INTP or ENTP?

[substitute]

But Chick, with all this emphasis on individuality, you're totally living into your Fi

Not fitting any of the profiles exactly is normal, but doesn't mean you don't fit a type, even if there's an X in there. The profiles are 16 'examples' of what a person of each type would be like if their score on each letter is pretty high. You're not supposed to type yourself by the profiles but by deep understanding of the individual functions and your own behaviour.

One ENTP can be very different to another ENTP and they can be different from the profiles. If your score on each letter is under 20% but still enough for it to be a preference, you'd be much less like the profile than someone whose scores are all over 80%. But you'd still be an ENTP and still not relate to the other profiles.

Anyway Mondo, your hyperactivity thing (a bit) says ENTP to me. It's Ne, it can continue indefinitely as long as it has something to interact with. If you were Ti dominant, you'd soon get tired and want to withdraw from company/external stimulation. If it actually wakes you up and keeps you awake, that points to Ne or Se IMO.

 

[Little Linguist]

I've recently allowed my Ne to take more of a role in my life, so I'm beginning to take a slightly more ENTP perspective. Here's my attempt to describe both cognitive functions from my experience, with some overdramatizing for humorous effect.

Ti dominant
Not very risk-taking or explorative because Ti cautions against this. I end up feeling like I don't get out enough and experience life because I'm always sitting quietly thinking about ideas or even new things to try, but rarely actually do these things. I think I'll read a book about hiking in Alaska and consider planning a trip there.

Ne dominant
I know what will happen, because I tried that already! I really need to be more careful and consider the logical consequences of my exploration of all possibilities. Maybe I should keep my mouth shut and think about things more before I say anything too! Sitting around just thinking about things is boring, and I don't like to focus on one thing for very long anyway! That Alaskan hiking trip last week was fun! Next month, I want to go to the jungles of South America!

This was really enlightening. Could you do the same thing with Fi, Ne? Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[Nocapszy]

Nocap, maybe this will help explain my "ignorance".

I don't know shit about typology, I don't.

All I know is that I've taken several tests, multiple times and that I am an ENFP.

And I know that I strongly identify with the ENFP profile, strongly.

Only after I've joined this site have I learned anything about Ne/Ni, and all that typology stuff.

So far, I only relate to and have read up on Ne and Fi.

Ah, well that's good. For the sake of not getting burned out early on it's probably advisable to focus on only your own favored CPs.

Information is either concrete (physically present and available to be sensed: S skills) or it's not. If it's not then they're called abstract (shit like a relationship -- you can't touch a relationship, but you know it's there; or a float plan for a boat... it's not something that physically exists, but you can figure it out). That's how N and S works.

The others work by logical or not logical. Everything that's decided using logic is a T function, and every other decision is F.

Think of it this way: typology is an analog to light.

There's only 3 primary colors. Red, blue and green. But with the infinite combinations of the three, we get every imaginable color. The cognitive processes are like the primary colors of typology. Not every ENFP has precisely the same distribution of Ne to Fi to Se to Te etc, but when they blend, it becomes a personality (sort of).



I hate those damned tests. They're also misleading.

K

love and hugs, for real.

-CC

lol ofc.

 

[JAVO]

How old are you? Unless it's a secret....::shhh:: Because I know that type isn't established until a certain age, and then of course starts to balance as time goes on. I'm curious how far along in the process you are.

Yes, age is an important factor. I'm 37, married, and have 3 young kids.

This was really enlightening. Could you do the same thing with Fi, Ne? Thanks in advance for your help.

I'll have to think about that longer. (Or maybe I should be feeling about that longer? ) I don't have much personal experience with Fi, but it sounds like fun. If I don't respond here within a few days, you might want to remind me.

 

[substitute]

Ne dominant
I know what will happen, because I tried that already! I'm thinking about being more careful and considering the logical consequences of my exploration of all possibilities. Maybe I should keep my mouth shut and think about things more before I say anything too! Sitting around just thinking about things is boring unless it's thinking about how to make something happen, and I don't like to focus on one thing for very long anyway! That Alaskan hiking trip last week was fun! Tomorrow, I'm going to the jungles of South America in the afternoon, after I've learned Polish in the morning. If only my friends weren't so BORING then I wouldn't have to do all this cool stuff on my own! Tsk, as if paying bills is more important! Living on the streets would be an adventure at least!!

There, fixed

 

[JAVO]

^

 

[ZiL]

Hmm, I've lost my bearings....OK! Let's do it!

I've been having a similar problem recently.
I think I may seriously be a somewhat self-conscious ENTP who doesn't get along with everyone.
I find that I get too tired and bored with too much solitude and usually light up when I am around interesting people. I am more like my extraverted friends in the sense that I genuinely enjoy parties and flirting.

The one thing that really is making me want to switch is that external validation is ridiculously important to me. I will only truly withdraw if I feel that my image is 'poor' and think about how I can re-invent my image. It's the one problem most people have with me since I show 'different sides' of myself depending on the situation. I can't stand any kind of rejection- it is a blow to my image, for a long time I considered myself to be pretty smart for making such an infallible image. I realize now that it hasn't been making me happy inside. It's a problem I've been having for a while and something that I've been trying to fix through becoming a scholar of psychometry.

As long as I'm well-liked by others, I am never actually worn out by them- I am just not a master of small talk. If a conversation is leading towards 'small talk' I will often direct it to 'large talk'.
I don't know of any Extraverted Rational who truly is a master of small talk and all Introverted Guardians seem to be masters of it (at least the ISFJs).

I am tempted to say that my Ne & Ti are about equal- in terms of cognitive functions, both serve me well.

Wow, looks like everyone has got the E/I confusion around here! It's an epidemic!

These characteristics that you mention here are some of the ones that I've only recently began to consciously notice in myself (I knew they were there, I guess, just never gave it enough thought), and the realization of said characteristics is part of what has led to my questioning my previously assumed introversion. I have a PARALYZING fear of rejection and I care more about my outward image than I previously thought. It particularly bothers me when someone misunderstands me - my intentions, my actions, what have you - and thus gets a bad impression of me. I can't stand being judged without being given the chance to be understood. Therefore, when I first meet people I tend to mirror their behavior to get a feel for their personalities, and if I get good vibes from them (i.e. I think they'll like me/they're not going to judge me), I will be able to hang out with them for long periods of time with some small talk - though like you I try to push conversations into "large talk" as well. If I'm getting iffy vibes (strongly opinionated/judgemental), I'll get drained immediately and start to avoid them. I mean, ya know, not all personalities work together so introverts, extroverts, whatever...we all have certain types of people we would prefer not to be around based on a myriad of factors.

I definitely can hold up the second kind of small talk, as long as I get the idea that the person will appreciate the humor in the things I say. Those are the people I become great friends with.

Ditto.

Maybe you are something in between.

Couldn't that be plausible?

I was talking about this with my sister today who has taken the official test and has typed as an "INFP". (And I don't think that is accurate, at all)

I think that the MBTI is not necessarily an accurate tool of personality assessment for everybody, i.e. that many people do not fit into the 16 types.

I took the test, typed as an ENFP, and was blown away by the accuracy of the profile.

I have 2,500 posts on this site, but...

I cannot type *anybody* that is close to me, they just don't seem to exhibit traits that clearly correlate to any one specific type.

Basically, what type do you *sincerely* relate to most?

I, for one, know that people tend to be pretty poor self-analysts and hence test all over the place.

Why does it matter to you which type you are?

Wouldn't you be you, first, and foremost, and then either relate to the personality profiles or not?

Perhaps the MBTI is not for you.

It seems like an odd thing to do for one to try to squeeze themselves into a stereotype that doesn't even fit.

If I've given the impression that I'm hell-bent on fitting myself into a type, then it's my fault. Honestly, I'm fine being in type limbo . It's just that for many years now, I've had a distinct impression of myself that may have been built on false self-understanding (ex: mistakenly equating social anxiety with introversion), and so I'd like to become more self-aware. I've had bad social anxiety, and so I've avoided people, but I'm not sure if withdrawing to an inner world is really my natural mode of operation as I haven't been particularly happy doing it all these years. It's just become quite a habit. In other words, I'm trying to figure out what I should be doing with my life because I'm clueless The MBTI is just a nifty little tool to hopefully sort things out a bit, but I don't expect this man-made system to answer all my questions. And I don't expect to get a definitive answer from anyone here either...just hopefully some new ideas to consider.

Hello Zil . I am pretty sure that I'm an INTP, so I'll share my experiences with you for the purpose of comparison.

I can relate to the "never finding a niche" part. In high school nobody was really interested in anything that I was ever interested in, but I could hardly blame them as I was into things like 3D computer modeling and traditional photography. I would sometimes wish for someone to be able to share them with, but most of the time I was perfectly content just learning and thinking about them myself. In fact, my mindset during that time was such that all social activity represented time taken away from doing what I wanted to do alone.

My childhood behavior was similar to this. At least that's what my parents tell me. I was apparently obsessed with odd topics such as whales, dinosaurs, dogs, Celtic mythology, and trying to learn the fake languages that Tolkien created guidelines for in several of his works. I was an also an outgoing child, sometimes characterized as "hyper".

In undergrad I found that I was forced to interact more with others around me, if only because I always happened to be around somebody. This was not to my liking, though, and I found nearly all of it to be mentally draining (and especially if I had to talk about mundane things or to people who were very opinionated). I almost never initiated conversations with others, not always because I was anxious or nervous, but sometimes simply because I didn't have the desire to do so. As to feeling depressed without contact, I sometimes felt like I needed to be with or talk to somebody if I'd been alone for too long (we're all human, right?). If I acted on this feeling, though, I would immediately regret it because of the time that I was now obligated to spend with someone instead of with my own stuff. If it weren't for social etiquette, I would have blown off many of the people that I had sought to be with in the first place. It only takes a little social interaction to give me my fill for quite a while.

Anyway, I hope this helps you out a bit. I didn't want to go into the individual functions because my habits may not be a good representative of all Ti/Ne behaviors. However, I am almost certain that I'm an introvert, so perhaps some of this will help you in figuring out your E/I problem.

Good luck .

Haha, I do think in those terms A LOT: that spending time with so-and-so is taking away from my doing something else I want to do. It's terrible, isn't it heheh. Strange thing is, when I am alone once again and free to do whatever I thought I wanted to, I start thinking about how, "oh, I wish I had someone to share this hobby with because doing it by myself is alright and all, but after a while it starts to feel pointless." So it turns into this wierd "grass-is-greener" paradox. I want all the options (the wierd hobbies AND the people to share them with), but I can't have them. Option hoarder. That's interesting that you mention that.

Tolkien languages! Lol, I never tried to learn any of that, but I did try to make my own alphabet in the style of those letters because I thought they were pretty. I think that's why I got a B in Geometry freshmen year of high school