Hi Seth! I've been looking a lot into the MBTI system lately and it's been intensely fascinating, but initially SO fraught with the exact confusion you're expressing here. For me, the key that sorted everything out was to stop looking at the types as expressed by their MBTI 4-letter shorthand (INFP, etc), and to look at them instead as expressed by Jung's original shorthand, which referred to a personality type directly by its cognitive stack. For instance, what the MBTI calls "INFP" is what Jung called "FiNe," aka "introverted Feeling, extraverted iNtuition." These are the first 2 of 4 functions in the FiNe's (aka INFP's) cognitive stack. (The next two are introverted Sensing and extraverted Thinking, I believe?)
"But wait, I'm so introverted! I'm like, 120% introvert. Why are you telling me that half of my functions are extroverted? How can that possibly make sense?"
Because the words "introverted" and "extroverted" mean something MUCH broader in this context than the way we usually use those words.
Which, to me, is one reason why the 4-letter "INFP" or "ESFJ" thing is an insanely confusing system of jargon for these personality types.
Don't even get me started on P/J confusion. Guess what? If your MBTI letters start with an I and end with a J (ex. INFJ), then your most dominant function will NOT be a Judging one - it will be a Perceiving one. If your letters start with I and end with P, your most dominant function will be a Judging function, not a Perceiving function. (If your letters begin with E, this confusing quirk does not apply - ExxJs are judgers first and ExxPs are perceivers first.) What cruel joke is this system?!?
Looking at the cognitive stacks themselves, with the titles Jung originally gave them, is so much clearer and less confusing to me personally. Maybe this tip will help you too.
Emily Butterfield (not verified)says...
Hi Seth! I've been looking a lot into the MBTI system lately and it's been intensely fascinating, but initially SO fraught with the exact confusion you're expressing here. For me, the key that sorted everything out was to stop looking at the types as expressed by their MBTI 4-letter shorthand (INFP, etc), and to look at them instead as expressed by Jung's original shorthand, which referred to a personality type directly by its cognitive stack. For instance, what the MBTI calls "INFP" is what Jung called "FiNe," aka "introverted Feeling, extraverted iNtuition." These are the first 2 of 4 functions in the FiNe's (aka INFP's) cognitive stack. (The next two are introverted Sensing and extraverted Thinking, I believe?)
"But wait, I'm so introverted! I'm like, 120% introvert. Why are you telling me that half of my functions are extroverted? How can that possibly make sense?"
Because the words "introverted" and "extroverted" mean something MUCH broader in this context than the way we usually use those words.
Which, to me, is one reason why the 4-letter "INFP" or "ESFJ" thing is an insanely confusing system of jargon for these personality types.
Don't even get me started on P/J confusion. Guess what? If your MBTI letters start with an I and end with a J (ex. INFJ), then your most dominant function will NOT be a Judging one - it will be a Perceiving one. If your letters start with I and end with P, your most dominant function will be a Judging function, not a Perceiving function. (If your letters begin with E, this confusing quirk does not apply - ExxJs are judgers first and ExxPs are perceivers first.) What cruel joke is this system?!?
Looking at the cognitive stacks themselves, with the titles Jung originally gave them, is so much clearer and less confusing to me personally. Maybe this tip will help you too.