I never understood this...some of the threads I come across on this board make it seem that ISTJs want to be INTJs so bad, that some of them will label themselves as such and pretend.
Not sure why this belief exists?
Is the perception that ISTJs are somehow the inferior type?
Any ideas?
Well, this comes primarily from the anti-S/pro-N atmosphere created by Ns who don't understand typology very well. This is really,
really pervasive (even worse than here) on INTP central and INTJ forum.
If I may quote an INTJ forum thread asking, "What is the difference between ISTJ and INTJ?"
INTJ forum member said:
ISTJs learn by memorizing the book and INTJs learn by understanding the book?
The pretentious aura from this style of INTJ can be pretty suffocating. It sometimes leads S types who are new to typology to label themselves Ns because it's assumed that if you're an S, you're stupid or inferior, and nobody wants to label himself that way.
In reality, most ISTJs don't want to be INTJs because they value Si more highly than Ni. Si is probably the most poorly understood of all the functions in general and so a lot of inaccurate garbage is written about it.
The ISTJs who do wish they were INTJ generally hold Ni to some magical standard, like some kind of superpower, when in reality it's not nearly all it's cracked up to be. INTJs have a number of significant weaknesses; they're just really good at hiding them in most cases so they seem less vulnerable than they really are.
I doubt that any ISTJs are consciously lying about their type when they claim to be INTJ; they probably just don't understand the system well enough yet to accurately determine their own types.
There are a lot of real strengths in the ISTJ approach that are totally lost on INTJs, though, so don't worry about the nonsensical anti-S bias that you'll encounter on typology forums. It's to be expected on N-dominated forums, but it's a lot of bullshit.