One Letter Off
Alright, this should appease those looking for 'meatier' MBTI topics. Though honestly, I don't have enough depth into psych. typing to add much into explanations myself. I just found this exercise interesting and personally helpful.
I was just thinking about my 'sibling' types of MBTI, the types that are 1 letter off from ENFP. And how odd it is that I don't really identify with some types and can feel kinship with others. That 1 letter is deceiving!
So if folks are interested, here is a place to type your feelings and in particular your relatibility to the other types that are 1 letter off from yours. You can add all sorts of function and psychology insights as explanations or just post your personal feelings and observations.
First up -- me! ENFP
INFP-- It puzzled me that this type on paper looks so similar to me and yet I don't really 'get' them. I don't really know an INFP IRL so that attributes to it. Then I read up and I realized that function wise, we're quite different! Their dominant (Fi) is my tertiary and my dominant (Ne) is their inferior. Very different animals despite the similar letters. And the introversion/extraversion makes such a huge difference. INFPs to me seem very calm, and I don't think I'm a calm person myself. INFPs also seem even more... timid and dreamier? Extroversion can make ENFP aggressive in our enthusiasm or ideals, but I really get the impression INFP is almost as far away from aggressive that you can get. Though I have heard that inside every INFP is a refomer/champion. When I think of INFP I think of the classical archetype of the romantic poet or counselor. I think INFP has more kinship with INTP in a way or at least in the way they come off to the world, though I think INFP has a softer energy and more social. And personally, the thorn in my side is kinda I already feel 'too nice' and the idea of being
even nicer, more sensitive,
and moodier is not appealing to me, no offense my INFP siblings. So perhaps we are more alike than I thought.
ENTP- I feel more affinity and personal kinship with ENTP. We share Ne and our secondary and tertiary are switched. Which is kinda funny considering that ENTPs are supposed to be the extroverted thinkers and yet their secondary is INTROVERTED thinking (Ti) and to top it off have extroverted feeling as tertiary (Fe). Whereas ENFP is supposed to be the extroverted touchy feely cheerleader and we have secondary EXTRAVERTED Te (which for me, gives me a propensity for debate) and our tertiary is feeling which is actuall introverted to boot (Fi) which gives me a propensity not to be as externally warm and fuzzy as I actually feel. The functions between ENFP and ENTP seem only partially complementary to me so I think this makes sense that ENFP and ENTP can look similar on the surface but can either end up butting heads or having great chemistry...or having great chemistry and still butting heads.
ENFJ - I personally admire ENFJs because they are like ENFPs who can actually get the job done and inspire respect from people by putting their foot down and calling people out. And are totally smooth about the whole thing. I think I knew an ENFJ IRL and we met in line during a lecture and hit it off and on the surface get along really well because we're both social, friendly, and aware of social dynamics and manners. He's a warm, well-liked guy but he will literally elbow you in the face if you cross him (this is in the context of a sports match). I actually admire that ability to switch gears and stand up for yourselves with no qualms.
Decisive. Less likely to ge taken advantage of than an ENFP? I can totally see why ENFJ could excel in retail mgmt, when I read Lookin4TheBestInU's blog about her new career it made sense.
ESFP - I think I know one ESFP in real life and it's like on the surface we seem similar but there's something there that's not clicking. I think I am beginning to understand better the differences between SF and NF through conversations with her. But I'm not sure. Plus, there are no ESFPs on the forum that I know of, so this type of the four sibling types is most an enigma.
So that's it! I thought this was a fun and helpful exercise, maybe you will too. Or maybe you've already done so much thinking about functions and theory that you'll go

Either way, I look forward to reading responses.
