So am I an INFJ or what?

[Forever]

Hey, so I have a few friends looking at the posts I make from day, think I am NOT an INFJ. I usually test weak on judging but weak on perceiving as well.

So here are a few pointers about me:

*I tend to be perfectionist in some things such as spelling, grammar, and making sure I get something to sound "right." (can explain why most of my posts are more to the point, maybe it's my English teacher in college, sometimes being comma crazy.)
*I am a highly sensitive person and can feel insults quite easily, even though intellectually I tell myself, they're joking, and it seems like only things seem to get better if it's time, or people are there to support me.
*Growing up, I never knew what I really wanted to be, but as soon as I found chemistry in high school, it was just something that was right for me.
*Being highly sensitive, I don't like to fight, but I've learned the fact that everybody isn't going to like me for who I am, so there are some things that I like to do, isn't "socially" approved by everyone, but it makes me happy.
*I have had a hard time finding "true" friends because I feel my interests are so different from everyone apart. But when I am forced into a group situation, I sometimes like to try to find something I "like" and something they "like," which doesn't work all the time, and people who refuse to express themselves bore me really quickly.
*I was never neat and tidy with everything, but I love having plans made, and I can get irritated if things aren't working out right.
*When I was younger, I was called weird a lot. To this day, people sometimes are shocked by the things I'm saying, not that I like shock value most of the time, but I really like to voice my opinion on something I may like.
*I want to be successful, but I also want friends to share that success with, unfortunately, I don't have such friends yet.
*I love one on one talking, but sometimes I can judge others and feel like even one on one doesn't make me feel comfortable.
*I'm really talkative, one on one most of the time. I can go dead silent if I feel no one in the group cares, or don't know what they're talking about.
*I like being realistic, but making imaginary situations that could only happen in real life.
*I don't like to get my hands dirty in work, I prefer intellectual pursuits over practical.
*Only sport I ever cared about was long distance running (Cross-Country, Distance Track)
*I like to seek for sensations, sometimes I am worried I lose focus on my body when I do things for people I deeply care about. (Eat too much of their food, just to "please" them, laugh just to laugh and make them feel better about themselves) Some people find me naturally funny.
*Girls have found me really attractive, and it's highly noticeable in their body language and sometimes even speech!
*I have always preferred hanging out with women over men. (I'm a guy.)
*I can't be away from music, but only certain kinds. I don't go for people people who are scared to say what they really like.
*I am very open about myself, and can be self-critical at sometimes, and I catch my flaws right away and sometimes I do something about it.
*I don't like to make people upset or show that I don't like them, so sometimes I flee *politely* when I can.
*I can be a fan of the objective, but yet the subjective quite often too. I love philosophy, but only certain branches of it.
*People say I am quite analytical with ideas and do as much as I can to find about myself as I can or problems that I can try to solve.
*I am optimistic in most things and I love finding about other's perspective, sometimes it can make people upset because it makes them think I am trying to manipulate them.
*People stay on my mind for a long time, of people I like, don't like, and people sometimes I barely just met. Especially, thinking if that girl could be a potential date. (Most of them after a while of thinking, I toss my thoughts away about intimate interests.)
*I focus on the future, A LOT. Where am I going to be? What person am I going to be like? Am I successful? Do I have the right partner? Things like that.
*I love food, music, and beauty in a lot of things.
*I tend to be "Easily entertained" by a lot of things. I don't believe only "certain" things can make you happy.
*When I feel sometimes impressed to, I make sure I let people know I do care about them, and they're lives if I felt they have been offended.
*I dislike crowds and am easily soft-spoken. I worry what a lot of people think about me, regardless of what I make my decision on.
*Personality seems like a big deal, because I want to know I am improving myself and not this "ideal" person.
*I dislike labels, I love being independent and always on the move, and always searching for knowledge.
*I sometimes can make premature judgments and find out I am wrong, and find out they are really cool people. I hate holding grudges, one of my strengths is to easily forgive others.
*Believing in God was something very difficult for me, until I felt something later on in my life.
*I sometimes make pauses before I try to say something profound.
*I try to correct myself.
*I even found later things to correct on before I finish this post, I mean seriously.
*I get jealous of how people have inner peace quite a lot of the time, which can make me feel really lonely.
*I scored INFX, xNFJ, INFJ, and INFP on a lot of my tests. I have scored 4w3, 4w5, 9w1, 5w4, and 6 once on differing perspectives of my life.
*Also, if I don't control my thoughts, I can sound like a jerk because then I start "judging" things quickly if I feel confident in my position where I am at, now. Then that mellows me out and wants me to leave people alone.
*Thoughts are consistently in my head. It's crazy or cray cray.
*Sometimes I feel more like a girl than a guy and relate a lot to having being both brained.
*People say I should be a counselor and people would go for me to solve their problems.
*I always look for the "Second Skin" in people. Finding the underlying meaning in everything.
*I am not too good at deciding on things that involve other people, good on things with myself.

Okay, I might edit later and see if I think of anything else. But, objections, comments? what?

 

[hjgbujhghg]

I think you should not focous at how you score on P/J. You should rather focous on Fi vs Fe. It seems like you've been searching for things, that feels right for yourself, you're also perfectionistic, which is a sign of high value orientation which is a sign of Fi. I'd say you're INFP 4

 

[Forever]

Good observation. I'll try that.

 

[Mal12345]

I think you should not focous at how you score on P/J. You should rather focous on Fi vs Fe. It seems like you've been searching for things, that feels right for yourself, you're also perfectionistic, which is a sign of high value orientation which is a sign of Fi. I'd say you're INFP 4

There's no proof that Fi = IXFP. Not that I'm arguing against INFP. It's just that we have a member on this forum who is ISTP/INFP but who identifies with Jung's Si-dom description. JCF and MBTI are more or less loosely correlated, and this also seems to depend on which types are being correlated.

Where do you get 4? I thought 9 over 4.

 

[PimpinMcBoltage]

You are an Intuition dominant with a feeling preference over thinking. You are thus an ENFP or an INFJ. Pick your poison.

To be cynical I think you just want conformation over what you have already decided to pick anyways. Nothing wrong with having issues with being secure in your opinion. I have major issues there myself.

 

[hjgbujhghg]

There's no proof that Fi = IXFP. Not that I'm arguing against INFP. It's just that we have a member on this forum who is ISTP/INFP but who identifies with Jung's Si-dom description. JCF and MBTI are more or less loosely correlated, and this also seems to depend on which types are being correlated.

Where do you get 4? I thought 9 over 4.

JCF and MBTI are more than correlated...If someone is not sure of their type, the best and the most accurate way is to figure out the functions. If we have a member ISTP/INFP member who identifies with Si, then it is most likely an INFP with very developed Si... All the calling for being uniqe..."I had wierd hobbies as a kid"... "I struggled to find "true friends" ..."I was called wierd..." "Highy sensitive..." Besides the whole post seems to scream out, "I am uniqe" ...Even though I feel more 4w3, than 4w5.

 

[Mal12345]

JCF and MBTI are more than correlated...If someone is not sure of their type, the best and the most accurate way is to figure out the functions. If we have a member ISTP/INFP member who identifies with Si, then it is most likely an INFP with very developed Si... All the calling for being uniqe..."I had wierd hobbies as a kid"... "I struggled to find "true friends" ..."I was called wierd..." "Highy sensitive..." Besides the whole post seems to scream out, "I am uniqe" ...Even though I feel more 4w3, than 4w5.

You don't know if the most accurate way to an MBTI type is through functions. Given what I've seen on this forum, more people are coming here confused after looking at their function scores, not before looking at them.

I see you don't need any cognitive functions to work out an enneatype.

The same can be done with MBTI types. "I had weird hobbies as a kid," "I am unique," sounds like INFP. See, no JCF involved.

 

[reckful]

You sound like a Limbic INFJ to me.

"Limbic" refers to the Big Five temperament dimension that isn't included in the Myers-Briggs typology and is often referred to as "neuroticism" (although it isn't a psychological disorder). The Big Five/SLOAN typology labels it Emotional Stability and refers to the two poles as Calm and Limbic. Being Limbic on that dimension tends to be associated with, among other things, anxiety/worry-proneness; emotional sensitivity/volatility; proneness to annoyance/irritation; self-consciousness; and (sometimes) depression. I'm Limbic, and it makes me less of a cucumber than some of my fellow INTJs.

I'd be curious to see your results on the official "Step I" MBTI, which you can take here.

And, if you're interested, the Big Five test I generally point people to is this similarminds Big Five/SLOAN test, which will (purport to) type you on the Emotional Stability dimension (in addition to the four Big Five dimensions with substantial MBTI correlations). And I've put some more information about the Big Five and that similarminds test in the spoiler.

Here's a table that shows which Big Five dimension essentially corresponds to which MBTI dimension:

SLOAN dimension	SLOAN poles	corresponding MBTI poles
Extroversion	Reserved vs. Social	I vs. E
Emotional Stability	Calm vs. Limbic	n/a
Orderliness	Organized vs. Unstructured	J vs. P
Accommodation	Egocentric vs. Accommodating	T vs. F
Inquisitiveness	Inquisitive vs. Non-Curious	N vs. S

I kind of like the linked Big Five test both because I think it does an OK typing job and also because, unlike the official MBTI and many of the online type tests, it's not "forced choice." It gives you five choices for each question — an "in the middle" choice as well as mild or strong in each direction. For that reason, it's reasonable to expect the SLOAN percentage scores to have something to say about the strength of your preferences. With a forced choice test, that's not really true. Somebody with, say, a mild S preference could easily take a forced choice test and, assuming they knew themselves well and interpreted the questions properly, end up choosing the S response for almost all (or all) of the questions, with the result being a very high S score. (That said, I think scores that are close to the middle on forced choice tests tend to be some indication that your preference on that dimension — in whichever direction — is probably on the mild side.)

BUT NOTE: Although I kind of like the similarminds SLOAN test, I don't think much of the corresponding personality type descriptions at the similarminds site, for a number of reasons, one of which is: Most MBTI sources reflect the perspective that it isn't better to have one preference rather than its opposite on any of the four MBTI dimensions. The descriptions at the similarminds site, on the other hand — somewhat consistent with Big Five sources generally — definitely favor Accommodating over Egocentric (F over T) and Organized over Unstructured (J over P). And if you're Limbic (even mildly), that earns you a negative-adjective bonanza. So I recommend using the similarminds test as a sort of double-check/quantifier for the MBTI dimensions, but I think the personality descriptions in a typical MBTI source are better.

 

[ndovjtjcaqidthi]

Lol, no. Sorry to break your itty bitty heart but you're not a special unicorn snowflake like me. : )

100% srs too.

 

[hjgbujhghg]

You don't know if the most accurate way to an MBTI type is through functions. Given what I've seen on this forum, more people are coming here confused after looking at their function scores, not before looking at them.

I see you don't need any cognitive functions to work out an enneatype.

The same can be done with MBTI types. "I had weird hobbies as a kid," "I am unique," sounds like INFP. See, no JCF involved.

People come here confused after taking cognitive functions tests, because cognitive functions tests, are not the right way to determine the functions. You have to do some serious research about the functions, collect different sources and then try to truly understand what is each of 8 functions about. It's natural, that someone after taking functions test scores for example high on Ne,Ni comes here confused and ask "So what am I ENFP, or INFJ?" But it's just because highly intuitive types often seem to have a bit of both intuitive characteristics and tests usually suck in spotting this. The same is with very developed types, for example an ISFP with developed Ni, can score high as an introveted intuitive, even though he is not. Tests just make people feel cunfused.... "I had weird hobbies as a kid," "I am unique," can be any Fi type, or any introvert, or any intuitive type and does not point out at any type directly, but rather directly point out to ennea 4.

 

[Mal12345]

People come here confused after taking cognitive functions tests, because cognitive functions tests, are not the right way to determine the functions. You have to do some serious research about the functions, collect different sources and then try to truly understand what is each of 8 functions about. It's natural, that someone after taking functions test scores for example high on Ne,Ni comes here confused and ask "So what am I ENFP, or INFJ?" But it's just because highly intuitive types often seem to have a bit of both intuitive characteristics and tests usually suck in spotting this. The same is with very developed types, for example an ISFP with developed Ni, can score high as an introveted intuitive, even though he is not. Tests just make people feel cunfused.... "I had weird hobbies as a kid," "I am unique," can be any Fi type, or any introvert, or any intuitive type and does not point out at any type directly, but rather directly point out to ennea 4.

I agree, then after all that studying, they find out that it was a waste of time because it doesn't help determine one's MBTI.

 

[hjgbujhghg]

I agree, then after all that studying, they find out that it was a waste of time because it doesn't help determine one's MBTI.

Okay... then according to your idea of MBTI, what does help?

 

[Mal12345]

Okay... then according to your idea of MBTI, what does help?

My own test helps.

It helps because it doesn't assume that E+N+T+P is the same as ENTP - as with the original MBTI.
Nor does it assume that Ne+Ti is the same as ENTP - as with JCF.

My test uses statements not unlike "I am unique," but they are more detailed in order to define more exactness out of detail. "I am unique" is too general, as is "I had strange hobbies as a child."

 

[hjgbujhghg]

My own test helps.

It helps because it doesn't assume that E+N+T+P is the same as ENTP - as with the original MBTI.
Nor does it assume that Ne+Ti is the same as ENTP - as with JCF.

My test uses statements not unlike "I am unique," but they are more detailed in order to define more exactness out of detail. "I am unique" is too general, as is "I had strange hobbies as a child."

I agree, that E+N+T+P does not necessary mean ENTP. The importance of the functions is in their order. Ne+Ti does not have to mean ENTP, because what is important, is where the Ne and Ti stands according to their significiant in one's personality. I also told, that "I am uniqe," and "I had wierd hobbies" can mean any Fi user, any introvert, or any intuitive type and does not point out at any type, but rather are the signs of enneagram 4 though I agree it might be a bit superficial and more info would have to be included.

 

[Mal12345]

I agree, that E+N+T+P does not necessary mean ENTP. The importance of the functions is in their order. Ne+Ti does not have to mean ENTP, because what is important, is where the Ne and Ti stands according to their significiant in one's personality. I also told, that "I am uniqe," and "I had wierd hobbies" can mean any Fi user, any introvert, or any intuitive type and does not point out at any type, but rather are the signs of enneagram 4 though I agree it might be a bit superficial and more info would have to be included.

On the other hand, the MBTI doesn't have to dig any deeper. It just needs more detail. For example, you could use "I had weird hobbies because I am unique and intuitive."

 

[Mal12345]

I want to help people who are confused about their types, and at the same time, dispel as many false notions as I can about MBTI and JCF.

These two goals are synonymous, because the false notions are the source of the confusion.

The MBTI and JCF are designed to give out one type per person. But that contradicts the complexity of human nature. JCF is slightly better at pointing to complexity, however it also uses some rigid formulas (to find tertiaries and the like) that don't necessarily correspond with reality.

I say to hell with formulas.

 

[Forever]

You sound like a Limbic INFJ to me.

"Limbic" refers to the Big Five temperament dimension that isn't included in the Myers-Briggs typology and is often referred to as "neuroticism" (although it isn't a psychological disorder). The Big Five/SLOAN typology labels it Emotional Stability and refers to the two poles as Calm and Limbic. Being Limbic on that dimension tends to be associated with, among other things, anxiety/worry-proneness; emotional sensitivity/volatility; proneness to annoyance/irritation; self-consciousness; and (sometimes) depression. I'm Limbic, and it makes me less of a cucumber than some of my fellow INTJs.

I'd be curious to see your results on the official "Step I" MBTI, which you can take here.

And, if you're interested, the Big Five test I generally point people to is this similarminds Big Five/SLOAN test, which will (purport to) type you on the Emotional Stability dimension (in addition to the four Big Five dimensions with substantial MBTI correlations). And I've put some more information about the Big Five and that similarminds test in the spoiler.

Here's a table that shows which Big Five dimension essentially corresponds to which MBTI dimension:

SLOAN dimension	SLOAN poles	corresponding MBTI poles
Extroversion	Reserved vs. Social	I vs. E
Emotional Stability	Calm vs. Limbic	n/a
Orderliness	Organized vs. Unstructured	J vs. P
Accommodation	Egocentric vs. Accommodating	T vs. F
Inquisitiveness	Inquisitive vs. Non-Curious	N vs. S

I kind of like the linked Big Five test both because I think it does an OK typing job and also because, unlike the official MBTI and many of the online type tests, it's not "forced choice." It gives you five choices for each question — an "in the middle" choice as well as mild or strong in each direction. For that reason, it's reasonable to expect the SLOAN percentage scores to have something to say about the strength of your preferences. With a forced choice test, that's not really true. Somebody with, say, a mild S preference could easily take a forced choice test and, assuming they knew themselves well and interpreted the questions properly, end up choosing the S response for almost all (or all) of the questions, with the result being a very high S score. (That said, I think scores that are close to the middle on forced choice tests tend to be some indication that your preference on that dimension — in whichever direction — is probably on the mild side.)

BUT NOTE: Although I kind of like the similarminds SLOAN test, I don't think much of the corresponding personality type descriptions at the similarminds site, for a number of reasons, one of which is: Most MBTI sources reflect the perspective that it isn't better to have one preference rather than its opposite on any of the four MBTI dimensions. The descriptions at the similarminds site, on the other hand — somewhat consistent with Big Five sources generally — definitely favor Accommodating over Egocentric (F over T) and Organized over Unstructured (J over P). And if you're Limbic (even mildly), that earns you a negative-adjective bonanza. So I recommend using the similarminds test as a sort of double-check/quantifier for the MBTI dimensions, but I think the personality descriptions in a typical MBTI source are better.

INFJ
INFJ: Seek meaning and connection in ideas, relationships, and material possessions. Want to understand what motivates people and are insightful about others. Conscientious and committed to their firm values. Develop a clear vision about how best to serve the common good. Organized and decisive in implementing their vision.
Dominant function: Introverted Intuition.
Auxiliary function: Extraverted Feeling.


Extraversion
People who prefer Extraversion tend to focus on the outer world of people and things. E 5 15 I Intraversion
People who prefer Intraversion tend to focus on the inner world of ideas and impressions.

Sensing
People who prefer Sensing tend to focus on the present and on concrete information gained from the senses. S 5 21 N Intuition
People who prefer Intuition tend to focus on the future, with a view toward patterns and possibilities.

Thinking
People who prefer Thinking tend to base their decitions primarilly on logic and on objective analysis of cause and effect. T 6 18 F Feeling
People who prefer Feeling tend to base their decisions primarilly on values and on subjective evaluation of person-centered concerns.

Judging
People who prefer Judging tend to like a planned and organized approach to life and prefer to have things settled. J 12 10 P Perceiving
People who prefer Perceiving tend to like a flexible and spontaneous approach to life and prefer to keep their options open.




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------




Preference clarity


I
moderate

N
clear

F
moderate

J
slight

 

[reckful]

INFJ
E 5 15 I
S 5 21 N
T 6 18 F
J 12 10 P

No surprise on the I and N, right?

And I've often noted that I think it's not uncommon for INFs to test as INTs, at least partly because many of the F choices on typical MBTI tests (including the official test) are choices that are more likely to appeal to SFs and EFs than INFs. So I'd say your 18-to-6 F score is a very solid F indicator, which is also consistent with your OP.

On J/P you pretty much just split the vote — also consistent with what you said in the OP about your past J/P scores.

If you're interested in quite a lot of input from me on J/P, you'll find it in the spoiler in this post.

And in case they're of any use to you, I've put roundups of some online INFJ and INFP profiles in the spoiler below.

One possible way you could give prospective type-me contributors more information to go on is to read through some of those profiles and post about anything in them that provokes a notably strong "that's me" or "that's not me" reaction.

As a final note, Jung himself said he thought more people were essentially in the middle on E/I than were significantly extraverted or introverted, and Myers allowed for the possibility of middleness on all four MBTI dimensions. I've been participating in type-me threads at INTJforum for four years, and the most common type-me dilemma over there (by a substantial margin) is "Am I INTJ or INTP?" It's probably also worth noting that quite a few of those INTJforum type ponderers end up labelling themselves "INTx" and, in case you've heard that it's impossible to be an INTx (or INFx) because crossing the J/P borderline flips all your functions, you may want to read this PerC post.

INFJ Profiles
MBTI Manual (2nd Ed.)
MBTI Manual (3rd Ed.)
Keirsey (Please Understand Me)
Kroeger & Thuesen (Type Talk)
Hirsh & Kummerow (Lifetypes [abridged])
Berens & Nardi
personalitypage: Portrait
personalitypage: Personal Growth
personalitypage: Relationships
personalitypage: Careers

INFP Profiles
MBTI Manual (2nd Ed.)
MBTI Manual (3rd Ed.)
Keirsey (Please Understand Me)
Kroeger & Thuesen (Type Talk)
Hirsh & Kummerow (Lifetypes [abridged])
Berens & Nardi
personalitypage: Portrait
personalitypage: Personal Growth
personalitypage: Relationships
personalitypage: Careers

 

[Forever]

No surprise on the I and N, right?

And I've often noted that I think it's not uncommon for INFs to test as INTs, at least partly because many of the F choices on typical MBTI tests (including the official test) are choices that are more likely to appeal to SFs and EFs than INFs. So I'd say your 18-to-6 F score is a very solid F indicator, which is also consistent with your OP.

On J/P you pretty much just split the vote — also consistent with what you said in the OP about your past J/P scores.

If you're interested in quite a lot of input from me on J/P, you'll find it in the spoiler in this post.

And in case they're of any use to you, I've put roundups of some online INFJ and INFP profiles in the spoiler below.

One possible way you could give prospective type-me contributors more information to go on is to read through some of those profiles and post about anything in them that provokes a notably strong "that's me" or "that's not me" reaction.

As a final note, Jung himself said he thought more people were essentially in the middle on E/I than were significantly extraverted or introverted, and Myers allowed for the possibility of middleness on all four MBTI dimensions. I've been participating in type-me threads at INTJforum for four years, and the most common type-me dilemma over there (by a substantial margin) is "Am I INTJ or INTP?" It's probably also worth noting that quite a few of those INTJforum type ponderers end up labelling themselves "INTx" and, in case you've heard that it's impossible to be an INTx (or INFx) because crossing the J/P borderline flips all your functions, you may want to read this PerC post.

INFJ Profiles
MBTI Manual (2nd Ed.)
MBTI Manual (3rd Ed.)
Keirsey (Please Understand Me)
Kroeger & Thuesen (Type Talk)
Hirsh & Kummerow (Lifetypes [abridged])
Berens & Nardi
personalitypage: Portrait
personalitypage: Personal Growth
personalitypage: Relationships
personalitypage: Careers

INFP Profiles
MBTI Manual (2nd Ed.)
MBTI Manual (3rd Ed.)
Keirsey (Please Understand Me)
Kroeger & Thuesen (Type Talk)
Hirsh & Kummerow (Lifetypes [abridged])
Berens & Nardi
personalitypage: Portrait
personalitypage: Personal Growth
personalitypage: Relationships
personalitypage: Careers

I've checked some out and I am still a little confused, but I'm going to put more type into it. Both are true, I did find, (maybe not on those sites) than a 4 INFJ looks a lot like an INFP. Interesting.

Big Five Test Results

Extroversion |||||||||||| 44%
Orderliness |||||||||||| 50%
Emotional Stability |||||||||| 34%
Accommodation |||||||||||||||| 64%
Inquisitiveness |||||||||||||||| 66%

The Big Five is currently the most accepted personality model in the scientific community. The Big Five emerged from the work of multiple independent scientists/researchers starting in the 1950s who using different techniques obtained similar results. Those results were that there are five distinct personality traits/dimensions. Here are your results on each dimension:

Extroversion results were moderately low which suggests you are reclusive, quiet, unassertive, and private.

Orderliness results were medium which suggests you are moderately organized, structured, and self controlled while still remaining flexible, varied, and fun.

Emotional Stability results were moderately low which suggests you are worrying, insecure, emotional, and anxious.

Accommodation results were moderately high which suggests you are, at times, overly kind natured, trusting, and helpful at the expense of your own individual development (martyr complex).

Inquisitiveness results were moderately high which suggests you are intellectual, curious, imaginative but possibly not very practical.

 

[Forever]

http://www.the16types.info/vbulletin/content.php/316-MBTI-Differences-between-INFPs-and-INFJs

Out of this website, I am going to tell what the things that stuck out to me (I guess in my favor):

'Just knowing' things without being able to explain why - via feelings, impressions, hunches, ESP, and even forms of psychic phenomena - can often be the product of being so constantly attuned to the subconscious mind, where information is gathered and processed 'behind the back of' the conscious mind. Therefore this 'just knowing' is not as mysterious as it seems; the Ni user simply finds it inexplicable that they know or understand something without having ever been aware of gathering the information anywhere or thinking it through (they were not aware of it since all the associated mental processing went on subconsciously).

(For instance, Ni might look at a face and not remember the color of the eyes but would be very aware of the emotion expressed in that face...that is, the meaning behind the sensory surface

Fe looks outside itself for feeling indications in other people and makes decisions based on that.

An Fe user is attuned to feelings in the external environment and is programmed to maintain comfortable feelings in that environment. Any nonverbally-sensitive individual can sense vibes from other people, but not necessarily to the empathic degree that Fe users feel them, and not always with the response to those feelings that Fe naturally generates. If you're an Fe user, "vibes" of the feelings experienced by those physically adjacent to you invade and infiltrate you, so you are very aware of them...sometimes to a degree of vicariously experiencing the same sort of feeling ~ such as emotional pain or tension from conflict. (Depending on your enneatype, you may not be able to detach yourself from ambient feelings or separate/differentiate your own feelings from those of those around you.) The feelings of others around you evoke a reflexive response: like your leg naturally kicks out when the doctor strikes it with the reflex hammer, painful feelings in those around you strike pain in you and involuntarily invoke a response to relieve them (through taking whatever action will make the person/people feel better).

An Fe user may be partially focused on internal feelings, not due to default brain settings with which they were born (Jungian cognitive function Fi) but due to how their brain developed in response to their formative experiences (enneatype). Enneatype 4s are very attuned to their own emotions, and how things make them feel, such that they can make choices based on how they feel; and sometimes they can get so absorbed in what they are feeling that they are less aware of how they are affecting others around them, or of the emotional state of others; and this can interfere with Fe's expression in an INFJ, resulting in confusion. Enneatype 4 INFJs have a tendency to have difficulty expressing their complicated internal emotions however, and may need to discuss their convoluted feelings with a trusted friend in order to sort them out, whereas Fi users are innately more self-aware in this aspect. And it is important to note the difference between Fi and enneatype 4 individualism and feeling-based decision-making ~ unlike enneatype 4, Fi feelings by which they evaluate or make decisions are ethical in nature - it either feels right or it feels wrong - and authenticity to self is chosen because it "feels right."

I go against my "feelings" a lot, so that doesn't determine my Fi.

Booyah:
INFJ: "I can sympathize with where you're coming from--allow me to emphasize some sort of cultural bond or familial connection that relates us in an objectively observable way and suggests that we have some degree of responsibility toward each other. Only through committed responsibility to these objective relationships can we form the social hierarchy by which we will decide--together through collective experience--what constitutes moral and ethical behavior within the communal bonds of our lives together. Morality is simply too important to be decided by any individual without any input from the consensus of the people he trusts, loves and respects."

One INFJ friend describes inferior Se thusly: "Man, when I was a kid, I always hated and resented jocks for their superficial outlook...but some part of me still thought, 'But oh man, aren't they SO COOL?'" That same friend, I have noticed, has learned the hard way to remove himself forcibly from conflicts before he gets truly upset--because he knows how brutally aggressive and insensitive he can become if he is pushed to the breaking point.

Se represents the raw, animalistic, aggressive, spontaneous hunger for the reality of pure, literal sensory input which Ni dominants take so much care to lock away and hide from others as much as they can. As a tertiary function for ENJs, Se has a much more helpful use, because it's under their control enough that they can use it to show others they care about appearances and trends (for Te- or Fe-oriented business goals), and, if necessary, to subtly imply threats of brute force if the adversary cannot muster up the discipline to respect the ENJ's polite requests for obedience.

But as an inferior function, few INJs learn to command Se to a degree that it becomes a substantial part of their regular healthy cognition. Its literal focus on precisely what is immediately obvious is something many INJs spend their entire lives working hard to eliminate in themselves, insistent that such shallow focus is beneath the sophistication of their constant work to see all the less obvious, hidden interpretations where Ni feels at home. But Se is still there...lurking under the surface, waiting to boil over. You don't want to be around an INFJ when it does.

Ideally, inferior Se should eventually help the INFJ to stop looking for deeper meaning in places where it's neither intended nor useful, to appreciate the more immediate value in that which is tangible and real to others (even though she herself may see it as trivially insubstantial), and to maintain a degree of spontaneity in terms of ability to pay attention to and imitate what others around her see as current and worthy of attention. Sometimes this is the only way the INFJ can get anyone to pay enough attention to what he's saying to make any real noticeable impact or difference in the world--and that's something most INFJs struggle their whole lives to feel like they are doing.

INFJ will express feelings, explore group values, other people's feelings and so forth.
NFPs, on the other hand, have an identical attitude towards Si. As such, they will often keep memorabilia such as diaries, scrap-books, photographs, and such so they can feel the past over and over again, and often seek out Si-dominants who have a similar tendency to store their experiences into objects.

[Note: INFJs also keep reusing old things for long periods of time, but often because they are afraid of unfamiliarity, not because they see the past as something that needs to be preserved.]

INFJ (Ni-dom)

INFJs are dominant Introverted Intuitives. Introverted Intuition is the least common dominant or auxiliary function so it is difficult for many people to imagine what the experience is like. As an INFJ myself, I can only give you my subjective experience of Ni and the anecdotes I have experienced. In the INFJ, Ni is complemented by Fe to create an uncommon depth of feeling and compassion so it is difficult to compartmentalize the experience into feeling and thought. They are the most intuitive type because they have an unfiltered access to unconscious content. Unlike INTJs, who share the same dominant function, the intuition of the INFJ does not need external validation which makes it appear out of nowhere and gives them a “psychic” or “mystical” appearance.

Process

Ni searches for depth, meaning and significance in the world. It can be thought of an elastic web of insights that is constantly being refined and expanded. The goal of the function is to filter out biases and refine perception to arrive at the “one truth”. Monism, the notion that there is one truth is at the core of Ni. For this reason, it may be mistaken for Ti, especially in INTJs and INFJs with under-developed Fe. However, Ti can be conceptualized like a solid grid of principles and rules that serve as a filter function to determine if the provided data is true/valid or false/invalid. The difference here lies in the fact that Ti works similar to a mathematical function, an input is given, Ti processes the logic and returns an output. Ni, on the other hand works similar to a fine tuning radio or a camera lens that is constantly readjusted to get the right data. When it is not active in the external world, it enriches the INFJs internal world with imagination, philosophical insight, fantasy, poetic ideas and a never-ending curiosity about why things are the way they are.

Ni-Fe

Ni-Fe makes INFJs natural psychologists because it helps them model how minds work. They are not naturally introspective about their feelings but have a great deal of insight into their minds and thought processes. The psyche’s ego-defense mechanisms and self-deception are weakened by the constant filtering of Ni, therefore they can be highly sensitive and are known to have fragile egos. This obsession with truth results in the INFJ being seen as naive and innocently honest about their own motives and that of others. The auxiliary Fe absorbs the emotions and mood of the social environment. It is extremely good at interpreting facial expressions to quickly spot out insincerity or malevolent intent in other people. It also results in a natural desire to like people and be liked by them, which provides Ni with an intersting topic to study (humans). The default orientation of feeling is extroverted so INFJs constantly look for the perfectly trustworthy person to whom they can share their internal world or true selves. Feeling is usually expressed when it is experienced, otherwise it is translated into action or rationalized by Ti. As Fe users, they tend to process their feelings through self-disclosure or direct action, so they are not prone to passive aggressive behavior or emotional suppression. The INFJ does not have constant awareness of their internal feelings and reactions, so the stress they experience daily may accumulate and manifest in a somatic form in sickness or a physical feeling of malaise. This lack of awareness in mood can be seen in their facial expressions, as they do not try to (or are not good at) displaying facades. Other people may get the wrong impression that an INFJ is feeling sad or gloomy when the person actually feels neutral because the INFJ is focused in his/her internal world. Fe also provides the INFJ with a “higher purpose” to strive towards, this is usually something external such as a political/social movement, liberating the oppressed, feeding the poor. Their concern for others makes them great social leaders and humanitarians.

I'm pretty sure I am an INFJ.