Lifestyle & Commentary Posts

To my Grammar Nazis

AsideArvid Walton 3 Comments

Recently, I’ve gotten an influx of grammar-correcting comments, which I’d like to address. I believe grammar is expressly important, but it’s not the most important thing in writing.

You spelled ______ wrong! Don’t you understand how important grammar is?

Being a grammar nazi is a poor way to assert your intelligence because it merely expresses emotional immaturity. A grammar nazi is a person who lacks the self-control necessary to restrain themselves from voicing their inner-critic at inappropriate times and places. He misses the big picture in order to focus on minute details.

Correcting other people’s grammar does not make anyone think of you as a genius. A person may be academically intelligent, but that does them no good if they lack emotional maturity. On a larger scale, this is why Ender Wiggin was chosen to fight the bugger war over his brother Peter. Both were incredibly intelligent, but one of them lacked emotional maturity.

I completely understand the urge to correct other people’s grammar –believe me. However, self-control is far more important. If you can’t control the things you chose to say, then who are you? Because you’re not your own person. You’re simply being swayed one way and another by your emotional responses to things that aren’t important.

“Recognise is spelled with a Z.”

Yeah, maybe in America, but in the UK, we spell it with an S. My earlier attempts to cater all my spellings toward Americans (who comprise the largest percentage of my readership) were a flop, and I’ve gone back to UK spellings.

Consider this. Which is more important? Somebody else’s correctness, or your maturity? Are you simply going to react to everything you see, rather than assertively making a decision as to how you will respond? Are you going to sacrifice your own maturity for the sake of something you probably can’t change?

I am an English Major. I knew the risks of deciding not to spend an extra ten minutes editing per post on this website. It’s for this very reason that I specifically avoid connecting this blog to the books/stories that I’ve published.

I apologise for any grammatical errors you may find on this blog. I’m sorry if they offend you, but they don’t offend me enough that I’m going to spend my entire day off trying to fix all of them.

INTJs in Christopher Nolan films

Arvid Walton 27 Comments

The INTJ Presence in Christopher Nolan Films |#MBTI

The first time I watched Inception, I came away on fire with excitement about the concepts that had just been left ambiguously unresolved at the end of the movie. Meanwhile, the ENFP with whom I’d watched it was left scratching her head trying to comprehend what she just seen.

We watched it again. She understood a little more, but it wasn’t until we’d seen it at least three times (and I’d explained it to her in depth) before she finally understood it.

Christopher Nolan’s more recent films, namely Inception and Interstellar, both feature ISTP protagonists. However, despite featuring only one blatantly INTJ character each (Saito and Dr. Brandt), they still bear the express markings of INTJ writing. Nolan’s earlier work however, did not hold to this trend, but showed a remarkably large frequency of INTJ protagonists. Continue reading →

Meyers-Briggs is Rubbish, but Here’s Why You should Keep Using it

Arvid Walton 21 Comments

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Easy Ways Differentiate Between MBTI Functions

Arvid Walton 16 Comments

So you’re new to the Meyers-Briggs theory. You’re totally clueless and looking everywhere for an extremely simplified explanation of the Jungian cognitive functions.

Guess what, you came to the right place!

Welcome to the watered down method for telling the difference between MBTI functions. Keep in mind that it’s not a method you want to rely on long-term, as it’s always best to learn as much as you can about the MBTI theory. However, this does happen to be a great way to get started on identifying the cognitive functions, so here we go. Continue reading →

Are INFPs Poor Leaders?

Arvid Walton 20 Comments
Are INFPs Poor Leaders?

Question: “Hello Mr. INTJ.  I am an INFP. On the net, I always find that some of the famous authors, actors, writers, artists, music composers are INFPs . But I have never found a single famous military leader, politician, athlete, player, scientist (except Einstein), sci-fi writer in the list of INFPs.  All other personality types have some or more of these ranges.  Even ENFPs have some world class leaders (though shown in the dark side on celebritytypes.com).  In the list of INFPs there are some who have committed suicide.  On the other side there are people who have committed mass homicides in other personality types.  Why are INFPs  always so meek in their behavior?  Why are we not as outgoing as other types?  I even found on the net that INFPs are the economically the poorest of all types.   I will be thankful to you if you put some light on this topic.  I  know you can understand what I mean to say.  So please answer my question as soon as possible.”

Answer: Hello Mr. big questions. I interrupted the queue just to answer this one, so first off, I’ll give you some NFP scientists to make friends with. Michio Kaku and Brian Cox are my two favourites. Go and look them up.

I can tell you right off the bat why ENFPs are more likely to be famous leaders than INFPs. It’s merely because their Te is higher up in the function hierarchy than INFPs.

As to INFPs always being meek? Actually, no, they’re not.  Continue reading →

The MBTI Functions for Dummies

Arvid Walton

Each of the 16 Types has:

  • a thinking function (how your logic system is derived)
  • a feeling function (how you experience emotion)
  • a sensing function (how you intake information and stimuli)
  • an intuitive function (how you make connections and judgements)

Each of these functions has two subcategories, extraverted and introverted, of which your type will have only one. Continue reading →

The Alice in Wonderland Conundrum

AsideArvid Walton

“Alice from “Alice in Wonderland” (either the 2010 movie or the original stories)”

Alright, somebody requested Alice a looonnnng time ago, and I owe it to you to explain why I haven’t typed her yet. I’ve been skipping over her for a time while letting her stew in my mind a bit, the reason being that she happens to fall into the caricature category.

Her character traits aren’t character traits so much as archetypes.

I promise, I will get her typed, but until then, just be patient.

ISTJ Stereotypes in “The Imitation Game”

Arvid Walton 4 Comments

ISTJ Stereotypes in

ISTJs are frequently stereotyped as whining, OCD, rule-obsessed intellectuals with no social skills. Either that, or they’re portrayed as evil, emotionless cyborgs with no sense of humour. As someone with a close ISTJ friend, I understand exactly how terrible those stereotypes can be on a person. Unfortunately, such stereotypes are ever present in the media, and have found their way needlessly into the recent film, The Imitation Game. Continue reading →

On Differing from INTJ stereotypes

Arvid Walton 35 Comments

INTJ: How I Differ from the Stereotypes

Surely, you’ve looked at the personality description for your Meyers-Briggs type at one point and thought, “that’s not me. I don’t do those things.”

Well, guess what? You’re not alone. I can’t tell you how many times I look at the INTJ stereotypes and think to myself, “How can anyone assume that you must be exactly the same as all other people who share your type?” Continue reading →

Depression in ENFPs – Fi vs Fe

Arvid Walton 11 Comments

Depression in ENFPs - Fi vs Fe

Question: “I suffer from depression (ENFP) and was wondering about how that translates to functions. I understand if you don’t know much about depression and can’t answer the question, but I just wondered.”

Answer: No matter your MBTI type, depression is always a highly emotional experience, so that ought to clear up the myth that T-types can’t be depressed.

Function-wise, depression tends to lock people into their introverted functions (this applies more to clinical depression than acute depression). As an ENFP, you’re likely going to lock yourself into your Fi and Si functions. Depending on the intensity of your depression, as well a your ability to control it (here, the word control is subjective), you may also end up suppressing your extroverted functions entirely. Continue reading →

Introverts Need People Too

Arvid Walton 1 Comment

Introverts need people too

Contrary to popular belief, introverts need people just as much as extraverts do –just in different ways. Introverts don’t necessarily get their energy from being around people the way that extraverts do, but we still need people for emotional/psychological reasons.

Why Everyone needs people:

#1 We need to know we’re not alone

At some point in life, everyone wants to know they’re not alone –even if they don’t want to admit it. When you’re isolated for too long, you can’t help feeling that isolation –either that or you just start to feel empty inside. Continue reading →

The Myers-Briggs Types as Geniuses

Arvid Walton 38 Comments

“Ok so I sometimes try to type characters but I always think the smart ones have to be Ts instead of Fs. Could you give examples of what each type would look like as geniuses? Also, are some types more likely to be clever than others?”

First of all, personality type doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with intelligence. It has to do with how the brain functions, not how well it functions. That said, I do think that the way the brain functions does play into what a person’s interests they are (for instance, how interested they are in learning). So yes, I would say that certain types are more likely, although not universally set to be more intellectual.

NTs typically show up in statistics as having the highest IQs. I was tested at one point with an IQ of 146, but in my opinion, IQ isn’t really an accurate measure of intelligence, and here’s why.

The definition of intelligence is highly subjective. One might be intelligent in the area of mathematics, or one might also be incredibly intelligent as to the art of baking. But, since I’ve assumed that you’re talking about the vile patriarchal values that dictate my education (aka book-smarts), I’ve comprised a list of examples for you.

However, do keep in mind that MBTI personality types have loads of stereotypes hooked on them. For instance, the stereotype that all INTxs are geniuses.

Wrong. Remember, there are people like Billy Pilgrim.

Furthermore, the media has an overwhelming tendency to present each personality type according to stereotypes. Most of the uber-intelligent characters that come up in fiction tend to be rationals. There far fewer NTs that pop up in fiction presented as stupid, and very few SFs that are presented as smart. Ultimately, that leads to further stereotyping of all NTs as smart and all SFs as stupid. Poor children of this earth…

Consider also, that there are varying degrees of intelligence. In one place, a person may be the smartest person in the room, but step into the next room and they may feel like a blundering idiot in pannyhoes.

Here are some examples, and like I said –yes, there seem to be more of them in certain categories than others. I’ve included both fictionals and real people. Obviously, not all of these are going to be geniuses, but I’ve tried to put in what a fairly intelligent person should look like for each type.

Clever examples:

INTP: Charles Augustus Magnussen, Peter Parker, Charles Darwin, Rene Descartes

ENTP: the 11th Doctor, the 5th Doctor, Jim Moriarty, Petra Arkanian, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Edison

INTJ: Ender Wiggin, the 12th Doctor, the 4th Doctor, Sherlock, Stephen Hawking, Nikola Tesla, Steve Jobs, John Nash

ENTJ: Peter Wiggin, Tony Stark, Bill Gates, Carl Sagen, Loki (Thor)

INFP: the 9th Doctor, Albert Einstein, Brian Cox, Tom Hiddleston, John Green

ENFP: Jonathan Strange, the 10th Doctor, Michio Kaku

INFJ: the 8th Doctor, Neils Bohr, Bruce Banner (the Hulk – sometimes INTP depending on the actor playing him)

ENFJ: Charles Xavier, Gwen Stacy

ISTP: Indiana Jones, Natasha Romanov (Black Widow)

ESTP: Tintin

ISTJ: Mr. Norrell, Spock, Sigmund Frued, Allan Turing

ESTJ: Hermione Granger, Mycroft Holmes, Bryan Mills (Taken)

ISFP: Jane (Ender’s Game)

ESFP: Benedict Cumberbatch…is unfortunately the smartest one I can think of…

ISFJ: Rory Gilmore (Gilmore Girls)

ESFJ: Danielle de Barbarac (Ever After)

Sorry, but I couldn’t think of any for the blank ones. Comments gladly welcome if you think of any.

It appears that NTs are in the lead (actually, to be completely honest, I deliberately cut the INTx lists down to just to be nice to the ENTx groups). NFs and STs appear next in line and sorry for all of you SFs, but you’re last. Results are inconclusive. Judge as you see fit.

INTJ Humor vs xNTP Humor

Arvid Walton 32 Comments

*I spelled Humour the American way in the title because the majority of my readers are American.*

INTJ Humor vs ENTP Humor

Have you ever noticed how people who like Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy are more likely to enjoy Doctor Who, Sherlock, Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett? This is intuitive humour at its finest.

(Psst! If you liked any of the former fandoms, you should read Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell!)

Intuitive MBTI types tend to enjoy wordplay related sarcasm, deadpan and hyperbole, especially NT types. The differences between Extraverted Intuitive (Ne) and Introverted Intuitive (Ni) humour are subtle, but I’m going to attempt to dispel those differences. Continue reading →