Teh Epic Personality Thread! Part One of... Heheheh.

Finally! I've been threatening to do this for a while. (Since a while before that link, actually. Let's see, from 750 Words, I initially drafted this post on June 5th... Yeah, almost half a year for the idea to spark and to gel and then to draft it, another half a year to edit and post, sounds about right for me.) (Because clearly, NOW IS THE TIME, two days before Christmas, with presents to buy. La la la...)


I've written a little bit before about how "I don't believe thought and feeling are opposed."

As it turns out, that may be in large part due to my personality type. I'm an INFP, in the MBTI personality theory system. It seems INFPs may have an unusually easy time of integrating the two. (Mind you, that doesn't change certain things; I still believe it, and people who talk as though they're wildly different and contradictory forces are still a pet peeve, though I can understand them a bit better now.)

Recently... ish... A while back now, my sister linked to A Little Bit of Personality on her Facebook wall, to this post in particular, about cognitive functions in the personality types.

In the past I've been skeptical about cognitive function theory in my personality theory. I'd taken some stupid little online quizzes, and it "seemed clear" that my strongest functions weren't what they should have been for an INFP. And it seemed clear I was an INFP. So.

Maybe the "stupid little online quizzes" part should have tipped me off.

Reading the article from A Little Bit of Personality didn't change my opinion at first. I didn't relate to my description all that much.

But then.

The thread on my sister's wall exploded. And I mean, EXPLODED. It's at 4,215 comments and counting. Seriously. Longest. Semi-coherent. Thread. EVAR.

It totally ended up changing my mind, for a variety of reasons, and now I love love LOVE the theory. It is so perfect and beautiful and helpful.

I want to share it with you. I want to share it with everyone.

But a 4K+ comment thread on Facebook isn't very accessible, even when it's public. You have to hit the "View previous comments" link a LOT.

Enter a new blog series! Woo!

I'm going to start blogging the conversation here. I'm going to edit a tiny bit as I go, but not a ton. I find so many things interesting. I may leave out some things that bore me a bit though, or several, so be aware: the part I'll be blogging will be rather INFP-centric. That's just the easiest way for me to do this, and if I don't make it easier it will probably never happen. (Or I'll just blog ALL OF IT because that's easier... we'll see.) I'll correct obvious typos, too, unless they are later remarked on and joked about or something.

If you're an INFP and want to understand yourself better, this is probably the blog series for you. It may also help other types understand INFPs, or help with understanding some of the other types, but those are really just happy coincidences or side effects, not the main deal.

Not sure how frequently I'll update this. Maybe I'll shoot for... one a month? And unless there's a reason to do otherwise, I'll just give the date range for each installment, rather than labeling each comment with a timestamp.

All right, ready? The first installment will be shorter than normal, because above intro, but here we go.

February 27-28, 2014:

Initial status from Melanie: This is fascinating. Thanks for a good Myers-Briggs read, Sunny!

http://www.alittlebitofpersonality.com/…/the-cognition-proc…

Melanie: I think I understand the T/F distinction better than I ever have before.

Sarah: iiiinteresting. according to those definitions, I'm a clear ENTJ (edit: after more thought, make that ESTJ)

Melanie: Waoh. I can actually see that. Iiiiiinteresting.

According to these definitions, I think I may actually be an INFP; I'm trying to figure that out.

Me: Huh. Using that definition of the I/E distinction, rather than energy, has some interesting ramifications. I've seen it before, after all, it is built into the words, but... hmm. Especially the description of EPs (before getting into the cognitive functions) makes me wonder if I'm just a Highly Sensitive Extrovert, after all.

And at first I wonder if that's why my cognitive function order seems screwed up, but then it gets into that section... ugh. So don't universally identify with any one of the type's descriptions there. And... if it's as firm and predictable as she (he?) lays out, shouldn't the personality types be more scientifically testable than I've heard they are?

Ron: Then with the discussion of E-I and J-P pairings (cognition - step one) I was wondering if I actually have more 'I' in me than I would have guessed... until...

"Most of all, EPs are constantly pinging themselves in order to understand their own motivations and character and to explore how people in general work. This can look self-centered to non-EPs, but really EPs are just excited by individuals in general and understand themselves the best ("My submarine is so cool! Look what this button does!")."

Okay, THAT I relate to! Yes, a large part of what I always attributed to Introverted tendencies in myself is just me trying to understand people in general by studying the example I have the most information about.

Yay, wasn't that fun? \o/

Hope I've whetted your appetite for MOAR!