# What is the difference between the Cognitive Test and MBTI?



## Brent Bennett (Apr 17, 2012)

Because I am even more confused now...

I feel I'm an INFP, and I have scored that on every MBTI test I've ever gotten. But the cognitive test that is linked here gave me this: 


Based on your cognitive functions, your type is most likely:
Most Likely: INFJ
or Second Possibility: ENFJ
or Third Possibility: INFP


Your cognitive functions are, in order of development:
Ni - Fe - Fi - Ne - Si - Te - Se - Ti

Here are some quick descriptions of your functions, in order of preference:

The Introverted Intuition (Ni) function implicitly recognizes that one term can have multiple meanings, and allows the individual to disconnect themselves from the concept of 'objective truth'. This allows those with strong Ni to 'rewire' the connections that form a concept and test it from new and unique angles. This is why the Ni dominant types are often called analysts: they can pull apart an idea and test each individual piece to see how it changes the whole.

The Extroverted Feeling (Fe) function is used when an individual acts in a considerate way to the feelings and beliefs of the people around them. Those with strong Fe can easily empathize with other people and is the most likely to be a 'people person.' Those with weak Fe may find themselves offending people unintentionally.

The Introverted Feeling (Fi) function attempts to find meaning in the world. In this sense, 'feeling' doesn't necessarily mean 'emotions' - it refers to the subjective and subtle sense of value within a situation. It is often associated with gut reactions about the fairness or goodness of an interaction. Those with strong Fi usually care less about objective facts and more about what's fair or right.

The Extroverted Intuition (Ne) function is oriented toward generating new possibilities. Ne is all about brainstorming - imagining a variety of possible outcomes and considering them all to be possibly true. Ne is associated with new ideas and innovative breakthroughs.

The Introverted Sensation (Si) function compares past events with current events. Si is associated with vivid memory recall and a reliance on experiential learning. Those with strong Si often prefer to take a 'hands on approach'. On the other hand, those with weak Si often do not benefit from interacting in that way.

The Extroverted Thinking (Te) function imposes our own order on the world around us. Te structures the world in logical ways, ranging from the physical world (your desk, your office, etc) to concepts (creating 'flow charts' of ideas in your mind.)

The Extroverted Sensation (Se) function is associated with a vivid perception of the world, taking into account details that others may miss. Se is about being closely tuned to the world around you, and that usually translates into following 'gut impulses' and taking great pleasure in physical action. Those with weak Se may sometimes feel 'disconnected' from the world around them.

The Introverted Thinking (Ti) function is used when an individual analyzes something, breaks it apart, and categorizes and defines its elements. This is the foundation of logical thinking. Ti is crucial in identifying logical inconsistencies and putting together logical arguments. Those with strong Ti usually have an ability to remain objective even when it may bother others.

And I have absolutely no clue what it means, even after reading the descriptions. Mind helping me out a bit?


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## sitodocambia (Nov 14, 2011)

Sure!

"Is it weird that my T is 0%? I am actually a pretty good student..."

That just means you don't like making decisions based on logic. Having a preference for thinking has much less to do with intelligence than most people think.

Here's the difference between MBTI and Cognitive Functions. MBTI tests give you a four letter code that corresponds to your specific personality type. If this code is correct, it indicates your preferred cognitive functions. Cognitive functions mark the core of a person's personality. Which type fits you is COMPLETELY determined by your cognitive functions. INFJs use Ni, then Fe, then Ti, then Se consciously. The other functions are still in use but not part of an INFJs conscious awareness. On the other hand, INFPs use Fi, then Ne, then Si, then Te consciously. The first letter of the type code (I) tells you that the first function a person uses (the most "preferred" function) is introverted, or focused inward. The J says that the judging function (F or T) is extraverted (oriented outward), whereas P signifies that the perceiving function (N or S) is extraverted. Thus, from that information you get that INFJs use Ni-Fe, while INFPs use Fi-Ne. Your last function is always the complete opposite of your first (Se for INFJs and Te for INFPs) and your third, or tertiary, is always the complete opposite of your second (Ti for INFJs and Si for INFPs).

Below is a table I made to help my mom and sister understand the functions better.

*Cognitive Function*
*Behaviors Associated with Cognitive Function*
Ni
Seeing the possibilities, but choosing the one that is true. Being attached to ideas. Seeing the right pattern and connections. Aha! Moments. Seeing how apparent contradictions fit together. Metaphors and symbolism. Form and maintain a strong internal vision. Seeing trends. Future-oriented.
Ne
Seeing all the possibilities. Dramatic. Believing that any one of the possibilities may be true. Seeing all patterns and connections. Brainstorming. Good at manipulating both systems and people. Very spontaneous.
Si
Seeing how the outside world affects you. Being attached to images. Good at memorization. Detail oriented. Memory for detail. Living in the past. Relates past to present.
Se
Seeing the outside world very clearly. Following your immediate impulses. Taking risks. Being very “present” in the moment. Spontaneous.
Fi
Morals based on subjective personal feelings, the individual over the group. Empathy for all feelings. Help others so you feel good. Promotes personal values. Less interested in social norms. Difficulty expressing feelings.
Fe
Morals based on how things affect others, the group over the individual. Empathy for only for feelings you understand. Help others for the sake of helping. Respects and follows social norms. Promotes group values. Easily expresses feelings.
Ti
Applying logic subjectively to fit personal beliefs. Choosing just the right word. Noticing logical inconsistencies. Forming precise definitions. Applying leverage to a situation. Breaking ideas into parts. Principles.
Te
Applying logic objectively to outside world. Making logical arguments. Following someone else’s logic easily. Organizing information into charts. Noticing when something is missing from an argument. Structuring the outer world.

For more complete (and probably better) descriptions you can search "Jungian cognitive functions" on the Internet.

One way you can tell if you have INFJ or INFP preferences is by looking at your tertiary function. As you age, the tertiary becomes almost as active as the secondary function. For INFJs, that means that their Ti is constantly making them analyze the things they say and the things they do. For INFPs, Si is constantly remembering details about the past and relating them to the present.

This is a great site if you want to find more ways to tell whether you have INFJ or INFP preferences.
INFJ or INFP? a closer look.

Also, I suspect you really do have INFP preferences. The cognitive functions test gave you wrong results. Below is a link to an amazing cognitive function test that's so good it's about as accurate as the official MBTI in picking out your type of best fit.
Keys 2 Cognition - Cognitive Processes

Using cognitive functions is by far the best way to determine which type fits you best. It's a great tool to help you understand yourself better, and it really adds a lot of depth to personality type theory.


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## Brent Bennett (Apr 17, 2012)

@sitodocambia Thank you so much for that. I really didn't deserve that much detail, but it was so amazing of you. ^^

And I like the chart, it did seem a lot better than the complicated stuff they told me in the test. 

So what you're saying is that the cognitive function is simply a more in-depth verson of the MBTI test?


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## sitodocambia (Nov 14, 2011)

No problem. I could really go on and on for ages about cognitive functions.

I'd say that MBTI is really a watered down version of the cognitive functions. MBTI actually was created as a way to measure Carl Jung's cognitive functions. The problem with MBTI is that they never tell you what the letters of your type code actually mean.


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## LiquidLight (Oct 14, 2011)

Understand the tests are measuring two separate things. MBTI is a behavioral theory that sort of tries to justify itself by linking behavioral tendencies to Jung's ideas of cognitive functions. The CF tests on the other hand simply attempt to measure (if such a thing is even possible) how strong your preference is for a particular function attitude (i.e. do you prefer Introverted Sensation to Extraverted Sensation) and so on. The CF test does not mean that you use all of those functions though consciously, just that it is measuring (via your answers) what appears to be use of a certain function (as the test defines those functions). 

So both are sort of wonky, because a test really cannot accurately analyze your personality. MBTI really isn't attempting to do such a thing anyway, its definitely more focused on behavior. The CF test is more psychologically focused (since Jung's ideas of the functions are based on a psychological not behavioral theory), but again qualifying someone's psychology into a quick test is dicey at best. What both of these tests do is put us in the ballpark. To tell us we may be an Intuitive over a Sensation type or a Thinking type over a Feeling type. But from there you have to do the legwork to analyze yourself (or get analyzed) to really see what your actual psychological type might be. 

For example, many, many people test as INFPs on MBTI tests who are not INFPs. I won't go into all the reasons why, but this is common and many of these people might actually be psychological extraverts and not even Introverted Feeling types. But because the way the test is structured and what it is attempting to measure you can end up with mistypes. On the other hand the cognitive function tests I think confuse people more than they help them, because the test might indicate an impossible function usage (like having both strong Ne and Se) so the CF test might only be good to figure out your dominant function (or inferior function). It might be a more accurate measure of your actual personality, MBTI might be a more accurate measure of your behavior. It's actually quite possible for someone to be one type in MBTI and another functionally (this seems inconsistent but once you dig deeper it becomes clear why..the MBTI does not take the function attitudes into account, but rather bases everything around Judging/Perceiving and then infers if you are introverted or extraverted rather than testing out right. You can see then how one test might show one result and your actual preference might be something else.) It's just a matter of using the tool that you feel is right for you and trying to get out of it what you want to get out of it.


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## sitodocambia (Nov 14, 2011)

You make a lot of valid points though, by your own logic, it sounds like your saying that the CF test is a better self discovery tool than the MBTI test. Finding out how you behave in the external world is no difficult task; you can find that out for yourself just by asking other people. Understanding yourself, however, especially on a deep level, is a much more difficult process. Thus, it seems like you are saying that the CF test tells you who you truly are, while MBTI tells you your persona. Frankly, in my opinion, it's more important for you to find out who you are than to find out what your persona is because the persona has much less to do with who you really are inside. Thus, though they are confusing for some, I'd say you should go with the CF test over the MBTI every time. You may have to do some interpreting of the results to find your true type of best fit, but it seems to be a better place to start than MBTI if it tries to gauge the internal you automatically.


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## Brent Bennett (Apr 17, 2012)

I really think I understand all of this much better now. I do have a few statements/questions though.

@sitodocambia I can see where you're coming from about the persona thing. Except I have to have many different personas to be able to function in the places I am. I see my score on the MBTI to be my true core, however, and when I took the test you linked, it also gave me the INFP as well. Like, when I perform live, or deal with people at work, I have to be really extroverted, when I would much rather just hang out with a smaller group of people, and not really talk to other people. However, I still behave mostly within the INFP structure, in that I'm very nice and try and help out as much as I can. I also tend to act differently with my friends for the most part. I tend to be much more sarcastic and try to crack jokes, but I'm always there to listen, as they are for me.

@LiquidLight I definitely see where you're coming from, but I like to think they give us a starting point. Once I started interacting with the INFP forum members, I realized that I feel I'm an INFP. I just connect in a way with them that I cannot explain, and feels weird because I don't actually know them, y'know? I just see myself in them when they post. 

Am I crazy?


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## sitodocambia (Nov 14, 2011)

No, you're not crazy. That's completely normal, and I'm glad for you that you feel you're fitting in with other members of the INFP forum right away 

And I also agree that you need to have personas in some sense. It's just more important to realize who you are inside because, although everyone you know lives with your persona, YOU have to live with the real YOU, which is much more easy when you know who you truly are.


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## LiquidLight (Oct 14, 2011)

Without getting into the academic Jungian psychological reasons why, MBTI and other tests like Big 5 specifically type persona because of their focus on observable traits. Now it may be that the definitions of INFP type as MBTI defines it fits you, but remember that INFP is really more of a social role (especially when we introduce Kiersey into the equation). A role people play (like INTP architect, or ISTJ Guardian or whatever). This isn't psychology its more a study of social roles. MBTI's chief role is to help manage the workplace. To figure out basic preferences for people so they can be hired or managed better. It is not meant to be a psychology, even if its basis is grounded in Jung's psychology, MBTI is first and foremost a behavioral model and as such specifically types people's personas, which is why, as you mention people often get mistyped, or think their type changed when their environment changes because, people have many personas in different circumstances and are often unaware of the degree in which they identify with their persona. THe problem with a self-report test is it relies on the person having accurate self-knowledge (which in some ways would defeat the purpose of being tested), so you run the risk of having very inaccurate results or confirmation bias or forer effect or any other number of phenomenon because the nature of the self-report test is crap in/crap out. 

The reality is people identify more with their personas than they think and this is why these tests have carried so much weight (when in reality the scientific merits, especially of MBTI are dubious). Five Factor Model and others are more peer reviewed and accepted measures of evaluation, but again are still based around observable traits and thus only measure, perhaps more accurately, the persona. 

The difference between this and Jung's psychology which you can read about in the first article of http://personalitycafe.com/cognitiv...k-guide-understanding-jungian-psychology.html. Jung's types are psychological types not social roles or behavioral types (a la judgers/perceivers) etc. But rather studies of the different ways that people use their cognition to process the world built around his greater ideas of the psyche, the ego, the complexes, etc. MBTI amalgamates all that down into an oversimplified behavioral theory that works on its own, but isn't really a robust psychology. So you identifying with the people in the INFP forum doesn't really tell us much about your psychological type (we can sort of infer that, assuming the people in that forum are typed correctly, that perhaps you are an Introverted Feeling type but really a CF test might better indicate that). 

So like I said it depends on what you want to get out of it. If the whole MBTI/Kiersey social-roles (artisan, rational, judger, perceiver, etc) thing is what you're interested then MBTI is fine (honestly that's about where most people get anyway). But understand it may be hit or miss as to whether it is accurately portraying your actual personality (from an ego standpoint, not persona). To really know ones psychology though it takes really knowing both the things you identify with, but more importantly what you don't identify with. Your inferiority complexes, things you hate, people you don't like and why, things you're not good at. You see the problem with these tests is that people answer them from a persona standpoint "I think I'd do this," or "maybe I'd select option A." But often don't really ask themselves why they'd go for option A for instance. That's where we actually get into your actual psychology is when we stop looking at what (am I an INTP or INFP?) and look at why. This is not a comfortable process initially, takes a long time, and is not something any quick trip to an analyst or online test can answer because it really involves dealing with the whole self, even parts of yourself you may not yet realize exist (for example many Feeling types have an inferiority complex around Thinking that they don't recognize or worse project onto others without seeing it in themselves). So like I said its a matter of depth of self-knowledge that you are in for. MBTI is superficial and not meant to be anything more than that. But Jung might be unnecessarily deep so it all comes back to you.


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## Brent Bennett (Apr 17, 2012)

@LiquidLight I like when you talk. You make good words. ^^

That was both incredibly informative, and I'll definitely take a deeper look into all of this. Thank you so much for going into all of this, even though you totally didn't have to. It was a great read, and I really think I need to learn more about this, personally.


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## Donovan (Nov 3, 2009)

@Brent Bennett



> The Introverted Intuition (Ni) function implicitly recognizes that one term can have multiple meanings, and allows the individual to disconnect themselves from the concept of 'objective truth'. This allows those with strong Ni to 'rewire' the connections that form a concept and test it from new and unique angles. This is why the Ni dominant types are often called analysts: they can pull apart an idea and test each individual piece to see how it changes the whole.


this is the best description of Ni i have ever seen... even if it's not Ni, that is the dominant use of my own psychic energy--everything that i first turn a lens to is through the lens of the quoted part. i didn't even finish reading your post, just had to give a textual thanks .


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## The Great One (Apr 19, 2010)

The cognitive functions tests tell you more about a person IMO.


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