# The Empathetic INFJ (Socionics)



## firedell (Aug 5, 2009)

*By Leandro Javier Sepp [INFj] 
Edited by Reuben McNew [ENTp]* 

Often believed to be a martyr for the sake of their own attitudes, INFjs are actually highly sensitive, neurotic slave of their own skills. Since they have awareness of the many meanings behind the various gestures, words, and breaths, the INFj has no difficulty in understanding the moods of people and the situations they are in; they can discern and dissect the motives of any viewpoint, even independently of principle. 

Despite her shyness, she carefully word her sentences in a way in which she can answer with the most effectiveness and in a way that appeals to the expectations of others. However, she remains closed and distant to the world; only after she has made sure of her surroundings will she seek to open herself to any experiences remotely resembling extroversion. 

INFjs are voracious gatherers of knowledge, especially topics concerning human nature; they can find interest on almost any topic and develop original, ethical, and sometimes extravagant opinions of their surrounding. 

INFjs have difficulty refusing the needs and demands of others, and usually comply without taking much thought to their own needs. However, they may bottle up those emotions until some breaking point, where an INFj may flee from a pressuring situation leaving others bewildered. They have difficulty breaking unwanted relations, and may comply with the desires of those by which they have no personal interest; over people may not be truly made aware to their feelings in result. 

INFjs may often lack awareness of their surroundings, and have a poor concept of time; usually they are not very inclined to participate in sporting or outdoor activities. 

As lovers of routine, INFjs love orderly surroundings; they find peace in structured environments, and seek to keep their lives well on track. But, they may have difficulty realizing their dreams and desires. 

Oversensitive and self-conscious, they are vulnerable to physical discomforts, small headaches, messy hair, and unclean clothes mostly resulting from the immense pressure they place upon themselves to live a happy life in a nice comfortable atmosphere. However much time they spend to provide these things for themselves and others, they are not always very good at achieving them, but they depend on it for their own survival and well-being. 

INFjs are secretive and reactionary, they rarely reveal their own true opinions and secrets and seek not to be placed in any position upon which they must express themselves: public speaking, reading loudly, or any sort of public exposure does not suit any INFj well. 

INFjs fall into two different categories according to appearance and values. 

One type of INFj would be considered rather outgoing, braver, and could lead some sort of active social life, often working as translators, psychotherapists, teachers, or any other type of job that would allow them to improvise their ready-made skills. These are the ethical subtypes. 

Another type of INFj follows a different path, appearing more reserved and immersed in an imaginary world; often chasing after fantasy tales, scattered, selfish, and dreamy. These are the intuitive subtypes. 

INFjs may be of the opinion that the best way to handle most situations is to feign their own demise. Because of these self-defeating tendencies, their eyes may have a sorrowful look to them, even when they are happy they could have a martyr like appearance. 
INFj by Function 
Fi: The first function of the INFj is Fi, by which subjective feeling substantiates itself through various ethical processes. With this function, it is possible to deconstruct and disassemble various levels of emotions, feelings, and moods in order to gauge a sense of their inner workings or how they habitually function. Probably the most powerful aspect of Fi is the forming of a subjective value system by which one uses to connect to others through a maintained and refined view of moral right, wrong, and good; other important features of this function include the ability to word statements and express emotions in the most concise and ethical manner that could be implemented to appeal to the ethical processes of others. Being an introverted function, Fi has an active ability to self-sustain itself and moves actively between an subjective emotional world located in the future and past in order to sustain itself as an active function. 

Fe: The seventh function of the this type is Fe. Strong and lacking, it remains to the INFj something to be loathed. Though some use may come from this function in the tracking of events, patterns, and simple gauging of current emotions, this function remains the vehicle by which tradition establishes itself and the foreign get thrown out. For the INFj, Fe truly represents all that inferiority is and the uselessness of false potential, and so long as old emotion is and there remains something to be cherished, traditional systematic ethics stands before the new! Disloyalty to a cherished, strong, and qualified system of personal emotionals will never interest an INFj! 

Ne: The second function of the INFj is Ne, by which the essence of ideas arrive and insights into their development arise. With this function, it is possible to collect multiple perspectives, concepts, ideas, and beliefs in order to register into a readily available databank their entirety and the various conscious considerations concerning them as they stand in the abstract theoretical world and in order to derive a global picture of them. However, Ne also maintains an active neutral stance on all of the whole of its inputs, even if the whole of the input of one core belief, concept, or idea, conflicts with any of the other core beliefs, concepts, or ideas it remains non-biased and registers them all as equals. Probably the most powerful aspect of Ne is an ability to see potential in the most obscure forms and to believe in them. Being an extroverted function, Ne cannot derive data from within and must amass information from outside of itself and in the here and now to survive as a function or at all. 

Ni: The eigth function of the this type is Ni. Strong and lacking, it remains to the INFj something to be loathed. Though some use may come from this function in the tracking of time, patterns, and simple predictions, this function remains the vehicle by which the old becomes abandoned and the new comes about. For the INFj, Ni truly represents all that inferiority is and the uselessness of false potential, and so long as new beliefs emerge and there remains something to be considered, out with the old and in with the new! Loyalty to a strong qualified belief system will never interest an INFj! 

Ti: The third function of the INFj is Ti, by which objective logic substantiates itself through various thought processes. Since the INFj type thrives in a world of ethical and non-logical and subjective principles, it may be rendered difficult for this type to deconstruct and disassemble various levels of thought, concepts, and ideas in order to gauge a sense of their inner workings or how they habitually function. In result of this inability, expected behaviors should include an inability to discern logically the good and bad parts of a concept or the logical importance of a concept, intentionally analyzing too much or not enough, unable to order task in a way that does not cause fatigue, becoming offended when logical mistakes or illogical nature is pointed out, and making impatient and rash decisions before analyzing a situation fully. 

Te: The fifth function of the INFj is Te, by which objective logic substantiates itself through various thought processes. Though be this a weak, unconscious, and influential function, it should find itself most active within the presence of one whose dominant function coincides, for it it seeks to be strong and may pretend to be such. At other times, an expression of this function may find itself in place of the weak and conscious Ti function. Manifested bahaviours expected of this function should include seeming to be in the know about various trends, but has a convulted logic that distorts itself over a period of time, prone to spreading exaggerated gossip that may cause embarrassment, attempts at understanding the logic of others produces childish results, habitually and continually misses the point of someone else's line of thought, spending a great deal of time attempting to substantiate own logic, having a fondness for talking notes or writting in journals in a way that catches attention, attacking the logic of others without substantiating own logic, prone to extreme vagueness. 

Se: The fourth function of the INFj is Se, by which the essence of experiences arrive and insights into their development arise. Since the INFj type thrives in a world of abstract and non-concrete theoretical principles, it may be rendered difficult for this type to collect multiple physical sensations from the eyes, ears, nose, taste and touch in order to register into a readily available databank their entirety and the various conscious considerations concerning them. In result of this inability, expected behaviors should include a lack of motive concerning physical activities, lack of discipline, inability to control aggressive tendencies with unexpected outburst or extreme passivity and non-aggressive, pushing others without good reason or not pushing hard enough when needed, sluggishness and irresponsibility, lack of willpower and initiative, breaking down when put under pressure, shutting down during stressful situations, or inability to push talents and abilities. 

Si: The sixth function of the INFj is Si, by which the essence of experiences arrive and insights into their development arise. Though be this a weak, unconscious, and influential function, it should find itself most active within the presence of one whose dominant function coincides, for it it seeks to be strong and may pretend to be such. At other times, an expression of this function may find itself in place of the weak and conscious Se function. Manifested bahaviours expected of this function should include experiencing uncontrollable flashbacks of negitive or distorted experiences, obsession with past experiences that seem to have a grip on current reality, having a compulsion to keeping things a certain way because they have a certain familiarity to them, not wanting to change the past, prone to inactivity and unwilling to change since that would mean wrecking or damaging the current and future experience,looking past people or things and walking around with distant and vague look in eye as though unaware of surroundings. 

________________________________________ 
Because of the structureof various function, it is not uncommon for a person to be confused or undecided between various types and even between the usage of various functions. The following is a functional description of various types that an actual INFj may become confused or undecided between. 


ESFj - An INFj may find him or her self activelly undecided between the ESFj type and his or her native INFj type. Because the sixth function of the INFj is Si, it is not uncommon for one to confuse the second creative function (Ne) for that function. When this occurs, an INFj may have problems deciding between those sensory and intuitive functions. In even more complex situations, an INFj may demonstrate what appears to be a false lack of Ni, which corresponds to the fourth weakest function of the ESFj. In this instances, the way to discern between these two types and to choose the correct one is to determine whether you activelly use Fi or Fe. If you use Fi more than you use Fe, you are an INFj. If you use Fe more than you use Fi, you could really be an ESFj. 

ISFp - An INFj may confuse him or her self for a ISFp for the same reason that one would confuse his or her self for an ESFj. If you use Fi more than you use Fe, you are probably an INFj. If you use Fe more than you use Fi, you could really be an ISFp. 

ISFj - An INFj usually becomes confused between this type and his or her native INFj when he or she has decided upon being an introvert, determined self as a judging type, and has been having some influence from the sixth function, while not really being sure if that function is introverted or extroverted. In this senerio, instead of a INFj confusing his or her self for an ESFj the extroverted or introverted type has been substituted. In this instance, the way to discern between these two types and to choose the correct one is to determine whether you activelly use more Si or Se. If you use Si more than you use Se, you are probably an INFj. If you use Se more than you use Si, you could really be an ISFj. 

ENFj - Because of the influence of MBTI, some new to socionic's theory may ignorantly think that the correct way to switch between introverted and extroverted types is to simply switch an E to an I or an I to an E. This is not the correct way to switch back and forth between the two in socionics. If you are an ENFj in MBTI with an emphasis on expressing Fi and Ne, your actual socionics type is either an INFj if you choose to stay a judging type or ENFp if you find that you might want to consider being a socionic's perceiving type. On the otherhand, if the above INFj description does not relate to you and you functionally express Fe and Ni, ENFj is still an option, though be warned that socionics does not totally follow the same logic as MBTI does when determining J and P nor do the same stereotypical rules apply when attempting to determine introversion and extroversion. If you are familiar with MBTI, the possibility of having to type yourself totally diffrent than MBTI should be a definite expectation.

Source: Ïñèõîëîãèÿ è ñîöèîíèêà :: Ïðîñìîòð òåìû - INFj


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## thegirlcandance (Jul 29, 2009)

Great and interesting information - but just an FYI... the cognitive functions you have listed are out of order. Our primary function (or first) is Ni and then second is Fe -- not Fi and Ne, that's INFP.


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## firedell (Aug 5, 2009)

thegirlcandance said:


> Great and interesting information - but just an FYI... the cognitive functions you have listed are out of order. Our primary function (or first) is Ni and then second is Fe -- not Fi and Ne, that's INFP.


It's not my doing, i'm just the messenger. It is Scoionics, not MTBI.


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## TreeBob (Oct 11, 2008)

I am going to be moving them all soon. I am hoping to have a Scoionics forum made, so don't be surprised if they disappear.


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## Ćerulean (Nov 18, 2008)

Interesting read, despite the mass confusion among cognitive functions. Just putting it out there, but aren't I supposed to be an INFP and P types from MBTI are Js according to Scoionics?


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## Lav (Feb 3, 2011)

This is description that I actually like, for a change. Btw, whatever happened to this idea?



TreeBob said:


> I am going to be moving them all soon. I am hoping to have a Scoionics forum made, so don't be surprised if they disappear.


¿


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## Invidia (Feb 26, 2011)

Socionics baffles me. I am an INFJ in MBTI, but also an INFj (INFP) in Socionics? Makes no sense to me.


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## TreeBob (Oct 11, 2008)

It got put on hold. We would like a certain number of people in the forum before it is made.


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## Lav (Feb 3, 2011)

sRae said:


> Socionics baffles me. I am an INFJ in MBTI, but also an INFj (INFP) in Socionics? Makes no sense to me.


It's funny. That doesn't make sense to me either...



TreeBob said:


> It got put on hold. We would like a certain number of people in the forum before it is made.


Oh, but there a lot of people already that seem to have interest in scionics. You can see it in their sigs. I've counted like 20 people already; I'd say that's a decent number.


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## Moss Icon (Mar 29, 2011)

Socionics seems to invert the function-order of the mbti. The P/J expressions are opposite thus an MBTI INFP is often a Socionics INFJ. That's true of me at least, I'm INFP but came out INFJ via a Socionics test. I guess people who get the same result on both are just more flexible with their P/J divide, maybe?

I took the test cos the Socionics INFP description felt really off. It's true the Socionics INFJ description fits me better but it's still kinda... 'odd.' Socionics seems to deal far more in prevailing stereotypes and black-and-white generalisations than the more 'ball-park' approach of the MBTI


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## vel (May 17, 2010)

TreeBob said:


> I am going to be moving them all soon. I am hoping to have a Scoionics forum made, so don't be surprised if they disappear.


yay!!! \o/


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