Calling all INFJ composers and artists. Have you at some point tested INFP?

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This is purely a brainfart of some kind, but bear with me... I was mopping the floor thinking about women's haircolours and how they carry semantic meanings. One of my favorite musicians Tori Amos used different coloured wigs on her America Doll Posse record portraying modern female archetypes. At the same time I was reminded of a post about INTPs I read where someone mentioned that the first two functions of INFJs are perceptive functions and only the third Ti is judging and that this function doesn't develop before 20s-30s...:m083:
I thought how what a relief it is to do art: You can study things but you don't have to defend your decisions and conclusions rationally, most of the time anyway.
It occurred to me that when I write songs I can express several ideas which fit together intuitively, without having to make intellectual explanations for their connections . I've tested as INFP and INFJ and had to go through the task of figuring out what the functions were to find the right fit. I would define myself more "perceivery" than most INFJs, BUT I wonder if habitually using the two perceiving functions for work and maybe reserving Ti for recreational reading or the rare time you discuss your work critically might make an INFJ a little Pish????:m096:

So if you're an artist/composer/etc.. and work in a way you don't have to Ti much habitually my question is, have you tested INFP or felt very Pish????
Or do you not do the above?
Please share :m161:
 
Thanks! :) So we can safely conclude no is the answer. My Pishness is just my own. ;D I've tested INFJ, INFP and INTJ. My P and J scores are very close as are my F and T. Luckily in the latter there aren't any A and R between them. ;D
 
I can't say I'm a professional composer or artist, but I do enjoy making a bit of music/sketching (as a hobby); I usually test INFJ or INFP.
 
Now I'm wondering if infpishess some infjs recognize in themselves (There should really be a thread about what that actually is. I haven't really analyzed what it is that makes me feel Pish. It's just a ---???) would be because they use Se more.
I've developed my Se because of necessity for years now also. Maybe that's it.... I've worked with very S type people with Te, who wanted me to involve them in my processes (which is hard because there isn't one other than me washing my hair and getting an almost ready idea in my mind...I guess they could come sit in my bathroom...) and do things in the now as the moments unfolding right there and also to narrate my processes when they are happening. That and leaving room for adjustment and experimentation in the final stages.
Now I didn't know I was an INFJ working in this environment and was wondering why I found these things difficult. Others seemed very happy working in said ways. I think posting a "Do you think" type of a thread with an open, non thought out type of a question would be one of the things I've had to challenge myself to do. I wonder if that's why I have a Pish flavour. Te types tend to think the processes out loud.

I'm also not wondering so much why I had a stress reaction to the work processes. ;)
 
I am an artist, professionally, and across several fields (design, painting, photography). I used to always test INFP, and always thought it was a pretty fair description. The reason I tested that way, though was because I would see questions on the tests like, "Are you always on time?" and I would think, "Yeah, but it's just because my mom drilled into be that being late is the end of the world." Or "do you make checklists?" to which I would respond, "Yeah, but I don't usually use them." One day I answered the questions more honestly, got INFJ, read though corresponding INFJ description, and thought "Oooh. There I am."
 
[MENTION=5244]Olive[/MENTION] :) Yeah that's how I am too. I've graduated from making checklists to whole entire life management boards, that I do and then ignore... ;D
 
I am an INF artist, but I couldn't tell if I was J or P. I just took the test. I tested J.
 
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My creativity comes and goes in really strong bursts. I think I did test INFP once when I took a test in one of those phases.
 
As an artist (graphite, painting), I have always tested INFJ (my S/T being quite developed.)

This is just observation, but like [MENTION=2890]Lerxst[/MENTION] pointed out, my creativity comes and goes in strong bursts as well and I wonder if this is attributed to the "J" in us, b/c of the need to "end" the burst. If I was "P" I would see that my creativity would be like the painting that never ends. I can't deal with that.

As far as "J" in art, I used to do many commissioned portraits. This became exhausting for me b/c I always felt rushed to finish my portraits, creating an internal deadline (even though there was not a deadline.) I tired of it and thought I would much rather paint or draw at my own leisure. Well now I'm finding it hard to just pick up paint brush or pencil and draw out of thin air. I have to be inspired ... and there is that "strong burst" mentioned again.

Hope that makes sense, but I'm not sure if it's true or not. I've always been a very strong "J".
 
Sriracha said:
As an artist (graphite, painting), I have always tested INFJ (my S/T being quite developed.)

This is just observation, but like @Lerxst pointed out, my creativity comes and goes in strong bursts as well and I wonder if this is attributed to the "J" in us, b/c of the need to "end" the burst. If I was "P" I would see that my creativity would be like the painting that never ends. I can't deal with that.

As far as "J" in art, I used to do many commissioned portraits. This became exhausting for me b/c I always felt rushed to finish my portraits, creating an internal deadline (even though there was not a deadline.) I tired of it and thought I would much rather paint or draw at my own leisure. Well now I'm finding it hard to just pick up paint brush or pencil and draw out of thin air. I have to be inspired ... and there is that "strong burst" mentioned again.

Hope that makes sense, but I'm not sure if it's true or not. I've always been a very strong "J".
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I might be veering off topic a bit, but I can relate to that need to be inspired. I've done some of my most creative work when I've been given a strict guideline to follow... and then I bend the rules as much as possible. Getting that "WTF are you doing??" reaction out of some people is the inspiration I need to be creative a lot of times, just doing that out of thin air begins to feel more like insanity rather than creativity.
 
Lerxst said:
I might be veering off topic a bit, but I can relate to that need to be inspired. I've done some of my most creative work when I've been given a strict guideline to follow... and then I bend the rules as much as possible. Getting that "WTF are you doing??" reaction out of some people is the inspiration I need to be creative a lot of times, just doing that out of thin air begins to feel more like insanity rather than creativity.
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I like getting guidelines at times so I can creatively bend them and stretch them as far as they go. That kind of problem solving awakens my intuition. Usually I have these themes I'm into, read about and investigate. That's when my inner receiver starts getting transmissions too. I'm somewhere and a mental picture, lyric, visual or a whole song starts playing and I run to pen and paper or whatever's at hand. Later I find a connection to what I've been pondering at the time. I'm more taking down notes and crafting the form to my ability. Sometimes, and this I do more with painting which is my hobby, I start with something and let it flow ending up with something suprising.
Sriracha said:
As an artist (graphite, painting), I have always tested INFJ (my S/T being quite developed.)

This is just observation, but like [MENTION=2890]Lerxst[/MENTION] pointed out, my creativity comes and goes in strong bursts as well and I wonder if this is attributed to the "J" in us, b/c of the need to "end" the burst. If I was "P" I would see that my creativity would be like the painting that never ends. I can't deal with that.

As far as "J" in art, I used to do many commissioned portraits. This became exhausting for me b/c I always felt rushed to finish my portraits, creating an internal deadline (even though there was not a deadline.) I tired of it and thought I would much rather paint or draw at my own leisure. Well now I'm finding it hard to just pick up paint brush or pencil and draw out of thin air. I have to be inspired ... and there is that "strong burst" mentioned again.

Hope that makes sense, but I'm not sure if it's true or not. I've always been a very strong "J".
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Patti Smith was told by Gregory Corso “Poets don't finish poems, they abandon them” I thought that was pretty descriptive. But they do have to be "released into the wild" at some point. I totally agree. ;D
My creativity comes in bursts too and I have slight ISFP jealousy because the ones I know seem to be constantly busy working while I've got nothing. Then my creative burst comes and I'm ridiculously productive and fast hammering out things like some crazy creative factory. Then it's nothing again for a stretch. My methods seem terrible to some of my S colleagues and to myself at times. That's why I prefer to create alone. My ENFP husband is the same. He was on tour with me one time and was sitting backstage pre show. He asked for a pen and wrote an incredible song on the spot in something like 3 minutes. Then nothing for three months and one day he went to our rehearsal space to pick up a guitar I come in to find him with cymbals and things taped to himself singing a new song he'd written on the spot going "Quick quick!!! Do you have a pen???!!!" ;D I have tried to be more methodical though and have a lotted "work time".


o_q said:
Have I tasted INFP? o.o
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They are famously yummy with Wasabi mayo dip.
 
[MENTION=4982]Reverie[/MENTION]

I am very P-ish.
I am P.
God is P.

I've tested INFJ, INFP, and ISFP (on the "Google tests" as DaveSuperPowers calls them).

Yes, I like to produce art, but I produce "word art" more. I like to draw also random things that have meaning to me and may not necessarily want it to be displayed as "art". But sometimes I like making them just for an avatar.

Curiously I know an INTP who likes producing word-art as well, so this word-art thing could probably be categorized as P-ish. Then again, he's a good cartoonist, and I suck at cartoon drawings.

I don't like to schedule too many things, so that's why I feel P-ish. But then again, P isn't a function. It's just a description of all the right-brained functions (Ne, Fi, etc). (cf. Lenore Thompson).

I like to schedule time, but I don't like to schedule too many things, except hangout appointments with friends---usually when it's something like getting coffee to "talk". But when it's to hang out, I'm usually 10 or 20 minutes "late" or 5 minutes early. Is that J or P? Probably both.
 
Reverie said:
I like getting guidelines at times so I can creatively bend them and stretch them as far as they go. That kind of problem solving awakens my intuition.
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Yes, this. When I do creative projects of my own initiative, I like to set boundaries for myself. For example:

If I'm going to go on a walk to take photos, I like to take only a 50mm fixed lens. Or I make a rule that I'm only "allowed" to take 10 photos, etc.

Working on a painting, I like to pick just three colors of paint.

I also make jewelry, and I love working with unconventional materials or limiting my choices, etc.

I love finding the creative spaces within limits, and sort of "overcoming" challenges.
 
I've tested as an INFP many more times than I've tested as an INFJ, which is offensive in the sense that I'm so outrageously INFJ that it makes me testing as an INFP be an insult to internet MBTI tests. They must not work, that is all.

I'm also an amateur composer. In fact, your post reminded me that I started a new song today on the piano where I was working (when everyone else went out for lunch, natch..) I'll have to write it down before I forget it.

When I do cognitive functions tests I usually get results like: Ni (52%), Ne (48%), Fe (41%), Fi (40%), Se (25%), Ti (19%), Si (8%), Te (6%). Stuff like that, almost every single time. So, even though I'm VERY INFJ, I have some INFP-ish traits. Just like the way many INTJ's can often seem INTP-ish, I've noticed.
 
[MENTION=4624]MissionHouse[/MENTION] I've kind of understood that we INFJs are sort of the "blind spot" in the MBTI test (at least the internet ones). I had to also go sift through lots of material (and it's not like not like the material online has the greatest scientific credibility... ;D) The functions stack is key, but you really have to investigate to figure it out... not without personal discomfort, I might add... ;D ( Going through the gargantual sprawliness that is INFJorINFP.com springs to mind....though it is very nice to post all your observations online for free, so genuine kudos to the author, the low usability on that particular site was still like 2 hours of chinese water drop torture...)

I just don't identify with Fi dominance at all. My Mother-in-law is most likely INFP and she's so super sentimental compared to me, though there are similarities. My weaknesses are also probably telling because they are sensing related: walking into things when I'm preoccupied...falling off the stage when I estimate my corporeal dimensions wrong...not always seeing what's going on around me. For a completely unscientific observation I think I'm more airy whereas INFPs seem solid. I go by this...:bowl::D
 
[MENTION=4982]Reverie[/MENTION]: I wonder why INFJ's would have problems with internet MBTI tests? When I think of the INFP's I know, and I know about 3, maybe 4, the differences in how they go about things is massively different than how I do. How they relate to people in conversation couldn't be more different than how I do. I chalk that up to Fi and Fe. They're so different. I finally accepted that I'm an INFJ after watching graphic evidence re a video of myself interacting with others, and paying attention to how I act in a group setting at school. I was totally trying to "direct" the conversational flow in a particular way, and trying to get my group members to "see it my way". I caught myself! I didn't want to be an INFJ because my late mother was one, and we weren't getting along at all at the time and I wanted to be different from her.
 
[MENTION=4624]MissionHouse[/MENTION]
I think seeing yourself on video IS very revealing. ;D I'm much more animated, open, friendly and responsive than I think I am. Actually now you mention it directing conversation flow is something I'm often very guilty of...
There are certainly things I'm not happy in myself that seem to be somewhat more likely to manifest within the same MBTI type. I'm not sure of my mom's type. I used to think she was INFP but I think she may actually be an INFJ. I know she did the MBTI for an employment search and told me she got "artist and priest". As her child I always saw her as aloof, kind of cold except at arbitrary occasions, a perfectionist, critical, snobbish, morose, sad, escapist, pigheaded, unable to fend for herself or handle money and always being disappointed and hypercritical of her partners.... The situations I had to deal with as a child made me very resentful. That was how I reacted to them. I've come realize i've been overtly harsh on her but still I certainly don't like sharing any of her perceived faults. Yet I think there is an element of all these in me, unfortunately, to some extent. Some aspects I've worked with more successfully but I have had to work on them so they are there. I think being kinder to her now and forgiving her also helps me forgive myself in some way. In other ways she was a great mom, original, intelligent, inventive, fun, offbeat, trusting in my ability to handle things, caring, helpful and talented. If she wasn't my mom I would have probably loved her.:w:
 
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