Huh...

Jun 24, 2007 23:30

I just joined, but the last post made me think a bit, about a person's "actual type" surfacing more and more as they get older ( Read more... )

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Comments 10

saeble June 25 2007, 08:49:37 UTC
physiologically, your brain will remain pretty liquid and morphable until you hit 25 when it should settle into a nice jello-ish sort of solid.

Everyones a puppy until they hit 25 or so, subject to considerable change. By about 30, you finally understand whom you are. Only duress and external factors will alter it from that point on to any significant degree.

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equals_32 June 25 2007, 09:22:58 UTC
That's good to know. :) And I have gone through some extreme, rapid, and sometimes wacky changes in my life; lots of discovery there. It'll be good to finally settle down.

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ninamonkey June 25 2007, 18:41:01 UTC
Oh, definitely. We're all semi-late bloomers as INFJs in my opinion. I only recently figured that yes, I am an INFJ after bouncing through a few options (including INTP and INTJ). Sometimes it's all about letting go, or freeing yourself to be yourself.

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equals_32 June 25 2007, 19:14:43 UTC
I think INFJs feelings for others are so incredibly powerful that we often hold them back for extended periods of time, making us look more like INTPs or INTJs.
And it is about freeing yourself to be yourself. God knows how long I tried to act MUCH harder and much less emotionally available than I really am, mainly because I don't always feel like my feelings are respected.

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christinemozart June 26 2007, 09:14:31 UTC
very true. I find that most INFJ's come across as INT until you get to know them

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christinemozart June 26 2007, 09:11:28 UTC
I've been interested in Jungian typing for about 5, or so, years and have found that a lot of INFJ's either mistake themselves for INFP's or INTJ/P's.
Those who test as INFP most likely have the drive to make an impact on the world via humanitarian causes whereas those who mistake themselves for INTJ/P's probably have the desire to understand the workings of the minds of others in the pursuit of creating some sort of spiritual/mental connection.

Both are very much about wanting to understand and connect with others in a deep, non materialistic/hedonistic, way.

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equals_32 June 26 2007, 18:55:24 UTC
Maybe the perceived rarity of INFJ is really due to our tendency to mistake ourselves for other types. I fall into that latter category, but for a while, I was like "I'm like all of the IN__s rolled in to one!" Then I basically realized that feeling like all the IN__s rolled into one basically = INFJ.
It's interesting - INFJs value knowledge sort of like INT_s do, but rather than competence, it's a matter of deep understanding and meaning.

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christinemozart June 27 2007, 09:27:51 UTC
I do think INFJ's are rare, judging by my years in school, I have not met another INFJ in any of my classes, though it's possible that an INFJ may act like an extrovert to fit-in with the social scene or act like a thinker to fit in with the intellectual groups

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equals_32 June 27 2007, 11:25:45 UTC
Well, introverts are met 3 to 1 by extroverts, and intuitives 3 to 1 by sensors, so we definitely are comparitively rare, but I think we might also be harder to peg (whereas it may be slightly easier to spot another rarish type like INTP).
Oy. I did the acting like a thinker to fit in with the intellectual groups - pleasant at first, 'cause, well, they were Rationals and didn't mind someone a bit on the strange side, liked the fact that I was smart, etc. but once I wanted more out of the friendship, it was like trying to get blood from a stone.

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spiritquest June 27 2007, 14:28:58 UTC
Right around the same age as you are now, I had a distinct and unmistakeable shift from INTJ to INFP. It didn't happen all at once... it was philosophically and psychologically turbulent. I look at it in two different ways. (1) The true F was coming out, and I could no longer be so (J)udging against T or F (having intimate personal knowledge of both) -- therefore I had to become Perceiving as well. Or (2) The fundamental shift was really J to P, and it caused me to open my feelings, which had been close.

I am extreme N, and somewhat balanced T/F. So INXP really, but usually the F wins over T, and there's some fluctuation. But J to P was a permanent change -- I've never gone back. I was a definite J, and now I'm a definite P. Change happens. Call it blooming if you like (it does fit), but I don't think my INTJ self was any less genuine than my self today -- both selves were in part responses to the world around me.

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