How simlilar are INTP'S and INFP'S?

[Lady_X]

I'm not sure NFs can understand mbti as well as NTs on average because, being an NF means focusing on perceived similarities among people rather than differences.

So I don't have a problem with telling them apart, but I'm not sure I can explain it to you because I don't come from the standpoint of wanting to empathize with everyone.

interesting perspective...certainly for an extraverted nf
i do do that for sure. but i can detach from something not personal and see it as it is though.

 

[Lauren Ashley]

I'm not sure NFs can understand mbti as well as NTs on average because, being an NF means focusing on perceived similarities among people rather than differences.

This is untrue in my case, and probably untrue in many cases. As far as typing people, I think I can do it very accurately, at least compared to the amount of time I've been acquainted with personality theory. Whereas the NTs I know who are into MBTI aren't as good at this. I had 20 friends take the MBTI and answer as if they were me, i.e. what they believed my responses would be. Half were NTs and the most common response from them was IXTJ (a few ESTJ). Whereas my three NF friends chose responses that resulted in INFJ, eNFJ, and ISFJ, which are much closer to my actual type.

 

[Tallulah]

Perhaps we should steer this one back on track before we get 20 pages of "NTs suck at MBTI" vs "NFs suck at MBTI."

 

[Udog]

Perhaps we should steer this one back on track before we get 20 pages of "NTs suck at MBTI" vs "NFs suck at MBTI."

I find NT insight on MBTI compliments mine very well. There are certain areas where I'm prone to make bad judgements, and usually I can count on the INTPs here to steer me back on track.

 

[Athenian200]

INFPs seem a lot pushier than INTPs to me. I suppose they're both kind of goofy, imaginative and into the unusual... but INTPs tend to feel more neutral and comfortable, while INFPs tend to feel kind of intense and alarming. It doesn't always work this way, though.

They're at least 50% similar, as they both have auxiliary Ne and tertiary Si. There's also the similarity that they both have dominant Introverted Judgment and inferior Extraverted Judgment. This would likely lead them to advocate individual reflection and to be somewhat distrustful of generally accepted rules and hierarchy.

 

[wildcat]

INFPs seem a lot pushier than INTPs to me. I suppose they're both kind of goofy, imaginative and into the unusual... but INTPs tend to feel more neutral and comfortable, while INFPs tend to feel kind of intense and alarming. It doesn't always work this way, though.

They're at least 50% similar, as they both have auxiliary Ne and tertiary Si. There's also the similarity that they both have dominant Introverted Judgment and inferior Extraverted Judgment. This would likely lead them to advocate individual reflection and to be somewhat distrustful of generally accepted rules and hierarchy.

It is a little more complicated.
INTP: Si > Fe
INFP: Si > Te

Inevitably a continuum has two poles.
The even hand is found only in the middle.

Your point is valid, though.
No objection there.

 

[Orangey]

INFPs seem a lot pushier than INTPs to me. I suppose they're both kind of goofy, imaginative and into the unusual... but INTPs tend to feel more neutral and comfortable, while INFPs tend to feel kind of intense and alarming. It doesn't always work this way, though.

They're at least 50% similar, as they both have auxiliary Ne and tertiary Si. There's also the similarity that they both have dominant Introverted Judgment and inferior Extraverted Judgment. This would likely lead them to advocate individual reflection and to be somewhat distrustful of generally accepted rules and hierarchy.

This is an interesting perspective. Is it safe to assume that you are sharing this from personal experience? I'd like to hear some specific ways in which the INFP is more pushy, intense, and alarming than the INTP (not that I doubt the veracity of what you're saying...I just like to have examples). If you don't mind, of course.

 

[SolitaryWalker]

If at all...I'm asking because I feel like ENTP and ENFP are similar in a lot of ways but I rarely see people being confused about INTP/INFP. Is it because they are so different? Or is/was it hard for others to know for sure?

That is because the ENFP and the ENTP share a dominant function. The INTP and the INFP have almost nothing in common because their dominant functions are antithetical to one another. (Note the Thinking/Feeling discrepancy)

 

[FantailedWall]

That is because the ENFP and the ENTP share a dominant function. The INTP and the INFP have almost nothing in common because their dominant functions are antithetical to one another. (Note the Thinking/Feeling discrepancy)

^^ What I said but articulated much more concisely. Ha.

 

[CrystalViolet]

I'm keep trying to type out my thoughts on this thread, but none of my thoughts quite construct themselves properly at the moment.
Good points though.
I really don't think the differences are as great as people say. I test INXP, and you got to admit, I'm probably a very obvious INFP. I also test 5w4 on the ennagrame.
I do share a great deal of the stereotypical behaviours of an INTP. Cold isn't the first thing that comes to people's mind when they meet me though, but deeply analytical, and somewhat detached, yes.
Can you be warm, and detached at the same time?

 

[Totenkindly]

^^ What I said but articulated much more concisely. Ha.

Yeah. He does that.


...One area of cosmetic overlap:

INTPs tend to systematize people. If interested in people, they can easily focus their sense of systematic conceptualization on "people" as the system in question. So they can easily understand values/ethics in the sense of spiritual/psychological growth as an observable process that can be reduced to core principles ("this is how it seems to work, while that framework doesn't work," etc.). But it's still this "systems" sense, usually, and with times certain people might be related to within the process on a more personal level as a secondary consideration. You will still sense an impersonal quality to their descriptions of people, they seem to easily just generalize outwards from specific people, looking for the underlying principle.

INFPs tend to approach people as individuals and think fully in the sense of context and relationship, rather than abstracting the whole way out from the start. The abstracted conceptual framework of people and growth as a process is something that comes after -- it starts with the person of interest/value, and the stepping away tends to be forced.

Using Ne, both can communicate well together and that's usually where the connection most easily occurs -- both look at the actual world and then project possibilities from it; but the core focus is different.

 

[mysterio]

They don’t always look that different at first glance, the INFP being more likely to be mistaken for an INTP, not the other way around. Often you have to get to know the INFP better to see the Fi intensity and conscience beneath the reserved, sometimes dry and ironic exterior.

 

[groovejet02]

INFPs believe first and then build logical arguments around those beliefs.

INTPs analyze and analyze, and only when something strikes them as logical, do they start believing.

 

[Nonsensical]

I think that INFPs and INTPs are very similar, and they make really really great friends. Becuase I'm so close to being an INFP, a lot of my friends are INTP, and ENTP for that matter.

 

[SolitaryWalker]

I think that INFPs and INTPs are very similar, and they make really really great friends. Becuase I'm so close to being an INFP, a lot of my friends are INTP, and ENTP for that matter.

What leads you to believe that INTPs and INFPs are similar?

 

[Eric B]

Discussions like this are why naming categories for the different process tandems is useful, as I suggest here: http://www.typologycentral.com/foru...lity-matrices/14018-process-tandem-names.html

Both NP types are what I call "circumspective", meaning that their perception tends to "look around", Ne, at past, present and future possibilities, and Si focusing more on the past. Hence, both types pretty much "see things the same way". (Ni and Se deal more with the present, and "moving forth" from there). Preferred Ne is informative, and in an auxiliary position indicates, of course, introversion, and together yields a common Behind the Scenes or Phlegmatic Interaction Style. So they will actually be very similar in surface social skills.
Where they're different is is FP using "systemic" judgment. Fi and Te work together in building systems in one way or another. TP is more "harmonic", with Ti creating logical harmony, and Fe interpersonal harmony (even though it's inferior in this case). You can even see the contrast in posts like groove's, right above.

 

[mortabunt]

Not at all similar.

 

[BlackCat]

Not at all similar.

INFPs and INTPs see the world and gather information via Ne and Si. Both of them have a bank of information in their head via Fi and Ti. The inferiors are where the differences seem very noticeable though.

Fi and Ti are very similar in a sense that it's a bank of mental information both ways, but what that information is is very different. It's like two identical banks holding different currencies.

The both of us share Ne and Si. Ne is the INTP and INFP's advirsory functions, both INFPs and INTPs give advice via Ne. Meaning we give ideas and suggestions etc for advice, and we also articulate our thoughts via Ne. So we can seem very similar. We both use Si in the same form as well.

So I think INTPs and INFPs are very similar to each other.

 

[OrangeAppled]

They don’t always look that different at first glance, the INFP being more likely to be mistaken for an INTP, not the other way around. Often you have to get to know the INFP better to see the Fi intensity and conscience beneath the reserved, sometimes dry and ironic exterior.

Yes, that is me. I often test INTP & I thought I was for awhile, but it never fit right & I know now I am definitely an INFP.

I have a lot of similarities with the INTPs I know, but the main difference is I am much more compassionate & in tune with people's emotions, and they are better at looking at things objectively & giving fair criticism. We will sometimes share the same opinions but have different ways of getting to those same conclusions. I had an INTP friend who would want to argue about something we agreed on, simply because we had different reasons for thinking the same way