What an INFP is and Why it Means a Lot to Me
- priscillawrites
- Mar 28, 2015
- 5 min read
Hey guys! Today I want to talk to you all about the MBTI (otherwise known as the Myers Briggs Test). I’m sure many of you have heard of it, but for those of you who don’t know, the MBTI is a personality classification system. It divides people into one of sixteen personality types which describe the way you process things and general habits and traits that accompany that personality type.
What’s interesting about the MBTI is that some people will swear by it- they claim that their personality type describes them completely to the letter to the point that it’s scary at first. Other people find themselves more “in between” personality types, and don’t identify with everything their personality description explains.
I fall into the first camp. When I first learned about the MBTI I was absolutely stunned. Nothing I’d ever read had described me so well. It was like my personality description explained exactly why I thought and acted the way I did in a way nothing else ever had before. That doesn’t mean I identified with every part of the description equally, but overwhelmingly the INFP description was like a secret look into how my brain is wired.
INFP stands for Introverted, Intuitive, Feeling, and Perceiving. Basically, all of the personality types are defined by four letters, each with two choices. I’ll describe them here, so warning this is a bit long if you want to skip down to the last few paragraphs. :)
The first part is I/E, Introverted or Extroverted. I think that one’s pretty self-explanatory. The personality types are divided into those that tend to gather energy through socializing with others (extroverts), and those that gain energy by spending time alone and spend energy when socializing with others (introverts). I am so obviously an introvert that I wouldn’t have needed to take the test to tell you that.
The next part of the description involves N/S, which stand for Intuitive or Sensing. This one can seem a bit complicated but basically if you tend to focus on abstract things like the future, concepts, or the mood of other people around you, you process things from an intuitive standpoint. People who tend to be more focused on the present and look to sensory details to gather information would be Sensors. Just to clarify, neither of these dimensions is “smarter” or “deeper” than the other. It simply means our brains are wired to process information differently, and both sides have their pros and cons. In this dimension, I fall in with the Intuitives.
I think the next letters are my favorite because they explain why so many people have a hard time understanding each other! F/T determine if you are more of a Feeler or a Thinker. Again, neither of these is inherently better or smarter than the other. They simply describe whether someone will be more likely to value feelings (both their own and those of others) or reason when coming to decisions. The funny thing is that both Feelers and Thinkers fall into some fairly recognizable stereotypes. Feelers are often thought of as soft or irrational by Thinkers, while Thinkers can be seen as cold and impersonal by Feelers. The reality is just that we value different things. I am a Feeler for this section.
Last but not least is J/P, or Judging versus Perceiving. This part of the MBTI is a little harder to grasp than the other letters. But basically, Judgers tend to be planners. They enjoy being structured and decisive, and like to make their decisions quickly and clearly. They’re usually the ones with the to-do lists, organized rooms, and schedules for their vacations. On the other hand, Perceivers are a little more spontaneous. They tend to delay making decisions because they like keeping their options open. They are much more likely to “go with the flow,” and for that reason are often the wandering, adventurous, forget-to-keep-things-neatly-organized types. All you need to do is take a look at my room/car to know I am most definitely a Perceiver. Hey, I’m just being honest ;).
And that’s basically how the MBTI works! It can get much more complicated when you get into the functions behind the letters but for the sake of time, I won’t go into that here. If you’re interested, you should definitely look it up! It can be extremely useful when you’re trying to determine your type. There are also some great MBTI tests online that can help you narrow it down. But make sure to really study the descriptions before you determine what your type is. Taking just one test is usually not the most reliable way to do it.
Now the real reason I wanted to write about the MBTI is because it is one of my favorite things in the world. I’m the person that is always trying to get her friends/family members to “type themselves” because it helps me understand the way they think and process things better. MBTI descriptions are not labels or boxes that everyone fits perfectly into. But they are an extremely useful way to understand why you see things the way you do, and to get to know other people who process things in a similar way.
I am an INFP. That means I am an idealist. It means I enjoy things like dreaming, reflecting, and focusing on the future. It means I am prone to forms of expression like writing, want to work in fields that allow me to truly make a difference and more than anything am guided by a desire to stay true to my ideals and beliefs. These aren’t just bullet points in my personality description. They are things that even before the MBTI, I could’ve told you were all true about me.
Learning what an INFP means has been so rewarding for me because it has allowed me to better understand myself and learn about other INFPs. Some of them are famous people or fictional characters that I relate to so well, but others are people online- in forums or blogs or facebook groups. It is a refreshing thing to know other people see the world in a similar way you do. Obviously we all have different beliefs and priorities, but it makes me feel a little less lonely to find people who share a lot of my strengths and weaknesses.
No matter what your personality type, I can promise you it's a rewarding thing to look into. It's always a good thing to better understand ourselves- the good and the bad. If you're interested you can start by taking an MBTI test (there's a good one here) and learning more about your type!
P.S. Here are some of my favorite INFP resources, for those of you that are also INFPs: :)
-World of the INFP (actually a tumblr I run ;)