Am I an INFJ because..... | INFJ Forum

Am I an INFJ because.....

Barnabas

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Oct 7, 2009
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Am I an INFJ because of my enviroment?

In my youth, early youth that is. I remember distinctly being an Extrovert as for my other functions i'm not entirely sure let's just guess some where around an ENFP. However by time I reached the 6th grade I was almost entirley an Introvert so let's say a INFP. By time I was done with my first year of high school I was most definetly a Judging type.

My thoughts on this could only lead me to believe that my type is a reflection of my past.

when in my early childhood I was constantly around people who were friendly and open or atleast people who didn't want to be mean to children and friends. So I was very open, my mother told me stories of me just walking up and starting conversations with random people or striking up friendships out of knowhere.

This however ended when I entered into my 5th or 6th year of shool. I was heavely taughnted and bullied almost exculisvely verbaly. And so I started to sit alone at lunch and only by people I was friends with in class.

Up untill my beginning year in high school I was very much a Percieveing type, I mostly did things at random or just when the idea poped into my head. However I joined a NJROTC program in highschool and as a part of that program I became a bit more organised and began to find the structure and order of the classes very enjoyable.

So as it stands I find myself a INFJ. The questions is, are we born or made?

would love to hear about simaler experiences or about how completley alone I am, thanks in advance.
 
You're definitely not alone. : )
 
Well, I have always switched between J/P during my entire life, at times my ideas would be to random/disorganized and I would act more impulsiely, now that I have reached a level where I have to assume more responsability I am more of a J type as I have tried to organize my life and my thoughts and follow a more safe,systematic approach. My introversion has always been since I was little, I have always been the ''oucast'', and I'm pretty sure I have been an intuitive and feeler so my only real change due to environmental conditions are my J/P. But then again I have always felt like an INFJ at heart, even before knowing about this theory, I did a lot of things that would be considered very INFJ and when I looked at the description after taking the assestment I was marveled at how accurate it was and that this has been me all along so in a sense my type has remain constant. I have changes in T/F often as well but this seem to be a lot more momentary, and not long term changes, this depending on how am I supposed to react to a certain situation in which sometimes I would trust logic.
 
Am I an INFJ because of my enviroment?

In my youth, early youth that is. I remember distinctly being an Extrovert as for my other functions i'm not entirely sure let's just guess some where around an ENFP. However by time I reached the 6th grade I was almost entirley an Introvert so let's say a INFP. By time I was done with my first year of high school I was most definetly a Judging type.

My thoughts on this could only lead me to believe that my type is a reflection of my past.

when in my early childhood I was constantly around people who were friendly and open or atleast people who didn't want to be mean to children and friends. So I was very open, my mother told me stories of me just walking up and starting conversations with random people or striking up friendships out of knowhere.

This however ended when I entered into my 5th or 6th year of shool. I was heavely taughnted and bullied almost exculisvely verbaly. And so I started to sit alone at lunch and only by people I was friends with in class.

Up untill my beginning year in high school I was very much a Percieveing type, I mostly did things at random or just when the idea poped into my head. However I joined a NJROTC program in highschool and as a part of that program I became a bit more organised and began to find the structure and order of the classes very enjoyable.

So as it stands I find myself a INFJ. The questions is, are we born or made?

would love to hear about simaler experiences or about how completley alone I am, thanks in advance.


Are we born or made? Both I would say. I mean that we are reacting to environment. With "we are reacting" I mean that the same action or word from the same person is taken differently by two different people.
And putting my words to a context of MBTI types, I should say, that all people have possibility to improve all the senses (I, E, N, S, F, T, J, P). But I think those types shows how you are processing information in you. In my opinion when we born we are someone already, just environment helps to improve or smother one or other function.
 
The million dollar question.

Nature vs Nurture.
 
Probably both.

I can see children who's born INFJ from the beginning, but my own case ain't seem to be that way;

Born as an E, then suffered some bullying and turned I, then in highschool my N began to develop, and recently just decided to improve my J more.
 
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I am very much a nature over nurture person (although both indeed are factors). I believe that I was born as an INFJ. The thing is, in childhood, MBTI is very bad at describing a child. How one appears to act when they are young is not going to corralate (with respect to type) when they become older. At first glance I would appear as a very extroverted child. I would run up to anyone and start talking to them. My way of making friends would be me walking up to someone and saying "hi! will you be my friend?". I would be hurt if the person said no. I mostly appeared as an ENFJ as a kid, maybe ENFP at times. I however, was always an INFJ. The easiest way to tell was that even though I was very social, I also wanted to do my own thing. I was extremely independent, and did not need people. I was content playing imagination games when I was little. I of course wanted to share with with others. I vs. E is actually quite hard to tell in children. The classic methods of gauging how active and verbal a kid is is not accurate at all. It is how someone responds to this interaction, and how the feel with or without a lot of social activity.