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[MBTI General] Differences between INFJ's and ENFP's.

Azure Flame

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What are the easiest differences? Don't say introversion and extroversion, because I've met many many ENFP's who live in their rooms and play make believe with their cats.
 

Ene

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First, I'd like to start by saying that I've never met an ENFP that I didn't like.

Hmm...the main differences, I'd say that ENFPs are always changing and jumping on board with "new" things; they seem to become energized by constant change; it's just that they love the latest toy or gadget or fashion or movie or purse or shoes or whatever...while an INFJs tend to enjoy a personal challenge more and they don't mind digging in for something that might take awhile, so long as it allows them to use their creativity and some innovation. I don't know. I'm just speaking from observations.

I think both have a youthful quality to them and I think they work well together for the most part.
 

pinkgraffiti

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i'd say this is actually a good topic. i have an INFJ friend that sometimes looks very ENFP.

i'm going to get off the boat on this because being an ENFP i don't have external perspective on this issue, but the main differences i notice between my friend and myself are that she's more social (Fe), as in she always organizes things for friends like dinners etc but when she's in trouble she also wants all her friends to participate/help her as a group - i don't do that, i don't usually entertain because my house is my personal space more or less and if i'm in trouble i recoil back to myself and maybe see friends one on one.
similarities, i notice we are both perceivers, as in non-judging.
what else?...ah, i normally blurt out things. while she when speaking can have extended moments of silence, like if she was thinking, and then will come up with something constructed and definite (i guess this is Ti?)
lastly, she has told me and i've noticed that she has problems understanding her own emotions. i find this weird, i'm the opposite.
also, she's like a social butterfly, always out of the house doing stuff. and when she's in her house she keeps it pristine and likes to create an environment that reflects her inner state. but then she's also an introvert and you can see she places a big gap between social world and innerself. for instance, she hides her emotions from you often, and you feel there is a disconnection there between the outer world and her inner world (Ti wall?)?
i'm the opposite, i'm not jumping around all the time and i don't care what my house looks like, i just need a place to crash. also, i can share my emotions and talk about them and i like going to the bottom of things.

i hope i didn't create more confusion than before. this is just an improptu outlook on what i experience, but i'm not sure if all i said fits with being ENFP/INFJ or whatever.
 

HongDou

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Some differences I've noticed over the past few weeks between me and my INFJ 4w3 sp/so friend I'm living with:

  • He's hurt too easily. I'm bored too easily.
  • He exhibits his happiness in a more self-contained manner. I exhibit my happiness wildly.
  • He's more apathetic when asked what he wants to do. I ask around and gather for ideas.
  • He can't be convinced into doing anything with his friends. I usually don't need convicing.
  • He changes his tone when talking to others besides me and his family (more amiable). My tone stays the same.
  • He doesn't really bond with people by joking around - he's just nice. I have to laugh and joke around with people.
  • He can be content just sitting on the computer doing his thing. I have to take initiative to organize anything more active.
  • He tends to follow my lead in social situations (ex: I hugged my friend when she started crying since her dog died and he just awkwardly stuck his arm in between us to half-hug her)

That's all I have atm. :rly???: I can't think of anything that isn't about me being sx-first and him being sx-last. Just adding that the INFJs I know that give off the NFP vibe are 9w1s. Probably not true of all INFJ 9w1s but that's what I've seen.
 

Siúil a Rúin

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I've known both types that could never be confused, but lately I've noticed a few people that when I try to type them, I have trouble knowing which one they are.

When strongly iNtuitive, I think you look at the process of using the iNtuition. If it is more of a stream of consciousness that finds some way to combine contrasting ideas into an interconnected web in which each idea has at least one thing in common with the next idea, then that feels more like Ne. If there is more emphasis on distilling the unseen down to singular concepts, if the ideas are organized more like a fractal pattern, than that seems more like Ni. I think the Ni-dom will have more of a feeling of focus overall, while Ne-dom has more of a feeling of multitasking ideas.

What can be confusing is that both N-types like to process the widest possible range of concepts, but the Ni-dom is trying to connect everything at its core while the Ne-dom is more content to leave the mystery in its external form and watch for changing connections.
 

sulfit

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What are the easiest differences? Don't say introversion and extroversion, because I've met many many ENFP's who live in their rooms and play make believe with their cats.
Te-requesting vs Ti-requesting is a good way to tell them apart. ENFPs need someone to tell them how to do something, provide them with a procedure, a set of steps that will lead to the result that they desire. They don't care why it works if it works. INFJs are much more interested in why they things work as they do. They don't need procedural guidance because with secondary creative Fe they already see how they can affect things. Also delta vs beta values, ENFPs are more likely than INFJs to complain about how somebody doesn't work hard enough and evaluate someone's personal qualities based on their utility (Te).

ENFPs with secondary Fi are much more insistent on their opinions. They readily enter arguments and defend their stances, easily drafting huge essays to support their point of view if this is happening over the internet. Their opinions from Ti point of view seem primarily based on their personal sentiments and emotions (I struggle to take them seriously myself). Quite often they try to depict themselves as "the good person" during the course of the argument (creative Fi) and win over support in this manner. INFJs are much more wishy-washy and indecisive. In socionics, INFJs (INFp,IEI) are called victim type, because they often talk about things happening to them as if they had no will or power to counter them or deal with them somehow. They are not as determined to defend their own stances as ENFPs, more likely to go with the flow. They can accept some idea and only later think it through by themselves (weak Ti) and reject it, while ENFPs reject things that don't harmonize with them (Fi) right away.

If you see someone blaming others for not thinking for themselves, that's very likely a Ti-valuer. INFJs and INTPs will sometimes blame other people for this. ENFPs will not, because their Te needs this kind of groupthink. While ENFPs feel on individual level (Fi), their thinking is based on what it considered to be reasonable or proper by others, by their environment or group.

This is a good demonstration of ENFP's Fi insisting on personal values:

 
S

Stansmith

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INFJ and ENFP make a new friend



INFJ - Tell me about yourself. Show me the essence of your soul, I can tell someone's hurt you in the past.

ENFP - OMG, you like Justin Timberlake too!?!??
 

Siúil a Rúin

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INFJ and ENFP make a new friend



INFJ - Tell me about yourself. Show me the essence of your soul, I can tell someone's hurt you in the past.

ENFP - OMG, you like Justin Timberlake too!?!??
Wouldn't the second one be more ESFP? The ENFPs I've known invent their own languages, sing songs about cumulus flatulence, and can understand the relationship between helicopters, chords progressions, and beavers.
 
S

Stansmith

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INFJs are calm, have dry wit, serious and less assuming.

ENFPs are bouncy, animate, random and have less brain-to-mouth filter.


I really can't confuse the two; one is clearly introverted and the other is clearly a Ne-martian.
 
S

Stansmith

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Wouldn't the second one be more ESFP? The ENFPs I've known invent their own languages, sing songs about cumulus flatulence, and can understand the relationship between helicopters, chords progressions, and beavers.

I think both Aux-Fi types can be pretty fanboyish and excited about menial things. I can definitely see myself using that as an icebreaker. This is how the conversation would go:

ENFP - OMG, YOU ALSO LIKE JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE?

Some type - lol, yeah.

ENFP - Justin Timberlake is like the greatest thing since ever. I love Justin Timberlake. He's my idol.
 

Amargith

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Nfjs glide. Nfps bounce. Nuff said.
 

Z Buck McFate

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When I feel very confused or hurt by something that someone has done, I feel practically incapable of reacting outwardly right away. No matter how ‘obvious’ it seems to other people- if something takes me off guard, it’s like kryptonite to me and it feels like it inhibits my ability to be able to interact with the external world. I have to 'shut off' and make some sense of it (eta: I need to find some kind of toe-hold on the situation before I even begin to move forward, it seems to me like Pe'ers always already have that toe-hold). I’ve noticed that Pe doms (and even aux, to some extent) are able to react to things immediately. We share the idealism, but seeing their ability to react to things immediately (especially emotional reactions) floors me because I just don’t have it.
 

Fidelia

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INFJs seem more outwardly reserved but inwardly more free and open. I find the opposite in some regards with ENFPs. On the surface they appear to be an open book, but are rather private people. ENFPs jump into new situations with both feet, while INFJs look at the water for awhile and then dip a toe in before wading out.
 

pinkgraffiti

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Wouldn't the second one be more ESFP? The ENFPs I've known invent their own languages, sing songs about cumulus flatulence, and can understand the relationship between helicopters, chords progressions, and beavers.

thanks. yup, that stupid ENFP stereotype never fails to make my eyes roll.
 

lunalum

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INFJ - Tell me about yourself. Show me the essence of your soul, I can tell someone's hurt you in the past.

This is both INFJ and ENFP.

Real difference being, the INFJ would take multiple paragraphs spread out over the course of several hours to say something to that effect.

The ENFP would just say it, within 3 seconds, and with a giggle at the end ;)
 

Siúil a Rúin

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thanks. yup, that stupid ENFP stereotype never fails to make my eyes roll.
Those aren't stereotypes. Those are actual descriptions of actual artists I know and what they do and say. I guess in some instances I was assuming they are ENFP, but if they aren't that, what would they be? I can't make that stuff up - except the references to beavers. I did throw that in the description.

Edit: Also, that's a stereotype? That ENFPs make up their own languages, etc.? What's with the rudeness too? Realize there is a range within each type and not all are in the arts or necessarily creative. The ENFPs I described whom I know personally are all quite intelligent and innovative, so I'm insulted that you called their descriptions "stupid" because they certainly aren't.
 

CuriousFeeling

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I notice when it comes to discussing an idea, ENFPs would consider every possible direction to be true. There's a feeling like their thought process diverges outwards, that the external world can be molded and shaped. Whereas as an INFJ, I tend to take the ideas and converge it into a central concept. ENFP mental models are more divergent and spread out to every avenue. INFJ mental models take every avenue and bring it to one road.

Ne Bouncy Castle vs. Ni Lair.
 

pinkgraffiti

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Those aren't stereotypes. Those are actual descriptions of actual artists I know and what they do and say. I guess in some instances I was assuming they are ENFP, but if they aren't that, what would they be? I can't make that stuff up - except the references to beavers. I did throw that in the description.

Edit: Also, that's a stereotype? That ENFPs make up their own languages, etc.? What's with the rudeness too? Realize there is a range within each type and not all are in the arts or necessarily creative. The ENFPs I described whom I know personally are all quite intelligent and innovative, so I'm insulted that you called their descriptions "stupid" because they certainly aren't.

what!?? noo! i'm sincerely thanking you for your comment to the other guy (Stansmith?) who said something very shallow about ENFPs. BUt I liked yours!
 

Siúil a Rúin

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what!?? noo! i'm sincerely thanking you for your comment to the other guy (Stansmith?) who said something very shallow about ENFPs. BUt I liked yours!
Yay! I'm glad because I was offering high praise. Ne-doms are the source of my sanity.

For our happy resolution I offer you a chorus of nanner-dancers:
:bunnyglee::banana::banana2::moonwalk::bananachamp::mariobanana:
 
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