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Let's give it another go: INFP/ENFP and indicator results

autumn

New member
Joined
Oct 5, 2007
Messages
106
MBTI Type
eNFP
Hi! As I posted in the other INFP/ENFP discussion, the Keirsey temperament Sorter types me as an ENFP. However, pretty much all of the Myers-Briggs approximations online have typed me as an INFP. What could be the reason for this? (The other thread has some good insights, but has gone fairly off-topic at this point so I figured I would start a new discussion).

Here is my initial post, borrowed from that thread:

Several years ago when I first took the Keirsey Temperament Sorter and had no idea what it was, I scored as an ENFP. I answered the questions honestly and uncoerced, in a comfortable environment with a supportive friend administering. The description really seemed to fit quite well.

It wasn't until years later that I really took an intense interest in MBTI and Keirsey and started to study the theory behind it and get to know the types and everything better. Again I took the KTS, just for kicks, and again scored solidly in the ENFP range. Again the type description fits me the best out of all 16 possibilities, though I have mellowed with age and practiced using more of my functions.

However, nearly every online MBTI-type indicator I have taken scores me as an INFP. I have read many type descriptions for INFP, and while a lot of it resonates with me, I do think the ENFP descriptions fit better.

I took the cognitive processes indicator, and the results were interesting--Ne and Fi were almost equal, Ne winning out by a small margin of about two points. Again, this would seem to indicate ENFP, if only barely. However, the score I was given was INFP. The only reason for that that I can think of is that my Ne and Fi were almost equal for dominant and auxiliary, and the next two cognitive processes in line were Ni and Ti, which makes three out of my top four cognitive processes introverted ones. Perhaps that tipped the scales over to introvertedness, as far as the indicator was concerned? (Ne, Fi, Te, and Si were in that order, the ENFP order, but other processes were interspersed between them in prominence.)

Another interesting thing is that recently two friends of mine, one who scores ENFP and another who scores INFP both pegged me as an INFP. The ENFP pal is pretty interested in MBTI herself and said that she estimated the NFP pretty readily but was uncertain whether to choose I or E when typing me.

Another very close friend, who is an INTP and is very interested in MBTI (and who is the one who originally gave me the KTS!) put forward the theory that I "hide" my dominant function somewhat. I do think that as I have gotten older I have made an attempt to rein in the Ne around most people. And if my Ne and Fi are as close as the cognitive processes results indicate, it makes sense that while reining in my Ne I may appear to have dominant Fi, or at least to be an xNFP.

I do think that overall, ENFP fits me better. With Ne and Fi so far in the lead, the NFP part is pretty much chiseled into the marble statue of my being and surrounded by flashing Vegas lights (metaphorical ones, LOL). At times I have been tempted to think of myself as an xNFP, but something about putting an x in there annoys me, as though it's indicating indecisiveness on my part or something. (I don't mind when other people do it, if they are still determining their best-fit type or have definitely scored 50/50 on some part, but something about it strikes me as "unfinished," if that makes sense.) Further, there don't seem to be any meaningful type descriptions for 50/50 E/I types, and I really do think that the descriptions for the ENFP fit me better overall than those for INFP.

Anyone have any thoughts on this? Why is the KTS the only one that has consistently (well, twice over the course of several years) scored me as ENFP, while so many others have scored me as INFP? I have never taken an official MBTI; I wonder how that would score?


Additional insights, anyone? :)

autumn
 

nightwatcher

New member
Joined
May 27, 2008
Messages
84
MBTI Type
INXJ
I’d say you know your type better than the tests do. Still, it might help to find out your Enneagram type by taking a free online test. ENFPs and INFPs aren’t usually the same. INFPs are most commonly 4s and 9s, ENFPs 7s and 2s, according to statistics; while it’s rare for INFPs to be 7s and 2s and ENFPs 4’s and 9’s. Knowing your Enneagram also adds dimension to your MB type. For example, an ENFP 2 and ENFP 7 will have very different underlying motivations and patterns.

Finally, when you take the MB tests, you could try answering the questions as you would have in your early 20s, assuming you’re older than that. That’s usually when your dominant preferences stand out the most, though it already sounds like your dominant function when you were younger was Ne.
 

Colors

The Destroyer
Joined
Apr 24, 2007
Messages
1,276
MBTI Type
ISTP
Enneagram
5w4
Instinctual Variant
so/sx
As I understood it, Keirsey and MBTI are different! Keirsey is based on the dichotomies: so to test as an ENFP (instead of INFP) suggests that you prefer introversion over extraversion. The difference between an MBTI ENFP and an MBTI INFP is that the ENFP prefers Ne over Fi (instead of the INFP's Fi over Ne).

Honestly, if the ENFP descriptions work better for you, what's the problem? It's just a test for a personality categorization system. What works to fufill your goals/curiousity (which I presume are self-understanding/ learning to understand other people better?) is great.
 

Totenkindly

@.~*virinaĉo*~.@
Joined
Apr 19, 2007
Messages
50,187
MBTI Type
BELF
Enneagram
594
Instinctual Variant
sx/sp
Keirsey is based on the dichotomies: so to test as an ENFP (instead of INFP) suggests that you prefer introversion over extraversion. The difference between an MBTI ENFP and an MBTI INFP is that the ENFP prefers Ne over Fi (instead of the INFP's Fi over Ne).

Nice distinction between the two systems, Keirsey isn't prioritizing function use, he's just going through the dichotomies.

Which sometimes makes E/Ixxx types look more similar than they actually are.

In practice, a quiet/introverted ENFP still doesn't equal an INFP, nor does an extroverted INFP = ENFP.
 

Eric B

ⒺⓉⒷ
Joined
Mar 29, 2008
Messages
3,621
MBTI Type
INTP
Enneagram
548
Instinctual Variant
sp/sx
Hi! As I posted in the other INFP/ENFP discussion, the Keirsey temperament Sorter types me as an ENFP. However, pretty much all of the Myers-Briggs approximations online have typed me as an INFP. What could be the reason for this? (The other thread has some good insights, but has gone fairly off-topic at this point so I figured I would start a new discussion).

Sorry if I'm the one who took your thread elsewhere; though since I'm having issues with those same two types (in addition to the NTP's), I didn't think it would be "off topic". (It kind of seemed to be dying down or diverging anyway, IIRC, Perhaps this should just be merged back with that one).

Anyway, if you take a "Mixed Models" approach, using both Keirsey's system with the cognitive processes, you see that Keirsey was basically right that E/I was the least important dichotomy. (Jung had said it was the most important). Types differing only by I/E will have the same primary functions, and the same preferred functions, only dom/aux and ter/inf reversed. So cognitively, they're not that different. If you're only having I/E issues, you're probably an ambivert. Neither MBTI nor KTS allow for ambiversion, but we know that there are varying degrees of extroversion; and it has to be 'forced' one way or the other (I or E), so one test places it in E, and the other in I. Yet the two types are not that far apart. (Now, the T/F issues I'm having, is quite another story).

Otherwise, in MBTI, introversion is defined as having a dominant introverted function. KTS does not use the functions, so I imagine they just grade the four dichotomies separately, and by their criteria, you just came out more "expressing".

Have you ever tried Step II? That could shed light on which subscales of I/E you are coming out one or the other.
 
Last edited:

autumn

New member
Joined
Oct 5, 2007
Messages
106
MBTI Type
eNFP
As I understood it, Keirsey and MBTI are different! Keirsey is based on the dichotomies: so to test as an ENFP (instead of INFP) suggests that you prefer introversion over extraversion. The difference between an MBTI ENFP and an MBTI INFP is that the ENFP prefers Ne over Fi (instead of the INFP's Fi over Ne).

Honestly, if the ENFP descriptions work better for you, what's the problem? It's just a test for a personality categorization system. What works to fufill your goals/curiousity (which I presume are self-understanding/ learning to understand other people better?) is great.

Yes! I see your point about the dichotomies vs. the cognitive processes. According to the cognitive processes assessment, my Ne and Fi are apparently neck and neck. (Does anyone want to try looking at my scores??)

And yes, I do think the ENFP description fits better overall. I had no reason to even question it one bit for years. Then I started taking online indicators and scoring INFP time and time again, so I wondered why I would so consistently score that way when ENFP seemed to fit and was my KTS result. At first I just thought the online indicators were inaccurate, but then they were all consistently inaccurate, LOL.

Sorry if I'm the one who took your thread elsewhere; though since I'm having issues with those same two types (in addition to the NTP's), I didn't think it would be "off topic". (It kind of seemed to be dying down or diverging anyway, IIRC, Perhaps this should just be merged back with that one).

Anyway, if you take a "Mixed Models" approach, using both Keirsey's system with the cognitive processes, you see that Keirsey was basically right that E/I was the least important dichotomy. Jung had said it was the most important). Types differing only by I/E will have the same primary functions, and the same preferred functions, only dom/aux Ns ter/inf reversed. So cognitively, they're not that different. If you're only having I/E issues, you're probably an ambivert. Neither MBTI nor KTS allow for ambiversion, but we know that there are varying degrees of extroversion; and it has to be 'forced' one way or the other (I or E), so one test places it in E, and the other in I. Yet the two types are not that far apart. (Now, the T/F issues I'm having, is quite another story).

Otherwise, in MBTI, introversion is defined as having a dominant introverted function. KTS does not use the functions, so I imagine they just grade the four dichotomies separately, and by their criteria, you just came out more "expressing".

Have you ever tried Step II? That could shed light on which subscales of I/E you are coming out one or the other.

No worries, Eric B.! I am finding out lots of interesting things in both discussions.

I would love to try the Step II! Unfortunately I have never had the opportunity to do that...maybe someday!

Nightwatcher: Actually, I first took the KTS in my early twenties!

Jennifer: I agree. An Ixxx isn't just a quieter version of an Exxx.

So if a person is ambiverted (and I wonder if there truly is such a thing??), would this mean that their dominant and auxiliary are used equally?? I have been wondering about that for a while now.

autumn
 

autumn

New member
Joined
Oct 5, 2007
Messages
106
MBTI Type
eNFP
Okay, here are my cognitive processes results, if anyone is interested in analyzing them:

Ne: 48.8 (excellent use)
Fi: 46.5 (excellent use)
Ni: 32.4 (good use)
Ti: 32.2 (good use)
Fe: 23.2 (limited use)
Te: 21.1 (limited use)
Se: 18.9 (limited use)
Si: 16.9 (limited use)

The assessment for this one was INFP.

Thank you, you guys! :smile:

autumn
 

redacted

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 28, 2007
Messages
4,223
no offense, but that test is useless in borderline cases.

if the ENFP profile resonates more than the INFP one, you're probably an ENFP. and ENFPs tend to need more recharge time than most extroverts anyway.

also, it should be obvious to you if you were an Fi dom.
 
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