[MBTI General] INFJ or INFP

[INTerran]

I have just recently learned about cognitive functions and personality typing and have been doing quite a bit of studying as I'm in a relationship with an INTJ and trying to understand him and strengthen our bond. My issues are coming from the fact that I've taken several of the online typing tests. The first showed INFP. The rest suggested INFJ. I recognize many traits for both types within myself and so I'm not exactly sure what my true type is. Is it possible to fall within two types or be on a continuum between two types when there is only one different function separating the types?

 

[SearchingforPeace]

Well, no.

INFJs are Ni Fe. INFPs are Fi Ne. The tricky part is the share no common functions, but they resemble each other substantially, getting to similar places in 2 entirely different manners.

Fi is a depth feeling that struggles to express easily into words. To relate to others, INFPs turn inward, exploring how they would feel in a given circumstance.

INFJs feel what others are experiencing directly. Ni combined with Fe gives them a strong understanding of others, but leaves them struggling to understand themselves.

Just a few questions:

How are you when really stressed out or depressed? What activities help you relax and get back to normal?

Is brainstorming easy or hard for you? Is it easy to develop many many possibilities or do just a few stand out?

I have more, but that is a start.

 

[INTerran]

Just a few questions:

How are you when really stressed out or depressed? What activities help you relax and get back to normal?

~if I am stressed out, I become even more withdrawn/quiet than I already am. And if I am forced to interact when I don't want to, I can be very defensive and snarky/cranky. I want to work the situation out on my own in my own head. It usually doesn't help me to "talk it out" with other people. I want to do very solitary activities like read or watch a movie to relax.

Is brainstorming easy or hard for you? Is it easy to develop many many possibilities or do just a few stand out?

~I hate brainstorming. I have never been very good at it. I usually come up with one idea or central theme and stick with that. I am a whole picture thinker and don't usually care to pick something apart or dissect it.

I have more, but that is a start.[/QUOTE]

 

[SearchingforPeace]

Just a few questions:

~if I am stressed out, I become even more withdrawn/quiet than I already am. And if I am forced to interact when I don't want to, I can be very defensive and snarky/cranky. I want to work the situation out on my own in my own head. It usually doesn't help me to "talk it out" with other people. I want to do very solitary activities like read or watch a movie to relax.

It sounds like you have a thinking function lower on your stack, likely internal thinking (Ti).

Do you get hyper critical of others when really stressed? Do you go around criticizing them in a nitpicking function?

~I hate brainstorming. I have never been very good at it. I usually come up with one idea or central theme and stick with that. I am a whole picture thinker and don't usually care to pick something apart or dissect it.

Users of extroverted intuition typically excel at brainstorming. Introverted intuition users suck at it for the very reason you describe.

If you ever watched the show House, you would see this played out. House needs his staffers. He isn't really training them, so much as using them to generate possibilities. He cuts right through various ones, tries sone things out, and then has an "a-ha" moment of perfect clarity.

You are definitely a Ni-Se user, which eliminates half of all the types.

I do believe you are a NJ, but a SP could be a possibility.

Do you ever go on shopping binges or buy things frivolously when really stressed?

Are you quick to react to others or slow to react?

Can you easily tell what others feel or do you need to think about how you would feel if you were in their shoes?

 

[INTerran]

It sounds like you have a thinking function lower on your stack, likely internal thinking (Ti).

Do you get hyper critical of others when really stressed? Do you go around criticizing them in a nitpicking function?

~I don't nitpick hardly at all....even when stressed I actually hate nitpicking because my mother does it. Drives me up the wall. I just want to be left alone when stressed so I can figure out what to do. If others do press me, I am liable to lash out with sarcasm or grouchiness...and actually if I don't get enough alone/quiet time...that is my response.



Users of extroverted intuition typically excel at brainstorming. Introverted intuition users suck at it for the very reason you describe.

~I write very, very well...but I hate to brainstorm/write many rough drafts. I collect my books/articles over a period of time, I compose in my head, and when I'm ready (usually at the last minute) I sit down and I write...one draft...that's it....perfect to begin with out of my head.

If you ever watched the show House, you would see this played out. House needs his staffers. He isn't really training them, so much as using them to generate possibilities. He cuts right through various ones, tries sone things out, and then has an "a-ha" moment of perfect clarity.

You are definitely a Ni-Se user, which eliminates half of all the types.

I do believe you are a NJ, but a SP could be a possibility.

Do you ever go on shopping binges or buy things frivolously when really stressed?

~no. I am a teacher, so I am on a fixed income. LOL!!

Are you quick to react to others or slow to react?

~in most situations, especially stressful ones, I am fairly quick and calm in my actions. I worked a fast paced fast food job through college, and I loved the busy times when I had to keep up with orders/runs/employees...and I was good at it...but then I would go home and need to be all alone to recharge.

Can you easily tell what others feel or do you need to think about how you would feel if you were in their shoes?

~this is a hard one because I can do both. I usually know how someone is feeling based on facial features/expressions, posture, tone of voice, etc. and I am empathetic and often approach helping them by telling about how I feel/react in their situations.

 

[SearchingforPeace]

It sounds like you have a thinking function lower on your stack, likely internal thinking (Ti).

Do you get hyper critical of others when really stressed? Do you go around criticizing them in a nitpicking function?

~I don't nitpick hardly at all....even when stressed I actually hate nitpicking because my mother does it. Drives me up the wall. I just want to be left alone when stressed so I can figure out what to do. If others do press me, I am liable to lash out with sarcasm or grouchiness...and actually if I don't get enough alone/quiet time...that is my response.

Users of extroverted intuition typically excel at brainstorming. Introverted intuition users suck at it for the very reason you describe.

~I write very, very well...but I hate to brainstorm/write many rough drafts. I collect my books/articles over a period of time, I compose in my head, and when I'm ready (usually at the last minute) I sit down and I write...one draft...that's it....perfect to begin with out of my head.

If you ever watched the show House, you would see this played out. House needs his staffers. He isn't really training them, so much as using them to generate possibilities. He cuts right through various ones, tries sone things out, and then has an "a-ha" moment of perfect clarity.

You are definitely a Ni-Se user, which eliminates half of all the types.

I do believe you are a NJ, but a SP could be a possibility.

Do you ever go on shopping binges or buy things frivolously when really stressed?

~no. I am a teacher, so I am on a fixed income. LOL!!

Are you quick to react to others or slow to react?

~in most situations, especially stressful ones, I am fairly quick and calm in my actions. I worked a fast paced fast food job through college, and I loved the busy times when I had to keep up with orders/runs/employees...and I was good at it...but then I would go home and need to be all alone to recharge.

Can you easily tell what others feel or do you need to think about how you would feel if you were in their shoes?

~this is a hard one because I can do both. I usually know how someone is feeling based on facial features/expressions, posture, tone of voice, etc. and I am empathetic and often approach helping them by telling about how I feel/react in their situations.

Ok, here is what I got so far.

You do not appear to be a Fi dom (under stress they lash out at others and get hyper critical).

INFJs under stress get indulgent, as they fall into inferior Extroverted Sensing. As such, they go wild, buying things, indulging in wild parties, sex escapades, etc.

So, that really doesn't seem to fit you.

On the other hand, ENFJs under stress get hyper depressed and self critical. Indulging in Se activities such as physical activity, movies, games, etc. reduces stress.

Additionally INFJs are very slow at reacting. ENFJs are much faster.

Teacher is one of the typical ENFJ careers.

Have you ever considered ENFJ?

You might say, "I am very introverted, there is no way I am an ENFJ!" Been there, done that.

I tested as a ISTP in college several times. I thought it fit me. But I was never a ISTP. Last year a friend reintroduced me to MBTI and I had the same INFP vs INFJ question. It was soon very clear I was a NFJ and a little bit later I realized I was a ENFJ.

I resisted all 4 letters but E was the hardest.

I was like most Fe doms that didn't have great childhoods and rejected that part of myself for decades, defending myself through carefully constructed ego constructs. Now, I can see that I was one of the most extroverted children I knew, and the most outgoing student from preschool to grad school, the most social person at most jobs.

Anyway, I would suggest considering ENFJ for a bit. Read up everything you can about it.

Read this to see how it fits [ENFJ] Recognizing the Inferior Function in ENFJs

 

[INTerran]

Have you ever considered ENFJ?

~Never in a million years considered it because I consistently test as introverted....but HOLY COW when I read through that info you linked me to....that sounds almost just like me when I am stressed or not myself!!! I will have to do some more research now for sure!! I can't imagine actually being E. 😳

 

[Pionart]

I think you can be in between on any of the axes. If you're usually getting INFJ it probably means you're a J type.

You could look at other type pairs e.g. INTP vs INTJ and see if you're more J or P by those descriptions.

 

[SearchingforPeace]

Have you ever considered ENFJ?

~Never in a million years considered it because I consistently test as introverted....but HOLY COW when I read through that info you linked me to....that sounds almost just like me when I am stressed or not myself!!! I will have to do some more research now for sure!! I can't imagine actually being E. ������

I was the exact same way. I was happy seeing myself as a ISTP. It was hard accepting myself as a N or a F or J. But E was really hard.

But I really didn't fit certain INFJ characteristics. One of my sister is an INFJ. I always thought her to be similar to me, but slower to respond. We have talked about our approaches to life and we are very similar.

One can still be a social introvert and a cognitive extrovert.

 

[INTerran]

I very much appreciate the time you took to walk me through that exercise. I would have never come to that conclusion. But it does make sense reading through it. I think maybe some of the "I" that I feel comes from me being a more shy individual. I can see the extroverted thinking though. I am blown away tonight! What a revelation.

 

[SearchingforPeace]

I very much appreciate the time you took to walk me through that exercise. I would have never come to that conclusion. But it does make sense reading through it. I think maybe some of the "I" that I feel comes from me being a more shy individual. I can see the extroverted thinking though. I am blown away tonight! What a revelation.

I am very glad to have helped. I always thought of myself as a very shy individual. But, looking back, I am anything but shy.

Again, it seems to fit you. It took me about 3 months to feel comfortable with the idea. Now, I could never think I was anything else.

I certainly never thought I fit the profile typically presented, as the glad handing networker who smoozes his way to success. That might fit a ENFJ who had a very supportive childhood and is a e3w2. I recognized I had the talent, but I was blocked from seeing myself.

I would just recommend taking some time to see how well it fits you. If it doesn’t, we can explore some more.

Good luck!

 

[INTerran]

Here's a monkey in the wrench. In all of my research, I have flopped between different types because I didn't really seem to overly fit any of them. There has always been some questioning or doubt. Well, I have done some serious introspection into my real self and have written down some things that are very true for me...some that I do not like about myself and that intend to mask or hide from people. And I really feel that after having a super honest look inside that I am INTP. Below are some expanded point about me that leads me to this conclusion:

Default Looking for myself
Default Searching for Myself
I am relatively new to personality typing, and became interested as I tried to understand the guy that I am seeing. I have bounced around to different types. And I think that one of the reasons is that I have had a hard time taking a good look at myself and understanding myself. It's a hard thing to get down to who I really am, as compared to what I project or think I should be. I'm trying to change that up and be much more honest with my true self. Below are some points about myself. I also retook a couple of tests with my new brutally honest "I don't always like myself" lens on, and came out INTP. :/ What do you think about this development?

38 year old female; preschool teacher; college history instructor; Bible college instructor; and education conference presenter.

-By day I teach 4-year olds. I enjoy the work, and I am good at it. However, I would rather be researching and creating conference presentations or professional development sessions.
-My dream job would be to a full-time college professor of history, psychology, or early childhood.
-I love history! NOT dates or random facts, but rather the interconnectedness, the cause and effect relationships between events, and the interdisciplinary nature of it...such as the connectedness of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and the Universal Cultural Pattern as an explanation for the rise and development of civilization.
-I enjoy learning new things, concepts, theories, etc. I am always researching new ideas, methods, and strategies for teaching, but very often I have a hard time implementing the new things into my classroom. I would rather present the new research to other teachers for them to be able to utilize. Also, no matter what I am researching, I am seeking to fully understand the topic and how it relates to what I already know.
-I struggle with organization. I am very often forgetful and have issues with mundane, every day tasks. I hate tedious, detailed paperwork...it is mind-numbing to me.
-I find that I can be selfish at times even though I don't want to be. I want to show more concern for others, but it does not come naturally to me and is not my strong suit.
-I get uncomfortable with other's emotions, and I do not readily express my own. However, I am very easy-going and even tempered. It takes a lot for me to outwardly show strong negative emotions...and that usually only happens with my immediate family.
-I have a very small group of friends...really only two females I am really close to and constantly communicate with, and the INTJ that I am seeing. Others are in categories such as colleagues and acquaintances.
-I am a terrible procrastinator in most things. I enjoy thinking about projects and ideas, but have a very hard time actually getting started.
-To relax, I enjoy reading and researching new ideas and interesting topics. I enjoy watching movies as well. A quiet evening with my guy or one of my friends is relaxing as well.
-I am a quiet observer in most social situations where there is a large crowd, lots of people I don't know, or the conversation is not something I am interested in or relate to. I have been called quiet, conceited, aloof, unfriendly, absent-minded, forgetful, disorganized, etc. But I have also been called well-spoken, well-written, an excellent presenter, very intelligent, articulate, etc. I have a much easier time accepting the negative comments as apposed to the positive ones.
-When someone comes to me to vent about an issue or a problem, I tend to offer a way to address or fix the problem rather than just listen. I don't want to sit there and just be a sounding board. I don't like to listen to someone complain and then not accept advice or solutions. The quickest way to make me shut down is to reject or dismiss my ideas and suggestions.

 

[Empyrean]

Everything you described (which is really behavior) can be true for the INFJ as well, especially one that has a well developed tertiary Ti.

I thought I was an INTP for a long time, tried to live in a way that healthy INTPs live, and realized everything was going to hell.

Nope, I am an INFJ, after all. And it was quite a breathe of fresh air to realize this. The following wall-of-text would be a good case of Ni-Ti at work, with Fe shut down. If I was to say all this to you in person, you would not mistake me for a Ti-user; or, should I say, you would immediately see the strong Extraverted Feeling. It's hard to project Fe without other subjects (humans) in physical proximity. You can say, on some level, it is a.... 'show' function, it is a 'tool' to navigate through social space. It likes to turn on around other humans, and it likes to turn off when we are contemplating an idea.

-I love history! NOT dates or random facts, but rather the interconnectedness, the cause and effect relationships between events, and the interdisciplinary nature of it...such as the connectedness of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and the Universal Cultural Pattern as an explanation for the rise and development of civilization.

This is very interesting, and it gives off a heavy Introverted Intuition vibe (either Dominant or Auxiliary). However, Introverted Logic can also come to the same conclusion regarding the interconnected nature of these concepts.

One possible way of differentiating whether you came to this conclusion using Ni or Ti might be: do you 'see' the interconnectedness between these concepts as something hazy, singular, muddy, all-encompassing and hard to describe in explicitly articulable words (much more Ni-like), or do you 'see' the interconnectedness as hierarchical categories, where pieces fit against and alongside one another in a neat, tight, and coherent manner that is relatively easily to articulate in explicit terms?

Ni insights are difficult to articulate because it is, well, perhaps the most purely abstract cognitive function. I describe my psyche as lotus flower singularities blooming and collapsing. There's a strange aesthetic quality to it.

Ti constructions are not easier per se, but they are expressible in explicit, tight, well-defined language in a logically consistent way. Ti insights are 'easier' to articulate insofar as they are based on understandable and well-defined terms. They are still difficult to articulate because it takes a really long time, it's logically exhaustive, and it gets difficult to keep track of where all the pieces go for non-Ti users (e.g. INFPs). There is another kind of aesthetic quality to it, the quality of congruence... of coherence. And this is where it can be confusing, for both the INTP and INFJ will strive for internal coherence of thought.

I know an INTP in my graduate seminar. He and I have similar philosophical beliefs, but the way he filters through new and old data is staggeringly quick. Dominant Introverted Logic works incredibly fast compared to myself, because it is essentially the INTP's operating system. He can categorize, adjust, expand and collapse the framework as needed, on-the-fly.

I need to spend time in a high introverted mode (not necessarily alone, but deep in my own thoughts and cut off from the sensory world) in order to filter out the data in order to make logical coherence of them.

That's not to say I don't understand the data in some way, because Intuition usually already grants me most of the 'understanding.' The issue is sometimes, there are what you might say 'muddy,' or 'congealed' pieces of data that have not been explicitly articulated regarding to 'where they stand' as abstract concepts.

In my case, I use Introverted Logic to help me parse out my intuitive abstractions, making them clearer and more explicit for myself. If I don't do this, it would be very difficult to convey Ni-insights to other people.

I think highly introverted INFJs can easily mistake for INTPs, especially if they mistakenly believe their Ti to be better than it actually is (which was my mistake). In reality it's not the Ti at work, but rather Ni which lets them see the truth or nature of abstract ideas, ideal meanings or essences, while Ti works at a way to construct a framework that gives it all a nice, subjective and internally consistent framework.

INTPs, I would describe as theoretical logicians and logical philosophers. Their logic is not forced, it is natural. It is how they are oriented towards the world, and how they make sense of things.

INFJs, I would describe as social scientists. We think just as abstractly and theoretically, perhaps moreso because Ni is a perceiving function (this is an interesting question, whether we think more abstractly--but this might depend on the definition of 'abstract'). We love pure logic, theory, and abstraction as much as the INTP due to the introverted nature of our Dominant and Tertiary functions. Initially, I believe pure abstractions are just as addicting for the INFJ as it is for the INFP. However, this gets a little boring, dry, and stale for the INFJ over time, if the INFJ does not have an external outlet insofar as how it affects human beings, human systems, and their understanding of those systems.

This is why, I think, the INFJ is much more of a social scientist. INFJs use their abstract theorizing to gain a greater insight and deeper understanding into the human condition. An INTP will be much more at home when abstracting theorizing objective contents of thought, that is, contents that are devoid of the human element, due to their Inferior Fe.

In terms of typical behavior/trairts, INTPs are typically a little 'nerdy' in the traditional sense (I'm not trying to be pejorative). They don't put as much care into their physical appearance. They are not necessarily socially awkward, but they don't have a very good sense of how to navigate through 'social space' with all of its unwritten rules and methods of playing this game. It's extremely unnatural for them, being the Inferior function after all. Most INTPs seem to be happy in ill-fitted jeans/shorts and a T-shirt. No problem, but not an attire I would feel comfortable in.

INFJs typically put much more thought into their appearance. It is my belief that INFJs are more in-tune with the aesthetic side of their decisions, and typically take care to represent themselves as well-groomed to the outside world (to other human beings). Things such as details of clothing, whether shoes, belts, and shirts/jackets match in color scheme, and these kinds of things. I wonder if this is caused by a combination of Fe-Se, but I haven't given this much thought yet. This is, however, something I've noticed in INFJs.

 

[INTerran]

This is probably the best explanation that I've read so far, and makes it very clear to me that I am more INFJ than INTP. I can better see the different between the two. And it is validating to understand that logic and rational thinking and analysis and INFJ can go together.

 

[Empyrean]

It has been said by some that due to Ni-Ti loop, an INFJ can gain insights that are extraordinarily deep and logically consistent, by taking as much breadth of information into the insight as possible in one, fell swoop.

The problem is sustaining this for long periods. Being in this loop is, well, taxing. We become stale, withered, and unhealthy if we don't flow with our Extroverted Feeling for too long.

Here is a great example of INFJ vs. INTP philosophy:

http://www.celebritytypes.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/kant_spinoza.png

 

[INTerran]

I see the connectedness more in terms that are categorical and easily defined mostly. There is structure to it all that can be talked about in precise terms usually. I don't see it vaguely or "muddily".