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When there is no personality to type.

Tabula

New member
Joined
Jun 16, 2010
Messages
302
MBTI Type
IxFx
Enneagram
9w1
Instinctual Variant
so/sx
In order to have a personality type, does it not implicitly necessitate the presence of a PERSONALITY to type?

personality-

Psychology .
a.
the sum total of the physical, mental, emotional, and social characteristics of an individual.

[One of many definitions from Dictionary.com]

What if I don’t really think [about X]? What if I don’t DO anything at all? What if I have no interests, talents, or tendencies (aside from being characterized entirely by inertia?) I haven’t any friends, nor do I feel at a loss because of it. It’s difficult for me to figure my interaction style, as I don’t interact. I don’t hold any opinions, goals, or ambitions. Regarding intelligence and potential, I fall somewhere below average. I’m not being negative; this is realistic, and as honest and objective an assessment of myself I can possibly muster. As for emotions and feeling, I don’t KNOW what I’m feeling at any given moment. It takes something quite extreme to cause a reaction enough for me to recognize that I am, indeed, feeling something. The only feeling (of which I’m in a constant state regardless of environment, and therefore regard more as a trait than an emotional tendency) is anxiety. I’m afraid of everything, more specifically, humiliating myself by being seen as, or actually being, stupid and not knowing what I’m doing. I’ve always needed to know exactly how to do something, or have a complete understanding of it, before I could feel comfortable trying/saying/explaining/demonstrating it. I’ve had serious trouble reconciling this fear bearing in mind the fact that I know I’m not intelligent, and therefore CAN’T ever adequately understand anything at the depth required of me to feel comfortable and thus eradicate the fear. (Paradox? Maybe. Irrational? Definitely.) This, I guess, coupled with the fact that I haven’t allowed myself to try things, and essentially shielded myself from everything (by way of living as a hermit through my formative years) manifested in me a frank inability to deal with the world in any real way. I’ve infantilized and immobilized myself, inhibited growth and disallowed for the development of a full, honest identity.
[Aside: There is nothing clinically wrong with me (psychologically.) I am not depressed or schizoid. I don’t have an anxiety disorder. This is just me.]

Do not people naturally change (in general) during adolescence and young adulthood? Or perhaps not “change” so much as “grow into themselves?” There has been no abuse, great tragedy, or difficulty in my life to warrant the predicament I’m in, or the way I am. Understanding this, I can only infer that this is what I “grew” into; it’s not a compensatory "non-identity" for horrible life circumstances, rather, as ugly, unsavory, and embarrassing as it is, entirely of my own doing—the result of all the choices I have made for myself (not making decisions is a choice and [realizing this in retrospect] was mine.) Mea culpa.

I guess it could be said that I am not “healthy” in the MBTI sense. But what exactly constitutes “health” in this way? Surely no one out there is 100% “healthy” but this doesn’t seem to hinder their ability to type themselves. Or maybe this is not so much a matter of health, as I’m simply just unremarkable and boring, and because of that, don’t have any preferences strong enough to accurately place me anywhere, nor an identity understood to an extent necessary to know what they’d be (not want to be) if I were. I’ve nothing on which to base a clear, demonstrable preference for any function.

The seeming passivity of this post is in no way an attempt to deflect blame for my own shortcomings, nor a backward way of proclaiming, “Ooooo I’m just so enigmatic that I can’t be typed!” [:sick:] It’s quite the opposite. I’m wary of the ramifications of trying to type myself because of this, despite my selfish and obvious desire to do just that.

In short—is MBTI, or any personality typology, “not for everyone” considering the aforementioned reasons? Or can my lacking of all these things somehow be a characteristic on its own, and I’m just not able to recognize it for what it is? Hmm…

[I apologize for the length and will completely understand a TL;DR response or no response.]
 

nozflubber

DoubleplusUngoodNonperson
Joined
Mar 30, 2008
Messages
2,078
MBTI Type
Hype
unless you're talking about someone in a coma or some kind of vegetable state of brain death, its impossible not to have some kind of personality aspect. It's akin to saying there's atoms around without a proton in their center; its impossible by virtue you're talking about an atom to begin with.




You actually sound a lot like me about 1-2 years before I found my type. I would start by reading the profiles of the four rationals and go from there.

If it still doesn't seem to apply in any way shape or form, do what people on this board never recommend but ought to: Wait a couple years. Then look at all this bullshit again, and I can almost guarantee it will crystallize.

good luck~
 

Tabula

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Jun 16, 2010
Messages
302
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IxFx
Enneagram
9w1
Instinctual Variant
so/sx
I've read them all, along with studying the cognitive functions after having taken every test I could find (I realize tests are not the best indication--subject to the pitfalls of self-reporting yada yada yada. I also think they're horrible for differentiating Fe and Fi--but that's not the point.) For a long time, I thought I was an INTP. Now, I realize I just wanted to be one, and I'm probably not--nor am I probably an NT of any kind.
It's not that I think I'm lacking protons here (saying I don't have a personality at all is a little dramatic.) It's that i've been SMASHING atoms together (deliberately trying to be what I think I am, or what I wanted to think I am) and finding myself in an alternate dimension. (or, sucked into a black hole of confusion.) I want to know why I WANT to be something. Underlying motivations, underlying anything, seems to hold what I'm looking for, but it's not so easy to access, and there is no infallible, perfect formula for type. It's not an exact science, as much as I want it to be.

What I mean by not having a personality is that I don't have enough of an understanding of myself to adequately and honestly assess myself and tendencies within the framework of MBTI. I'd have to know what and how I'm thinking, doing, etc. to know if I'm more naturally inclined to Ne, Si, .... and to what degrees. I'm rarely thinking or doing anything, have no opinions, etc. So HOW would I know?

Or, I'm worried that I'm just plain ol' unhealthy and typing myself in this way will only further confusion, OR would indirectly cause me to perceive whichever type I find myself negatively because of it. Because I have no redeeming qualities, it'd color the type I am that way. And that's WRONG as there is no "good" or "bad" type. They just are. I don't want to place a value or form a "bond" or "identity" WITH a type, I want to know, HONESTLY what the already-me would fit INTO. Something I'm not able to do at present.

Waiting seems to be my only option. But I can't go on in the same manner I'm used to. In order to have any more data to plug into the system, I need new experiences, a social interaction style, some semblance of a worldview, etc. or "waiting" doesn't mean anything but prolonged existence in the state I'm in, except I'd just be older. Aged, stagnant, rotting, confusion is no better than fresh, bleeding, juvenile confusion.

"Age is not a particularly interesting subject. Anyone can get old. All you have to do is live long enough."--Groucho Marx.


It was in my attempt at understanding why I do what I do (or don't do,) and trying to get rid of that irrational fear I have, that I stumbled upon MBTI.

The result: Confusion.

I hope that made some sense.
 

Coriolis

Si vis pacem, para bellum
Staff member
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Apr 18, 2010
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sp/sx
May I ask how old you are? As has already been suggested, maturity takes time, and with it, comes greater self-knowledge.

At the risk of giving gratuitous advice, I would make one recommendation: start keeping a journal. Write about what you do during the day, even if it seems mundane (had a burger for lunch, put my car in the shop). Write what you notice, even if it seems inconsequential (the leaves have started changing color in my yard). Write what you think and feel, even if it seems vague, or fragmented, or contradictory. Just write, and follow where it leads.
 
R

ReflecTcelfeR

Guest
Some might say that you could be typed somewhat by the way in which you type. Myer-Briggs may be a personality typology of sorts, but the Jungian functions are not. The latter is mentioned more here than the other. Don't fit yourself into a personality mold, just start out with how you think, then you can begin to decide what you 'believe' in.
 

Totenkindly

@.~*virinaĉo*~.@
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50,187
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BELF
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594
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sx/sp
People say things even by what they don't say, or how they say it.

Your posts in this thread -- how you choose to approach this issue -- have already said a lot about you.

You don't not have a personality.
 

Tabula

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My birth certificate'd have me believe I'm 20, but my maturity level begs to differ; she's probably ~13.

I have attempted to keep a journal many times in the past, but I have an allergic reaction to viewing my own writing. I'm not really sure what this would accomplish anyhow. The list of things I do and don't do (think, notice, etc.) is so short that it's basically a waste of paper.

I can agree that maturity matters (and I am sorely lacking the stuff, 'tis true) but I worry that if I don't fix these problems now, I'll be singing the same, tired ol' three part harmony in x years time, albeit, in a different song.

just start out with how you think

That's the problem.

Your posts in this thread -- how you choose to approach this issue -- have already said a lot about you.

Eek. Am I sensing negativity, or is that just me? In any case, you're right. I just don't know what it says.

Thank you all for the responses.
 
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ReflecTcelfeR

Guest
That's why you learn about the descriptions of how you think. Start at the beginning. Don't even bother with what you believe in, but figure out how you form what you believe in. Criteria, things that you believe need to be met in order for those opinions to be formed. Once you figure out how, then you can move on to the what and why, which are more about the personality than how, in my opinion.
 

entropie

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function void nopersonality(e eventArgs)
{

return personality;

}

Compiler Error: return-value on a void function is not possible
 

Tabula

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That's the problem. You can't construct a durable building on a shaky foundation. You may try, but place something slightly off, and it all comes crashing down. I don't have any blueprints to work from.

In order to begin, to have a beginning, to have anything at ALL, I need to know HOW I think. What I think isn't relevant (at least I don't think so.)I've realized that I lack the ability to honestly look at myself without unconsciously injecting little bits of what I want to be during the process. The result, then, ends up looking like a dramatic overcompensation (just look at this OP...) when all I'm trying to do is weed out my own biases. Because of this, my analysis, however honest I've tried to be, seems so far-removed from me that I can't completely assimilate it, adopt it, use it, identify with, and understand it as something personal and OF me. It feels like "other," if that makes any sense at all. I guess I don't know how to be personal with myself.

@ entropie:
Lolwut. I ain't no NT. :alttongue:
 

nozflubber

DoubleplusUngoodNonperson
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You actually sound a lot like Descartes at the beginning of his meditations :p However, there IS no sturdy foundation, there is no such thing as "solid knowledge". Haphazard guesswork is all we get to do as mere humans
 

Tabula

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:blink: Aw hell nah. I'm not trying to SUSPEND any beliefs [about me] on the grounds of doubt, I want to plow through them and understand NAO because of doubt. Plus, my brainz are not being eaten by evil daemonz; I know dis much. :devil:

Um, okay. The only way that's useful is keeping it as a mental disclaimer in the back of my mind when trying to figure out anything, else, the futility troll will incessantly poke me in the eyeball with a stick whenever I analyze anything. I'm looking for exactness, and there is no exactness. Yeah, okay. But meh. :tongue10:

Evolution is "just a theory" too. meh x2. :tongue10: :tongue10:
 
R

ReflecTcelfeR

Guest
That's the problem. You can't construct a durable building on a shaky foundation. You may try, but place something slightly off, and it all comes crashing down. I don't have any blueprints to work from.

In order to begin, to have a beginning, to have anything at ALL, I need to know HOW I think. What I think isn't relevant (at least I don't think so.)I've realized that I lack the ability to honestly look at myself without unconsciously injecting little bits of what I want to be during the process. The result, then, ends up looking like a dramatic overcompensation (just look at this OP...) when all I'm trying to do is weed out my own biases. Because of this, my analysis, however honest I've tried to be, seems so far-removed from me that I can't completely assimilate it, adopt it, use it, identify with, and understand it as something personal and OF me. It feels like "other," if that makes any sense at all. I guess I don't know how to be personal with myself.

What do you consider these posts so far? Are these not thoughts? Did you not form these thoughts in a certain way to convey a certain meaning? If you did then you used a perception and made a judgement on each word you typed. This is enough to start with when typing how you think and perhaps this the best way.
 

OrangeAppled

Sugar Hiccup
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Mar 20, 2009
Messages
7,626
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INFP
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4w5
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No personality? SJ.


Kidding...


Seriously though, I'm going to say INFJ. You don't understand your own inner world & don't relate it to yourself - seems Ni to me. Your way of expressing yourself seems Fe to me.
 

coconut

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Jul 11, 2010
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INTJ
My first thought when I read your first two posts in this thread was, "must be an INTP." ;)

MBTI is based on cognitive functions. Even a person who doesn't display much personality is going to take in information and either stew on it or emote about it, even if they don't show it outwardly. Unless a person is unconscious, there's going to be taking in, processing and acting on information -- and that's what the "types" are identifying.
 

Tabula

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Why N?

The only letter-- if I absolutely had to make a decision about with any confidence-- would be "P." I've never been good with planning, scheduling, making decisions, and I'm habitually 5 minutes late to everything, procrastinate my way through life, and live in filthy chaos. I think it's interesting that you see a "J." Is it because I want to make a decision about my type--to "pin it down" so-to-speak? Or is it just that you see NiFe--that happens correlate with INFJness?

I doubt I'm a "T." The fact that I don't have any discernible values, don't place much if any importance on relationships, nor have any desire to "help" people in any way, throws me for a loop, however, and makes it difficult to see myself in any xxFx description. (Or maybe it's just that I'm really self-absorbed?) BUT, I DO realize that T =/= a lacking of these things. Maybe I've somehow learned not to value them for some reason, or I've just ignored the fact that I have feelings for so long that I don't know how to understand them, or even recognize them (especially if you're seeing Fe.)


Yes, these posts are evidence of "thoughts"-- even if they're stupid ones. The problem is they're reactionary. I can't do it myself. I don't have a personality when I'm alone--which is 99% of the time. And when I'm not alone, my "personality" is entirely dependent upon that/those of the company I'm with. If they're friendly, I'll be friendly. If they're serious, I'm serious. Perhaps that's just a lack of integrity or authenticity on my part, but it certainly doesn't serve to simplify the matter any.

Thank you all for your patience with me. I appreciate it.
 
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