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I always get INFP, but important components of the description do not ring true...

summerdew

New member
Joined
Jun 2, 2010
Messages
4
I've taken various tests dozens of times, and I almost always get INFP. Looking at each trait individually, I would say it would fit. I am an introvert (but not at home, more on that below). I am pretty sure I am an N. I am certainly an F, and I'm probably a P.

But when I read the various descriptions of INFP, I see that they always describe the type to be very focused on their lives being harmonious with their "values", that they have "strong commitments" to "causes they believe in".

I don't relate to that at all. I, in fact, don't have many causes that I believe strongly in, and for the causes/morals/etc I do believe in, I can easily argue for the other side. I enjoy arguing just for the sake of it (but about issues I'm detached from..and I'm detached from most issues). I'm not really focused on making the world a better place.

What matters to me is nostalgia for childhood, the aesthetic beauty of the world, impressionistic moods and feelings I want to capture. Or just being with my family. So I'm a F in that sense, but I'm not emotionally connected to being a humanitarian or anything.


Also, I am a very different person at home than I am in public or at school.

At home, I am very much an extrovert. Yes, I do spend time in my head, but I'm loud, hyper, attention-seeking and I enjoy fast-paced conversation. I am also like this with cousins who I consider siblings. Except for a few things, I share all my feelings, my ups and downs, and I get depressed without interaction with my family or family friends. People who know me say I am talkative to the point of being annoying. I ask too many questions. I act like a hyper 5 year old at times.

Outside, at school, I'm very private, reserved, and quiet. I dread public speaking, social interaction, and I live in my own head exclusively. I was voted "most quiet" in one of my classes, which would make my family laugh.

So yeah. Any help? :blush:
 

disregard

mrs
Joined
Apr 23, 2007
Messages
7,826
MBTI Type
INFP
MBTI is a just game to be played. Don't get lost in the details.
 

summerdew

New member
Joined
Jun 2, 2010
Messages
4
MBTI is a just game to be played. Don't get lost in the details.

Yeah...I just really want to see if I can hit upon a type that fits me. I want to understand why it doesn't fit. If anyone has any help to offer, that would be great.
 

Lady_X

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 27, 2008
Messages
18,235
MBTI Type
ENFP
Enneagram
784
Instinctual Variant
sx/sp
you sound a bit like my lil sister and i think she was isfp.
 

neptunesnet

man-made
Joined
Sep 5, 2009
Messages
1,228
MBTI Type
INFP
Enneagram
5&4
Instinctual Variant
sx
That description reads ISFP to me.

What makes you think you're iNtuitive?

iNtuition doesn't necessarily mean you like to daydream nor does it have any direct correlation with creativity. ISFPs are some of the most creative types. As you've described yourself, I don't think I see an NF in you. I can sense that you are probably a realist whereas we INFPs are idealistic messes.

Have you look into the cognitive functions? Fi? Se? Ne?
 

OrangeAppled

Sugar Hiccup
Joined
Mar 20, 2009
Messages
7,626
MBTI Type
INFP
Enneagram
4w5
Instinctual Variant
sp/sx
I agree that you sound ISFP. I have a feeling a lot of ISFPs test INFP because of the way MBTI tests for sensing functions. All the functions are stereotyped a bit when simplified into the 4 letter dichotomies.
 

summerdew

New member
Joined
Jun 2, 2010
Messages
4
Thanks for your help, everyone. I'm gonna read a bit about ISFP, it might fit. I have done the cognitive processes test, but I didn't save the result.

I suppose one of the reasons I thought I might indeed be an INFP is that they are described as writers. I think, at heart, I am a writer and that's the subject I always excelled at in school.

Thinking about it, though, what I love about writing is descriptive imagery. I seek to capture elusive feelings that have no name and communicate them through sensual imagery..so sensing is involved?

Any way to clarify whether I am an S or an N? =)



Again, thanks!
 

BlackCat

Shaman
Joined
Nov 19, 2008
Messages
7,038
MBTI Type
ESFP
Enneagram
9w8
Instinctual Variant
sx/sp
Tonight I actually just got someone I know to take the test who is definitely an ISFP, and she got INFP. She said the same stuff, that she is pretty intuitive and all. Well, you can be an intuitive person and still have a sensing preference! ;) You do sound like an ISFP.
 

neptunesnet

man-made
Joined
Sep 5, 2009
Messages
1,228
MBTI Type
INFP
Enneagram
5&4
Instinctual Variant
sx
Sensors can be writers, too, summerdew.

I've already alluded to Kerouac tonight, but I don't mind doing it again. He's an ISFP, one who is continuously confused for an INFP when he is not. The man had Se. And I think you do, too :)

I hate to explain the S/N preferences themselves because it's easy to oversimplify and then get things wrong. Here is a very basic definiton of Ne and a very basic definition of Se, but there again it's hard to look at a single function without understanding how it works in conjunction with the other functions in a type's "system" (FiNeSiTe for the INFP and FiSeNiTe for the ISFP). Plus, those definitions* of Ne and Se are so simplistic that the tendency to put what we think the description means in the place of what it actually means is great.


*If someone has better definitions, please feel free to link away!
 

summerdew

New member
Joined
Jun 2, 2010
Messages
4
Hi everyone, took the cognitive processes test again and here is what I got:
extraverted Sensing (Se) ********************** (22.4)
limited use
introverted Sensing (Si) ************************ (24.3)
average use
extraverted Intuiting (Ne) *********************************************** (47.8)
excellent use
introverted Intuiting (Ni) *************************** (27.5)
average use
extraverted Thinking (Te) ***************************** (29.3)
average use
introverted Thinking (Ti) ***************************** (29.7)
average use
extraverted Feeling (Fe) *************************** (27.5)
average use
introverted Feeling (Fi) ******************************* (31.5)
 

Virtual ghost

Complex paradigm
Joined
Jun 6, 2008
Messages
19,769
Hi everyone, took the cognitive processes test again and here is what I got:
extraverted Sensing (Se) ********************** (22.4)
limited use
introverted Sensing (Si) ************************ (24.3)
average use
extraverted Intuiting (Ne) *********************************************** (47.8)
excellent use
introverted Intuiting (Ni) *************************** (27.5)
average use
extraverted Thinking (Te) ***************************** (29.3)
average use
introverted Thinking (Ti) ***************************** (29.7)
average use
extraverted Feeling (Fe) *************************** (27.5)
average use
introverted Feeling (Fi) ******************************* (31.5)


Think more about yourself and take it again. I doubt you are that much balanced.
 
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