To think that INFJ is a made up thing?

[beautyandtheflleced]

Quiet and introverted type ?
A future date described himself as this in his profile.
What are the dark sides ?
Sounds a bit wanky or is it a thing ?

Personalities are full of contradiction and complexity and subject to influence from whatever surroundings they happen to be in.

I wouldn’t put it on a dating profile, but I am INTJ. Some people use these on their Twitter profile too, seems like they value conversations around and attach importance to it enough to put it centrally on their info.

It's not objective information though: much of it will be wishful thinking and/or will vary with mood.

If someone else who knew us well were to answer the questions on our behalf - to answer as others see us -the result may be somewhat different.

To an extent, but there are patterns which are solid enough that ‘personality’ is both something we find very useful as a daily concept and that psychologists can have a career in studying. The tool under discussion falls somewhere in between the those two ways of thinking and talking about personality. If it was that nebulous from one moment to the next we wouldn’t have such a clear concept of people having different personalities, which they certainly do.

INTJ married to an INTJ. We did the personality test for a joke but it was a very long test and we were losing the will to live by the end of it. I wouldn't place any importance on it. DH jokes that it means we are both weird.

Sorry on my phone, that was supposed to be a reply @ReneBumsWombats

re @ThisWOMANWontWheesht - yes people can lie or inflate themselves, that’s true of any self-report tool, and yet they are widely used and often reliable. In fact an advantage of Myers-briggs over big 5 is that it can make both of two binary traits sound like ok things to be!

A person who feels the need to declare their ‘type’ is someone I’d avoid tbh.

Me too. It's understandable that teenagers love it - they are at that age where they're desperate to define and label themselves and find a tribe to belong to.

I find all types of personality quizzes ridiculous tbh, regardless of how allegedly reputable they are. If you understand enough about yourself to answer the questions in the quiz, what use is the label it spews out at the end? Utter bollocks imo.

INFJs love Myers Briggs because it provides a kind of justification for why they behave and feel the way they do, when most of their lives they have felt like outsiders.
ESTPs think it’s all bollocks because they can’t imagine anyone feeling or thinking differently to the way they do.

I’m an INFJ too, found it really helpful and insightful personally.

I'm an infj and have found it useful for getting a clearer sense of myself and understanding why I feel and do certain things. I don't think it is that black and white though and clearly a group of infjs would not be identical.
I'm not sure if I would put it on a dating profile, but wouldn't necessarily be put off by it. I think I'd be intrigued to meet another infj and see what they were like.
I know I will have met other infjs already but not anyone who has actually acknowledged themselves as this. I would find it interesting.
They might be a self obsessed bore ( I don't think I am) or they might be just quite aware of different types of personality and how they see the world differently!

INFJ is supposed to be the rarest of those 16 personality types, but also the most 'desireable' - it means the person is sensitive, caring, intuitive, an idealist etc.

I think there are online tests that are geared towards giving the user that result. As there are lots of people claiming it now.

Men are putting it on their profile to attract women who don't know better.

I have an acquaintance who previously said to me they were told by a psychologist that they have narcissistic traits (and I can believe that). They did one of these online personality tests and got INFJ and were very boastful about it, trying to get everyone else to do it so they could tell them their result.

So I don't think it's accurate and at worst it's manipulative.

Tread carefully. I personally would avoid.

I am quite fascinated by Myers-Briggs although wouldn't take it as gospel. I think you really need to understand the four pairs before you can type people or be typed, though.

But essentially it's just picking four axes with which to judge people - you could just as easily say:

Do you prefer Tea or Coffee?
Cat or Dog person?
Prefer Summer or Winter?
Are you Messy or Tidy?

Then say, ooh, I'm a CCSM - A coffee-drinking, cat lover, warmth seeker who is disorganised!

And DH would be CDWT - what amazing insight!!

It doesn't really matter what axis it is - if you present two opposites, the majority of people will lean one way or the other. In fact I'm not especially bothered about winter or summer as I prefer spring and autumn. But if pushed then I would lean towards summer.

I thought basically everyone on MN is INFJ though.

Myers Briggs is a load of cobblers. No evidence or science behind it at all.

Yeah it is made up bollocks. It is as accurate as those personality quizzes Jackie used to have.

I put people who are very fixated on their Myers-Briggs personality type in the same category in my head as people who are very into astrology, as much as that would probably incense both groups. I think both are probably about as accurate as each other and subject to a heavy dose of Barnum-effect confirmation bias. I have no problem with them as tools for people to have a better understanding of themselves but rather like other people’s dreams, I don’t want to hear about them.

INFJ is supposed to be the rarest of those 16 personality types

Despite which, there seems to be tons of them on this thread!

2% - 1 in 50. And higher than standard percentage on MN going by previous threads.

Plus the INFJ is in the title. If you see something that relates to you you're much more likely to click on it.

Here’s a version of MB designed for teenagers. Most students seem to really enjoy doing it - as per PP, it’s like doing a Mizz or More magazine survey. This one links to careers that might be suited to your personality type, and sometimes it’s just easier to be directed where to start your research than to start from blank piece. But obvs all the usual caveats apply, as they would for any sort of test.

icould.com/buzz-quiz/

you get an animal , rather than a 4 letter code ….

Yep, it's a magnet for people who need an ego boost (they're great and wise and special, but sadly misunderstood ). And also gullible.

Jokes really bc this forum is overcrowded with insensitive and emotionally immature posters!

Well I just took a test (even though I think they are bollocks ) because I'm bored and procrastinating! It said I'm INTJ, which is apparently the rarest type among women. I reckon I might get a different result depending on what mood I was in though.

I read the description afterwarfs, and it was pretty accurate, but that's not exactly rocket science - I told it what I was like by the questions!

It's complete bunkum. The test asks someone what they think they are like then it tells them 'you are what you think you are'. It assumes people have complete self knowledge about themselves. We don't, we're all the unreliable narrator of our own story.

Oh I really like that teenager quiz - it's useful because it shows you that you don't have to tick every single box to be an extravert - most people have aspects of both sides after all.

However it would be useful if it did actually give you your Myers-Briggs code!

And I'm a fucking clownfish 😂 Which is stupid.

I always come out as either INFP or ENFP.

I have assumed that quite a few people on AIBU are INFJs.

I am one of those, apparently. I still have no idea what that entails though.

Me too 😅