[MBTI General] ENTJ or ISTJ?

[verdeviola]

My boyfriend is ENTJ..or at least i think so..
When i tested him the first time by the MBTI he got ENTJ. Recently he has taken another test (similar to the MBTI test) and he has scored ISTJ!
How do you tell the difference between theese two types? My boyfriend is not so intellectual as other NTs, but i was quite sure that he WASN'T an S type!
His preference for extraversion is not so strong either (he doesn't talk a lot), but he isn't enough reflective to be an introvert and he doesn't like to be alone for extended periods of time.. Maybe his strong J can be mistaken for an S preference..He is always looking for ways to improve everything, but mainly practical things. He doesn't like to read books and doesn't like computers, which is typical of NTs. But i can still feel a "connection" to him that i can only feel with intuitive people. What do you think?

 

[tinkerbell]

listen to the language he uses and how he presents ideas... if they come with a lot of anaologies or indirect lanaguage you may be dealing with an N type.

70% are S's so the chances are off the bat he is an S... S's express themsleves in concrete terms, N's in abstract, if you float a few abstract concepts by him and he starts to yawn then he is likely to be ab S type

Another test that isn't MBTI, isn't MBTI. He may not be a strong N, although most NT's seem to have really strong N's.

Language and way of thinking seem to be pivital.

N' types seem to take longer to mature (I think that is because they are dealign with a less fixed method of thinking that is more difficult to manage - but this is just an opinion i'm toying with).

It can be difficult to see the split between them.

In my mind an ISTJ and an ENTJ are very different.... the latter is quite a force of nature... like a worker beatle, an ISTJ to my mind will go along with things, not because they understand them, and they will hide thier lack of understanding - but because they bleive you probably know better than they do... but they will simulataneously hate to not understand and are likely to try and control because of it

 

[JHBowden]

My father is an ISTJ.

He's much, much louder than I could ever be, and he's very much into television while I'm into books. My social relations tend to be smoother too-- for me, relations with friends are like clockwork, while my father doesn't get people and gets all mafia-style with others when he doesn't get his way, which just creates more trouble. Suppose we both bought a defective product. If I could fix the problem with customer service in about five minutes, for him, the call would take 30 minutes, because he not only takes things personally but makes them personal, as if the entire world is a conspiracy against him!

Yeah, so I'm more level-headed, and also way more nerdy. I'm also better at leadership. IxTJs tend to try to force others to do things, while I see getting help as systematized laziness, just pawning work off on others by empowering them and making them feel good about it.

Another difference is the do-it-yourself-attitude. I hate working with my hands, and would rather take the path of least resistance and have someone else do my fix-ups if financial circumstances permit. My father, well, he has to rig everything. But-- I'm more willing to improvise schedules and deviate from a plan, while my father likes everything written in stone. If we agreed on 4:00PM, then it is 4:00PM, dammit!

Does this help?

Compare Bill Gates or Al Gore with Jesse Ventura or Steven Seagal.

 

[verdeviola]

In my mind an ISTJ and an ENTJ are very different....the latter is quite a force of nature... like a worker beatle

Well...then he could definitely be an ENTJ!

But he prefers the do-it-yourself attitude because -he says- other people won't do it as well as he can do. And I must say that most of the times he is right He is very good at working with his hands and a real perfectionist.
But at the same time he can write really well and has a rich vocabulary.


Could you list some more characteristics that you think are typical of the two types?

 

[JHBowden]

ENTJ

ISTJ

 

[JustHer]

Maybe he's INTJ

 

[chris1207]

N' types seem to take longer to mature (I think that is because they are dealign with a less fixed method of thinking that is more difficult to manage - but this is just an opinion i'm toying with).

I've thought about this before too. I think it would be really crazy if the world of ideas weren't as fluid and shifting and whatnot as we think it is. What if it has the same concreteness that the real world has? That would be pretty crazy. We probably just don't realize this because we don't have the proper amount of perspective. It's kind of like playing a game of Dune or Starcraft. In those games, you start off only being able to see a small part of the map and as you control more territory, the dark parts are made visible. Just a thought...

Suppose we both bought a defective product. If I could fix the problem with customer service in about five minutes, for him, the call would take 30 minutes, because he not only takes things personally but makes them personal, as if the entire world is a conspiracy against him!

I dealt with an ENTJ customer the other day. It was pretty cool. I sold him a faulty amplifier on accident. When he came to return it I asked him if the product didn't work for the purpose he thought it should. He told me it didn't work period. I got him a new one and apologized for the trouble. He just shrugged it off like it was nothing. It was pretty cool.

I know that my ISTJ coworker isn't like that. He swore to never shop at Circuit City ever again after a Nintendo Wii fiasco he experienced. He acted like they were the devil because ONE manager at ONE store decided to do something different. I think this grudge thing might be an SJ thing (Si thing ("An elephant never forgets" ergo SJ's = elephants...).)


I actually know a couple where the wife is ENTJ and the husband is ISTJ. I don't know know them but I facebook my friend, the ENTJ. Their relationship seems to be going quite well. She actually said there were certain aspects of my personality that reminded me of her husband (yeesh!) I think I'd be really bored with an ISFJ... but if the shoe fits...

 

[FDG]

Quante volte gli hai fatto fare il test? Prova a trovarne un altro e vedere cosa esce fuori. Oppure prova ad eliminare una tra le due dicotomie diverse tra i due tipi, cioè se riesci a dire con sicurezza "è N" oppure "è E" allora avrai la tua risposta via eliminazione.

 

[chris1207]

Oh wow, is FDG the guy? And what's this about "via elimination"?

Also

listen to the language he uses and how he presents ideas... if they come with a lot of analogies or indirect lanaguage you may be dealing with an N type.

I'm pretty sure this just refers to people with dominant N cognative functions such as INFJ's, ENTP's, etc... I don't necessarily use explicitly detached language to talk about stuff. I love using examples (one of the reasons that I almost minored in History in college.) Fact is, if you're a type that has N (AUX) followed by S, chances are you'll be a little more grounded in reality, especially the extroverts.

 

[FDG]

Oh wow, is FDG the guy? And what's this about "via elimination"?

no no it's not me lol

 

[Ezra]

Don't worry, he's probably an ENTJ. I've scored ISTJ a couple of times. It's what he gets most consistently which determines his type.

 

[verdeviola]

Oh wow, is FDG the guy? And what's this about "via elimination"?

Also



I'm pretty sure this just refers to people with dominant N cognative functions such as INFJ's, ENTP's, etc... I don't necessarily use explicitly detached language to talk about stuff. I love using examples (one of the reasons that I almost minored in History in college.) Fact is, if you're a type that has N (AUX) followed by S, chances are you'll be a little more grounded in reality, especially the extroverts.

I was thinking the exact same thing! I am a leading intuitive and maybe i'm expecting other N-types to be exactly like me.. As he is a leading thinker, maybe i cannot feel "enough" Ndom in him! (sorry for my bad english)

 

[verdeviola]

Moreover, i usually don't like ISTJ men really much.
And i also think they think i am quite "strange".

 

[verdeviola]

Quante volte gli hai fatto fare il test? Prova a trovarne un altro e vedere cosa esce fuori. Oppure prova ad eliminare una tra le due dicotomie diverse tra i due tipi, cioè se riesci a dire con sicurezza "è N" oppure "è E" allora avrai la tua risposta via eliminazione.

Hai ragione.. Però potrebbe essere un ESTJ! In genere non gli piace molto la gente ma non perchè è introverso: perchè la gente è troppo imperfetta e irrazionale!
Non parla molto, ma ha un gran senso dell'umorismo e quando si trova a essere in mezzo a tutti introversi è lui a tenere banco!
Succede anche a te?

 

[Nigel Tufnel]

I know a number of ISTJs and ENTJs well.

You cannot tell based on use of abstract language. One of the worst BSers I know, who uses every cheesy business buzzword like "change agent" and "first mover" "next generation" is an ESTJ.

Best way to tell an ISTJ from an ENTJ is the extent to which the person focuses on things that don't directly impact them. An ENTJ will typically be outspoken about politics, with forceful opinions. ISTJs have political views like everyone else, but they don't tend to focus on them like ENTJs do, and if you want a forceful opinion from one, more likely to come on a topic like the best way to clean your gutters.