Tuesday, February 15, 2011

always and forever

Sometimes I take the Myers-Briggs to see if my personality type has changed. But I am an INFJ forever and always.

Per Wikipedia:
I – Introversion preferred to extraversion: INFJs tend to be quiet and reserved. They generally prefer interacting with a few close friends rather than a wide circle of acquaintances, and they expend energy in social situations (whereas extraverts gain energy).
N – Intuition preferred to sensing: INFJs tend to be more abstract than concrete. They focus on the big picture rather than the details, and on future possibilities rather than immediate realities.
F – Feeling preferred to thinking: INFJs tend to value personal considerations above objective criteria. When making decisions, they often give more weight to social implications than to logic.
J – Judgment preferred to perception: INFJs tend to plan their activities and make decisions early. They derive a sense of control through predictability.

Characteristics of INFJs
Some practitioners have speculated that Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was an INFJ. However, according to the guidelines for the ethical use of the MBTI, only those taking the assessment can identify their own best fit.
INFJs are conscientious and value-driven. They seek meaning in relationships, ideas, and events, with an eye toward better understanding themselves and others. Using their intuitive skills, they develop a clear and confident vision, which they then set out to execute, aiming to better the lives of others. Like their INTJ counterparts, INFJs regard problems as opportunities to design and implement creative solutions.
INFJs are quiet, private individuals who prefer to exercise their influence behind the scenes. Although very independent, INFJs are intensely interested in the well-being of others. INFJs prefer one-on-one relationships to large groups. Sensitive and complex, they are adept at understanding complicated issues and driven to resolve differences in a cooperative and creative manner.
INFJs have a rich, vivid inner life, which they may be reluctant to share with those around them. Nevertheless, they are congenial in their interactions, and perceptive of the emotions of others. Generally well-liked by their peers, they may often be considered close friends and confidants by most other types. However, they are guarded in expressing their own feelings, especially to new people, and so tend to establish close relationships slowly. INFJs tend to be easily hurt, though they may not reveal this except to their closest companions. INFJs may "silently withdraw as a way of setting limits", rather than expressing their wounded feelings—a behavior that may leave others confused and upset.
INFJs tend to be sensitive, quiet leaders with a great depth of personality. They are intricately and deeply woven, mysterious, and highly complex, sometimes puzzling even to themselves. They have an orderly view toward the world, but are internally arranged in a complex way that only they can understand. Abstract in communicating, they live in a world of hidden meanings and possibilities. With a natural affinity for art, INFJs tend to be creative and easily inspired. Yet they may also do well in the sciences, aided by their intuition.

6 comments:

  1. meeee toooo. i love that every INFJ description includes a line about "they're puzzling - EVEN TO THEMSELVES." and i didn't know that the silent withdrawl thing was an INFJ trait. i thought it was just me being a passive aggressive freak.

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  2. I'm terrible about the silent withdrawl. I also have a character trait, which I think is conencted with that. I once asked my therapist, "do you think it's normal that I only get angry at things after the fact? That I never really react in the moment, but need to get hurt and angry after mulling over things for awhile?" It does feel like being passive-aggressive sometimes, but I think it's because I ened time to tease out deeper implications of words and think about them before I react.

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  3. Well look at our little sphere. Perhaps we INFJs are more common than the experts think?

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  4. Or we all have a propensity to seek each other out and form our own social circles.

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  5. Seek the passively aggressive and you shall find.

    Alternatively: "You make sense to me."

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  6. Oh! According to a Google search, female INFJs are most compatible with other INFJs.

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