# INTP, INFP, or INFJ?



## periculosa (Apr 3, 2010)

Longer ago than I care to admit here, I took the MBTI as part of career counseling. At that time, I very much wanted to go back to college to study environmental science. No surprise that I tested INTP, though in retrospect I also know I am bright enough to skew almost any test.

Fast forward to now. I am in personal crisis, and it has set me into an emotional tailspin...I discovered my husband was having an affair, and I am considering a divorce. Who knows if it was Providence or just a lucky accident, but I took a short version of the MBTI on Facebook, and came up INFP. Curious, I thought, all these years I believed myself to be INTP, so I took several versions online and came up consistently INFP. I found the Myers-Briggs way of considering personality to be intriguing and potentially helpful in understanding my own situation, so here I've been for about a month.

Well, my personal situation has caused me to question almost everything, so I suppose it wasn't a surprise when I continued to question the INFP identification. I came across an article on self-disclosure and INFJs, and this really seemed to describe me:

INFJ or INFP? a closer look

The quick and dirty on this article: INFJs tend to self disclose as a means of connecting with other people...and indeed, since I discovered the affair, I've found myself "sniffing out" my acquaintances (like any other redblooded introvert, I have few close friends) to see who might have some personal experience to help illuminate mine. Previous to this I had disclosed little of my personal life to these people, yet now I feel compelled to do so, beliieving that one person will give me the one bit of information that will make my ultimate decision clear to me.

Another article on INFJs also caused me to question:

http://personalitycafe.com/infj-articles/19817-many-faces-infj.html

This one is called "The Many Faces of INFJ." The sketches of the Academic and the Revolutionary I identify with most strongly. I once attended graduate school in English literature with the intent of getting a Ph.D. (but abandoned this goal); now I work as a librarian and volunteer as a political activist. Of course, these aren't jobs alien to an INFP either...but they fit INFJ almost as well. The only other "face" of INFJ that calls out to me is the Guru. People don't seek me out as one but--as I described myself on Facebook--I am a "spiritual adventurer." Nowadays my travels are in Taoism and Zen Buddhism, but I've been to many other spiritual places, and would be shocked if I practiced Buddhism my entire life.

I just retook the test on Humanmetrics.com, and here is how things panned out: I 89%, N 88%, F 50%, P 22%.

So...who am I???


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## HandiAce (Nov 27, 2009)

Hello. I'm sorry to hear that you're in a hole at the moment with the man you loved.

Concerning your type, you are an introvert which means that you are drawn to your own inner world. The INFP and INTP can sometimes be difficult to distinguish if you find yourself making certain intellectual pursuits, etc.

INFP - Your head holds rigid values related to the human elements that you stay true to.
INTP - Your head primarily defines rigid principles based on logic. You attack things from multiple angles. In other words, you want to have values, but are mostly objective and unbiased in how it appeals to the world.
INFJ - This type is different from both the INFP and INTP in that his or her inner world hold primarily perceptions, not values or principles. The INFJ is more flexible about having certain values, but they have their ways of doing the things they like and might be stubborn about changing the way they get things done. The INFJ likes more to impose their ways onto the outside world (extraverted feeling).

It may be difficult to determine what type you are if you are in a rut at the moment, but I know if must be something you are eager to figure out as was I. Just think back to earlier times in your life and analyze your motives for acting the way you did. :wink:


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## passerby (May 25, 2010)

Is it possible to identify yourself with all three personality types? You said that you had the intellingence to skew the tests in your favour. To me, it seems as if the choice to decide who you are as a person is yours in its entirety.


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## periculosa (Apr 3, 2010)

passerby said:


> Is it possible to identify yourself with all three personality types? You said that you had the intellingence to skew the tests in your favour. To me, it seems as if the choice to decide who you are as a person is yours in its entirety.


Hmm...I like that thinking. I have a friend who keeps quoting Thomas Paine to me, saying that I can reinvent my world if I so choose. He meant it when referring to my marital situation, but clearly it could refer to who I decide I am as a person, and which abilities to develop and to use.

Here's another question, though, which I believe I did not make clear in my initial post. I wonder whether I would come up with a different type if I were not in such emotional turmoil. Maybe I am testing as if I am ruled by my emotions because that is exactly where I am at the moment.


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## walkawaysun09 (Mar 13, 2010)

Just saying, you don't seem like a P, so if you're a T, it'd be INTJ. You seem a lot more rigid and structured in this post, taking the time to either edit or at least put some semblance of structure here.

I believe INFJ, because they often "appear" to look like INTP/INTJ depending on the situation, especially when not forced to display their emotions in a fashion where they are externally observed (most INFJ's I know personally keep their emotions on the inside, rarely display anything unless "acting" like my friend Dylan). Just my personal views on this, but I'd say rather than cheat the test because you know what the results would get you, be HONEST with what you are normally.


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## periculosa (Apr 3, 2010)

walkawaysun09 said:


> Just saying, you don't seem like a P, so if you're a T, it'd be INTJ. You seem a lot more rigid and structured in this post, taking the time to either edit or at least put some semblance of structure here.
> 
> I believe INFJ, because they often "appear" to look like INTP/INTJ depending on the situation, especially when not forced to display their emotions in a fashion where they are externally observed (most INFJ's I know personally keep their emotions on the inside, rarely display anything unless "acting" like my friend Dylan). Just my personal views on this, but I'd say rather than cheat the test because you know what the results would get you, be HONEST with what you are normally.


LOL that you are trying to "analyze" me based on my writiing...you don't know this about me, but I would say I am a Jekyll and Hyde kind of writer. I write most of my own articles for my blog (Periculosa on Civil Liberties and Privacy) and can gather facts and articulate them pretty well. But my private writing--in my journal and with a few intimate friends--is entirely different. It's very, very emotional stuff, the sort of thing that I only rarely express in real life (though more folks *are* hearing about my emotional side because of the things I am going through).

You've almost sold me on INFJ. I am the sort of person who would like to improve the world, though I would never go so far as one of my best friends (whom I also suspect is an INFJ), a guy who says he wants to "write a book which would change the world." For one thing, I am too tolerant of other world views to want to impose them on others. If I were to write something that would change anything, I figure it would be something that would only transform a tiny slice of society. I find it more interesting to try to find people who are open to ideas siimilar to mine and THEN discuss them. BTW this is very frustrating to some of my friends in the political group, who complain that I "don't promote myself enough."


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## vel (May 17, 2010)

The main distinguishing factor between INFJs and INFPs is that
INFJ is introverted intuition primary, extroverted feeling secondary
INFP is introverted feeling primary, extroverted intuition secondary

What introverted intuition does is it likes to gather information of the world around us and compile a bigger picture of it. When in overdrive it basically wants to know the absolute truth, understand the whole universe. It wants to understand reality as it is without anyone's particular interpretation of it but from all angles and all interpretations. This makes INFJs not easily led astray but sometimes overly neutral, like observers of the world, you see that all human values and principles are ultimately subjective. Extroverted feeling lets you keep tab on what the social role of everybody around you is. So when I would join a new work place for example my mind would keep a careful track of what everybody does, what their relations are to each other and to myself. As such you come off as very very aware of people and knowing details about them that normally people don't keep much track of. Introverted tertiary thinking asks questions like "is this useful", and prompts you to analyze yourself and others, and advise other people on their choices. Hence why INFJs are called the counselors - relatively impartial view of the world, sensitivity to people's feelings and their roles in the social fabric, desire to analyze yourself and others and to advise others on their choices. 

Introverted feeling is primary function of INTPs and how it expresses is quite different from INFJs extraverted feeling or introverted intuition. It is basically described alike having a flame of values within yourself that you are keenly aware of. As such INFPs can have very strong set of values. They judge things to be good or bad based on how much they clash or create harmony with their internal values. INFJs are a little bit more diluted in this respect because their introverted intuition can at some point show them that values are really subjective, not absolute, and if anything clashes, your values can be adjusted. INFJs thus come off as less emotional and can be confused for INFPs and INTJs. INFPs find is easier to forgive people for their crimes and bad behavior, very easy for them to sympathize. They see everyone as a unique individual and even most vile members of society to them still have a soul and feelings. While INFJs are also capable of empathy, it less frequently leads to sympathy. They are a J and are more critical about people, thus they can seem to be more cold and aloof than INFPs. When you come to talk to INFP about your problems a typical INFP will tell you "there, there, I know how you feel, it's ok, we all love you" while a typical INFJ will attempt to rationalize the situation for you and give you advice on how to proceed next. Extraverted intuition encourages you to embrace the unknown rather than fear it, to continue searching because at some point you'll might find something wonderful, to open yourself up to opportunities, to daydream about connections and possibilities, to read between lines. People with Ne are good at generating ideas.

Both groups are very good empaths, have very high ideals that can border perfectionism, and have a desire to help others.

Hope this helps.


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## Scruffy (Aug 17, 2009)

I think you're a T under immense strain, INTP would be my choice.

Unfortunately, tests are super stereotypical. If you're feeling sad most will throw you into an F.

Never trust tests.


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## cutesy (May 27, 2010)

I'm trusting that you're an INTP...I don't quite rely on tests because tests often gives you lots of different results. Just my two cents. :wink:


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## periculosa (Apr 3, 2010)

Hmm...you've all given me a lot to think about, so I am still up in the air over this. I was reading Keirsey (_Please Understand Me)_ yesterday afternoon and he makes an interesting point about Js: that they "report a sense of urgency until he has made a pending decision, and then be at rest once the decision has been made." The questions on the MBTI concerning decisions are giving me the greatest pause...because I am on the cusp of a big one!

I've been living with indecision for about 10 months and it's gotten to be too much. We tried marriage counseling and mostly this meant I had to live with listening to an extensive catalogue of my faults. (Some of these were really no more than I was too reserved and not openly affectionate enough...but how is that fair, when he knew he was marrying an introvert?). I've written him an email about the misery he has caused in my life and am asking him to be honest with me about what is going on. I believe things are essentially over, but I've decided to make a few demands which I frankly believe are unreasonable--I want him to be honest and authentic, and do whatever it takes for me to trust him and fall back in love with him. I'm thinking these are demands an INFP or INFJ would make, but who knows, maybe I *am* an INTP under a great deal of stress.

As for the decision making aspect of this email, well...tonight I'm pressing "send." I'll see how I feel on the other end of this.


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## NeedsNewNameNow (Dec 1, 2009)

from my interaction with INFP and INFJs, I find I have alot in common with them. I think the main problem you are having is that your F score is 50%. There are alot of people on these forums that get a score near the middle, and they have trouble identifying their type, since both sound like them. Real personality isn't as rigid as 16 types. You're a hybrid


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## buddhistcarnivore (Jan 30, 2014)

You sound like an INFP.


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