Category: not a typing post

(1) You typed Danny Pudi!!! Thank you! You are good people. (2) In the last couple of asks on mannerisms, I can’t help but think it is unclear whether you regret indulging the question once only to invite it 15 more times, or whether the picture is specifically tailored to answer the question… (I like to think it is both — which would be awesome. Like you. :))

1. Very welcome, although I may end up switching him out to ENTJ at some point… he’s kind of in the middle of ENTP/J to me, but for now he’s skewing P.

2. Yes.  Meaning multiple things at once is the only multi-tasking I’m good at.

Have you ever thought about doing an archetype hashtag? When you suggest going and watching videos, it’s a bit daunting when there are 70 people in a tag. It would be nice to have a shortlist of like – I don’t know – 5 people per type, so that we could identify the pattern faster and not be confused (more confused) by shadow functions or people with media training that are more removed from their natural instincts.

No.

I realize that 70 videos is daunting – I’m putting off re-checking a lot of the extraverted tags because I agree that is a lot of video.  You don’t actually need to watch 70 videos in a row, though.  You can watch 5.  The more you watch, however, the better the idea you’ll have of the range of the type (hopefully), or of when I’ve typed someone and got it wrong (let me know!).

The archetype of each MBTI type is the profile.  It’s an idea.  People are not archetypes.  Every person is a valid example of their type, regardless of whether or not they’ve trained themselves out of certain habits (also note: shadow functions are not going to especially change your physicality, but being old or ill might).

My idea of definitely ENTP is not someone else’s idea of definitely ENTP.  I dislike very much that my idea of an ENTP should in any way take precedence.  For example, while diversity is important to me, I’m white, I grew up in a mostly white community, the media I consumed was mostly white and most of the people I typed first were white.  (When I’m being lazy and running low in the queue, it is still a lot faster to fill it up again by typing a bunch of white people who I already sort of know, because I have typed more white people and I have more type patterns in place for them.)

No matter which culture or subculture you’re in (be it cultural or racial or professional etc.), you’re going to have to make allowances for behaviour.  If you have a quiet ENTP author, they’re not less of an ENTP for spending a lot of time alone in their head – authors in general tend to be quieter versions of their type.  If you interview N-type athletes about their performances, it’s probably not going to sound much different from what an S-type would say, because it’s about a physical skill (also sport makes it difficult to tell between E and I sometimes, because, I’m assuming, endorphins).  And so on.

I’ve started with actors because of easy access to interviews and because of where my interests lie, but I would not particularly want to point to one actor per type, again, because there is a range, and a range of patterns.  (Unless we’re talking INFJ, and then I pick Amy Acker, because she’s the only actor in the tag.)

would you say it’s more typical of an infp or an intp to need to feel like they’re special in some way?

I would not especially say either, seeing as how I only have the perspective of one INFP on this (mine).

Ok so here’s the thing.  Fi kind of sticks you at the centre of your own universe.  All the ways you interpret the world, every decision you make is all about how you feel. 

At the other end of that, INFPs are still N-types, and introverts, both of which are the less common options.  It leaves us in this weird space of being at the centre of a universe which doesn’t really have a lot in common with us.  Either we avoid people or find people to validate our sense of reality, or we get ground down or develop a healthy sense of irony and learn to pick our battles.

I think feeling special is the positive side to feeling weird, and INFPs are going to feel one or the other (or both at the same time – again, we’re good at contradictions).  Might as well go positive when you can convince yourself it’s true (especially since we’re usually also the ones most adamant it’s not).

You’d have to ask INTPs how they feel about this (I have no idea), but I think the INFP need is less about being special and more about being seen or understood (which will make us feel special, anyway).