Anhun wrote:Why do you have to be on one side of the fence?
It is quite possible for a person to have a blended personality, meaning that your personality could be a fusion of different types. This is often the case with people who score in the 40-60% range. Personally, I'm an INT/FP/J. I tend to balance emotional and pragmatic needs. And I usually have a thought-out plan, but I seldom stick to it.
Ah, I probably could've worded that better. Lemme see if I can elaborate.
Every person is a blend, to some degree, unless someone scores 100% on each function, which would be pretty crazy.
Usually, though, there's going to be four functions that have primacy in regards to how the individual brain works. Sometimes there's going to be a very pronounced preference for one function or another, and in others, it's going to be a lot more subtle, but there's still a preference. Basically, if you have a tendency to lean towards one side of the fence, that's probably the side you're going to fall on. I kind of like to think of it as your "default settings" or "factory settings"—basically, your brain's preferred method of operation when it's in its natural, normal state.
Of course, there are instances of people who are perfectly balanced in between two functions, but I think they're supposed to be pretty rare. Most likely just about everyone tips the scale in one way or another, but it can be so subtle (and result in such ambiguous test results) that it makes it very hard for a person to know what their actual function is.
As far as I'm aware, being a Judger—on its own—doesn't mean that you follow through with your plans. It just means that you make plans and spend a lot of time thinking about goals and the future. Following through tends to be much more prevalent among SJ types.
Looking into how the different functions affect each other can be really helpful if it's a toss-up between a few types and you aren't actually a genuine X. This was how I was able to determine that I was an INFJ rather than an INFP, which was something that I was really confused about for quite a while because of getting very inconclusive test results.
The relationships between functions is known as the cognitive functions or
the Eight Function-Attitudes. Every type has its own unique combination and order, and there's a rundown on these cognitive functions for each MBTI type on their individual wikipedia pages.
Here's the cognitive functions for INFJ as an example. Even though INFP shares three functions with INFJ, if you look at its cognitive functions, you'll notice that every single one of them is different than the cognitive functions of INFJ. There's a huge ripple effect across the entire personality type when you change one function.
If you find the descriptions on wikipedia too vague and you're uncertain about exactly what each cognitive function means, the ol' Google search can be helpful for that. Or posting here, because I enjoy discussing this stuff.
Anyway, you may already know about all of that stuff and still disagree with my conclusions, but I'm just posting it for the benefit of anyone who ends up reading this post.
Anhun wrote:Now on to more important topics: Harry Potter. There's another system, related to Myers-Briggs, called Keirsey Temperament Types. Basically, the sixteen MB personalities are sorted into 4 temperaments.
One theory is that the 4 houses of Hogwarts are based on the four temperaments:
http://www.keirsey.com/sorthat.aspx[...]
If Hermione was an INT/FJ, that would explain why the sorting hat had a hard time deciding whether to put her in Ravenclaw or Gryffindor, because she would be both rational and idealist.
If Harry was an EN/SFP, then he would be both an idealist and an artisan, so the sorting had could have placed him in Gryffindor or Slytherin.
That's a really neat take on it! We were discussing something a bit similar a while back in this thread regarding
the Sorting Hat and cognitive functions, which was clever, but maybe not completely accurate. Your idea regarding Harry and Hermione and their Sorting Hat results is very compelling, though, especially considering what we know about them. I'm intrigued.
However, I do score as Hufflepuff on the Pottermore quiz, and I don't really see myself as being in the SJ camp at all... if I wasn't an NF, I'm pretty sure I'd be an NT, as Feeling is my "lowest" function at 38%. Hmm.
Anhun wrote:One might ask why it would be important to sort the personalities into temperaments? Well, the theory is that temperament is determined before birth, whereas your specific personality type within your temperament isn't nailed down till much later, if ever. Major life events have been known to change people's personalities, but not temperaments.
I have to say, I have absolutely no idea when personality types are definitively formed. Thinking back, I feel like I've been an INFJ for a long, long time, but I don't know if I was
born an INFJ. Where personality type comes from and when it appears is definitely up for debate.
I'm not sure if major life events can actually change a person's personality type, though. There's an entirely different set of "shadow functions" for each type that can surface when an individual is under stress. It can
seem like someone's personality has changed, but in reality, they're just under stress and it's affecting the way their brain is working. (For those who are interested in learning more, you can read about shadow functions underneath the cognitive functions on each personality type wikipedia page.) The human brain is a very mysterious place, though, so that's certainly up for debate as well.
Wow, this post ended up long. Sorry, I'm known to ramble.