How do you develop the ability type others?

I prefer to work from the axiom that each individual human is a uniquely ethnologic, complex entity with a constellation of beliefs and values drawn from an array of specific experiences and that trying to compartmentalize them into one of 16 types based on a cursory examination of traits is futile - if not demeaning and myopic.

Expressed another way:

individuals > MBTI types

 

I agree with Korg, but I find myself, more often than not, trying to type people I meet.

I am usually dead on.

I tend to type with a combination of sensing and intuiting. I have been wrong very few times, but I think it's more of a sensing thing because I tend to type based on how i observe the person acting. Of course, intuitively, if the person is being "fake" or not their true self, that makes them all the more easier to type.

As a rule, I am adept at figuring out their dominant functions. Usually the J/P is harder to figure out though.

 

I've just begun attempting to type people and its been very hard. It took me awhile (months) to type one ESFJ and one ESFJ. Haha. They are so different but yet the same, both ESFJ's. That's all I have done so far.

I'm considering the possiblity one of my coworkers is an INFJ. She's quiet unless around stimulating people, extremely private, selfish, snotty, and pretty funny. I love/hate her, lol.

 

On the INTP forum, there's a thread where this guy Adymus, posted all the cognitive functions. Once I understood the functions and what they look for, it was easy for me to tell in conversations which ones are being used.

I look at what functions I'm seeing. Do I see Ne? (That's one of the easiest for me to recognize) if I do, then I know the person has Si somewhere too. What about Fe? Or do I see Fi? I usually do it by analyzing the conversations I've had with that person. Once I've seen one function, it's usually elimination. Like okay I see someone use Fe, that means they have Ti, now do they have Ni or Ne? *thinks back on past conversations, Ne. Okay well if I saw their Ne active, then that means an introverted function must be next (just because you saw a function used doesn't mean it's one of the top two) So Ne Ti Fe Si or Ti Ne Si Fe so I just gotta figure out if it's an ENTP or an INTP. I hope I didn't just confuse you more.

Of course it's always a guess. I saw an INFJ friend using Ti and thought he might be an INTP, but that was only because he was using Ti to talk with me. I had him read through that cognitive functions thread and he related to Ni and Fe best so now I know he's an INFJ.

That's just me though.

 

I guess everybody does it differently, but I tend to recognize without really trying whether I'm talking to an iNtuitive type quickly. From there, it's a question of which of Kiersey's temperament groups is a best fit. Si vs Se is so different, that SP's vs SJ's seem to be very easy to nail down. Extroversion vs introversion isn't usually difficult and T vs F is usually based on whether the individual is interested in people or utility. SP's are fascinating, but somewhat of a different animal from me. Interaction is fine, but I feel like we live on different planets and it would be better if we don't try to pretend otherwise. When I think I've encountered an SJ I won't go overboard with sharing abstract concepts or making points using analogies; I'll keep it as concrete as possible because that just seems to work the best.

If I do think the person is an iNtuitive, then I look for whether they are interested in people issues (usually think they are NF's), or mechancial issues (usually think they are NT's). With NT's, I'm more comfortable being visionary, but stick with facts and avoid emotional appeals or justification. With NF's, I get concerned because I have a tendency to get under their skin and inside their heads, knowing that I am just as easily readable to them. I am careful to avoid misunderstandings, as nothing can be more convuluted than a profound misunderstanding between two people who understand eachother better than most other people than they interact with. For both of these temperaments, E vs I and J vs P seems pretty easy to distinguish once I think I know the temperament group.

This is not foolproof, and I've sometimes been wrong, but most of the time I'm pretty confident about what I've chosen, when I'm not though, I'll keep a few possibilities in mind and use approaches that I feel work the best for the types that I think are in play.