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Why Sherlock isn’t an INTP
Ask an INTJ Anything
Now Open to Typing Real People
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Tom Hiddleston: INFP
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Acting Style and Personality
“when it comes to movies, do you ever notice any correlation between actor’s personalities and their acting abilities?”
Yes, I have…sort of.
Anyone who knows me, understands well that I’m just as picky about what I watch as I am about what I read, so once I find certain actors that are really talented, I tend to watch more of them –or maybe it’s the fact that I tend to watch BBC, which recycles their actors over and over…I don’t know.
At the same time, I don’t pay too much attention to celebrity gossip, so I don’t usually know much about the actors themselves or their personalities. I just know they’re good actors. However, I have noticed that the ones who are better actors, have the ability to play a wider range of character types.
Some actors I just can’t stand, and after doing a bit of research, I’ve found that they’re usually the ones that can only play their own personality type.
Example: not to slam Emma Watson or anything, but before she went to university, her acting skills were really kind of deplorable. But realize that she was a teenage ESTJ playing an ESTJ (Hermione). Her other starting roles were just sort of…blah.
I’m not going to give any more examples of bad acting for the sake of avoiding offense. Instead, I’m going to do a series of three posts using examples of good actors. Just to be nice, I’ll even do research on their personalities (similar to the way I’ve done with authors). Do keep in mind that typing real people is quite different from typing fictional characters, so there’s a good chance that they won’t necessarily be what you expect.
Finalised examples:
Why You Need Two Introverted and Extroverted Functions
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Common Causes of MBTI Mistyping
Mistypings usually result from ignorance in some form or another. To back up this rather harsh statement, I will group mistypers into categories that explain what they’re doing wrong. Much easier to read that way…
The Tumblr Expert
There are a certain group of people in this world –particularly people who use tumblr a lot– who believe, despite evidence to the contrary, that they know everything about whatever they want, and feel the need to broadcast their extensive knowledge to the world.
That said, these people typically experience only brief exposure to MBTI before they consider themselves expert enough to type all characters. Unfortunately, they typically don’t know as much as they suppose they do.
In fact, they typically know very little, which is why I deliberately made this blog a wordpress site rather than putting it on tumblr. I know perfectly well that tumblr is a web full of ignorance and I don’t care to tread there for anything except finding lovely reaction gifs for these posts.
The Ego-typer
There are some people who magically find a way to mentally warp all of their favorite characters to fit themselves. I know plenty of ISTPs that want to claim Sherlock as their own and INTJs that want to assume the role of the ninth Doctor.
Then there are people who assume that any character that they can remotely identify with should also fall into their MBTI category. The thing is, most of the time, these people can only relate to a character’s circumstance (but not the thought functions).
For instance, my favourite Doctors (from Doctor Who) are currently tied between 10 and 12. Much of the reason that I love both of them is that I relate to them a lot. Now, obviously, it would make little to no sense for me to claim the 10th Doctor as an INTJ, because he’s so blinking extraverted, but that’s what a lot of people are doing.
They assume that because they relate to someone, that they must be the same type…but what they don’t take into account is that they’re relating to thoughts that the character has as a result of circumstance or experience, and not cognitive functions.
Other times, the person will relate to one or two of the functions, and find a way to rationalize the other two to fit their desired outcome.
The Stereotyper
Some people type based solely on personality stereotypes, or, more accurately, based on the four letters I/E, N/S, F/T, P/J. Unfortunately, this doesn’t work, because the typing system isn’t based on those letters –it’s based on the functions. Plenty of people who claim to be expert types don’t even know the functions exist.
Remember that the functions show up slightly differently in all types. Just because someone is extremely intelligent doesn’t mean that they’re a T-type, and just because someone cries in public doesn’t make them an F-type.
They say, oh, all INTJs are cold, heartless and have no emotions, all ENFPs smile 24/7, all ESFJs are sluts, all ISTJs obsess over rules and whine about everything etc.
Can I just say, that’s like claiming that all people with depression wear black, or that all people with cancer are nice, or that all dentists are sadists.
The Above-Ground-Only Expert
I have massively larger amounts of forgiveness for this kind of mistypers, the reason being that they have actually educated themselves in the realm of MBTI. Their mistypings are generally based off of a fundamental misunderstanding of a character, rather than misunderstanding of MBTI.
They simply haven’t looked deeply enough into the character. Perhaps they can’t see something that’s beneath the surface, obvious once you look deeper.
I happen to be a professional fiction writer (and no, I am not giving my name out so you can read my crap), so I have an advantage in the area of character interpretation if you will. I notice things about characters non-writers tend to miss, and as a result, my typings tend to be accurate.
However, occasionally, I will stumble upon a new character insight that will lead me to retrace my steps and re-type a character completely based on my new understanding.
If you’re trying to type characters, here are my recommendations for accuracy:
- Firstly, and obviously, be objective.
- Look outside yourself and get second opinions. No matter how rational you are, you still carry impressions from your past with you that may skew your perception of a character. You also have a personality. The way your brain functions may influence how you type a character.
- Look deep. Don’t just look at the stereotypes. Really dig deep to figure out a character’s motivations. Don’t just dwell on the surface.
- Understand the functions, obviously, and don’t claim your typing as legitimate until you can accurately back up your claims. Know more than just the stereotyped difference between the functions. Know them inside and out.
- Lastly, don’t be a blinking narcissist when you’re typing
In conclusions, I will state that I am by no means claiming that I am always right. I have mistyped characters in the past, but in the case that this is brought to my attention, I don’t simply try to back my original argument up further. I actually set out on a new journey to find the truth.
Anxiety Cycles by Type
“How does Anxiety manifest differently in each type?”
ISxJ
Trigger: uncertainty, issues of reality, overdoing things etc.
Once the trigger is pulled, the ISxJ will become obsessive about details, lose their task orientated center and grow impulsive. They will fall into the grip of their inferior Ne function and rather than thinking about possibilities, they will catastrophize.
To re-balance him/herself, the ISxJ needs to let go of the details that they’ve been obsessively swallowing up. They need someone to take them seriously and often need the help of close friends to work through their issue. If they come out on top, they will have a broader perspective, clearer values and stronger flexibility than before. Continue reading
Understanding Sympathetic INTJs – Fi vs Fe
Foreword: this post applies equally to ISTJs, in regards to the Fi function)
All the INTJ stereotypes say that we’re cold and don’t care about other people. Yet, many of us defy this stereotype.
When I care about someone, I filter my words to avoid offense and understand people on a deeper level than they often understand themselves (which is another reason to filter my thoughts, because otherwise people freak out at how much I know about them).
Naturally, I started to wonder if my ability to understand people so well stemmed from an Fe function, but eventually I determined that I’m an INTJ with an extremely well developed Fi, and here’s why.
While I understand people on an extreme level, I don’t feel their emotions the way an Fe user would. My Ni lets me know intuitively what’s going on behind the lines and then I’m able to logically put together what someone is feeling by using Te. I can understand, but I cannot empathize unless Continue reading
ENTJ in the Grip
Can you explain what you meant when you said Falstaff is an ENTJ “in the grip?”
A little more on that grip-idea –as it relates specifically to ENTJs.
When an ENTJ stops utilizing his upper functions (Te-Ni) to their full capacity, he is prone to a rather unique problem. He tends to get stuck in his lower functions, which isn’t necessarily a good thing, because rather than being a doer, who plans and visualizes what he wants his life to be, be becomes something else entirely.
He turns lazy, and laziness never made and ENTJ happy Continue reading
INTJs are the Ultimate Movie Spoilers
“Don’t say anything. Don’t say anything!” These are the words running through my mind whenever I watch a movie with a friend.
One of the dilemmas that comes with being an intellectual INTJ is that I have to analyze everything —and not in the silent TiNe way that an INTP would, but in the NiTe way. Introverted Intuition (Ni) is rigged to isolate problems, and as Ni-dominants, INTJs inevitably find something wrong with everything Continue reading
The Book Addict's Guide to MBTI: 