INFJ Redux

Last year, I wrote a blog entry about whether I might actually be an INFJ instead of an INFP. I took the test again, and yet again, it scored me as an INFJ.

This is the only test that has consistently scored me as an INFJ. After extensive research, I have come to the conclusion that it is WRONG, despite the fact that I read the descriptions last night of the INFP and INFJ in the one book I have and found it shocking that I agreed with the INFJ description MORE. Oddly, though, I found actual INFPs and INFJs online saying that non INFXs have their own preconceived notions of what we're supposed to be like, and it's impossible to convince them that they are wrong, since they "have more experience than [we do]."

There are two key distinctions between INFPs and INFJs that I've found, and BOTH put me solidly in the INFP camp.

1: INFPs use an informing method of speech, where INFJs use a directing form. i.e. I'll say, "I'm hungry," where an INFJ would say, "let's eat." People with the directing preference think of informers as passive-aggressive, and informers think of directors as bossy. http://www.infjorinfp.com/docs/PreferredCommunicationStyle.htm

2: There's a subtle difference in the priorities of the blah blah blah, so INFPs are Fi, Ne, whereas INFJs are Ni Fe. That is, my emotions are all mine (something about hero complex), but my intuition is readily given to others (parenting). With the INFJ, the intuition stays internal (hero), but the feelings are readily given to others (parenting). This is something I'm still trying to learn and make sense of. I can see how the INFP approach applies to me, and I am having a difficult time grasping the INFJ approach. Oddly, the exact same differences can be had between the ENFP and the INFP. So, the ENFP and INFJ both are Ni Fe, but the INFP is Fi Ne. http://www.personalitypage.com/INFP.html for a list, but no actual info. Info is here: http://www.infjorinfp.com/docs/8CognitiveProcesses.htm

From Jungian psychology, the Myers-Briggs inherits The Eight Cognitive Processes. Supposedly, each of the 16 types in the MBTI shares a specific set of four strengths and four weaknesses in these eight cognitive processes. The strengths for the INFP and INFJ are as follows:

INFP

Dominant	Fi	(Introverted Feeling)
Auxiliary	Ne	(Extraverted Intuition)
Tertiary	Si	(Introverted Sensing)
Inferior	Te	(Extraverted Thinking)

INFJ

Dominant	Ni	(Introverted Intuition)
Auxiliary	Fe	(Extraverted Feeling)
Tertiary	Ti	(Introverted Thinking)
Inferior	Se	(Extraverted Sensing)

Soooooo, I really AM an INFP. All the way. Not an INFJ. The test is misinterpreting my organization as me being a J, where it instead counts toward the INFP's Inferior preference for Extraverted Thinking (also defined as ORGANIZING).



This time around, I've done a fair amount of research. I still have more to go, but I'm learning. There is a fair amount on a site that is focused on this very issue--distinguishing between the INFJ and INFP. I've learned quite a lot from it, but the situation is not abundantly clear.

First, I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that I'm an xNFx. The only person I know that tries to claim I'm an extrovert is my ENFP mother... who is trying to claim that *she* is an INFP. Hmmm... Anyway, so I'm definitely an INFx. The vast majority of what I've come across throughout my life organizes me as a very definite Perceiver--usually near 100%.