Last Updated on September 16, 2023
INFJ personality types (1 of the 16 possible MBTI personality types) make up approximately 1% of the population. Since I first discovered Iβm an INFJ back in September of 2013, Iβve gone on a long journey exploring the intricacies of the personality type in an effort to better understand myself and others.
To provide a quick background, an INFJ is a person whose personality preferences encompass introversion, intuition, feeling, and judging (not what it sounds like – judgers are people who like to plan, stay organized, and keep things in order.)
Each INFJ has four primary cognitive functions:
- Introverted Intuition
- Extroverted Feeling
- Introverted Thinking
- Extroverted Sensing
And the following shadow functions can be utilized during times of stress:
- Extroverted Intuition
- Introverted Feeling
- Extroverted Thinking
- Introverted Sensing
Learning that Introverted Intuition is my primary cognitive function was not much of a surprise for me. From what I understand, many INFJs, including myself, have a hard-to-explain ability to understand things that are beyond the scope of whatβs visible.
I guess itβs different for everyone but one thing Iβve found is that itβs very easy for me to understand things about the people around me, even if weβve only just met. Or havenβt met yet.
The other functions make sense too. Extroverted Feeling is demonstrated in my passion for community service and helping people in need. Introverted Thinking is utilized during the school semester when all I do is spend time studying and in my head. Extroverted Sensing explains why Iβm more of a βbig pictureβ person. I donβt like dealing with small details.
Even the INFJ shadow functions do a fantastic job of identifying my greatest weaknesses.
Extroverted Intuition is the easiest shadow function for an INFJ to achieve and that makes total sense considering INFJs are so in-tune with their intuition to begin with.
Introverted Feeling is one shadow function that Iβm actually amused by. I think itβs funny how we have a remarkable ability to understand other people yet our Introverted Feeling is so weak we sometimes struggle to understand our own bodies. (Hence why the MBTI description is so valued by INFJs; it lays out the things some of us previously didn’t understand about ourselves.)
A person with weak Introverted Feeling might not know what they want to eat for dinner (me), if theyβre feeling hungry or not (me), which college they should attend (me), what they should major in (me), or where they feel like going out to (me).
Extroverted Thinking and Introverted Sensing are at the bottom of the list making them the two most difficult cognitive functions for an INFJ to utilize. Extroverted Thinking looks for patterns and faulty reasoning. Introverted Sensing deals with the small detail stuff that I previously mentioned. I believe having these two as my weakest cognitive functions helps explain why I struggle so much with grasping mathematical subjects (like calculus) that require attention to details and recognition of patterns. I get the concepts and why Iβm doing what Iβm doing but when it comes time to applyΒ them to individual problems – I canβt figure out which is which and when to do what.
See Also: The MBTI Changed My Life Forever
Enjoyed the enthusiasm and the awareness inspired in your post, Rocky. Unsolicited, a cautionary note: Try not to place to much credence in one assessment’s findings/outcomes. A ‘singular’ read is at best, a narrow read. I have been administering and interpreting a variety of scientifically validated assessments for years. What is valuable is when multiple measures begin to yield trends and similarities across a range of instruments that gauge different styles, types, preferences, etc. People often latch onto one “type” yet when it is viewed in conjunction with other results, the bigger picture can be much more telling. You’re off to a good start with the MBTI. Explore a few more assessments if/when given the opportunity. You might find what emerges over time to be surprising. Most of us thing we know so much about ourselves, when in fact, more typically unfolds. Good topic for a post!
Thanks, Eric! That’s very true. I’ve actually taken a number of personality tests since the MBTI (I became slightly obsessed after doing some research) and found all of them to closely line up with what I originally found with the MBTI- although only the MBTI seemed to fully capture the widest range of my personality preferences.
I’ve taken the StrengthsQuest Finder, Strong Inventory Assessment, Enneagram, and TrueColors test. If you know of some other good ones, I’d love to take them as I find each personality test incredibly interesting.
Thank you for the feedback!
Great post, very interesting. I’m an INFJ too. I know there aren’t many of us around in ‘real life’ (whatever that is), but I suspect the percentage is higher amongst bloggers.
I did the test when I was having a bit of an identity crisis and it made a lot of sense to me. Interestingly, one of the careers I’ve seen suggested for INFJs is gardening…
I also think a good number of us INFJs are bloggers! Interesting, isn’t it?
Regarding your last comment, do you say that because you are a gardener? My father does landscaping except he’s an ISFP.
So nice to meet you! π
Hello *waves* Not a professional gardener yet, hoping to go back to college and retrain once my children are a bit older. The first time at college I did music, another INFJ career suggestion. Mind you, my dad is a musician and sure isn’t an INFJ!
Reblogged this on INFJ Reflections and commented:
This explains why I suck at math! π
Thanks for the reblog! I hope you found my post informative!
Hello fellow INFJ! This post was very informative. The Introverted feeling section made me laugh because it sounds so very familiar…
Haha, I’m glad you enjoyed it! Nice to meet you! π
Well that was boring for me.
I’m sorry to hear that. π Are you an INFJ?
I’ve never taken the test. I don’t think it is something that I will find useful.
For what it counts, that was my same mentality prior to taking the MBTI and then I got my results and saw my life in a whole new light.
Perhaps I have wrongly expressed myself. Your post wasn’t boring for me. I still don’t think these kinds of tests are very useful for me, because I don’t think I would fit neatly and completely into one personality type. Besides I know what career I want to do in the future.
Anyways, aren’t introverted intuition and introverted feeling similar to each other?
You might be pleasantly surprised like I was. It turns out I fit into the 1% category that I never knew existed! You never know!
On the other note, they forced you to pay 30 dollars?! What a ripoff!
It actually wasn’t! Looking back, the information was more valuable to me than the price I paid for it.
I know: you already written it in another post (The MBTI Changed My Life Forever).
Haha I wasn’t sure if you saw that since you said that the price was a ripoff.