What does your type mean to you? | INFJ Forum

What does your type mean to you?

Hard

Hard

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Jan 18, 2014
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Simple question, but let me explain before you go and post.

What does your type mean for you? I don't mean in how does it (or not) fit, but what do you garner from it? Why is your type important? What do you gain from it? What is important about knowing it?

You could sum it up as: What is its purpose for you?

I ask because I have done some a good chunk of reflecting on MBTI and personality theories over the years and I rather question the utility, correctness, or purpose to it all despite in the past putting a huge focus on it. In some cases, I could argue that it does more harm then good at the end of the day and doesn't really represent anything. Yet, I will admit the idea and concept of it is fun. There's a novelty factor towards it, and everyone loves novelty.

Discuss.
 
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It simply helps me understand my preferences and behaviors that seems to be innate. Understanding your preferences such as preferring solitude over being out in the world gives me a baseline to work from and helps me make personal behavioral decisions. Before I discovered typology there was a lot of internal conflict on what my intuition wanted for me and what my ego wanted for me and they would clash all the time and I would not know which to follow. So typology can work like an inner compass when soneome is feeling lost or being influenced too much from the outside and cannot get in touch with their internal self. Understanding your baseline behaviors and tendencies also reveals your strengths and weaknesses and gives me a sense of development or lack of personal development in certain areas of my life.

But the biggest gift that typology has given me is the awareness and courage to accept myself for who I am and who I will always be. It encouraged me to embrace the fact that the rarity of my type influences the way I function in the world and what would be the best way for me to stay true to myself and not sell myself out just because I maybe in the minority.

However; I do not identify completely with everything that is in MBTI nor do I obsessively try to figure out every function, feeling or sensing aspects that go on within myself. If I was to attribute a percentage to MBTI as part of my personality I would only give it 20%. I believe that trying to pigeonhole yourself into a tight categorization is a mistake because your whole personality cannot be defined by one single system and everyone's unique aspects cannot be defined through a system neither.
 
Hard said:
I ask because I have done some a good chunk of reflecting on MBTI and personality theories over the years and I rather question the utility, correctness, or purpose to it all despite in the past putting a huge focus on it. In some cases, I could argue that it does more harm then good at the end of the day and doesn't really represent anything. Yet, I will admit the idea and concept of it is fun. There's a novelty factor towards it, and everyone loves novelty.
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I think a big factor there is: what do you use it for? Or what inappropriate uses do you see?

I think the science behind MBTI is sound. I don't believe it's complete or definitive but they definitely have a grasp of something pertinent to our beings.

I really don't know all that much about MBTI. I'm familiar with what they say in the profiles for all the types but that's about it. Start talking about Fe and Fi and I think beanstalk. There is certainly novelty in all the functions and how we use them but it's more of a passing interest to me, I find the true utility elsewhere. There are 16 personality types, there are about 7 billion different types of people. All MBTI does for me is give me rough estimate of how all these people interact with the world around them. I like knowing people's types because it helps me communicate with them better. I also like the insight it gave me into my own character, I got some context as to why I'm such a freak who needs to figure out how people communicate. =) I could also see the limitations in it. The INTJ profiles describe me fairly well but I'm not exactly the picture it paints so I don't expect anyone else to adhere to their type's norm on any particular level even though I do suspect they will be true to their type's norm in general, as I am.

I don't see anything wrong with it but I have to agree that it can be less than helpful if people take it too seriously.
 
solongotgon said:
It simply helps me understand my preferences and behaviors that seems to be innate. Understanding your preferences such as preferring solitude over being out in the world gives me a baseline to work from and helps me make personal behavioral decisions. Before I discovered typology there was a lot of internal conflict on what my intuition wanted for me and what my ego wanted for me and they would clash all the time and I would not know which to follow. So typology can work like an inner compass when soneome is feeling lost or being influenced too much from the outside and cannot get in touch with their internal self. Understanding your baseline behaviors and tendencies also reveals your strengths and weaknesses and gives me a sense of development or lack of personal development in certain areas of my life.

But the biggest gift that typology has given me is the awareness and courage to accept myself for who I am and who I will always be. It encouraged me to embrace the fact that the rarity of my type influences the way I function in the world and what would be the best way for me to stay true to myself and not sell myself out just because I maybe in the minority.
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Yeah, pretty much this is also why I appreciated learning more about my type. Helps with self acceptance. You can understand yourself better especially your natural preferences. You realize that when you work or operate in ways that are counter intuitive to your personality type, life is a little harder and can be more frustrating or stressful. Learning what makes yourself tick can help you be more effective and successful in your daily life. Teaches you to appreciate unique traits. For example, I was glad to learn that like solitude or not being outgoing was not a sin or didn't mean that I was anti social or had personality problems. It taught how not to feel bad about certain qualities such as introversion. It can help to build self appreciation and respect.
 
For me is a chalenge. Being a Infj is a rich experience. Its like having to drive a huge ship and sail it in big waters but also in difficult and small waters. So I have to be a good pilot of myself, tap on my strenghts and overcome my weakneseass.
I try to enjoy the trip, even if sometimes is hard.

As far as now, MBTI was very helpful in one sense, while in another, it was a "I wish I didn't knew about it" kind of experience.

On the goods, it helped me to overcome some old fears that I had in me, being "fundamentally" different of others, thinking that I am socially handicaped or somethink and other things. Most of them were lies that I believed with naivity.
It also made me understand better myself, how my engines work. Also understanding
my natural strenghts and capabilities.

On the negatives, I almost always have a tendency to type people, which I don't like it, yet I'm tempted to do it. And its sometimes scary to me to think at people as 'types', because it generalise everythink, and it steals the beauty and originality of people.
Its also leading me to some false and some weird assumptions about certain types, with wich I'm not suposedly easy to conect and form relationships. All these are theories like 'who should get along with who', all based on types dynamics prejudices, which are wrong.

As for the personal aspect, it gets me sometimes into a lazy attitude and mindset.
For example, I can't be a Ne user because I have Ni, and that's not my job, so Ne is not for me.
 
When I went searching for my type it was because I wanted to know why I behaved how I do. More specifically I wanted to know why I was so emotionally sensitive when others seemed to just not care as much in the ways I did. I went searching for others like me to help validate my own existence and experiences. I suppose that is the key. Validation.

So, for me, it is a way to understand myself and my reactions to things more and to help me realize my weaknesses and grow as a person. Knowing my type has helped me understand myself and certain patterns in my life a bit more.
 
sprinkles said:
An excuse to come here?
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10000000% correct!


Also, I've found that knowing there are so many multiple MBTIs out there, that it's okay for me to behave, think, etc. differently than how I was told to be when I was raised, how my friends are, my peers....It's refreshing to know that some of my quirks are aspects of other people's personalities too!
 
Good responses so far, thanks :)

Rift Zone said:
I think a big factor there is: what do you use it for? Or what inappropriate uses do you see?

I think the science behind MBTI is sound. I don't believe it's complete or definitive but they definitely have a grasp of something pertinent to our beings.

I really don't know all that much about MBTI. I'm familiar with what they say in the profiles for all the types but that's about it. Start talking about Fe and Fi and I think beanstalk. There is certainly novelty in all the functions and how we use them but it's more of a passing interest to me, I find the true utility elsewhere. There are 16 personality types, there are about 7 billion different types of people. All MBTI does for me is give me rough estimate of how all these people interact with the world around them. I like knowing people's types because it helps me communicate with them better. I also like the insight it gave me into my own character, I got some context as to why I'm such a freak who needs to figure out how people communicate. =) I could also see the limitations in it. The INTJ profiles describe me fairly well but I'm not exactly the picture it paints so I don't expect anyone else to adhere to their type's norm on any particular level even though I do suspect they will be true to their type's norm in general, as I am.

I don't see anything wrong with it but I have to agree that it can be less than helpful if people take it too seriously.
Click to expand...

The science behind MBTI is sound as far as I can understand (from the limited papers I have read on it), in the sense that the studies they performed with it are more or less solid (some more than others). However, if the theory itself is fundementally flawed or wrong, then there could be a problem, and there isn't too much support for the fundementals. Several therapists I have met with over the years have told me MBTI, and most personality theories are not supported or backed by the APA. My most recent one remarked (paraphrasing here) "it's an interesting idea, and can be a great tool to get people started on introspecting and thinking about who they are and what makes them tick, but not much outside of that". That's pretty much how I now feel. I'm starting to digress, but that's a different discussion all together.

Ultimately, I find introspecting fun, and putting an external label from that is pretty cool. When you start to take it very seriously, that is indeed when it can be less than helpful. The nature of labels can very easily lead to a "us vs. them" mentality, which I have seen happen before. It also can lead to rather unhealthy (and incorrect) pattern drawing, that is ultimately a "correlation = causation", and once you get used to that you can start applying that to external life.

I don't want to sound like I am bashing MBTI, I am certainly not. I just take a lighthearted approach to it, and generally stay out of the way of the crazy that can come from it.
 
An alternative way of viewing what I know of myself and how it compares to others.
 
It has helped me to recognize certain innate traits of mine as strengths rather than weaknesses. I assumed they were weaknesses due to being so different from the norm. I also have been able to work on the negatives that are generally associated with INFJs. The best part though is it led me here! :mlove2:
 
it means i can understand myself and others better, at least that's the hope.
 
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I used to struggle a lot with my identity. Learning my MBTI type helped me gain a better understanding of myself and how I function, which helps me to myself in a healthier way than I used to: as a unique individual with strengths and weaknesses. It helped me stop obsessing about being "normal" since there are multiple types and variations within those types. Also, it's helped me communicate and get along with my family better.

Taking it too seriously is certainly dangerous, as is stereotyping others according to their type, but overall I see MBTI as a useful tool that can be used for personal growth and mutual understanding between people.
 
With any concept I pick and choose what works for me. When I read descriptions of the INFJ personality or the functions I often see things that I really identify with and it can help me see my patterns and behaviours more clearly and accept them as being an integral part of who I am. Other times I will read descriptions that just don't apply to me and I just dismiss them as something that maybe other INFJs experience but I don't. It helps me to also see that about other personality types. I can consider that certain personalities can have certain traits, but also they may not have those traits or may have weak version of those traits. It's almost like a suggestion of what somebody might be thinking or feeling or how they may react but by no means an actual representation of them.

It actually bugs me a bit when INFJs are portrayed as somehow 'special'. I prefer to look at the individual functions as clues to how INFJs minds and hearts work (as well as any other type) without labelling it as 'better' or 'worse' or 'common' or 'uncommon'.
 
Well... whenever life becomes incredibly hard, for some reason it happens that I remember about the outcome of the MBTI test and that I am this very rare INFJ type of person. The meaning it has for me is that it deeply normalises my experience. It is extremely relevant and helpful.

I read the description and I go 'Aha! that's why I am lying here in bed depressed and unable to do anything.... it is again because I've set my standards far too high, have been unable to reach them and now am in this state of apathy hoping for something to happen'.

Or, I realise why people struggle to understand me, or even more importantly why I retreat always back to my safe refuge of my room. You know.... you start considering all the things people say to you: 'you are a bear, an antisocialite, you don't like to see people-what's wrong with you?' etc. These things hurt and I start considering if I am just selfish... but then it doesn't make sense to me because I became a counsellor so that I could deeply empathise with people and help them.

Knowing that I am INFJ solves the dilemma because I realise that I am after true and genuine relationships and that I don't like to spend time with people on a superficial level. So that's me. I learn to accept it and thank goodness someone told me that that's just the way I am. It empowers me and gives me confidence that I am really doing something valuable. INFJs the world needs you even though you are sometimes too complex for them to understand.
 
Mine means more understanding as to why the vast majority of people in the world seem different to me. Ive kind of seesaw'd back and forth between feeling like an outsider to feeling like I am more "aware". Both add to feeling alone so I guess its good I dont need people for interaction. Cant imagine what it would be like to be a entj.
 
Like the enneagram and socionics, MBTI helps reveal to me my weaknesses and strengths. It is a valuable tool for personal growth and improvement in my toolbox to self-actualization.
 
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