# ISFJ or INFJ?



## lebon (Jun 7, 2013)

Raawx said:


> Are you using a single statement to determine someone's type?


actually it's not really a statement. I'm doing an interview here. asking questions one by one.. something like that


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## Raawx (Oct 9, 2013)

arkigos said:


> Chiming in for the xNTP camp - I recognize songs instantly and know the lyrics to almost every song I have ever heard more than once. @_Raawx_, you ARE an Si. Just likely an inferior one. But shouldn't that mean you can't use it well?
> 
> It was my realizations about my own good use of inferior Fe that cracked open my ideas of S types and creativity/imagination.
> 
> For @_BrittanyAnn_ - ISFJ sounds best. Interest and/or focus on esoteric things is not necessarily a sign of Ni... depending on how it manifests, or what aspect is focused on. For example, an Si type might be into astrology, but it is a vehicle for discussing events in people's lives - and adding flavor and speculation to that. That is Si/Fe, not Ni.


Right, that is what I meant, just poorly articulated. I know socionics believes in role orientations, but what does MBTI say about the placement of the functions. I'll probably make another thread on this...


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## Word Dispenser (May 18, 2012)

arkigos said:


> Chiming in for the xNTP camp - I recognize songs instantly and know the lyrics to almost every song I have ever heard more than once. @_Raawx_, you ARE an Si. Just likely an inferior one. But shouldn't that mean you can't use it well?
> 
> It was my realizations about my own good use of inferior Fe that cracked open my ideas of S types and creativity/imagination.
> 
> For @_BrittanyAnn_ - ISFJ sounds best. Interest and/or focus on esoteric things is not necessarily a sign of Ni... depending on how it manifests, or what aspect is focused on. For example, an Si type might be into astrology, but it is a vehicle for discussing events in people's lives - and adding flavor and speculation to that. That is Si/Fe, not Ni.


I think Astrology is good fun. I can mingle with the hippies pretty well and play the game, sure, why not? :laughing: I'm even an expert tarot card reader.

Yeah-- I have a kind of love affair with Si, despite obvious weaknesses. There are some things I just _can't _do with it. I really wish I had a better Si database in terms of.. The nitty gritty. And I admire those who can just pull exact quotes and stuff, right out there. And, well, my obvious obliviousness to internal sensations means I'm not really caring too much about when I get fed, or sleep, which can be a bit ick, since I'd rather like to wake up early everyday, but I can't keep a consistent plan to save my life.

I'm not bad at memorizing things. I can be quite good, actually. Tend to be pretty good with memorizing numbers, names (when I get them repeated a few times and possibly embarrass the recipient), and even 'quotes'...

But I really have to work at it, and it's gotta be fun in some way for me to dedicate that time. Songs are a good example of this, and as arkigos said, I too, can memorize a song's lyrics I've heard more than once. roud:

I enjoyed theatre in highschool, and had no issues memorizing stuff. I'd sit down and do it the night before, sometimes. And sometimes a line will come up that will take me back, and I'll try to remember it as it was.

I'm just so Ne that what I'm constructing verbally sometimes comes out as excited bursts of incoherent jubilation, rather than the more seemingly calm, level-headed Si-oriented types, that can pull off the best jokes with the straightest of faces, and quote, word-for-word, philosophers, mathematicians... Lots to admire there.

But, to actually contribute to this thread, ISFJ makes sense. And I've never met an ISFJ I didn't like. :kitteh: In my head, I think of punk-look, tattoos, personable... And, I mean, that's not really the stereotypical idea of ISFJ insofar as MBTI, but I think it's a great idea to push outside of how we conceive these groups as meaning. Really, we're all individuals...


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## Psychopomp (Oct 3, 2012)

Word Dispenser said:


> But, to actually contribute to this thread, ISFJ makes sense. And I've never met an ISFJ I didn't like. :kitteh: In my head, I think of punk-look, tattoos, personable... And, I mean, that's not really the stereotypical idea of ISFJ insofar as MBTI, but I think it's a great idea to push outside of how we conceive these groups as meaning. Really, we're all individuals...


A lot of SJs that I know don't fit the stereotypes in looks. Most of the SJs I know are rebellious, liberal, free-spirited people. That is because I enjoy those sorts of people, and often they are SJs. Though the free-spirited ones are usually ESxJs. 

My ESFJ sister is really into astrology. We butt heads on that one. She was a 'goth' in high school - at a time and place that when doing so left her profoundly ostracized. She'd go around listening to Skinny Puppy, covered in tattoos. Arguing with people for gay rights... and she is SUCH an ESFJ. When we read out the type descriptions (the Keirsey ones, no less), everyone, including her, gave a resounding vote for 'obvious ESFJ'. So, yeah, stereotypes work, until they don't.


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## Word Dispenser (May 18, 2012)

arkigos said:


> A lot of SJs that I know don't fit the stereotypes in looks. Most of the SJs I know are rebellious, liberal, free-spirited people. That is because I enjoy those sorts of people, and often they are SJs. Though the free-spirited ones are usually ESxJs.
> 
> My ESFJ sister is really into astrology. We butt heads on that one. She was a 'goth' in high school - at a time and place that when doing so left her profoundly ostracized. She'd go around listening to Skinny Puppy, covered in tattoos. Arguing with people for gay rights... and she is SUCH an ESFJ. When we read out the type descriptions (the Keirsey ones, no less), everyone, including her, gave a resounding vote for 'obvious ESFJ'. So, yeah, stereotypes work, until they don't.


Lol. I was just browsing the ISFJ picture thread-- One need look no further than that, for my vision to be proven. :kitteh: 

But, yeah-- There's the cognition, but then there's the individual's interest, and how it's present.


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## candiemerald (Jan 26, 2014)

ISFJ. Definitely ISFJ from what I see there. Reminds me a lot of my brother.


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## Oprah (Feb 5, 2014)

Kendall_Rene said:


> thank you for taking the time to help! judging by what you said, she definitely seems like an INFJ. She can never recognize any song until it gets to the chorus lol I'm always the one who recognizes it instantly....and she almost never has "moments of spontaneity." According to your response, she is a definite INFJ, but she continues to test into ISFJ most times. For some reason, she has convinced herself that she is a sensor, but I always tell her that I don't think she is one. She seems to match the ISFJ "live to serve others" description almost perfectly.
> 
> In addition to this, she had originally thought she was an INFJ, but she got enneagram type 6w5. We were watching a youtube video one day and the guy said that if you think you're an INFJ and you got enneagram type 6, you need to rethink that. He went on to say something about how type 6s have something that ISFP and INFP commonly have, implying that she needed to look into whether she was an ISFP or an INFP. We are absolutely positive she is neither. (I'm an ISFP and we have almost nothing in common.)


Yea, INFJs don't have Ne in their function stack, so they'd be less likely to be spontaneous than ISFJs, since Ne is the 4th function for ISFJ.


And that's the challenging part though - ISFJs and INFJs are really similar in how they interact with others. They both strive for group harmony and usually put others before themselves. 


Another way to distinguish it is to ask her about her memory - an ISFJ would likely be able to tell you exactly what someone said to them 5+ years ago - almost word-for-word. 

Do you ever get in arguments with her where your sister is 100% certain that you had said something/100% certain of a fact, but you don't remember saying it/disagree? And then you figure out that she was right?
That happens with my sister and I all the time - she's an INFP and will get really emotional about stuff as impersonal as a disagreement of opinion. We get in arguments, and she'll say something really mean to me based off of the feelings of the moment, and then she'll completely forget/deny that she said it later on. 
But me being an Si can recall exactly what she said and how she said it. 

I don't know if an INFJ would have the same kind of habits... 


I'm rambling, but the difference comes down to Si versus Ni. 
Is her mind like a filing cabinet where someone can mention one thing, and she'll immediately remember all kinds of life experiences to go along with that one thing? If so, she's ISFJ.

If not, then I'd say she's INFJ, but you'll have to look into Ni and see if it fits her (because despite reading about Ni, it still confuses me  )


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## Kendall_Rene (Feb 5, 2014)

UglierBetty said:


> Do you ever get in arguments with her where your sister is 100% certain that you had said something/100% certain of a fact, but you don't remember saying it/disagree? And then you figure out that she was right?
> That happens with my sister and I all the time - she's an INFP and will get really emotional about stuff as impersonal as a disagreement of opinion. We get in arguments, and she'll say something really mean to me based off of the feelings of the moment, and then she'll completely forget/deny that she said it later on.
> But me being an Si can recall exactly what she said and how she said it.


No. She has a terrible memory, in my opinion. I am always able to recall situations verbatim and she seems to never remember anything lol I will even describe what room we were in, where we were sitting, the whole conversation and she'll still insist that it didn't happen, when I clearly know that it did.


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## Raawx (Oct 9, 2013)

Kendall_Rene said:


> No. She has a terrible memory, in my opinion. I am always able to recall situations verbatim and she seems to never remember anything lol I will even describe what room we were in, where we were sitting, the whole conversation and she'll still insist that it didn't happen, when I clearly know that it did.


Memory has nothing to do with MBTI. You're confusing memory for Si.


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## candiemerald (Jan 26, 2014)

Kendall_Rene said:


> No. She has a terrible memory, in my opinion. I am always able to recall situations verbatim and she seems to never remember anything lol I will even describe what room we were in, where we were sitting, the whole conversation and she'll still insist that it didn't happen, when I clearly know that it did.


Uh...I'm an INFJ and I have a very good long term memory. It's not as well structured as an SJs memory, but I remember almost anything that happens to me. I don't really think that memory proves anything either way. I think what matters is _how_ she remembers things; does her memory center on the way she felt/thought at the time, or does it center on the facts of what happened externally?


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## Kendall_Rene (Feb 5, 2014)

Raawx said:


> Memory has nothing to do with MBTI. You're confusing memory for Si.


No, I'm not. @UglierBetty asked me if my sister was able to recall word for word what happened in the past. I simply responded that SHE does not have a good memory and is not able to do that. I'm not confusing it with anything.


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## candiemerald (Jan 26, 2014)

Kendall_Rene said:


> No, I'm not. @UglierBetty asked me if my sister was able to recall word for word what happened in the past. I simply responded that SHE does not have a good memory and is not able to do that. I'm not confusing it with anything.


Yes, but the whole memory discussion is not very productive. Poor memory isn't delegated to NFs, nor is good memory delegated to SJs. So saying your sister has poor memory certainly doesn't classify her as NF...


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## Kendall_Rene (Feb 5, 2014)

candiemerald said:


> Yes, but the whole memory discussion is not very productive. Poor memory isn't delegated to NFs, nor is good memory delegated to SJs. So saying your sister has poor memory certainly doesn't classify her as NF...


I completely understand this. I'm not saying that having a bad memory makes her any type. I was just answering a question.


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## candiemerald (Jan 26, 2014)

Kendall_Rene said:


> I completely understand this. I'm not saying that having a bad memory makes her any type. I was just answering a question.


I know. I was irritated with the original question. It seemed like it was only confusing the issue.


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## zariaamber (Feb 15, 2014)

I think she's an INSF because I'm an INFJ. We tend to be independent and we always think about what we ARE doing and how it relates to what we PLAN on doing.


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## VoodooDolls (Jul 30, 2013)

an ISFJ


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## BrittanyAnn (Feb 9, 2014)

lebon said:


> I'm sorry to butt in. but what makes you think you're not any other type like.. INFP maybe?


I was considering the types I would mostly test as. I've never tested as a P.


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## BrittanyAnn (Feb 9, 2014)

zariaamber said:


> I think she's an INSF because I'm an INFJ. We tend to be independent and we always think about what we ARE doing and how it relates to what we PLAN on doing.


lol what's INSF? I was saying I was an INFJ for a bit, like a week, but I was hesitant to because it didn't fit me exactly and I know people are always on about fake INFJ's. So I took more tests and got ISFJ so I began looking at that which seems to suit me more description wise. I test pretty close between S and N anyway. I feel like I'm independent since I'm a loner but I don't know if I'd be more dependent if I had a large group of friends. I'm for sure very in the past and future definitely not the present, I'm pretty sure that's an INFJ one (idk). But again I do test close to an N


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