didn't know who I was, or what I was. I'm not sure if that's common in children of narcissistic parents, but I had to start some where.
 

King sns

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Okay, first of all, I don't think us Fi people "don't know who we are". I think that we know so much about who we are, all the nuances, that it's actually difficult to put a label on it and make decisions. Now that I got that out of the way, :laugh:

What made you think that maybe you could be an E?
 

rav3n

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If you're looking at intraversion and extraversion in a people focused way, then I'm kind of an ambivert by recharging with or without people. I too have narcissistic parents where my father's pretty far gone on the axiom and my mother says a lot of dramatic martyr-like things but when it comes to push, she's all about self which strangely includes my father in her concept of self.
 

Thalassa

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I test as pretty much solidly ambiverted on the four dichotomies (on some tests straight up 50/50) and it's because my social extroversion isn't as high as you think it would be. Now, I am very extroverted in terms of being expressive, initiating, and being outwardly focused. In a purely cognitive sense, I'm an extrovert.

But from the amount of time I spend alone, the solitude I require to charge my batteries, or the fact that I often enjoy going to the store alone, et al, you would think I'm an introvert.

I just took a test today from a psychology magazine saying I'm most likely extroverted. The Social thingy also made me seem extremely extroverted. It's so weird, though...I spend so much time with me, myself and I, and I'm very fond of it.

Before I started really learning about personality theory, you wouldn't have been able to convince me that I wasn't an introvert. But then I had a friend in college who laughed when I said I was introverted. He was like, "you? An introvert?" and he was basing this apparently on how much I talked in class, and the way I initiated socializing with him, a very obvious introvert.

Compared to my ISTJ friend I am an extrovert, pretty solidly, but he even questions it sometimes. He's like "you're no extrovert. Why the hell are you always reading." He called me an ISFP today.
 

CrystalViolet

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Shoot, where do I start?
Childhood tendencies, I was very much an ENP child. My stress reactions, I'm much more acquainted with them now, and they have ENP tendencies (Paranoia to nth degree!), my boss teases me about it. Why I'm ennegram 5, that disconnection of how I feel about things when I feel them. I have talk out load about it.
Those are few things off the top of my head.

Jenaphor,
If you have seen Black swan....without the sexual connotations, I'm talking like Nina's mother.
 

OrangeAppled

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I didn't know who I was, or what I was.

This always strikes me as a P-dom kind of thing to say.....
When it comes to social interaction, you may be an ambivert, but you likely still have a slight preference for Ne over Fi (or vice versa). Consider how the functions change flavor a bit in different roles & it may clarify if you're ENFP or INFP.
 

wildcat

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I test as pretty much solidly ambiverted on the four dichotomies (on some tests straight up 50/50) and it's because my social extroversion isn't as high as you think it would be. Now, I am very extroverted in terms of being expressive, initiating, and being outwardly focused. In a purely cognitive sense, I'm an extrovert.

But from the amount of time I spend alone, the solitude I require to charge my batteries, or the fact that I often enjoy going to the store alone, et al, you would think I'm an introvert.

I just took a test today from a psychology magazine saying I'm most likely extroverted. The Social thingy also made me seem extremely extroverted. It's so weird, though...I spend so much time with me, myself and I, and I'm very fond of it.

Before I started really learning about personality theory, you wouldn't have been able to convince me that I wasn't an introvert. But then I had a friend in college who laughed when I said I was introverted. He was like, "you? An introvert?" and he was basing this apparently on how much I talked in class, and the way I initiated socializing with him, a very obvious introvert.

Compared to my ISTJ friend I am an extrovert, pretty solidly, but he even questions it sometimes. He's like "you're no extrovert. Why the hell are you always reading." He called me an ISFP today.

Ambiversion is the rule.
MBTI is the locker.
 

rav3n

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Jenaphor,
If you have seen Black swan....without the sexual connotations, I'm talking like Nina's mother.
Haven't seen the movie so I don't understand the reference. Thought I would share a bit since it might resonate, if your parents were similar.
 

Thalassa

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Shoot, where do I start?
Childhood tendencies, I was very much an ENP child. My stress reactions, I'm much more acquainted with them now, and they have ENP tendencies (Paranoia to nth degree!), my boss teases me about it. Why I'm ennegram 5, that disconnection of how I feel about things when I feel them. I have talk out load about it.
Those are few things off the top of my head.

Jenaphor,
If you have seen Black swan....without the sexual connotations, I'm talking like Nina's mother.

I've seen Black Swan. Someone inappropriately invasive and controlling.

I think that could push you into yourself, certainly. Even into an introverted function loop.
 

rav3n

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I've seen Black Swan. Someone inappropriately invasive and controlling.

I think that could push you into yourself, certainly. Even into an introverted function loop.
I can see that happening and yet, there's another way to look at it. Consider how intraversion and extraversion impacts on the brain. Extroverts take a shorter route to dopamine hits where introverts take a longer, more circuitous path. Being able to switch back and forth between routes can provide an individual with some advantages.
 

CrystalViolet

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This always strikes me as a P-dom kind of thing to say.....
When it comes to social interaction, you may be an ambivert, but you likely still have a slight preference for Ne over Fi (or vice versa). Consider how the functions change flavor a bit in different roles & it may clarify if you're ENFP or INFP.
Well, I know Ne is like a beacon above my head. Almost every one comments on how ethereal, spiritual or off beat I am, or how I'm never quite present in the moment. It's truly the only function I never questioned, even a little bit. I guess that fact in it's self speaks volumes. Not that I question Fi that much either (any more).

Actually, what makes me question my type, was what I describe my greatest strength as. One of my greatest skills, is my ability to come into a room, and figure exactly what every one's mood is, what needs to be done, and keep track every thing....it's almost indepensable at work. Admittedly I've honed it. I read some that this is an ENFP trait....always being alert, and it comes easily to me. So do the trouble shooting parts and idea generation.

I'm fairly perceptive when it comes to other people but not so much when it comes to myself.

Marm, yes, I'm like you. I spend a lot of time by myself. An extraordinary amount of time actually. I like spending time with friends though, but I do need to recharge often. I'm not the best initiator though, and I get flustered with lots of people I don't know. I'm very awkward socially, until I'm comfortable, and comparing myself with ENFPs of my acquaintance they don't seem to have the same trouble. I do know I can talk my way into or out of things though, LOL.
 

CrystalViolet

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Actually the alertness thing could just be hyper vigilance, when I think about it.
 

CrystalViolet

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I see that, and certainly I've been know to switch it on and off to my advantage.
 

CrystalViolet

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Crystal Violet, does Si or Te give you more problems?
I'm going to ask a stupid question, and ask what problems look like in those functions. For purposes of clarity.
 

NegativeZero

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Contrary to what these MBTI forums would have you believe, extroversion/introversion is not such a strict dichotomy among individual personalities. An overwhelming percentage of the population are ambiverts, around 60% I believe. I would consider anyone who scores in the 5x% range of E or I an ambivert.

Also, I thought most INFPs were timid and reclusive. Weird to see a borderline E.
 

rav3n

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I'm going to ask a stupid question, and ask what problems look like in those functions. For purposes of clarity.
Can't even begin to guess how inferior Si would manifest but inferior Te would come out under stress where you might feel a compulsive need to organise or clean where normally, you're happy with disarray. That's just one example. You also might feel a near compulsive need to organise anything in your environment, including people and their lives, when really stressed.
 

rav3n

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Found something on Inferior Si from Lenore Thomson's Exegesis wiki.:

Si in the Inferior Position

Si provides information about the fixed and stable, the facts / constancies of the universe. At it's best, it provides such information as a firm basis for proceeding forward into the world. Where Si occupies the inferior position (as it does for those with dominant Ne), it is strongly tainted with unconscious contents. In these cases, Si may manifest as negative/malevolent images of eternal tendencies in people and situations that will not change. Such tendencies may well be present, but inferior Si sees the part as the whole. Inferior Si is also linked to feelings of nostalgia, overwhelmingly vivid internal imagery and a selective recall of facts and memories that are highly emotionally charged.

You can probably find a better inferior Te description too.
 

CrystalViolet

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Can't even begin to guess how inferior Si would manifest but inferior Te would come out under stress where you might feel a compulsive need to organise or clean where normally, you're happy with disarray. That's just one example. You also might feel a near compulsive need to organise anything in your environment, including people and their lives, when really stressed.
It's a good question. I have a learned response and I have my gut response. When really stressed out I withdraw, stay quiet. I don't let any one know what's going on. I'll shutdown. I'll even leave in a flounce. That's my gut reaction. I'll go some where safe and pour my emotion into something if I can. I can be really mean, so if I don't shutdown I hurt people's feelings because I will regurge every thing wrong they've ever done and I don't mean any of it. I tend to find it hard to vocalize words too, in that state. It's like they won't come, LOL.

Normal level stress I do organize, but that is more learned, it helps when things get high pressured at work, and I do get a bit shouty especially When people are in my way. I'm not not nice about it either. Thank goodness people understand though, at least in this job I'm at now. Nobody get too offended, so maybe it's not as bad as I think.
 

CrystalViolet

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Contrary to what these MBTI forums would have you believe, extroversion/introversion is not such a strict dichotomy among individual personalities. An overwhelming percentage of the population are ambiverts, around 60% I believe. I would consider anyone who scores in the 5x% range of E or I an ambivert.

Also, I thought most INFPs were timid and reclusive. Weird to see a borderline E.
I have the reclusive down pat, nobody in their right mind would call me timid though.Well, any one who knows me well. Reserved, and aloof is more what people use in regard to me. It's not like I'm new to this, I've dabbling in typology for a few years, eh. Changes in circumstances, however have brought a few things to light, that I never considered before. I come across as introverted in the city, but not so much in a small town. I never had a people shortage before either.
 
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