After having one of my best friends that I made college take the test, I found her results not too alarming. She got INFP as my personality type, rather than the INFJ I get every time I take the test for myself. This puts me as a Mediator instead of an Advocate, both of which I can relate to in different ways. She may not know exactly how I think in certain situations, but I trust her evaluation and think it is interesting that my perception of myself and her perception of me differ so minimally.
Next, I had a group of my closest friends from childhood take it for me, one of them being my sister. Two of them also got INFP, one got ENFP, and the last got INFJ. The two Mediator results were very different in terms of percentages of each trait, but that they both got the same personality type was not surprising. My sister was one of those people, and I value her input highly because she has known me my entire life. The INFJ result was also not a surprise, but the ENFP was quite different. His reasoning for this result though was this:
"You take into consideration that other people may feel uncomfortable in social situations and will be more apt to start conversation for them because you know how hard it is."
I think that this is a very true reasoning, and in some situations I am willing to take the initiative. But generally speaking, I am very introverted. I really liked how different this result was though, because it really opened my eyes to how differently other people perceive your personality, which relates to my last post about how others see you in the workplace. I think it's cool how all of this is connecting as this section of the course comes to a close.
*My mum also took this; she got ENFJ, and the result was only E by a difference of 2% (51% E, 49% I), so she was the closest to my actual personality type.*
I thought Shayna and Logan's prework was really interesting as well! It made me want to have as many people take the test and pretend to be me as possible, almost like a little competition as to who knows me the best lol. I like how when I took it for you I got it right and when you took it for me you got it basically right as well. Shows you how you don't have to know somebody for a very long time to get a true sense of who they are.
ReplyDeleteWow - you got a lot of input!
ReplyDeleteI don't know that I would think of people as getting it "right", but rather I would think about what their outcomes say about how you relate to and behave around them. Some of my friends from childhood would say I am loud and obnoxious; colleagues I worked with when I was in the hospitals would tell you I am very reserved and introspective. They would both be "right".
Your friend who saw you as an ENFP was seeing your F tendencies - caring about how others feel - as a sign of extroversion. But extroversion is more about how you process stimulus - including but not limited to how much you like to interact with people. I consider myself an extrovert, but I don't like big parties with lots of strangers. I consider myself an extrovert principally because when I need to problem solve, I prefer to talk it out with someone, rather than work by myself. A second test I find helpful is thinking about the environment I like to work in - I like to study in places where people congregate, like coffee shops and food courts - I like the white noise and movement in the background. Introverts prefer to work through problem solving on their own first, then maybe talk it out. When I problem solve with someone else, I am not necessarily looking for advice, but someone to listen while I talk. Introverts prefer low stimulation environments, so if you prefer to study by yourself, in the library, rather than in the MUB food court, you're probably an introvert.
Glad you see it all coming together!