[MBTI General] TYPE CHANGE? Is it possible

[EnnisPreit]

Can a dramatic experience or the repetitive intention of change cause major alterations in your type?

Any experiences?

 

[Red Memories]

A traumatic event is speculated to be able to cause a change in type, as well as mental illness altering what your type may be. (i.e. someone with social anxiety seen as a introvert though they may have been an extrovert)

 

[Norexan]

In very hard stress situations your inferior function become your dom function. So if you are ENTJ you will become ISFP. I always said that when you are destroy ENTJ he/she become one little kittie. "I am not do that" , "I am worthy.." Fi dom as hell.

 

[EnnisPreit]

In very hard stress situations your inferior function become your dom function. So if you are ENTJ you will become ISFP. I always said that when you are destroy ENTJ he/she become one little kittie. "I am not do that" , "I am worthy.." Fi dom as hell.

I believe that every person is using both sets of 4 functions for a total of 8.

ENTJ (Te Ni Se Fi) & INTP (Ti Ne Si Fe)

Thinking - Intuition - Sensing - Feeling

The same way we have a left and right side we have a left and right personality.

 

[Norexan]

Only INFJ can you use both side of brain equally.

 

[EnnisPreit]

Only INFJ can you use both side of brain equally.

I use both sides of my brain equally.

It certainly hasn't made my life easy.

 

[adventureawaits]

I wonder if it's less that your type changes and more that you grow into your true self. Or even accept who you are fully without situational/environmental/cultural bias.

For example, my Dad is an INTJ & my mom is an ESTP. For my Dad, we have a lot of interests in common, but he strongly views emotions as a negative. To the point where he does not take emotional arguments seriously and as a child, I would end up in trouble when I acted overly emotional. He also strongly disagreed with my "nomad" tendencies and we were actually estranged during a time in my life when I was bouncing all over the world. My mom, on the other hand, lived vicariously through my nomadic lifestyle, but could never do it herself because of intense cultural restraints put upon her. She also viewed Fi fueled arguments as unnecessary or "rocking the boat" because she is immersed in a culture that is centered around doing what you *should* do, not what you feel is right. Looking back, I've always been me and was probably a textbook ENFP, but the qualities that made me who I am were highly discouraged throughout my childhood and early adulthood. Now that I no longer live at home, I'm a lot more comfortable being my true, authentic self.

I mention both of these examples because I first took the MBTI, I tested as INTP and then ENTP. I viewed emotions so negatively due to my upbringing that I couldn't admit to myself that they were driving so many of my decisions. The bias I inherited from my mom's culture of "doing what is best for the family" and acting in accordance to cultural social rules (and looking down upon individualism) definitely framed the false Fe vs my natural Fi. It wasn't until I was in my late twenties, far away from home, that I ended up having to take the official MBTI for a class and tested ENFP. Even then, it was really tough to fully accept that I'm actually using Fi strongly!

 

[Zeego]

I've always held that type is fluid, just like many other aspects of the self. I often see people claiming that type can't change based on "official" MBTI statements instead of using their own reasoning.

 

[Lead Guitar Wankery]

I've always held that type is fluid, just like many other aspects of the self. I often see people claiming that type can't change based on "official" MBTI statements instead of using their own reasoning.

Well why would people use their own reasoning to make conclusions about and inconsistent with someone else's system of typology? If their conclusions lead them to something that they view as outside of or inconsistent with the theory...then they aren't dealing with the theory anymore, so why not make up their own theory rather than twisting someone else's theory?

What do you mean by putting the word official in quotation marks?

 

[Zeego]

Well why would people use their own reasoning to make conclusions about and inconsistent with someone else's system of typology? If their conclusions lead them to something that they view as outside of or inconsistent with the theory...then they aren't dealing with the theory anymore, so why not make up their own theory rather than twisting someone else's theory?

In this case, it's not twisting someone else's theory so much as an alternate interpretation of Jung. If someone has their own reasons to believe that type can't change, I'm fine with that. In fact, one of the things I like so much about the typology community is that everyone has their own personal interpretations, almost like different branches of a religion. What I don't like is when someone says "so-and-so said this, so it must be the one true theory" and then everyone is expected to conform to that. And I'd argue that relying on the reasoning of others instead of using your own reasoning leads to groupthink.

What do you mean by putting the word official in quotation marks?

I put it in quotation marks because in a field as abstract as personality typology, "officiality" is really relative. In fact, I'd argue that the only true authority is Jung himself for inventing the framework that everyone else is using. But beyond that, a Russian Socionist wouldn't consider Isabel Briggs-Myers to be an official authority, for example.

 

[Lead Guitar Wankery]

I put it in quotation marks because in a field as abstract as personality typology, "officiality" is really relative. In fact, I'd argue that the only true authority is Jung himself for inventing the framework that everyone else is using. But beyond that, a Russian Socionist wouldn't consider Isabel Briggs-Myers to be an official authority, for example.

I see. I thought you were talking about Myers-Briggs theory in particular, not typology in general.

 

[entropie]

type change is absolutely possible. When I was 18 I always said, I'ld rather bite my penis off before I do blondes, but with age comes dispair....

 

[Norexan]

I don't think type can change. Very hard stress in life can cause mutilation of your type but it does not mean that your type is real changed.
For example if you are INTJ Ni-Te-Fi-Se with stress you become Se-Fi-Te-Ni. How does it work? Like a III Newton Law.

 

[Polaris]

A person's type definitely can change. It will change a little all the time under normal circumstances, due to fluctuations of mood and alterations of environment. Such changes are quite enough to nudge a borderliner over the division between a pair of types. And, I would strongly argue, such changes are also enough to bring about a change of type for someone very distinctly a type. When Feelers are designing computer programs they are probably doing more Thinking than Feeling, for example.

 

[TopKek]

I found out about mbti about 3-4 years ago so I was like let's do it, cuz why the fuck not. I got typed INFP-T the first time, and a year after a took the test several other times and got typed the same, but I also got infj, intp, isfp... 4 different types, really? So I called it bullshit and was done with it. But now I took the test several times again and got ENTP-A on every single one of the attempts. But for this to happen I went trough a looot of shit in life that led me to a very early mental and emotional maturing and that shit changed me from my core. So yeah, it is possible.

 

[Zeego]

I don't think type can change. Very hard stress in life can cause mutilation of your type but it does not mean that your type is real changed.
For example if you are INTJ Ni-Te-Fi-Se with stress you become Se-Fi-Te-Ni. How does it work? Like a III Newton Law.

If this is the case then how are you still INTJ and not (temporarily) ESFP? And what about the theory that says INTJ acts like ENTP under stress?

 

[Peter Deadpan]

Some of you don't understand functions. Or yourselves.
Back to the drawing board for you.

 

[Norexan]

If this is the case then how are you still INTJ and not (temporarily) ESFP? And what about the theory that says INTJ acts like ENTP under stress?

Your inferior function which is in the case of INTJ Se who is like mouse correspond to elephant dom Se ESFP (both its power and ability) will become lead function and funny stupid things naturally comes out.

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For example INTP ISTP dom Ti - perfect analyzer , percpetion how things work 100% -> master subjective thinking
and ESFJ ENFJ inf Ti - drama queen who claim he/she is always right and don't understand the world. -> low subjective thinking

Now imagine what would happens when inf Ti become leading function.

Everyone does stupid things no meter what type is.

 

[Edgar]

I've always held that type is fluid, just like many other aspects of the self. I often see people claiming that type can't change based on "official" MBTI statements instead of using their own reasoning.

If type is fluid then it's no different than a mood ring.
I don't know why anybody would bother studying MBTI if they believed that.

 

[VILLANELLE]

So many people say IT'S IMPOSSIBLE! but I believe that to be false. Your type can change. You can be typed immediately and over the years, you realize you've changed. You grow and change over the years in tastes and whatnot, and that's the same for your functions. Sometimes some of them are under-developed and it takes a long time for them to become developed, like when you're a teen and then you're an adult... there's change there.

Also, some extreme situations can cause people to change, as well. Not sure what that has to do with type, but with functions, some inferior functions can come to light or loop/un-loop.