Personality Type Primer: MBTI
[This post might be a little long, so click on it for the whole things if it gets cut off]
On another Substack I read recently, the host talked a little about personality typing. There are a number of systems that people use and I have some decent familiarity with several, so I thought I should perhaps provide some of my ideas on this. If people are interested in this more, I will gladly discuss this more on subsequent posts, as well as another typing system I like as well. Most people have some familiarity with the MBTI and the idea of 16 personality types. The MBTI folks have worked very hard to develop a test that can conclusively say that those who test the same way have similar personalities.
The biggest problem with the MBTI (and all personality testing) is self-awareness. Many people will answer a question of how they think they should answer, instead of how they actually are. If a person is always late to events but feels like they really should be early to events and would be but for some random life event (that just happens whenever they are going somewhere), then they might answer a question like that they are on time or early.
When I first took an MBTI as a freshman in college, I had a strong internal hatred to rigid behaviors and thinking. I often answered questions not how I was, but how I wanted to be, free from external pressures, free from strict schedules, and haphazard. I felt a strong pull as a teen to those anti-social lone fighter characters in movies, like Clint Eastwood in his Spaghetti Western films or Dirty Harry, or other characters like that.
So, when I first took an MBTI test, I tested as an ISTP. It was very wrong, and I will get to why it was wrong, but it is a nice example of why testing along may not get you to who you are.
The traditional MBTI uses four letter types. Each person is either an extrovert (E) or introvert (I). Next comes the perception letter, a sensor (S) or an intuitive (N). Next is whether someone is a thinker (T) or a feeler (F). And finally, the last letter is for whether someone is a perceiver (P) or judger (J).
Using the example above, a ISTP would be an introverted sensor who uses thinking and is a perceiver. The direct opposite of a ISTP would be an ENFJ, an extroverted intuitive who uses feeling and is a judger.
Judger in MBTI is a not a judgmental person. It is more about organizing themselves and making decisions versus perceivers, which just go along with life (or so it seems).
Likewise, a Feeler still thinks and a Thinker still feels, but it is difference between impersonal thinking vs. person, human oriented feeling.
Sensors are closer to the here and now, while Intuitives are often looking towards the future and not the present moment.
Anyway, here is a free test for readers to do. I find it fairly good as these tests go, even if not perfect. And don’t think just because you test something today, that you are that. This is just to get a ballpark.
Let’s look at the chart to see where everyone fits:
The best lengthy type descriptions there are easily accessible on the internet are at Personality Page. Read through the type description for the type you tested as and consider if that is you, or not.
Again, often the first-time testing will not be on target mostly because the test is only as accurate as the person taking the test knows themself.
Generally, the majority of women are SFs of some type. The majority of men are STs of some type. Very few people are NFJs and NTJs, though a lot of people will test that way initially on typical internet tests. Both are relatively rate groups, so, according to most research I have seen, so less than 1 in 10 will really be a NFJ or NTJ.
Isabel Briggs Myers, using the vast amount of date accumulated from decades of testing wrote “Gifts Differing” with then husband Peter Myers. Here are a couple of things I found fascinating in her work.
That people share traits with everyone they share a letter with, or all “I”s share some common traits, all “IN”s share some common traits, etc.
A INFP and a INFJ share three letters, so they will be outwardly similar, even if they are very different inside, and so on, so a ENTJ and ENFJ will be quite similar in some ways, even if very different in others.
The official MBTI does not get into some of this, as it is mostly focused on corporate support and such.
DICHOTOMIES
Under official MBTI testing methods, people are pulled between two points on all 4 letters. Someone will either be an Introvert or Extrovert, or somewhere in between. Testing will show how much someone is a Sensor versus an Intuitive, on a scale. S and N are opposites, and T and F are opposites, so the more someone is a T, the less they could be an F.
COGNITIVE FUNCTIONS
And now we are off.
So what makes a INFP and a INFJ so different, if they share no Jungian cognitive functions in common. What in the world are Jungian cognitive functions and how do they fit in? Jung felt that people would have an opposite of their dominant trait down deep.
Well, instead of just looking at introverted versus extroverted, N v. S, T v F, J v P, we could look deeper. Each letter can be extroverted or introverted. Ni is introverted intuition. Fi is introverted feeling. Se is extroverted sensing.
Once we get to this point, we can take each type apart a bit and make what is known as a stack.
A INFP is Fi Ne Si Te, introverted feeling as the dominant function supported by extroverted intuition as a secondary function.
A INFJ is Ni Fe Ti Se, introverted intuition as the dominant function followed by extroverted feeling.
So, you may be confused by now. This is a bit more than most people who take the MBTI at work or school ever get to, but it really helps us to understand deeper on the topic.
STACKING
The dominant function is the first in the stack, followed by the secondary, then the tertiary, and finally, the inferior. Each function is usually stronger the higher one gets in the stack. The inferior is often a point of weakness and obsession, and people can get in the grip of their inferior and get lost.
This leads me to why I believe stacking is valid, though this is a huge area of dispute in the MBTI world. Naomi Quenk wrote for the official MBTI for years and had access for all of their data. In writing their manuals, she often came upon odd things. She wrote a book called “Was that really me?” which was based upon years of data and research to explain this.
Ms. Quenk mentioned in her book about a woman she had tested that was clearly a INFP. Years later, she encountered her again, and she seemed like a bad version of an ESTJ. She wanted to find out why. She encountered similar events. She also wanted to know why people actually tested out wrong so often.
Ms. Quenk developed her theory around the inferior function. She wanted to find the traits of each of the 16 types at their worst, and use that to figure out the type. For example, an INFP shares all the functions of a ESTJ, just in reverse order. Where the INFP is often a thoughtful insightful person, ESTJ are great managers and organizers. A INFP in the grip of her inferior would not look like a great manager, but a micromanager, a drill sergeant who is hypercritical and obsessed with minor slights and issues. Meanwhile a ESTJ in the grip of inferior Fi would be obsessing with how they feel about things and struggle to get things done.
There are only 8 inferior types, so by finding someone’s behavior while in the grip, it is easy to figure of which of the two types share the inferior function.
ExFJs are usually viewed as super people persons. They are friendly and kind and great at organizing people. They are often leaders and teachers. But what happens when they are in the grip of inferior Ti. Ti itself is introverted thinking, which allows people to come up with their own ideas and though process out of the norm of society. Many of the innovators in computers, for example, are Ti dominants. But inferior Ti isn’t that. Instead, it turns ExFJs into people in a deep dark depression, obsessed with TRUTH and indifferent to people.
So here are the 16 types and their stacks
ENFP Ne Fi Te Si ENFJ Fe Ni Se Ti ESTJ Te Si Ne Fi ESTP Se Ti Fe Ni
INFP Fi Ne Si Te INFJ Ni Fe Ti Se ISTJ Si Te Fi Ne ISTP Ti Se Ni Fe
ESFP Se Fe Te Ni ESFJ Fe Si Ne Ti ISFP Fi Se Ni Te ISFJ Si Fe Ti Ne
ENTP Ne Ti Fe Si ENTJ Te Ni Se Fi INTJ Te Ni Se Fi INTP Ti Ne Si Fe
ENTPs are often seen as the lawyer type and ESTP as salesman. The both use Fe in the tertiary, which means they are not controlled by Fe, but can use Fe as a tool. People with Se in the stack are often closer to the physical environment, with ISTP being great mechanics and engineers. Te doms are the general and officer types, with ENTJs being great generals and leaders, and ESTJ as being good senior officers, who can implement plans to precision.
Jung viewed Ni as being connected to the collective unconscious. High Ni users just know things without thinking about it or working through something with reason. N in general is about perceiving the future. High Ne users are good at brainstorming and seeing lots of ideas, while high Ni users often can’t brainstorm because their mind focuses on the most likely outcome and struggles to leave that.
We use our extroverted judging function, Fe or Te for communication with the world. High Fe and Te users are often better speakers and can convey their ideas with greater ease. Strong Fe users talk of being directly connected to the external emotional environment, while strong Fi users are deeply connected to their own internal emotional environment. Te users are better at using conventional thinking and ideas and doing so effectively, while Ti users want to do things their own way.
It can be difficult for Fe users and Te users to effectively communicate with each other. They just do not communicate in the same manner and will misunderstand each other, even with the best intentions. When people find others with a different ordered stack, they feel more connected. My ENFP sister is married to an INTJ for almost 40 years now. They are so different, but each is a puzzle to other of infinite complexity and delight.
There is a lot more to this and perhaps this is all confusing, and I hope I did not take this too far afield. If anyone would like further discussion, I will answer questions in the comment section and even write subsequent posts on this.