# What MBTI type did you used to be?



## Charlie (Jun 7, 2009)

I know Jung believes that you always have the same personality type, but as I've gotten in a lot of conversations with my fellow PCers, I have found that many of them did not grow up as their current type. Have your type changed from when you were younger? What type did you used to be and what are your theories on how you became your current type?

When I was a young child I would have considered myself an ESFP or an EXFP. When I took a MBTI test at school when I was 11, I tested as an ENFP but doubted the test's validity. I often wonder if MBTI has a bias in their scoring, placing very strong P personalities with N and J types with S's. I fully bloomed into an ENFP in my early teens. I think what contributed to my change was my environment; some of the most influential people in my world are my ENFP father, and my NF sisters. It was very organic transition into my current type; my fully self recognized ENFP-ness, complete with a cherry on top. :tongue:.


How about all of you?


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## Rushing Wind (Jun 22, 2009)

:dry:......I think half the forum knows by now I used to be an INFP. All I knew growing up is that I was shy and didn't want to be any more. Then that blew up into wanting to inspire people. Then, check it out, I happen to be an ENFP roud:


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## Liontiger (Jun 2, 2009)

I took a personality test at school when I was 12, and I came up with the equivalent of an INFP. Up until the 10th grade, I usually tested as either INFP or INFJ. That's about when I had an epiphany and discovered my Ti. Although, as a young child I was a very outgoing introvert (but an introvert nonetheless).


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## Charlie (Jun 7, 2009)

Rushing Wind said:


> :dry:......I think half the forum knows by now I used to be an INFP. All I knew growing up is that I was shy and didn't want to be any more. Then that blew up into wanting to inspire people. Then, check it out, I happen to be an ENFP roud:





Liontiger said:


> I took a personality test at school when I was 12, and I came up with the equivalent of an INFP. Up until the 10th grade, I usually tested as either INFP or INFJ. That's about when I had an epiphany and discovered my Ti. Although, as a young child I was a very outgoing introvert (but an introvert nonetheless).


Was it out of both of your own motivations that you realized these things and changed? Or were there any other outside influences?


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## Trope (Oct 18, 2008)

There are reasons MBTI type isn't considered reliable in regards to pre-adolescents. For one thing, intuition doesn't come strongly into its own until around that point (see Piaget's work), and secondary functions aren't readily apparent or measurable either. 

There _are_ a few tests designed for younger children that measure what their primary function likely is, with nine possible results rather than the full 16 we're accustomed to seeing. If I had to, I would likely describe myself as having been rather IxTPish at the time.


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## vanWinchester (May 29, 2009)

Ugh, I went thru a lot of types, I believe. INTJ, INFP, INFJ, ENFP, ENTP. I never took any tests, because I had no clues about MBTI back then, but I am able to type myself so, you get the idea. 
And now, look what I turned out to be: balanced INTJ. I'll stick with that. The other stuff is not so much me (and sometimes I was only being those other types because I had to or was stressed). Made quite some travelling I guess. ^^°


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## Liontiger (Jun 2, 2009)

Charlie said:


> Was it out of both of your own motivations that you realized these things and changed? Or were there any other outside influences?


I think it was a combination of both. My sophomore year was a great period of introspection for me because I started breaking ties with my middle school friends without making any new ones. So I was relatively alone, save for a my best friend and a couple casual friends. As soon as I looked inward, I saw a lot of things about myself that I never knew... plus, I took MBTI then and tested as INTP, which kinda sped up the process a bit. :crazy: I believe I was always an INTP, but I just expressed/viewed myself as an INFx.


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## NewSoul (Mar 27, 2009)

When I was oh, let's say five, I was quite the extravert. I had some introverted tendencies, but for the most part, I was extraverted. I just loved being around and meeting new people. I would say ESxx. Maybe ESTP, but idk.


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## Dotti600 (Jul 7, 2009)

It depends on my mood. I'm an INFP but sometimes when I retake the test I'm an ISFP. Maybe because I draw a lot? I don't know. I believe that I have always been an INFP since the day I was born.


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## Harley (Jul 5, 2009)

I remember the first time I took MBTI I came out as ENTP I believe, and swung violently between that and INTP, and I always had a hard time figuring out which one was really my type because I could really identify with both. But as I grew older and got more familiar with MBTI I have concluded that I am and INTP though there were at times I really identified with ISTP too. My stepsis also had her changed too, I remember the first time she took it she got INFP but is now according to her INTP.


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## Cheeeese (Jan 26, 2009)

I was distinctively an ENTJ as a kid, probably until around 6th or 7th grade. The term "natural leader" was on every one of my little report cards, and was usually coupled with "Sometimes has a hard time relating to other students. Can be overtalkative and bossy." Still, I was the smartest kid in class and popular. I was also the most independant child my parents had ever seen. I would always walk ahead of them... one time when I was 4, at the state fair, they stopped and hid behind a tree to see how long it would take for me to turn around and check to see if they were still following me. It took a full minute.. they had to switch trees to keep me in sight. When I did turn around, I just got this slightly annoyed look on my face, turned back around, and headed for the funnel cake booth. 

I think it was more nuture at that point... both of my parents are Ts, so I was kind of taught at a young age to not be so sensitive. I'm still not easily offended. I think when my N really started to develop, I started to reflect on who I was and how I acted, and realized I didn't truly WANT to be the way I was.


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## thewindlistens (Mar 12, 2009)

Bri said:


> I was distinctively an ENTJ as a kid, probably until around 6th or 7th grade. The term "natural leader" was on every one of my little report cards, and was usually coupled with "Sometimes has a hard time relating to other students. Can be overtalkative and bossy." Still, I was the smartest kid in class and popular. I was also the most independant child my parents had ever seen. I would always walk ahead of them... one time when I was 4, at the state fair, they stopped and hid behind a tree to see how long it would take for me to turn around and check to see if they were still following me. It took a full minute.. they had to switch trees to keep me in sight. When I did turn around, I just got this slightly annoyed look on my face, turned back around, and headed for the funnel cake booth.
> 
> I think it was more nuture at that point... both of my parents are Ts, so I was kind of taught at a young age to not be so sensitive. I'm still not easily offended. I think when my N really started to develop, I started to reflect on who I was and how I acted, and realized I didn't truly WANT to be the way I was.


This reminds me a lot of an ENFJ that I know. She was very bossy when she was young too, then during her mid teens she became much more reflective, as you have said, and her Fe started to really shine. Perhaps that bossiness is simply a juvenile use of the Fe function, untempered by other functions such as Ni?


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## Rushing Wind (Jun 22, 2009)

Charlie said:


> Was it out of both of your own motivations that you realized these things and changed? Or were there any other outside influences?


I knew I wanted a change, but didn't believe it was possible. Then outside influences came in, and I began to believe I could change and become what I wanted to be. The rest happened through determination and practice


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## Sonny (Oct 14, 2008)

Functions develop as we mature so personalities should have the appearance of changing plus life constantly throws curveballs that force us to adapt and occasionally in ways that do not fit our natural preference. I believe type is inherent but I also believe many people are mistyped and just as many have picked up habits that go against who they should be.

I've thought I was several different types in the past but with hindsight I can see it was a mixture of my lack of knowledge at the time of typing systems as well as what life threw at me and how I adapted.

I believe that with the exceptions of those who had traumatic childhoods, the way we acted as children and the functions that first appeared are an indication of the type that we are, even if that doesn't match up with how we act now.


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## thewindlistens (Mar 12, 2009)

Sonny said:


> I believe type is inherent but I also believe many people are mistyped and just as many have picked up habits that go against who they *should* be.


I know you didn't mean it that way, but it just irks me, the way you put it specifically.


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## Sonny (Oct 14, 2008)

thewindlistens said:


> I know you didn't mean it that way, but it just irks me, the way you put it specifically.


I don't mean to suggest that MBTI or any typing system should dictate our behaviour. It shouldn't.

My meaning is someone who may have been extroverted as a child but was subjected to an environment that resulted in them becoming socially withdrawn for whatever reasons and believes that equates to them being introverted (and so on with each preference) would have natural skills within them that they're probably not utilizing. Add to that a basic knowledge of MBTI and people seem to start trying to explain why they are the way that they are, how that's natural for them and that it means they can't be anything else, it's like they're blinded to anything else, hence the use of the word 'should'.

It's definitely not a suggestion that certain types need to act a certain way.


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## NewSoul (Mar 27, 2009)

Sonny said:


> I don't mean to suggest that MBTI or any typing system should dictate our behaviour. It shouldn't.
> 
> My meaning is someone who may have been extroverted as a child but was subjected to an environment that resulted in them becoming socially withdrawn for whatever reasons and believes that equates to them being introverted (and so on with each preference) would have natural skills within them that they're probably not utilizing. Add to that a basic knowledge of MBTI and people seem to start trying to explain why they are the way that they are, how that's natural for them and that it means they can't be anything else, it's like they're blinded to anything else, hence the use of the word 'should'.
> 
> It's definitely not a suggestion that certain types need to act a certain way.


Interesting. Most people/tests/whatever say I'm introverted. But I can't help but wonder...


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## Sonny (Oct 14, 2008)

NewSoul said:


> Interesting. Most people/tests/whatever say I'm introverted. But I can't help but wonder...


One of the best ways of figuring out IvE imo is to forget what you've read about the differences and where you think you match up and concentrate instead on observing yourself when surrounded by others. If you find yourself less energised after social interaction even if you're in the company of people you like then you probably are introverted, however, if you don't feel the need to leave those kind of engagements and/or leave with more energy than when you started with than extrovert is a good possibility. Observe your specific reactions as it's happening though.


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## NewSoul (Mar 27, 2009)

Sonny said:


> One of the best ways of figuring out IvE imo is to forget what you've read about the differences and where you think you match up and concentrate instead on observing yourself when surrounded by others. If you find yourself less energised after social interaction even if you're in the company of people you like then you probably are introverted, however, if you don't feel the need to leave those kind of engagements and/or leave with more energy than when you started with than extrovert is a good possibility. Observe your specific reactions as it's happening though.


Yeah, I'm not at all drained by social interaction if it's not awkward. For example, I love having family get-togethers. I'm a very reserved person and often avoid speaking to people of my age. Sometimes I think I'm extraverted, but this isn't really the right thread to be discussing that. I'd just be hijacking the thread. :tongue:

[/off-topicness]


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## Precious Stone (Jun 13, 2009)

Always have been (according to my mother), and always will be an INTP...:crazy:


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## Munchies (Jun 22, 2009)

i was always an entp


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## Selene (Aug 2, 2009)

I was an INTJ until a year ago. Then one of my professors told me, "I'll bet you have really strong emotions underneath there." And I did some journalling, got in touch with all of my repressed longings for intimacy and acceptance, rejected some of my moral/religious ideas, starting dating the girl I had been crushing on for 4 years...and now I'm definitely an F.


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## DevilDoll (Jul 31, 2009)

I have been an introvert most of my life. I was a very shy child with a very vivid imagination. However, instead of playing with the other kids I spent most of my time alone with my nose in a book. When I did associate with people it was usually kids in very small groups or my parents friends. I didn't really pick up on social interaction until I was in high school. I think I was an IxTJ as a child and near the end of high school became more of an ExTJ. My extroverted spell didn't last very long and I soon became more of an introvert. I can still be mistaken for an extrovert on some occasions, especially if you see me interact with my group of friends. As I grew older I developed my F a little more and my S became prominent. Now I'm an ISTJ with a well developed F. Though, I get some really wacky test results and everyone I talk to has a different opinion.​


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## Viktoria2 (Feb 15, 2009)

*I've pretty much always been an ENFP, although the longer I am in school the more introverted I've become. I used to be very expressive, very extroverted, and I like being an ENFP and I don't want to change to complete introvert. We'll see how it goes. *


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## pianopraze (Jun 29, 2009)

I tested INFJ years ago on my only official MBTI test... 

I am still almost 50/50 INFP/INFJ..... I act more J and think more P... Psilo had good explination as to why.


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## Jennywocky (Aug 7, 2009)

My type has never changed since I first ran across MBTI in the mid-90's. 
I read all the descriptions and finding mine was like coming home.

What's funny is that externally I was having to conform to a lot of other styles of behavior from a young age. As I've grown older, basically my core type -- the type I always identified with -- has been becoming more visible to others, the more confident and assertive I get. Rather than changing at core I just become "moreso."

(Basically I grew up in Religion SFJ land... I pretty much had to withdraw or else wear a compliance/conciliatory face all my life, very FJ style. I have been really throwing my relatives for loops in the last five years or so, the more I show my true colors and just act naturally, at last.)


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## Mutatio NOmenis (Jun 22, 2009)

I used to be very much of an ENFP. Then, I began to change. People became cruel to me, and I was consumed by hatred. I had to deactivate my F and E to survive. Thus, I became INTP.


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## Pete The Lich (May 16, 2011)

Mutatio NOmenis said:


> I used to be very much of an ENFP. Then, I began to change. People became cruel to me, and I was consumed by hatred. I had to deactivate my F and E to survive. Thus, I became INTP.


same thing for me only opposite i used to be an INFP or INTP from cruel parents and being the middle child i always wanted to get out of the house to get away from them


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## fffffffffffffigs (Jun 23, 2011)

Liontiger said:


> It seems quite a few of us INTPs were more like INFPs when we were younger. Curious...


S'funny cuz, as an INFP now I feel I used to be much more INTPish growing up. Even now I still test as INTP but the more I read about functions the less that seems true to me. But as a teenager, yea man, I was always exercising my Ti: studying foreign languages for fun, teaching myself how to code and build computers, getting really excited about IQ tests and riddles and all kinds of puzzles and systems. I mean, I've still got a lot of that in me now but not nearly to the same extent. I just can't engage in such subjective/introverted thinking anymore, it seems so arbitrary. I feel like things changed when I had sufficiently gone through puberty. I also had a severe depressive period throughout high school where I essentially lost interest in life altogether which I'm sure contributed hahaha.

Still, there are days when just kicking back with a cup of coffee and a few sudokus is _the best feeling in the world_.


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## StrixAluco (Apr 8, 2011)

Apparently, I was an ITP child.

When I first took a MBTI test as a teenager I got INTJ - which is still a result I tend to get if I don't pick all the P characteristics instead. Now that I'm older, I tried to test my teenage self through my memories and judgement and bias on what stupid girl I used to be and I score more INFP (not saying that they are stupid but that as a teenager I was quite an idiot).

However, the first time I took a test was after I realised that I was merely copying my family and culture considered to be decent for a nice shy girl. I was sensitive as a child but more of a thinker, adolescence made me face rejection (and I was beaten by other kids) so I guess I tried to settle for the cloud cuckoolander with romantic feelings to seem all nice and better than the violent people. I don't think it was my real personality (but I could be wrong and be faking my personality now). 

Might as well have been inferior Fe messing up with me.


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## Liontiger (Jun 2, 2009)

fffffffffffffigs said:


> S'funny cuz, as an INFP now I feel I used to be much more INTPish growing up. Even now I still test as INTP but the more I read about functions the less that seems true to me. But as a teenager, yea man, I was always exercising my Ti: studying foreign languages for fun, teaching myself how to code and build computers, getting really excited about IQ tests and riddles and all kinds of puzzles and systems. I mean, I've still got a lot of that in me now but not nearly to the same extent. I just can't engage in such subjective/introverted thinking anymore, it seems so arbitrary. I feel like things changed when I had sufficiently gone through puberty. I also had a severe depressive period throughout high school where I essentially lost interest in life altogether which I'm sure contributed hahaha.
> 
> Still, there are days when just kicking back with a cup of coffee and a few sudokus is _the best feeling in the world_.


I'm not sure how much stock can be put into my earlier statement, now that I identify as an ENFP. :laughing: So my progression (or at least the way I thought about myself) went something like INFP, INTP, ENTP, ENFP. My "thinking" period was actually me mistaking my Te for Ti, and relying on my Te in a way that was unnatural for me.


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## themartyparade (Nov 7, 2010)

ESTP with a lot more Feeling and also strange Judging tendencies.


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## thistled bones (Nov 24, 2010)

As a child, I can say that I was most definitely some type of EXFX.
I now test as an INFP, but I had always suspected I was a little more J than P--but those suspicions are gone now.

In middle school I wasn't well liked. I had friends, but the majority of the kids would bully and tease me. I often wonder what type I'd be if I hadn't gone through that?


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## Ocky (Feb 19, 2011)

Ive been INTP INFJ and INTJ. i still am actually but i like INFP the best


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## LordDarthMoominKirby (Nov 2, 2013)

I can actually remember what I used to be like.
First I was ENFP, then I became INFP around the 6-7 year old stage. 
ISFP at 8-9.
ISTP at 10-11.
INTP 12-now.


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## Atrej (Nov 4, 2013)

All 3 times I took the personality test (I took the first one a couple of years ago) I scored as an INFP.


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## Peter (Feb 27, 2010)

Charlie said:


> I know Jung believes that you always have the same personality type, but as I've gotten in a lot of conversations with my fellow PCers, I have found that many of them did not grow up as their current type. Have your type changed from when you were younger? What type did you used to be and what are your theories on how you became your current type?
> 
> When I was a young child I would have considered myself an ESFP or an EXFP. When I took a MBTI test at school when I was 11, I tested as an ENFP but doubted the test's validity. I often wonder if MBTI has a bias in their scoring, placing very strong P personalities with N and J types with S's. I fully bloomed into an ENFP in my early teens. I think what contributed to my change was my environment; some of the most influential people in my world are my ENFP father, and my NF sisters. It was very organic transition into my current type; my fully self recognized ENFP-ness, complete with a cherry on top. :tongue:.
> 
> ...


Children live in a world where everything is new. So it's a constant bombardment of new experiences. So it's not strange that you consider yourself an S when you think back about what you were when you were a young child. This is especially true I think when you´re an Extrovert. Over time though the amount of new experiences reduces because more and more you have seen it before.

Even though your main function is usually fully developed by age 7, it still has very little experience and you´re still encountering a lot of new experiences so it's almost impossible to determine your own preference looking back.


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## Arya (Oct 17, 2012)

Peter said:


> Children live in a world where everything is new. So it's a constant bombardment of new experiences. So it's not strange that you consider yourself an S when you think back about what you were when you were a young child. This is especially true I think when you´re an Extrovert. Over time though the amount of new experiences reduces because more and more you have seen it before.
> 
> Even though your main function is usually fully developed by age 7, it still has very little experience and you´re still encountering a lot of new experiences so it's almost impossible to determine your own preference looking back.


I think I'm an exception to a lot of people for some reason. I was a total intuitive and thinker even back when I was three. It seems obvious to me now, because I was terrible at doing anything hands on- I despised coloring, crafts, and putting together puzzles, but I would spend a lot of time sitting around thinking. I was always in lala land day dreaming. I read Lord of the Rings by the time I was eight. I didn't understand emotions, and I had a hard time with empathy. I was very sensitive to being touched, and I refused to wear socks, because they itched my feet. I wouldn't ride a bike, or swim, or do cartwheels, and I argued about ever having to go outside. I was totally out of touch with my physical body, and the world around me. I think I've been on a pretty much set course since I was like three. I can remember very well how I thought even back then. It's only now that I'm practically 18, that I've begun to explore physical activity and sensations and emotions. You say children are bombarded with new experiences constantly, which is true, but I did not relate to them in a sensing way at all. I related to them with Ti, by trying to understand them. I honestly feel slightly held back to other children who already went through some of this stuff at a younger age. I wasn't ready to experience anything until I felt I understood it well enough. Typical INTP I suppose. But anyways, I wasn't trying to contradict your post. I just thought it was interesting how early my functions developed.


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## honoshikun (Sep 16, 2013)

I think I've always been an xNFP of some sort. When I was younger I think I was more of an INFP though.


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## araneae (Aug 28, 2013)

I probably behaved like a typical ISTJ when I was at elementary school. But my family would have said I was an ISFJ. 

Interesting, now that I think about it... I've been reading about the "return of the repressed" lately. One of the examples said that the more you avoid being like someone, the more you will be like that person. My mother is an ISFJ, maybe I was trying to be like her in order to avoid being like my father? It would make a lot of sense since I am an INTJ now, just like him.


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