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[MBTI General] figuring out personality type

think2much

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When you meet someone how do you guys figure out their personality type so quickly? every time I read in here the writters are always sure the person they just met are "blank" type of personality.
 

InsatiableCuriosity

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It really takes a bit of experience in application of type if one is to do it relatively accurately. You need to have been acquainted with someone for more than just a moment and have been interested in what their interests are, their communication style, their work style etc.

I would really question anyone's assessment that doesn't take these things into account. I type watch in my classes and am around 90% accurate, but that is through lots of observation and allows me to gauge students' strengths and weaknesses from a training perspective, and to tailor their training and learning resources accordingly.

I also type watch colleagues to assess inclusion in project work so that we have a good mix of skills, aptitude and talent in big projects..
 

INTP

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with different people i notice different things first. someone might come off clearly F instead of T for example, someone might come very I instead of E etc. Then ill just building their type from there. And some people i find incredibly hard to type, and some people ill notice almost instantly, but even with those there is usually some letter that im not 100% sure about. If there is a single function that pops out more than others then its easier to type that person. For example if i see someone with really strong Ne, he has to be enfp or entp, then ill just have to figure out if he is t or f and thats usually pretty easy with these two types
 

InsatiableCuriosity

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For example if i see someone with really strong Ne, he has to be enfp or entp, then ill just have to figure out if he is t or f and thats usually pretty easy with these two types

Hmm not quite accurate - I test with very strong Ne followed by Ti and Fi and I tip to the INTP side of XNTP in most testing including the official MBTI Expanded Interpretive Report???
 

INTP

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Hmm not quite accurate - I test with very strong Ne followed by Ti and Fi and I tip to the INTP side of XNTP in most testing including the official MBTI Expanded Interpretive Report???

its usually easy to see if that Ne comes from first or second function. i was talking about strong Ne coming from first function. there is no such thing as xntp, people are either intp or entp with strong second function compared to first. and when people are borderline entp/intp there is strong Ti coming along with that Ne, this will make me think if the person is entp or intp, so im not going to get to conclusion that he is entp even if he would show strong Ne if he shows strong Ti with it. In these cases you have to look at third function and thats not as easy
 

Andy

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When you meet someone how do you guys figure out their personality type so quickly? every time I read in here the writters are always sure the person they just met are "blank" type of personality.

I often, I think it's over confidence. Typing people can be hard, a leaping to conclusions can be foolish.

That said, some people are harder to type than other. Generally, I find that introverts (who hide there prime function to an extent), the elderly are the hardest to type. Those people who's function preferance is unhealthy can also be hard to type.

There was one women who I thought was an ESFJ at first, because I saw so much Fe and Si in her. It was only when I started to realise how much stress thinking in these days bought her that I realised that she was actually an unhealthy ESFP caught up in the critical and opposing functions. She was always at her happiest when acting in an Se + Fi manner.

I guess the take home message from that experience was to look at how people use the functions, rather than just how much they use them. The functions which make them happiest are the liable to be the first four, even if they don't use them so often.
 

INTP

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Typing people can be hard, a leaping to conclusions can be foolish.

you dont have to jump into conclusions, you can start building a theory about his type. theory > conclusion, because you can change theory, but conclusions are set until proven false.
 

Blank

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When you meet someone how do you guys figure out their personality type so quickly? every time I read in here the writters are always sure the person they just met are "blank" type of personality.

I didn't realize so many people were like me. :shock:
 

JustHer

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It's really just a collection of everything that gives you a certain vibe from the person, and then you can just fill in the rest of the blanks. Temperament is often an easy way to do it, I can always spot an NF or an SP in my surroundings. Also their attitude, you don't need to watch a person for very long to determine that they are EJ over IP. Functions will sometimes be very prominent (I can physically FEEL Fe from people heh). Oh, and also language choice helps too.
 

Jaguar

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When you meet someone how do you guys figure out their personality type so quickly?

They don't. They just think they do.
Linda V. Berens makes a really good point in all of her books which teach type:
We have 3 parts of "self."

1) Core self
2) Developed self
3) Contextual self


The latter is what trips up people, and fools them into thinking they know another person's "type." The contextual self is who we are in any given situation. That means if you go to a TypeC meetup and talk with someone, you're meeting who they are in that LIMITED CONTEXT only. And furthermore, if someone thinks they can type someone from meeting them once, or even from their posts in this forum, which is another LIMITED CONTEXT, then they really are what I call a "cowboy," which is what I call people who don't know what they are talking about. They just think they do.

Jung said it took him years (yes, you read that right) to type his patients. We have so many aspects of ourselves moving in and out of view in any given moment, both conscious and unconscious, that who-or what-you are seeing at any moment in time is highly unlikely to be an accurate reflection of one type. In reality, you could be seeing a reflection of many types all at once. We really are that complex. People don't want to hear that, though. They would rather rubber stamp a label on every Tom, Dick, and Harry, assume 1000 things about them that aren't even true, and live their life in "blissful" ignorance.

I will leave you with a comment from someone who works with Typing, for a living:
"Keep in mind that, ethically, one never tells a client what their type is—it's not even a good idea to suggest a type for them."
-Vicky Jo Varner
 

INTP

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I will leave you with a comment from someone who works with Typing, for a living:
"Keep in mind that, ethically, one never tells a client what their type is—it's not even a good idea to suggest a type for them."
-Vicky Jo Varner

its totally different thing if you are just typing for fun or if you are typing some patient of yours. it doesent really matter if you assume things and type wrong when you just do it for fun, but if you are shrink for example and type your patient wrong, it would be pretty bad thing. Suggesting type is bad idea because if a pro suggests a type then the client might start looking for things that support this type in himself instead looking at different types from objective point of view.
 

Jaguar

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its totally different thing if you are just typing for fun or if you are typing some patient of yours. it doesent really matter if you assume things and type wrong when you just do it for fun, but if you are shrink for example and type your patient wrong, it would be pretty bad thing. Suggesting type is bad idea because if a pro suggests a type then the client might start looking for things that support this type in himself instead looking at different types from objective point of view.

There's nothing "fun" about assuming the wrong things about people. In the real world there are consequences for it.
Just because we aren't Carl Jung's patients, doesn't meaning labeling a person with any type you please, is ethical. It's not.
That's why the only person who can type you . . . is you.
 

ez78705

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If you're an N and you know the person really well, I think N/S is the "easiest" to figure out. Other than that, I think it's really hard, even if you know the person well.
 
Last edited:

INTP

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There's nothing "fun" about assuming the wrong things about people. In the real world there are consequences for it.
Just because we aren't Carl Jung's patients, doesn't meaning labeling a person with any type you please, is ethical. It's not.
That's why the only person who can type you . . . is you.

its fun unless you think those things are absolute truths and act strictly by your assumptions..

You know, you can assume a possible type for someone and then look for fun how the person fits(or doesent fit) in this assumed type, its pretty fun especially when you notice(like 95% of times) that the person actually seems to fit more on that assumed type more you get to know him.

You happen to be an TJ? Or are you an ENTP ranting thru your Fe? :D
 

Jaguar

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its fun unless you think those things are absolute truths and act strictly by your assumptions..

You know, you can assume a possible type for someone and then look for fun how the person fits(or doesent fit) in this assumed type, its pretty fun especially when you notice(like 95% of times) that the person actually seems to fit more on that assumed type more you get to know him.

You happen to be an TJ? Or are you an ENTP ranting thru your Fe? :D

Call me crazy, but, aren't you the character who posted a rant about your alleged INFP best friend, calling his way of thinking "fucking retarded," then added insult to injury by complaining about his eating habits? For all you know, I might be an INFP who eats a lot of food. For someone like yourself who claims it's "fun," you sure used your friend's alleged type as a weapon against him. That doesn't look like fun, to me.
 

INTP

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Call me crazy, but, aren't you the character who posted a rant about your alleged INFP best friend, calling his way of thinking "fucking retarded," then added insult to injury by complaining about his eating habits? For all you know, I might be an INFP who eats a lot of food. For someone like yourself who claims it's "fun," you sure used your friend's alleged type as a weapon against him. That doesn't look like fun, to me.

i was really pissed off and even he recognizes that hes eating habits are unhealthy. how did i use his type against him? and why are you bringing this up?
 

redsox44344

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I can usually get it down to a certain couple or three types but can never really be sure for certain, even when tested, due to the fact that people tend to put down traits that they want to have along with traits that they actually have, causing problems. Therefore, the only way I definitively determine a type would be if a best friend was sitting there taking the test with the person correcting him in the mistakes in places that he wishes to have. Of course, this can have its faults too.
 

INTP

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bad jaguar dodges questions
 

Amethyst

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If you're an N and you know the person really well, I think N/S is the "easiest" to figure out. Other than that, I think it's really hard, even if you know the person well.

1. No, N/S isn't the easiest to figure out. S/J is, since they pretty much determine order of functions.

2. I find it easier to figure out someone's type by knowing them very well, but that's just me.
 

suttree

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its unavoidable to form a first opinion of other people and then refine your understanding of them as you get to know them better.

Jaguar, you seem to think the mbti is a poor or perhaps unethical mechanism for organizing your observations of others. Could you explain your thinking?

I ask because mbti seems to me a natural way of organizing and understanding people and im interested in the ethical implications you see.
 
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