More Proof I’m An Introvert

Original cartoon via Mohamed Ghonemi.

This month, I will be (sporadically) participating in Blogtember with Jenni.
The prompt for today was to take this personality test, and respond to the results.

Every other time I’ve taken a personality test based on Myers-Briggs types, I’ve come up INFJ. But with this one I came up IFTJ. I don’t know if the questions were significantly different, or what. There were certainly a few I couldn’ve gone either way on. But if nothing else, I am for sure Introverted, Intuitive, and Judging. I just waver between Feeling and Thinking, which sounds about right. Here are some snippets about each type that are spot-on for me:

INTJ

• INTJs sweat the details or, at times, omit them. “I’ve made up my mind, don’t confuse me with the facts” could well have been said by an INTJ on a mission.
• When it comes to their own areas of expertise — and INTJs can have several — they will be able to tell you almost immediately whether or not they can help you, and if so, how. They know what they know, and perhaps still more importantly, they know what they don’t know.
• INTJs are perfectionists.
• They possess the unusual trait combination of imagination and reliability.
• Anyone considered to be “slacking,” including superiors, will lose their respect — and will generally be made aware of this.
• They tend to have little patience and less understanding of such things as small talk and flirtation.
• INTJs are usually extremely private people, and can often be naturally impassive as well, which makes them easy to misread and misunderstand.

INFJ

• The INFJ under stress may fall prey to various forms of immediate gratification.
• Though affable and sympathetic to most, INFJs are selective about their friends.
• The concept of ‘poetic justice’ is appealing to the INFJ.
• INFJs readily grasp the hidden psychological stimuli behind the more observable dynamics of behavior and affect.
• INFJs find themselves caught between the desire to express their wealth of feelings and moral conclusions about the actions and attitudes of others, and the awareness of the consequences of unbridled candor.
• Usually self-expression comes more easily to INFJs on paper, as they tend to have strong writing skills.

So clearly, I’m right on the cusp between these two. There were also points I didn’t agree with (INTJs gravitate towards science & engineering careers, for example – ick!), but then I wouldn’t expect the entire profile of either type to be 100% spot on. People are too varied and complex for that.

Have you ever taken a Myers-Briggs personality test? What was your type? Do you think it’s accurate?