Can you be between two personality types?

J

justeccentricnotinsane

Community Member
MBTI
INFJ
Having taken the myers-briggs test a few times I seem to come out an equal number INFJ as I do INFP. So I went back to a favourite site (very detailed) and read both descriptions. I recognise myself more in INFJ but there are a few things in INFP that describe me too. Some things in the INFP description seemed nothing like me at all. There was a hint towards not liking logic. But I do like logic. A lot. I definitely think with my head not my heart. And the INFP seemed a bit overly emotional to me. I'm not very emotional. Not outwardly anyway. My friends think I'm dead inside :-) And the INFP seemed to do things for other people all the time. I like to be as helpful as I can be but at the end of the day I'm more interested in improving myself than anything else.
What do I sound like to you?
Anyone else confused about what they are? Had a lot of different results on different tests?
 
No, you will have a type you just haven't found it yet. The test results can only give you an intitial guide and are not very reliable. The two types are actually quite different.

Do you feel more comfortable with :


  • Valuing and considering importance, beliefs, and worth
  • Interpreting situations and relationships and pickup meanings and interconnections to other contexts
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or


  • Foreseeing implications, transformations, and likely effects
  • Connecting and considering others and the group
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Like Stone said, nope, you'll be one or the other.

I find looking at the negative traits and cognitive processes of the two types can be most telling. When we look at the positives traits it can be hard to differentiate who you naturally are from who you aspire to be.

• May be unaware (and sometimes uncaring) of how they come across to others
• May quickly dismiss input from others without really considering it
• May apply their judgment more often towards others, rather than towards themselves
• With their ability to see an issue from many sides, they may always find others at fault for any problems in their lives
• May have unrealistic and/or unreasonable expectations of others
• May be intolerant of weaknesses in others
• May believe that they're always right
• May be obsessive and passionate about details that may be unimportant to the big picture
• May be cuttingly derisive and sarcastic towards others
• May have an intense and quick temper
• May be tense, wound up, have high blood pressure and find it difficult to relax
• May hold grudges, and have difficulty forgiving people
• May be wishy-washy and unsure how to act in situations that require quick decision making
• May have difficulty communicating their thoughts and feelings to others
• May see so many tangents everywhere that they can't stay focused on the bottom line or the big picture
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• May be extremely sensitive to any kind of criticism
• May perceive criticism where none was intended
• May have skewed or unrealistic ideas about reality
• May be unable to acknowledge or hear anything that goes against their personal ideas and opinions
• May blame their problems on other people, seeing themselves as victims who are treated unfairly
• May have great anger, and show this anger with rash outpourings of bad temper
• May be unaware of appropriate social behavior
• May be oblivious to their personal appearance, or to appropriate dress
• May come across as eccentric, or perhaps even generally strange to others, without being aware of it
• May be unable to see or understand anyone else's point of view
• May value their own opinions and feelings far above others
• May be unaware of how their behavior affects others
• May be oblivious to other people's need
• May feel overwhelmed with tension and stress when someone expresses disagreement or disapproval
• May develop strong judgments that are difficult to unseed against people who they perceive have been oppressive or suppressive to them
• Under great stress, may obsess about details that are unimportant to the big picture of things
• Under stress, may obsessively brood over a problem repeatedly
• May have unreasonable expectations of others
• May have difficulty maintaining close relationships, due to unreasonable expectations
Click to expand...

Cognitive processes show the two types are very different (INFJ = Ni – Fe – Ti – Se, INTP = Fi – Ne – Si – Te) have you looked into that before?


Disclaimer: I'm not sure on my type so who the hell am I to talk about finding clarity :mD:
 
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It's not possible to be more the one type because of this reasoning:
If you are inbetween two types then you are neither because by definition you are you have no preference for either type. Thus, while it is wholly possible to be no type (because you are completely between) it is not possible to be more than one type, because once you are not inbetween then you are better described as one type than another.

Of course, a more interesting idea is what Jung and his proteges would say about the case of 'no-type.' I believe they are likely adament against it, but they don't have good reason.
 
logan235711 said:
Of course, a more interesting idea is what Jung and his proteges would say about the case of 'no-type.' I believe they are likely adament against it, but they don't have good reason.
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I believe everyone has a type, it's just that external forces often make us repress the things that come natural to us and the things we are most comfortable with. Like in a perfect world without judgement or punishment, how would you be? I was brought up to be quite TJ but if I were to throw off those shackles and move to paradise I would be FP.

It's hard to explain but when trying to type yourself try and remember to think about it in terms of what preferences and cognitive processes come most naturally and you're most comfortable using (in a judgement free world). It also has nothing to do with what you're good at, just what comes naturally.

Lurker, could you split your post and make a seperate thread for trying to type you in? :D Don't wanna hijack Just Eccentric's thread too much...
 
Yes, that's a pretty common belief of those who believe in Jung and his derivatives. However, the post was not aimed a people's personal opinions, but on how Jung and his 'proteges' would view it. In you have some direct referential information to offer in those regards, then by all means; otherwise...
 
I agree that you can't be any two types at the same time; but I also think it's possible to swing between two, with a major overall preference to one.
I also don't believe that anyone is an exact picture of their type; not every piece of the description has to describe anyone's life to the very last detail.

Lurker: I don't know if either of the negative traits in those describe me well >.>
Although, I guess if I look a bit closer, I do relate to some things in the first...I don't hold grudges though, and it seems like I'm oversensitive to how people see me...
 
gloomy-optimist said:
Lurker: I don't know if either of the negative traits in those describe me well >.>
Although, I guess if I look a bit closer, I do relate to some things in the first...I don't hold grudges though, and it seems like I'm oversensitive to how people see me...
Click to expand...

Yeah, I wasn't too sure how good the lists would be as I snipped them from a site that I don't like the descriptions on. Must confess I did that cause I couldn't be bothered searching too hard to find a decent list :sorry: but I'm a slackass :D There may be other ones out there that fit better.
 
Yup with ya on that-a one, the best site for descriptions imo :thumb:
 
Wow, that site does have really good descriptions! Really indepth, too. I'll have to bookmark that one :D
 
Yup, those words were taken directly from particular types rather than made up! It really helps to show the differences between the types... and helps also to disambiguate some of the types that keep getting mistaken for each other (eg. lots of ISTPs test as INTJ for some reason...). There's a nice link at the centre-left that discusses some of the common type-mismatches.

And honestly, they need to expand that section and include INFP/ISFP/INFJ, as well as INFJ/INTJ/INTP and INFP/INTJ/INTP.... hehehe. IxFxs are trouble-makers! :D
 
logan235711 said:
Yes, that's a pretty common belief of those who believe in Jung and his derivatives. However, the post was not aimed a people's personal opinions, but on how Jung and his 'proteges' would view it. In you have some direct referential information to offer in those regards, then by all means; otherwise...
Click to expand...

Excuse me for offering an opinion! :brick:
 
OMG we have an emoticon that kisses someone on the cheek and I didn't know about it :faint2:

Brilliant!
 
Wow! What a thread. I go away for a while and look what happens! Well I've looked through all of your posts. Thank you for them, by the way, and I am still to look through the sites linked but I'll do that in a minute.

Lurker, it seems like a good idea to look at the negatives. Because sometimes I don't even understand the positives that much. I seem to be closer to the second one. I'm tend to think people dislike me because they are not ALWAYS really nice to me (although maybe they're just being critical about one point...), Everyone thinks I'm eccentric (see name :-) ) and I sometimes have difficulty with social mores. In fact it's quite noticeable. It took me a long time as a child to grasp social intelligience. Although I was a very good judge of character. To be honest I just didn't really care too much about society. I know that sounds harsh. It just never occured to me that I really needed people to like me. Kind of like the opposite of peer pressure. Even as a teenager I was utterly oblivious to peer pressure. Or sometimes I would deliberately go against social mores I did understand because they weren't logical or they were meaningless and I just thought it would make more sense if they didn't exist. God...that's why everyone thinks I'm weird.

I don't have a temper though. And under stress I'm likely to be obsessive. But I can't remember the last time I shouted at anyone. I've just never been the type to get angry.

Hmmm....long post and I'm still confused. I think I'd better go look at those sites and come back. Unless my description of my weaknesses gives anyone any ideas!

Thanks for all the posts guys!
 
Oh...I just read those negatives again and don't think I really fit with any of them anymore! It's all that stuff about other people that doesn't sound like me! I'm pretty empathic and I never blame people for anything. I also take responsibility for my problems and don't feel like a victim. I'm never deliberately insensitive (couldn't cope with the guilt!) but do put my foot in it sometimes. Although I just get angry with myself if I do that. Grrrr...this typology thing's difficult!
 
Ok, read some stuff on the sites. Sound a bit like the last one. It's a bit more impersonal. That's more like me. I'm impersonal and objective. And I have to do things on my own. The unusual sense of humour is definitely like me. That's why I only like talking when I'm around my friends who I can trust and who are like me. When I talk in front of other people they give me strange looks. It's like I talk in a different way and they don't understand my jokes a lot. Some people are even offended by my humour but I don't mean to be nasty. I thought maybe my intuition would pin me to one or the other but I guess they're both intuitive. If there's one thing I'm good at it's understanding people. But this whole thing about helping people...I get satisfaction from helping my friends but I don't feel like being a carer is even remotely like me! People come to me to do tasks because I will always say yes - like "proof read this for me" or "help me move into my new house" or "fix my computer". And my best friends tell me I give good emotional advice. But I dislike emotional situations with people I don't know. I don't know what to do or say. I just feel lost and guilty that I can't help. When my friends are emotional I feel like I'm going through that thing myself and I feel their pain very strongly. So I don't like the whole "caring for people" part of this. It's not like me. I'm not the emotional type. Is there maybe a type that doesn't have much to do with people at all? THanks. Sorry for the post marathon!!!
 
Are you referring to the link sciski posted for ISFJ or INFP?

Anyway this is where negative traits are listed just change the type in the address to see the alternatives, like already mentioned the descriptions aren't great but they list the negatives by type so it may help.

In very crude terms types with T are less visually emotional and can be uncomfortable sharing their feelings, types with I are less into interpersonal contact. Saying "My friends think I'm dead inside" says to me you should check out the other 4 introverted types (INTJ, INTP, ISTJ and ISTP) on the webpage sciski linked in.

Have you ever taken a cognitive processes test before?
 
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