[Lost in Oblivion]

I meant to post this before, but after reading one of @Jawz's posts in the GHMR thread I feel compelled to post it.

I was thinking largely about personality archetypes, and the effects of the technological revolution in play right now. What with so much sensory stimulation, new ways of obtaining and sending out information, even I'm beginning to think that I'm not matching up a bit to what an INFJ 'should' be - I feel I have a rather good grip on Se at my stage in my development.

My question is this: are personality archetypes going to change over time? If so, in what ways?

I don't think they are going to go as far as 'making more sensors,' but rather something like, 'making intuitives more sensor-oriented.'



I'd like to hear what you all think, though. Will we have to overhaul the theory?

[Vivid Melody]

If anything I feel like technology has made me less sensor-oriented with the ability to research whatever I want at my fingertips and the long emails I can exchange with online friends about anything and everything. Perhaps I am misunderstanding the question though. Or perhaps I have not succumbed to it as much as I think? As far as video/computer games go, it's the same deal. They immerse you in another world. They play off what already exists in me - the tendency to get lost in my head. For other types these things may be about something different. I have yet to read the post you mentioned in your OP. I'll check that out.

So to answer your question - No, I don't think we'll have to overhaul the theory.

[Hastings]

Like with other subjects, our predispositions will shape our perceptions. Sensors and intuitives will approach the same matters in different ways, not to mention the intuitive tendency to break pattern. I think the type theory is safe in this respect.

[Nox]

Well, my intuition says the ratio will stay more or less the same. What matters is how you handle the perceived information rather than how you obtain it. Even in the olden times when things weren't so instantaneous, there were still dreamers & pragmatists, conservatives & liberals. I don't think their preferences depended on the amount of information, vividness, and accessibility, but rather had more to do with parental & cultural influence, genetic predispositions, etc.

Sensors and intuitives can both watch the same movies, but it's what we make out of the movies that sets us apart rather than how graphically and musically vivid the movies are getting to be. We might as well see movies in holograms in the near future, but sensors will still be sensors, and intuitives will still be intuitives.

[Jawz]

The archetypes shud be changed ... They're outdated and based on people from a different generation. When was the last time the descriptions were changed .. I dont even know. Does anyone?

[Elinor Dashwood]

My personal belief about mbti descriptions and even cog function descriptions is that, at best, they describe people relative to one another, and not entirely concretely. For instance, compared to the vast majority of people, I'm definitely an N, but I bet that in a desert island situation, with a group of randomly selected people from this forum, I would be pretty S-competent, and possibly even viewed as a T by some. So, while I think the bedrock of the theory could stay the same without any confusion, our understanding of it is certainly going to shift from what, for instance, Jung envisioned when he wrote about types. He was a brilliant man, but his perceptions were limited by his time and culture.

I think type descriptions should be revised, but I think they've been inaccurate for a long time, notwithstanding the advent of the internet age. Descriptions of INFJs are too rosy ('cause let's be real, we're moody, impractical, self-centered bitches sometimes) and descriptions of Sensors in general are derogatory and one dimensional. Sensors can be creative! (omg) Sensors can be inspirational! Sensors can be geniuses! (What up, Charles Dickens & Mozart!) Sensors can even (wtf?) have foresight!

We talk a lot on these forums about how we tend to stereotype people based on descriptions, but the descriptions are themselves stereotypical. They need more nuance, and they need to be taught with the understanding that they are, in fact, relative and not concrete.

Yes, I abuse parentheses on a regular basis.

[unico]

If anything I feel like technology has made me less sensor-oriented with the ability to research whatever I want at my fingertips and the long emails I can exchange with online friends about anything and everything. Perhaps I am misunderstanding the question though. Or perhaps I have not succumbed to it as much as I think? As far as video/computer games go, it's the same deal. They immerse you in another world. They play off what already exists in me - the tendency to get lost in my head. For other types these things may be about something different. I have yet to read the post you mentioned in your OP. I'll check that out.

So to answer your question - No, I don't think we'll have to overhaul the theory.

I agree with this! And as an iNtuitive, I don't feel I've become more like a sensor with the increase of technology (I'm almost 29 and can remember well before the internet was available).