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INFJ? or INTJ? or INTP? or ISTP?

mwv6r

New member
Joined
Nov 22, 2008
Messages
208
MBTI Type
INFJ
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4w5
I have a friend that I am having the most difficult time ever typing! After everything I've read about personality type, I think I am pretty good at figuring out the personality types of the people I know, or to guess it within a letter at least. However, one of my friends is driving me crazy. First I thought he was an INFJ. Then, I noticed his biting wit (sometimes bordering on evil!) and switched to INTJ. Then, I noticed that he's more laidback than I first though, and I switched to INTP.

I typed his girlfriend (successfully! she's ENTJ) and introduced her to Myers-Briggs type. She thinks he's an ISTP, but that just doesn't sound right to me. She did say that he took the test three times and got a different answer each time. (I know he got ENTJ one of those times, but I really don't think he's the same type as his girlfriend, though INTJ could be an option. I'm not sure what he got the other time.) I know that she was reading the Myers-Briggs questions aloud to him and I imagine giving her opinion, so that may have skewed the results.

It's true that he is very athletic, which I know is common amongst ISTPs. But he seems far too zany and too enthusiastic about abstract thought to be an S, or even an SP. For example, he is huge into environmentalism and is always getting on us to recycle, use cloth instead of paper towels, etc. He also seems to enjoy analyzing people and often comments on bizarre social situations, finding them humorous. Also, he felt the need to "intervene" and have a "heart to heart" with one of our mutual friends who seems to be suffering from depression. He also gets really talkative and kooky around friends, and will go off on wild tangents. So you see why I thought NT or even NF to begin with?

I asked once if I could personality type him, but he was reticent, and I don't like to make people uncomfortable so I try to back off if they decline.

Does anyone have ideas on what the correct personality type might be? I'm trying to figure out what could explain the combination of strong athleticism (Se?) as well as the zany conversationalism (Ne?). INTP? maybe??

Are many avid sports enthusiasts Ns, especially INs? That would help me cross ISTP off the list completely.

Any ideas are greatly appreciated! This is going to bother me until I get to the bottom of it, lol.
 

OrangeAppled

Sugar Hiccup
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Mar 20, 2009
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7,626
MBTI Type
INFP
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4w5
Instinctual Variant
sp/sx
I knew an ISTP who I almost thought was an NF at first because he had good Fe and liked many seemingly "abstract" things. However, I found his perspective on "abstract" things and his reasons to like them very practical. For instance, he likes art, & he makes a kind of artisan work, but he didn't like to call himself an artist because he was not making money from his artwork. I feel the exact opposite - making money off my design disqualifies it as "real" art because it is commercialized. His view was strange to me, but I see his practical perspective on it when I think about it. To him, an "artist" is an occupation acknowledged by others, and to me it is a person creating something as higher form of expression. Overall, the ISTP profile fit him better.

Anyway, he sounds a lot like this guy. ISTPs are known to have a biting humor, and to be drawn to unconventional things. The ISTP I knew was also into animal rights, so something like environmentalism is not out of the question for an ISTP. They can have "causes" too.

But anyway, I know at least one NT who is very, very into sports.
 

Asterion

Ruler of the Stars
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May 6, 2009
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2,331
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INTP
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5
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sp/sx
ISTP sounds pretty right to me. I know an ISTP quite well, and he can be incredibly zany and abstract, just about everything you said sounds like him. Me and him have the most crazy conversations ever sometimes, I suspect that SPs are more random and abstract than people presume. There's a fair difference between him and INTPs, firstly, when he chooses a job, he'll pick one for it's monetary value, and because it is very hands on, and suits his interests. An INTP will pick a job that is theoretical and holds their interest. Not to mention, I really thought he was a J, and even an extrovert... I might have a deeper look into ISTPs, they're quite strange :)
 

BlackCat

Shaman
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ESFP
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9w8
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sx/sp
ISTP for sure.
 

mwv6r

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Nov 22, 2008
Messages
208
MBTI Type
INFJ
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4w5
Wow, it sounds like he is an ISTP after all. I guess there's more to them than meets the eye! I'm curious to read more about ISTP subtypes, because my sister is an ISTP and she is a wayyyyy different ISTP than he is (she is similarly spontaneous and fun-loving, yet much more conventional, although maybe there is a lot going on inside her head that doesn't come out; of course, she's also much more introverted than he is). Very interesting. This is definitely motivating me to learn more about ISTPs!

I had a somewhat similar, though less extreme, experience typing an ISFJ. I was baffled because at first I thought she was an ISxP but then all these other sides of her personality were emerging and I couldn't figure her out. She took the test for me and got ISFJ and I was surprised because she is so laidback and fun-loving, whereas most ISFJs I've found to be more structured and regimented (not that they can't be fun, but with most of them you get the sense that they feel there is a time and place for fun, etc.). But again I think there is a subtype ISFJ with a weak J.
 

BlackCat

Shaman
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Sensing types aren't simple lol. It's a stereotype that makes a lot of people think that their S friends who are interesting and somewhat abstract are N.
 

OrangeAppled

Sugar Hiccup
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Sensing types aren't simple lol. It's a stereotype that makes a lot of people think that their S friends who are interesting and somewhat abstract are N.

:yes:
 

StephMC

Controlled Mischief
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Mar 2, 2009
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MBTI Type
ISTP
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9w8
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sp/sx
Sensing types aren't simple lol. It's a stereotype that makes a lot of people think that their S friends who are interesting and somewhat abstract are N.

:hug: Yay! People -do- know! We aren't completely uninteresting :p
And yeah... we ISTPs ... are pretty weird. I'm frequently looked at by my friends like I'm some kind of foreign object when I say something unexpected.
 

mortabunt

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type
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Never compete with INTP's in the strangeness department.
 

RaptorWizard

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This is retarded that you could possibly confuse an ISTP with an INFJ, which are almost EXACT OPPOSITE TYPES! ISTPs are masters of the PHYSICAL! INFJs are masters of the METAPHYSICAL! That's a pretty big difference and it would take a typology retard to confuse the 2.
 

Mitsuko Souma

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sp
This is retarded that you could possibly confuse an ISTP with an INFJ, which are almost EXACT OPPOSITE TYPES! ISTPs are masters of the PHYSICAL! INFJs are masters of the METAPHYSICAL! That's a pretty big difference and it would take a typology retard to confuse the 2.
I don't completely agree with that. ISTPs are more physical than INFJs for certain but I don't think it prevents an ISTP from being metaphysical as well. Ti dominants the ISTP which I think can show in some people a good "metaphysical" mix with the "physical" aspect of Se.
 

RaptorWizard

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I don't completely agree with that. ISTPs are more physical than INFJs for certain but I don't think it prevents an ISTP from being metaphysical as well. Ti dominants the ISTP which I think can show in some people a good "metaphysical" mix with the "physical" aspect of Se.

Every time I google philosopher typings, none are ISTP, but plenty are INFJ. That is quite a metaphsyical difference!
 
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