Ok, so @escapist challenged me because she wanted to understand what is going on with my "teenage brain".

Well, here are the results:

"No one can stop you from dreaming!"

^{Yeah, my type is the cheesiest one you can find from all the 16-types.}

But couple of things before we go further about MBTI.

Firstly, I feel like whenever we try to make some kind of cohesive model of the manifestation of our billions and billions of brain cells, it'll always lack something. Some aspect of human experience will always be left out from every model. It's impossible to capture it all. However, we like finding patterns (that's what humans do) and there are some patterns for sure to be captured from humans too, it's not all random.

There are many types of personality models like the Big 5 that uses five factors: openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism as its dimensions for describing people. It could be called "stranger-model" because the 5 traits are easy to observe from an unknown person. Probably the most recognized personality model as of today.

There's also Enneagram but I don't know how legit that is, haven't gone too deep into it.

Then of course MBTI, which is based on Jung's theory about cognitive functions. The test has gained a lot of popularity for it's recreational value but it's also used in some professional fields. However, it (especially the test itself) suffers from poor validity (doesn't measure the things it's supposed to be) and poor reliability (different results with different occasions), which is why I think it's questionable to use in professional settings; mistype, and be out from some field. No good.

Since the tests are unreliable, the person him/herself is the only one who can truly know his/her own type. That's why it should be used as a tool for self-reflection. There is some correlation between certain careers and types, but that an authority could determine something as "unfitting" because of personality test, which is not reliable, is simply wrong and shouldn't be used.

Some might claim MBTI to suffer from the Barnum effect, being on the same level with horoscopes, but that's kind of an outrageous claim to make without examining the whole theory.

What does it mean being an INFP?

---

To fully understand it, for your own type also, you should understand...

the cognitive functions

...because that's what the test is ultimately about.

The MBTI Manual states that the indicator "is designed to implement a theory; therefore, the theory must be understood to understand the MBTI".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myers%E2%80%93Briggs_Type_Indicator

But since you don't have the patience to read about them (hey, I don't blame you) I'll explain it nice'n'short:

By Carl Jung's theory there are 4 ways of basic principal psychological functions: thinking, feeling, intuition and sensing from which the two first are judging (subjective information from within) and the two latter are perceiving functions (information gathered from outer world). Every type has its own set of functions with a preference order (1st - dominant, 2nd - auxiliary, 3rd - tertiary, 4th - inferior, of which development arguably grows your personality the most).

These 4 functions can be either extroverted or introverted, making a total of 8 functions. Every MBTI type has two extroverted and two introverted functions.

For me, as an INFP, the functions would look like this:

Source

---

Source

So fine...

---

Here's what they kinda mean in real life:

Source

---

So, my dominant function is Introverted Feeling which makes the bulk of my personality (within the theory of course). But know, that feeling in this context isn't all about emotions.

"Although it’s referred to as “Feeling”, Fi is not internal emotions, but rather values that come from within. FiNe’s [INFP] might experience a deep well of emotions, but this is not the root of Fi. It is a decision making-process that is very interested in determining its own moral code and what the FiNe’s gut instinct tells them is right, which is often based on how they would like to be treated themselves. They tend to be very considerate of others, and may take a long time to mull over their own beliefs to make sure they seem right. The values-refining process can take quite a bit of time and requires mental solitude. Fi generally puts authenticity in high esteem and is repulsed by anything that seems fabricated or shallow."
https://www.typeinmind.com/fine/

I gotta say, right at the first time after testing as an INFP, it was like reading a description of myself, everything on point with the positive and the negative that the type carries. And I think I've always tested as one. But mainly how I know being one for sure, is that I've studied the cognitive functions.

The test shows that I'm actually fairly balanced with Thinking (42%) and Feeling (58%) but I'm sure I've been much heavier on Feeling in my early adolescence. So what this means, is not that I'm almost an INTP or changing to towards one, rather, that I've developed my inferior (4th) function, Extroverted Thinking (Te), which is about execution, quick logical decision making based on an objective data. This function comes in use when there's nothing moral to considerate with the Fi. Also, Te can manifest itself in an INFP that is pushed into a corner, feeling like being violently mistreated or misunderstood, blowing up out of nowhere and being brutally honest and direct. When it happens it could come as a surprise for those who are not familiar with their friend or another INFP. Yeah, it did happen to me just recently.

INFP vs INTP

---

@escapist, who nominated me for this challenge, tested as an INTP _{@eveuncovered, too} (with 0% feeling given by the test, lol) which might look like the complete opposite with my type, INFP.

However, we still share two cognitive functions:

Extroverted Intuition (Ne)

"Exploration, seeking novelty of patterns and gathering new ideas"

Introverted Sensing (Si)

"Organized facts and details"

Introverted Thinking (Ti) vs Feeling (Fi)

But then what makes INFP and INTP so different, on the other hand, is the dominant function, which for me is Introverted Feeling, and for INTP's, Introverted Thinking.

So, Introverted Thinking is about logic and systems and inner models.

@escapist (tested as an INTP) said in her own post:

I don't give power to my feelings, and my decisions can be always rationalized. I do a lot stuff seemingly for shit and giggles, but also those decisions I can rationalize.

which, I think, is kind of what Ti is about, with the spice of Ne for the "shit and giggles". Rational decisions according to one's own logic system (which differs from person to person). So, this is interesting because my decision making is so different; I don't really rationalize my decisions, and the more important the decision is, the less logic goes into it and the more I have to think for what I feel is the right choice.
Take for example military: In Finland every 18-year-old male is supposed to go to army (or choose civil service as an alternative, like I did). The military and its values what they represent to me, violently cross with those of my own. And when something violates my values so much that it causes a literal wrenching discomfort in my gut, like in the draft, there is no way I could act upon those. I know that logically it would've made sense to try get it over as quickly as possible and maybe get a 6 months service time. Also, I know that it might be an evil necessity to have a military and maybe we just can't live in an utopia with sunshine and rainbows without boarders in peace and love. But that's all just thrown out the window when I need to act according to my inner voice, gut feeling, values or whatever you'd like to call it.

Logic aside, my simple judgment that comes from within, is that military is one peace of shit as an institution. (I'm not gonna bold that so it would not be taken out of context, Nietzche is already famous for that, even though I don't think he bolded his words in his books.) Sometimes (well once) I like to just heckle about it because hey, it's the Internet (you don't have to directly face the consequences of your opinion), but at least now I gave you some context for my stance.

Talking about being judgmental, interistingly, INxP types have a judging (J) function, Fi or Ti, as their dominant function despite being a Perceiving type (turns out I'm also kind of judgmental like you Esc).

Creativity and Extraverted Intuition (Ne)

I happened to find a description of you @escapist:

Finally, Ne [Extraverted Intuition] can contribute to a persistent sense of restlessness or dissatisfaction. NPs can find themselves wanting to escape certain situations or circumstances in order to experience more novelty, freedom, or autonomy. They might feel compelled to quit their job, break off a relationship, or ditch a lame party in hopes of discovering something more exciting or inspirational. Those who consistently act on these promptings can be perceived as fickle, irresponsible, or self-indulgent.
https://personalityjunkie.com/10/extraverted-intuition-ne/

Another article, on creativity, which might be interesting and could resonate strongly with NP-types:

https://personalityjunkie.com/intp-infp-entp-enfp-creative-life/

I found a description of me also from that article:

Some may not view creativity as an essential personal need until they find themselves working a mundane job [my civil service, most of the time]. At that point, they are like fish out of water, feeling stuck, stifled, and suffocated. [especially when you can't escape it because you're forced to it by law]

So, extroverted intuition is the fountain of creativity for me and all the crazy stuff you can see manifesting on some of my writing, like in the Ned's Quantum Computing Hivemind, The Conspiracy of Quinea Pigs and another conspiracy about... the Bible? Horoscopes? Minotaur? Eh... Just read it yourself.

It's very similar to what could be called divergent thinking which is about creating surprising connections and ideas. Let's take an example: try to think some kind of a link between potato and wine. What can you do with them?

I'll give you a minute if you want to try it out yourself. Maybe write down what you can come up with those (seemingly) unrelated words.

~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~

Okay, let me try:

So, Jesus drank wine, right? And today we drink the wine as the blood of his. But there's also another alcohol drink that can be made, from potato: vodka. What if they actually made vodka to spike up their grape juice to lift up their spirits (spirit=liquor)? That's it! Holy Spirit=alcohol! That's why liquor also means spirit, because we act like talking in languages when under the influence of it. Didn't Bible talk something about "getting drunk from his Spirit" or something? At least I have that kind of a hunch.
"Thank you God and bless our everyday potato to lift our spirits for your celebration."

Something along those lines. When I get into this mode I don't actually even know by myself where I'm heading. I just start with something and then somehow I end up with this and that. And damn is it just too much fun, even though people might prefer a specific topic under a specific topic (or do they? I'm assuming so, but I don't know). However I am more entertained with a more creative approach, thus the readers, I feel, are also more entertained by what I do.

But you don't need to be a specific type to practice divergent thinking or lateral thinking (creative problem solving), even though some people might a have natural tendency towards it. For example, #freewriting is something that promotes divergent thinking, you just let your stream of consciousness carry without worrying about the quality it'll produce. Everyone can do that with a bit of a practice and lower the censoring of their own thoughts.

When I was younger I actually didn't realize I was a creative person. Maybe it was because it wasn't endorsed enough at school or for whatever reason. But when I grew up I started to understand it more and more. Arts, along music, was my favorite subject in high school, even though I don't paint or draw at all on my free time, just because it worked as a creative outlet where I could go with whatever only with vague instructions.

For the end

---

Types are not an excuse to be certain way; "this is how I am because of being type x." Don't fool yourself into this, do not make your type a "god" that predetermines your future, that's even stupider than letting a "real god" do that to you. And no challenge should be deemed impossible because of being a specific type, like might happen, when MBTI is used for professional use-cases. It'll only become a self-fulfilling prophesy for the worse. Like if you are in an "unconventional" area for your type, don't tell yourself you can't do it. If you want to do something, do it, and don't let some stupid 4 (or 5) letters hold you back.

Now, it might seem like I'm actually debunking the whole MBTI after talking 10 minutes about it. But that's not what I'm saying. No. It can reveal some insights and help you develop yourself and reach towards your goals by realizing your own tendencies and natural preferences. Of course, there's a lot to human personality that isn't covered by MBTI but no model can take it all. That's why models should be looked only as a view of a specific part or angle of the human personality, which in MBTI's case is human perception and decision making.

There was a loooong time I had not engaged with MBTI until now when I got challenged by @escapist to do this challenge, and I felt like I've somewhat moved "beyond" MBTI for now. But apparently I still really enjoy the theory, learning and exploring it.

Allright, I think that's all, for now at least (I might have something else for continuation of this, we'll see). Hopefully you got something out of this or maybe you know me a little better having read this.

Now you can judge me freely,

Laters,

@celestal
_{they also call me Mohawk}

_{PS. Ehh... I can't bother to challenge anyone really...}