# Could You Please Help Type Me? (INFP, INFJ or possibly ISFJ)



## Anastasiya Rouy (Jun 14, 2015)

Very interesting  I liked how you described the 'cheating' scenario; judging the act vs. judging the person. It got me thinking, and in that scenario, I would probably do both; I'd feel awful for the person who was betrayed, seeing it as such a selfish act, but I'd also judge the person who cheated, as it shows that they're a person of poor-character; they're automatically lowered in my estimation -- I guess that would put me on the Fi-team (at least in this particular scenario)? Oh, and I'm following you on Tumblr now 

I see you haven't typed yourself yet; it's weird how easy it is to understand others, but sometimes so difficult to understand yourself.


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## Barakiel (May 20, 2014)

Anastasiya Rouy said:


> Very interesting  I liked how you described the 'cheating' scenario; judging the act vs. judging the person. It got me thinking, and in that scenario, I would probably do both; I'd feel awful for the person who was betrayed, seeing it as such a selfish act, but I'd also judge the person who cheated, as it shows that they're a person of poor-character; they're automatically lowered in my estimation -- I guess that would put me on the Fi-team (at least in this particular scenario)? Oh, and I'm following you on Tumblr now


Oh, so another person comes to the dead blog. Seriously, I have no idea what to write about now, but eh, first world problems. :laughing:

Yeah, that's the main difference between Fi and Fe, Fi cares about the concept, and why it's attributed to blanket right and wrong statements, whereas Fe cares about the effects it'll have on outside reality, and why it's fine with moralizing to people. You seem to be Fi, as even with your apparent Fe in feeling sorry for the person, you still seem to be focusing on the act itself. For comparisons, if you're familiar with anime, Lelouch and Suzaku from Code Geass. If you're not, then Boromir and Frodo from Lord of the Rings (movies).


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## Anastasiya Rouy (Jun 14, 2015)

The only anime I'm familiar with, and absolutely love, is Death Note (which I guess displays Ti/Te differences). I see the Fi/Fe differences in Lord of the Rings, though 

The problem is that I've taken a step back in deciding what type I am, as I'm pretty sure I'm not a Fi-dom, and I think Ti is in my top-four, but I'm open to new opinions. I also have a tendency to place others above myself and sacrifice my own feelings to spare theirs, but that could be a result of certain childhood experiences. I have difficulty letting people down and I'm very aware of how my choice of words could affect their emotions. I also don't have strong feelings of joy, anger, sadness, etc., whereas Fi-doms do appear to be hyper-aware of their internal states -- my inner-state depends on the emotional atmosphere I'm in.

I'm not sure if I'm an INFP whose functions have been slightly bent out of shape by certain experiences, or an equally warped INFJ -- *sigh*, I hope a realization hits me soon.

Oh, and I need to get more involved in the anime-scene (I'm from the UK, and it's not really a thing over here); I have a lot of catching up to do


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## SiFan (Mar 10, 2015)

@%1;


Anastasiya Rouy said:


> ....
> 
> SiFan, thank you for bringing some closure to to my confusion  I just feel weird identifying as an INFJ when I've always thought I was just an oddly-developed INFP; I guess I'll always second-guess myself. I think what throws me off is Ni -- the test said that I had good use of it, but I keep doubting myself -- how would you describe your use of Ni?


I've mused over my use of Ni from time to time. For instance, the speaker in that _INFJ vs INFP_ video says that our way of thinking is so different that "only an INFJ would understand". First time hearing that my reaction was something along the lines of "That's news to me!". Eventually, though, it got figured out (by Ni) and made perfect sense.

Basically, the trick is this: Ni thinking is subconscious (like, at the root, all thinking); but, it happens and deals with complex matters with very little conscious awareness or verbal review (unlike quite a lot of 'normal' thinking). Ni runs 24/7 usually resolving whatever situations, questions, etc. attract our (or its) attention. 

Here's a good, succinct look at ni posted by @54-46 ThatsMyNumber in a thread about Ni ...

"Quick overview, my twenties infj 100 %, my thirties infp 100%, now 36 I get both depending on the test, anyway, for me it's like a rolodex in my mind, a person, place, situation, observation will take place and without trying everything I picked up on will combine with everything I have ever known or experienced and will hit me in the soul with a final conclusion. It's not always pretty or something I want to accept but it's very different from a logical thinking mind conclusion. Hard to explain, knowing without a way to explain or comprehend why, you just know."
ref. http://personalitycafe.com/infj-forum-protectors/618034-infjs-intuition.html#post19946098

So, Ni is the explanation for how we happen to _Know_ so many things and so easily accept 'flashes of intuition'. We just plain do; and, we take it for granted. Often we tend to assume that everyone else does it, too; except, everyone doesn't. It's not that we've never thought about and analyzed all of those things; it's that we do so much thinking and analyzing 'in the background', out of our direct/aware/reflecting conscious view, via Ni.

Of course, we use Ni for conscious, reflective problem solving and 'big picture' idea building, too. We kind of manage Ni to create and fit together pieces under the gaze of Fe, Ti, and Se. Coming up with the right solution can be quite an involved process, even if not always terribly time consuming. Later, should someone ask how we came up with 'the idea' (and seems truly interested), they are likely to be in for quite a verbose reply because we tend to enjoy such explanations.

Anyway, you can see how, despite being our most powerful function, Ni may be nearly invisible. Being 'everywhere' makes it seem to be nowhere.


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## Anastasiya Rouy (Jun 14, 2015)

I can relate to Ni feeling as if it's an 'invisible' function because, like you said, it usually works 'in the background'.
Also, the 'everywhere' and 'nowhere' nature of it makes it inescapable, not that it's a bad thing; it's just when everyone's perceiving someone or something in a certain way, I'm perceiving them/it in a different way, and usually, later down the line, my perception is proven to be correct.

It makes me think to when I was about six or seven, and my mother had this 'friend'. I would always get bad vibes off her and I never really liked or trusted her. Anyway, she announced to everyone (including her husband and children) that she had late-stage cancer, and that she couldn't afford to pay for food or other necessities because the 'chemo' rendered her too weak to work -- long story short, she had the local church raise money for her, had the husband drop her off at the hospital to 'receive treatment' and had taken money off everyone she knew (including my mother) -- only to have her husband speak to her GP and find out that she didn't have any medical records confirming her illness; she had duped everyone into believing her. The thing is that, I never did believe her, and I tried to explain to my mother why, but she of course couldn't trust a six year old's instincts. When it was all made public, everything I had sensed about this woman was proven to be correct -- and to this day, I trust my gut reactions above anyone else's I know.

The reason I asked for another explanation is because I wanted to make sure that I wasn't confusing Ni with Si (which can happen) because, as you know, to an INFJ, Si is the 'devilish' shadow function, and isn't utilized very well. My Si isn't weak, but it isn't dominant, and I do get 'internal impressions/sensations' from people and things, which is described as an Si-trait -- however, it would throw my functional-stack out of the window if it were to be in my top-four, which would take me to INFP or ISFJ -- I guess I just wanted to make sure I wasn't tricking myself into believing I'm something other than what I actually am.

Oh, and I've been dreaming about the functions lately; all of this has been playing on my mind for some time now -- MBTI is consuming my subconscious


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## SiFan (Mar 10, 2015)

Anastasiya Rouy said:


> ....
> 
> only to have her husband speak to her GP and find out that she didn't have any medical records confirming her illness; she had duped everyone into believing her. The thing is that, I never did believe her, and I tried to explain to my mother why, but she of course couldn't trust a six year old's instincts. When it was all made public, everything I had sensed about this woman was proven to be correct -- and to this day, I trust my gut reactions above anyone else's I know.
> 
> The reason I asked for another explanation is because I wanted to make sure that I wasn't confusing Ni with Si (which can happen) because, as you know, to an INFJ, Si is the 'devilish' shadow function, and isn't utilized very well. My Si isn't weak, but it isn't dominant, and I do get 'internal impressions/sensations' from people and things, which is described as an Si-trait -- however, it would throw my functional-stack out of the window if it were to be in my top-four, which would take me to INFP or ISFJ -- I guess I just wanted to make sure I wasn't tricking myself into believing I'm something other than what I actually am.


Si and Ni are both perceiving functions; and, to some degree, each might register impressions of the feelings of others. Even so, your account of the experience with the woman scammer seems more intuitional/Ni than sensing/Si.



> Oh, and I've been dreaming about the functions lately; all of this has been playing on my mind for some time now -- MBTI is consuming my subconscious


Cool, Anastasiya! Bet that's a pretty interesting way to view the functions and personality types. Any new theories?


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## Anastasiya Rouy (Jun 14, 2015)

In my most recent dream, each function was represented by a person, and I observed their behaviors in this almost Utopian world. Everything was hazy, but it was pleasant. I think my mind was trying to project my knowledge of the MBTI outwardly, so I could understand it better without the uncertainty of trying to decipher my own thinking.

My conscious and subconscious mind states sometimes blend (if that makes sense) to produce thoughts of unknown origin, but more often than not, I trust whatever my dreams tell me. What kept circling around my mind throughout the dream was Ni, as I watched its characteristics play out in blurry human-form, it's what my mind kept focusing on.

I suppose the heavy focus on subconscious-projecting pushes me towards Ni, as I seem to unconsciously gather information through Se, and recycle it to produce thoughts with no backing, but more often than not are useful in understanding things on a grander-scale, which would all equate to INFJ.

Thank you, SiFan, for helping me understand, as I was so hesitant in typing myself without fully-understanding what it all meant. I needed someone knowledgeable in the use of Ni, as I (almost always) doubt myself. This finally puts my mind at rest, and it's predominantly all thanks to you


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## SiFan (Mar 10, 2015)

Anastasiya Rouy said:


> In my most recent dream, each function was represented by a person, and I observed their behaviors in this almost Utopian world. Everything was hazy, but it was pleasant. I think my mind was trying to project my knowledge of the MBTI outwardly, so I could understand it better without the uncertainty of trying to decipher my own thinking.
> 
> My conscious and subconscious mind states sometimes blend (if that makes sense) to produce thoughts of unknown origin, but more often than not, I trust whatever my dreams tell me. What kept circling around my mind throughout the dream was Ni, as I watched its characteristics play out in blurry human-form, it's what my mind kept focusing on.
> 
> I suppose the heavy focus on subconscious-projecting pushes me towards Ni, as I seem to unconsciously gather information through Se, and recycle it to produce thoughts with no backing, but more often than not are useful in understanding things on a grander-scale, which would all equate to INFJ.


Nice analysis. The dream did a lot of good.



> Thank you, SiFan, for helping me understand, as I was so hesitant in typing myself without fully-understanding what it all meant. ....


What a fine compliment! Glad you've found your type, Anastasiya.


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