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[MBTI General] Are INFPs (and ISFPs) better bullsh*t detectors than the other types?

Doctor Cringelord

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Does the dominant introverted feeling function shared by INFPs and ISFPs make them better at seeing through phony bullshitters? Forgive the crass language and also if there is already a thread devoted to this topic. Still a newbie.
 

Doctor Cringelord

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Perhaps I should have been more clear. I'm not saying the other types are necessarily bad at bullshit detection, I just mean when it comes to picking up the general vibe of a phony bullshit artist, I think INFPs and ISFPs may have a slight edge. Now, an NT type might be better at detecting bullshit by picking apart someone's language and determining whether it matches their actions. So one could definitely fool an IxFP, but it's still not going to be easy. It's definitely my strongest ability in interpersonal relations. My wife (ISFP) and myself have often called people on bullshit or being phony long before any of our friends have realized something fishy might really be up with a person. It can be quite frustrating to just have a feeling about a person and tell your friends, only to have them tell you you're being a crazy asshole/bitch. It can be satisfying though, later on, to hear them say they should've trusted you all along.

I'm rarely wrong when I "get a bad vibe" about a person. It's not often easy to articulate my feelings, but I just KNOW when someone is being dishonest or has ulterior motives.

I think this might be why I can't stand Hillary Clinton. None of my liberal or democrat acquaintances seem to understand, but there's just a feeling that I've always had about the woman. Of course, that's about 90% of politicians anyway.
 

iNtrovert

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I vote ESFJ to be the best judge of people (Fe Si Ne Ti). Fe picks up on changes in emotions expressions ect better than any other function probably one of the most valuable skills of people reading. The fact that it's an ESFJ's dom function is enough all on its own but that killer Fe is also supported by Si. Si is of course sensory and it deals with past present and future allowing them to recall and compare past experiences with people with the current experience. Then they have that Ne thing going on, a function of the abstract that can up on everything a person is not saying. Finally Ti logically pulling a part information and judging the validity. If I had to pick a second I'd say ISFJ ( Si Fe Ti Ne). Same functions different order.
I mean Fi though a feeling function is directed internally. Though it helps the user to develop a strong sense of right and wrong it can be so subjective. You can clearly identify how you feel about things and why but your right might be someone else’s wrong and vice versa. You can't really build such a strong sense of self or an internal personal framework and then accurately apply it to others. They're not you yet you’d be judging them primarily on how you see the world. That would be pretty one sided. Fe however is the culmination of the feelings of everyone else. That makes for a much broader framework and a more accurate judgment in this respect. Fi is like having a dictionary of words for 13 letters in the alphabet to Fe's 26. Fi would have more in-depth definitions but Fe would have a summary of all the words to work with.
 

Lady_X

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Nah I don't think they are. Fi projects too much based on our own understanding. We're often good at it but probably not the best. I know I often give people the benefit of doubt that don't deserve it. I think this is what I would mean if I said that and its usually coming from a good place so I project that into others and I'm wrong because actually they're just horrible people...and mean something that would never occur to me.
 

Sunny Ghost

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I've always felt as though I've been pretty good at detecting good or bad vibes from others. But, I don't think it's a strictly Fi quality and I also don't think all Fi's develop their self well in that way. We're all fallible. I do, however, believe that certain introverted qualities are better at picking up on those types of things. Such as Ni, Fi, Si and Ti. Less so the extroverted qualities. But idk for certain. Many descriptions will say that ISFP's and also INFJ's are both very good at reading people.
 

Sunny Ghost

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Nah I don't think they are. Fi projects too much based on our own understanding. We're often good at it but probably not the best. I know I often give people the benefit of doubt that don't deserve it. I think this is what I would mean if I said that and its usually coming from a good place so I project that into others and I'm wrong because actually they're just horrible people...and mean something that would never occur to me.

I actually tend to be overly skeptical of most people. At least initially. But my mindset on people is often fluid and flexible and capable of change.

My ESFJ sister tends to be more rigid in her opinion of others. If she doesn't like you from the first encounter, then she'll never like you.
 

Thursday

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I actually tend to be overly skeptical of most people. At least initially. But my mindset on people is often fluid and flexible and capable of change.

My ESFJ sister tends to be more rigid in her opinion of others. If she doesn't like you from the first encounter, than she'll never like you.

Se is engaging while Si is stubborn as FCUK!!!!
 

iNtrovert

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Agree^ but I also think Fi being a judging fuction is a lot more stubborn than Si
 

iNtrovert

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not that that's a bad thing
 

OrangeAppled

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It depends on what we call BS.... I am decent at seeing discrepancy between what someone is expressing & what emotion they are experiencing. However, I don't call this BS in itself, because I think choosing to go with a principled response over an emotion is part of being a mature adult. I also need to get a sense of someone over time, to see what is consistent & normal for them, before jumping to any conclusions.

In other ways, I can be quite naive. I've recently gotten more sensitive to being emotionally manipulated, because after having been a victim of it I realized I give extensive benefit of the doubt to the point where I gloss over such discrepancies as noted above. If I had given them more weight, I may have seen enough inconsistency between expressed feeling & feeling in demeanor & action that I would've judged someone as NOT truly concerned with my benefit. I suppose that is my main aim in any consideration of authenticity - is this person's feeling towards me genuine?

I don't associate this with Fi, because when I was younger - arguably before Ne took on a larger part of my thinking - I was very absorbed in myself so that I did not read people at all. I didn't & still don't really use Fi for direct judgment to outward things - it's more like I use Ne to see the various ways it relates to my Fi concepts of the human condition, and blah blah blah. Anyhow, when jolted into reality, I tended to be hyper-sensitive & take things negatively which were not, but reading authenticity was not even something which dawned on me. This sometimes led to me being acutely disappointed when I thought someone liked me or was being kind, and it was not genuine.

I notice people who feel they read others well are actually P-dom (ExxP & IxxJ, especially the Feeling varieties). Things simply are apparent to them & they trust this very quickly. For me, I need to go into analysis of my perceptions to "make sense" of things & apply the appropriate weight to it all, and I hesitate to do this too quickly, for fear of jumping to conclusions. So this suspension of final judgment prevents me from decrying someone as full of BS. Even if I am becoming aware of it, unless it appears as damaging & in urgent need of review, then I don't really even label it to myself.
 

iNtrovert

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I think it depends on subject matter and combination of functions. I just mean Fi in general is a stubborn function but I wouldn't call most P types stubborn overall. Imo where Se is engaging and Si is stubbron Fe is accomidating and Fi is not putting up with it.
 

Sunny Ghost

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It depends on what we call BS.... I am decent at seeing discrepancy between what someone is expressing & what emotion they are experiencing. However, I don't call this BS in itself, because I think choosing to go with a principled response over an emotion is part of being a mature adult. I also need to get a sense of someone over time, to see what is consistent & normal for them, before jumping to any conclusions.

In other ways, I can be quite naive. I've recently gotten more sensitive to being emotionally manipulated, because after having been a victim of it I realized I give extensive benefit of the doubt to the point where I gloss over such discrepancies as noted above. If I had given them more weight, I may have seen enough inconsistency between expressed feeling & feeling in demeanor & action that I would've judged someone as NOT truly concerned with my benefit. I suppose that is my main aim in any consideration of authenticity - is this person's feeling towards me genuine?

I don't associate this with Fi, because when I was younger - arguably before Ne took on a larger part of my thinking - I was very absorbed in myself so that I did not read people at all. I didn't & still don't really use Fi for direct judgment to outward things - it's more like I use Ne to see the various ways it relates to my Fi concepts of the human condition, and blah blah blah. Anyhow, when jolted into reality, I tended to be hyper-sensitive & take things negatively which were not, but reading authenticity was not even something which dawned on me. This sometimes led to me being acutely disappointed when I thought someone liked me or was being kind, and it was not genuine.

I notice people who feel they read others well are actually P-dom (ExxP & IxxJ, especially the Feeling varieties). Things simply are apparent to them & they trust this very quickly. For me, I need to go into analysis of my perceptions to "make sense" of things & apply the appropriate weight to it all, and I hesitate to do this too quickly, for fear of jumping to conclusions. So this suspension of final judgment leaves me from decrying someone as full of BS. Even if I am becoming aware of it, unless it appears as damaging & in urgent need of review, then I don't really even label it to myself.

I loved this and found it very honest. I can completely relate to how you were as a child. It definitely took time to learn to read people. And same as you, I do worry I may jump to the wrong conclusions. I don't think I can know everything there is to know about a person from one encounter, which is why I prefer to give people opportunities. People are too complex. But I too often keep a skeptical yet open mind at the same time.

I have a bad habit of psychoanalyzing others and believe I use my Fi empathetically coupled with my Ni to fill in the blanks. I often think I do well to read faces and get a sense of what's going on beneath the surface, even when I feel it's a poker face.

Some people just give me a bad vibe. Fake friendly-ness or overly social and nice but not seeming very sincere about it. Others feel so warm and good, even when trying to come off dark and brooding.
 

Sunny Ghost

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I think it depends on subject matter and combination of functions. I just mean Fi in general is a stubborn function but I wouldn't call most P types stubborn overall. Imo where Se is engaging and Si is stubbron Fe is accomidating and Fi is not putting up with it.

In terms of what we believe is the right thing to do, yes. Definitely.

However, if someone is not acting in socially appropriate behavior, I've known of Fe's to call it out.

I have a hard time distinguishing some ESTPs from ESFPs, so I'm not certain if it's Fi behavior or not: acting in a mean way towards those they don't like. But I've also known of ExFPs who will act kindly towards everyone, all the time, even if it is undeserved. So I have a tendency of believing that people who do this are either unhealthy Fi types or T's.
 

iNtrovert

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It depends on what we call BS.... I am decent at seeing discrepancy between what someone is expressing & what emotion they are experiencing. However, I don't call this BS in itself, because I think choosing to go with a principled response over an emotion is part of being a mature adult. I also need to get a sense of someone over time, to see what is consistent & normal for them, before jumping to any conclusions.

In other ways, I can be quite naive. I've recently gotten more sensitive to being emotionally manipulated, because after having been a victim of it I realized I give extensive benefit of the doubt to the point where I gloss over such discrepancies as noted above. If I had given them more weight, I may have seen enough inconsistency between expressed feeling & feeling in demeanor & action that I would've judged someone as NOT truly concerned with my benefit. I suppose that is my main aim in any consideration of authenticity - is this person's feeling towards me genuine?

I don't associate this with Fi, because when I was younger - arguably before Ne took on a larger part of my thinking - I was very absorbed in myself so that I did not read people at all. I didn't & still don't really use Fi for direct judgment to outward things - it's more like I use Ne to see the various ways it relates to my Fi concepts of the human condition, and blah blah blah. Anyhow, when jolted into reality, I tended to be hyper-sensitive & take things negatively which were not, but reading authenticity was not even something which dawned on me. This sometimes led to me being acutely disappointed when I thought someone liked me or was being kind, and it was not genuine.

I notice people who feel they read others well are actually P-dom (ExxP & IxxJ, especially the Feeling varieties). Things simply are apparent to them & they trust this very quickly. For me, I need to go into analysis of my perceptions to "make sense" of things & apply the appropriate weight to it all, and I hesitate to do this too quickly, for fear of jumping to conclusions. So this suspension of final judgment prevents me from decrying someone as full of BS. Even if I am becoming aware of it, unless it appears as damaging & in urgent need of review, then I don't really even label it to myself.

Posts like this are why I find INFP's intriguing. I feel like you just let me take a peak in your brain. lol I don’t know how else to explain it that probably sounds rather weird.
 

iNtrovert

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In terms of what we believe is the right thing to do, yes. Definitely.

However, if someone is not acting in socially appropriate behavior, I've known of Fe's to call it out.

I agree. That’s exactly what I mean by it depends on the subject matter. When I say I feel Fi won't put up with it I don't mean it will cause them to be rude or mean. I more or less mean they won't compromise what they feel is right. It also makes sense to me that ExFP's would be nice to everyone. Extroverts get energy from and tend to like being around people. It’s not unreasonable to think that Fi would work that into its belief system.
 

Sunny Ghost

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I agree. That’s exactly what I mean by it depends on the subject matter. When I say I feel Fi won't put up with it I don't mean it will cause them to be rude or mean. I more or less mean they won't compromise what they feel is right. It also makes sense to me that ExFP's would be nice to everyone. Extroverts get energy from and tend to like being around people. It’s not unreasonable to think that Fi would work that into its belief system.

Makes sense.
 

Lady_X

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It depends on what we call BS.... I am decent at seeing discrepancy between what someone is expressing & what emotion they are experiencing. However, I don't call this BS in itself, because I think choosing to go with a principled response over an emotion is part of being a mature adult. I also need to get a sense of someone over time, to see what is consistent & normal for them, before jumping to any conclusions.

In other ways, I can be quite naive. I've recently gotten more sensitive to being emotionally manipulated, because after having been a victim of it I realized I give extensive benefit of the doubt to the point where I gloss over such discrepancies as noted above. If I had given them more weight, I may have seen enough inconsistency between expressed feeling & feeling in demeanor & action that I would've judged someone as NOT truly concerned with my benefit. I suppose that is my main aim in any consideration of authenticity - is this person's feeling towards me genuine?

I don't associate this with Fi, because when I was younger - arguably before Ne took on a larger part of my thinking - I was very absorbed in myself so that I did not read people at all. I didn't & still don't really use Fi for direct judgment to outward things - it's more like I use Ne to see the various ways it relates to my Fi concepts of the human condition, and blah blah blah. Anyhow, when jolted into reality, I tended to be hyper-sensitive & take things negatively which were not, but reading authenticity was not even something which dawned on me. This sometimes led to me being acutely disappointed when I thought someone liked me or was being kind, and it was not genuine.

I notice people who feel they read others well are actually P-dom (ExxP & IxxJ, especially the Feeling varieties). Things simply are apparent to them & they trust this very quickly. For me, I need to go into analysis of my perceptions to "make sense" of things & apply the appropriate weight to it all, and I hesitate to do this too quickly, for fear of jumping to conclusions. So this suspension of final judgment prevents me from decrying someone as full of BS. Even if I am becoming aware of it, unless it appears as damaging & in urgent need of review, then I don't really even label it to myself.

yes this is true for me too. i feel like i can tell when someone is being authentic. expressing true feeling etc. and the fake nice thing people do...ughh most are so bad at it.

i can often tell when someones telling a story that it's often exaggerated or parts are made up. even good people do this a lot and wow does it bug me.
 

autumnandtherain

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I'm INFJ and I wouldn't say that I'm good at telling when people are lying, but I'm definitely good at reading their character as a whole. Even as a kid, I just knew when something wasn't right about someone even if I didn't know why.
 

Lark

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Detectors?

Is this like a he who dealt it, smelt it deal?
 
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