What am I?

[Razare]

I've tested consistently as an INTP for the last 5 years, before that as an INTJ. My way of thinking changed during that period, so the change in result is not inconsistent with what I've observed about myself. Also I've used different tests, such as the cognitive function ranking test; and the the generic answering questions test from multiple locations.

On the Enneagram I am a 5w6.

Due to the results, I have hung-out on the INTP forum for the last year or so. Then last week someone accused me of being an INFJ, because I see the world using Ni/Se, not Ne/Si like most INTP's. I replied this was because I was formerly an INTJ, and while now I am an INTP, I'm not exactly a true blue INTP having come from an INTJ background. I can see things from an Ne/Si point of view (or so I believe), but that way of thinking is very limiting. You're stuck using pattern recognition because Si only knows what has happened previously, where Ni is future oriented, and Se allows the world to fit into that future orientation provided the worldview is mostly correct.

He replied that everyone has one personality type and this type never changes. We can flex different aspects of that personality at different points in our life, but it remains the same.

I would agree with him and say that I am an INFJ, except that I do not use F to make decisions. Often, I know what my feelings desire, but I override them with logic because it's more reliable than feelings which change on an hourly basis.

He replied that I am an intuitive rational despite being an INFJ.

I fit well with either personality type. I have the qualities of the INFJ and the qualities of an INTP both at the same time.

Whenever I've taken the test, I am never strongly J nor strongly P. Some people describe themselves as an INTX, and I think that might fit me. Maybe I should stop listening to this know-it-all, but he's getting under my skin.

 

[Lucifer]

I used to be confused about my personality type. What ended up helping me is asking my family what I was like as a kid. Because when your a kid you have no emotional motivation to pretend to be another personality.

Now I am pretty fucking sure of my type.

 

[TinyBubbles]

look at your history, do you tend to make decisions quickly to get things settled, or do you put them off for ages because you want to make sure you make the right choice? im talking specifically important decisions here, not small things like what to have for lunch.

if that doesn't help: is your first instinct when a person comes to you for advice, to agree & sympathize, or to point out flaws in their thinking?

 

[arbygil]

I would say this, Razare: Not all INFJs are strong Feelers. It depends on what your preferences are, but those preferences do not need to be strong ones. If your top preference is Ni, and it's most comfortable for you to use, then the only options are either INFJ or INTJ. Even if you can use Ne (which many INFJs can) it doesn't mean it's your preferred preference. We use every cognitive function - some more than others, and some when we need to for a certain situation. But how you feel when you feel most "normal" and how you feel when you were a child are usually the best telling on type.

I wouldn't worry about the goading person, though. It sounds like he's trying to get you upset by "accusing" you of being a feeler. Which happens a lot with immature Thinking types. It's not bad being a feeler. And being a feeler does not mean you're a drama queen waiting for the next emo crisis; it just means that you think about people or emotions first, before systems.

 

[jn56uytrx]

Maybe I should stop listening to this know-it-all, but he's getting under my skin.

I wasn't planning on responding to your thread at first, because I didn't think I had any insight, but then I got to this sentence.

As I read your dilemma, I was experiencing a sense of sorrow and empathetic indignation for you having to suffer the uninvited analysis of someone like that. I've been in similar situations and I find them difficult to manage. I instinctively want to honor another person's opinion, but when it is so forceful, and at odds with my own sense of self, I have a strong sense of internal conflict to resolve. I cannot simply dismiss their input. I have an acute sense of awareness that I do not know myself fully and I must rely on others to provide perspective I cannot see.

I'm not saying this person got under your skin for these same reasons, and I'm not sure how another type typically responds to this kind of pressure, but it is possible this is a manifestation of Fe in you. It might be an expression of honor in your decision-making for the perspective that sources external to you can provide.

 

[Razare]

Thanks for the advice so far, everyone.

look at your history, do you tend to make decisions quickly to get things settled, or do you put them off for ages because you want to make sure you make the right choice? im talking specifically important decisions here, not small things like what to have for lunch.

if that doesn't help: is your first instinct when a person comes to you for advice, to agree & sympathize, or to point out flaws in their thinking?

Under that logic, I take forever to make important decisions and never quite resolve things. This would indicate P.

To the second question, my first instinct is to analyze their situation and try to help in what way I can. When they need sympathizing, I'm not so great at it. I usually suggest what sort of actions can be taken to improve the situation. I try very hard not to be judgmental because we all lead different lives, and who am I to say what they've done wrong (even though I know.) So I think that's using T, while recognizing the importance of F to not step on their toes too much.

This is why the tests all score me as an INTP. But strictly speaking, my cognitive functions are not INTP. INFJ resonates with me to some extent, because like tovlo said, I do internalize conflict. It makes me feel horrible; literally sick sometimes.

I also have that sixth sense that lets me tell how people are on the inside that INFJ's supposedly have. It's difficult to lie in front of me, without me knowing.

If I look back to my childhood as Lucifer suggested, I think that would point more towards INFJ. The thing is, I am not a J. Even when I scored INTJ, I was a procrastinator. But the INFJ can sort of behave like a P
from what I've read, so maybe that's it.

I really don't know at this point, it's becoming all muddled and confused. I'm about to start calling myself an IN??.

 

[TinyBubbles]

ok give me a quick summary of what life means to you, what is important to you, describe yourself as honestly as you can in a paragraph or two. i think that would be very revealing

 

[Razare]

What life means to me? That's a deep question, I'm not sure how to respond.

Things important to me are... Well, my fiance. I plan on having kids with her one day and they will be very important to me. My sister is important and I worry for my mother sometimes.

In my daily life I like to focus myself on hobbies, though. Introverted T types get their particular interests, and I'm no different in that regard. Things like watching anime, playing around with certain computer games, programming, and other stuff like that.

I have a job and am going to college, but in my free time, I'm pretty much a slacker who takes it easy. I don't like having a lot of responsibility because I feel tied down by it.

Generally, I have only 1 or 2 close friends. More than that and I get socialization overload. I'm a strong introvert.

I think I have a game plan to determine if I am an INFJ. If I observe you guys on this forum some, I may decide I am more similar to the INFJ than the INTP, or I may decide I am more INTP.

The thing I can't guage about the INFJ is how emotional they are, and how their emotions play into decision making. Observation may assist with this.

 

[VH]

It's not uncommon for INTPs to go through a phase where they feel like they might be INFJs. You guys have Fe as your tertiary function, so it's your playful inner child function. Sometimes it flares up, and that's all it takes for your Ne and Ti to run off on a tangent.

Don't worry. You're a perfectly normal INTP.

 

[TinyBubbles]

What life means to me? That's a deep question, I'm not sure how to respond.

Things important to me are... Well, my fiance. I plan on having kids with her one day and they will be very important to me. My sister is important and I worry for my mother sometimes.

In my daily life I like to focus myself on hobbies, though. Introverted T types get their particular interests, and I'm no different in that regard. Things like watching anime, playing around with certain computer games, programming, and other stuff like that.

I have a job and am going to college, but in my free time, I'm pretty much a slacker who takes it easy. I don't like having a lot of responsibility because I feel tied down by it.

Generally, I have only 1 or 2 close friends. More than that and I get socialization overload. I'm a strong introvert.

I think I have a game plan to determine if I am an INFJ. If I observe you guys on this forum some, I may decide I am more similar to the INFJ than the INTP, or I may decide I am more INTP.

The thing I can't guage about the INFJ is how emotional they are, and how their emotions play into decision making. Observation may assist with this.

intp. though i think it's a great idea for you to observe and see how infjs talk on these forums and see if you can relate, it would be a more accurate way of going about it.
i do think you're an intp though, maybe one more conscious of his emotional side than most? if not intp, then infp. i don't really see a lot of infj in you... from being on these forums, there's a kind of ummm how to describe it? crusader vibe that i get from infjs. and from it a kind of displaced melancholy.. like life could be so much better, but isn't. the idealism is very obvious. i don't see that in what you've written here.

 

[Razare]

Oh no! It's an Fe flare-up, kill it, kill it! :msith:


I'm sort of an anti-idealist. I used to hang on the INFP forum, and I am NOT one of those strange creatures. They cause far too many problems for themselves all because of idealism. I have an INFP friend in real life and yeah... all I can do is shake my head.

Anyway, you guys are probably right about being an INTP. That's what the tests always say. I guess I should avoid talking about my spiritual beliefs on the INTP forum since I'm rather too certain about it, which is distinctly not an INTP quality. I end up telling them how it is, rather than theorizing about it.

 

[TinyBubbles]

I guess I should avoid talking about my spiritual beliefs on the INTP forum since I'm rather too certain about it, which is distinctly not an INTP quality. I end up telling them how it is, rather than theorizing about it.

i think it's cool you have solid spiritual beliefs, you're certainly welcome to talk about them here. if the people on intp forum are not too receptive to them it's probably less to do with their validity and more to do with them wanting to reassert their own beliefs that nothing spiritually based can be proven.. or something like that
anywho, welcome to the forums. hope you stick around

 

[Razare]

The stuff can't be proven, that's the point. If everyone knew the truth with certainty, we wouldn't need to be here on Earth living our lives.

My strong beliefs now stem from my fiance who communicates with spirits. I believed in God before meeting her, but it was just a general belief that didn't include a traditional spiritual afterlife.

Her power is similar to that of the "ghost whisperer" TV show, which was based on a real woman who has the power. Very few of these people come forward with their ability, though, because 9 times out of 10 they'll be labeled crazy. It takes the right sort of person to pull it off publicly. So my fiance is mostly in the closet about it. The thing is, since she has so many ghosts following her around on a daily basis, I started catching brief glimpses of them. Once you see them a few times it sort of becomes difficult to not be certain about it.

I've been trying to convince her to make a career out of it, but she's rather unsure of herself.

And thanks for your responses, May, you're making me feel right at home here.

 

[Rakawi]

I've heard it said that INFJs engage their tertiary function (Ti) earlier than most other types. It's hard to say if it's strictly intelligence or intense introspection that precipitates it. I do believe it's an accurate observation. Here's a description of our third function if you're unfamiliar:

Introverted Thinking often involves finding just the right word to clearly express an idea concisely, crisply, and to the point. Using introverted Thinking is like having an internal sense of the essential qualities of something, noticing the fine distinctions that make it what it is and then naming it. It also involves an internal reasoning process of deriving subcategories of classes and sub-principles of general principles. These can then be used in problem solving, analysis, and refining of a product or an idea. This process is evidenced in behaviors like taking things or ideas apart to figure out how they work. The analysis involves looking at different sides of an issue and seeing where there is inconsistency. In so doing, we search for a

 

[NeverAmI]

You guys have Fe as your tertiary function, so it's your playful inner child function.

Inferior function if I remember correctly, Si is the tertiary. I am still tryin to recognize the pattern between T/F | S/N and J/P myself.

I had mentioned once that it thought they interchanged between data input and judging functions, but they actualy have a cluster of one, either judging or data input in the center and the other surrounds.

It is the introverted vs extroverted that alternates