WHOA. I relate a LOT to some of the things you, [MENTION=16274]Rosabel[/MENTION] , have said. (I definitely would agree with most of the people here that you an INFJ).
In the sticky thread here "A Quick Guide To Double-Checking Your Type" I perceived that I use the directing information style, what indicates again INFJ.
I thought I was more Informing at first, but then I realized it had to do more with my self-esteem and not wanting to seem like a bossy d!ck to other people than my actual information style. My Directing style was confirmed in a recent trip to the zoo with my nephew and my father, in which I was saying things in a way that was decidedly bossy. Sure, I may have said things in an Informative way at times, but I was saying it in a way that was basically giving an order as opposed to merely being an informative. Example: When my nephew was posing for the videocamera in a face-in-hole penguin cut-out, and I had already gotten enough footage and so I told him "You can slip out now.", in such a way that was saying "Slip out of the hole. Let's move on to something else."
So I think the key to figuring out Directing vs Informing Information styles has to do with HOW its said, not just WHAT is said.
I may fit pretty well in both descriptions (of INFJ and INFP), but I really want to take a final decision.
But then, what makes me think I'm an INFP?
Well, Si: the nostalgia, the detailed information about the past and indulgency in past imaginations are very common.
About Fe and Fi, sometimes I may appear Fi, and sometimes Fe. I have many values of my own, that doesn't fit the overrall scheme of things around me. In spite of it, I have also some values that are shared with my family and religion. Like it's 50/50.
I think the MBTI theory doesn't limit us to our four main cognitive functions; it's basically a means of preference.
For instance, how often do you indulge in your nostalgia? Do said reveries of nostalgia stand out to you, and feel like some far-off distant thing that you have a lot of trouble connecting to?
Like, let me give an example of my own Si: I have a lot of Scottish and Irish genetic background. My Dom Ni caused me to realize that that in turn would connect me to the ancient Celtic and Pictish tribes of Ireland and Scotland, the tribes that basically kicked the Roman Empire's @$$es back in the day (i.e. 3rd century C.E.). Whenever I see a picture of a northern Irish or Scottish landscape, or something otherwise Celtic or Pictish in origin, I feel like I want to connect with it on a subjective level. It's like...my Inferior Se ends up becoming a subjective understanding as opposed to perceiving an objective detail. I want to see and FEEL my ancient past...like I don't want the idea, tone or 'tradition' of Picts and Celts to die off. However, since it is so different from my Inferior Extraverted Sensing, it often seems very vague and abstract, and there are other instances in which other sorts of cultures (such as Catholicism or the Middle Ages) will cause me to feel very ill and suppressed. It's this 'Demonic' Si that I have the least conscious control over, and so I end up having this almost inexplicable knee-jerk reactions to any sensory detail that evokes Catholicism/Middle Ages or Picts/Celts.
What are the boundaries between what's Fi-Ne and what's Fe through Ni?
Well, we tend to use both, especially when we are younger and still trying to figure out "who we are". (FYI, I'm a 20 year old female in college, if that provides the following insight--or ignorance--I'm about to display. ^^;; )
From what I know, Ni is a subjective understanding of the possibilities regarding the unseen and the unproven, being prone to having these subconscious 'hunches' about the dynamics of a situation. But what do we DO with those insights? How do we act upon them in the external world? The Aux Fe causes us to 'objectively' understand the emotional state of our environment and those within it. An example of Ni-Fe in action: "My friend is acting...strangely. I can't put my finger on why, though (Dom Ni). What should I do to help him? (Aux Fe) Should I ask if he's alright? No, no, he might think I'm being nosy if I ask him directly. But hey, maybe he WANTS me to ask him, so he isn't the one responsible for the one burdening the group with their woes?" (BTW: True story. I used to worry that I had a social anxiety disorder because of this constant analysis of social situations in this way, but learning I was an INFJ helped me to feel less self-conscious about this.)
However, sometimes our Ni might extravert itself, and vise versa with the Fi. But we often feel somewhat uneasy when using our primary functions in their opposite attitudes, like a little nagging "Am I doing this right?" voice in our heads. For example, when I use Ne (like when I'm brainstorming creative ideas, for instance), I tend to feel like I'm being really impulsive and not thinking my possibilities through. Likewise when I use Fi, I often feel like I'm being close-minded and not fully considering other peoples' needs and concerns. Like, say if we were discussing Pro Life vs Pro Choice (PLEASE understand that this is the best example I could think of off the top of my head, and I am not trying to instigate a discussion on abortion), my Fi might say "I'm Pro-Choice, because I think it should be within a person's right to terminate their own pregnancy." But then my Feeling function trickles out to its more naturally extroverted state, considering all the people who are bothered at the thought of developing fetuses being terminated, and then causes me wrack my brain in devising a happy medium instead of sticking to my guns and supporting just one or the other.
Some characteristics that I may highlight about me:
*I'm outspoken and stubborn about things I believe. It may get me in heated discussions sometimes.
*I matured early. People say that when I was 15 I had a behavior of a 35-years-old. I kind of skipped my teen years.
*People comes to me asking for counselling, and it's a pleasure for me to do it.
*I dislike when big plans aren't decided ahead of time like travels etc. But I really don't care about smaller things when decided spontaneously.
*I had a hard time deciding what to do with my life.
*I suffer from a big lack of coordination and mild hypochondria, heh
(I don't know if it has to do with some inferior function, soooo).
*I have a great imagination and I have a lot of intellectual curiosity.
*I love reading, writing, and playing/ listening to music. I love antiques too.
*I love studying psychology and human behavior. Mainly because I like studying people and their motivations in general.
*I'm not shy, although I'm rather quiet and reserved.
*I have a quirky sense of humor.
*I tend to fantasize the world and create an atmosphere to it.
*I'm responsible and very careful.
*I tend to have "nostalgia about times I hadn't lived".
*I kind of feel disconnected from my body and when I pay attention to it, it seems strange.
*Sometimes I fall in a paranoiac mode, principally when I'm worried about something. And I obsess over it.
*I can appear a little bit rebellious sometimes, but I'm not really a rebellious person. Just a non-conformist about things I find wrong in the world.
Man. I've noticed the EXACT same things about myself. Seriously, I'm checking off every asterisk, because I'm pretty much exactly the same way with all of them.
Hummm, it would be great to have some opinions from people of each type!
Normally I try to discover the type of some fictional characters that I may relate to, or singers/ celebrities to see. Normally they are INF's, yeah. So it ends up not making any difference by the fact that fictional characters are not like real people since they depend of an author to gain a personality.
YES! I DO THIS TOO!
I've looked back and realized that a lot of the characters and IRL people I RELATED to (not just 'liked') were very likely INFJs.