Why You Need to Know Your Personality Type 

Firstly, it is important to understand that personality typing is not designed to pigeonhole a person or to say that one personality is better than another. Each personality has its unique characteristics, strengths, and weaknesses. An empowering personal development tool, personality typing will help you to:   

• Understand your thoughts, feelings, and motivations 
• Identify your strengths and weaknesses 
• Make smarter education and career choices   
• Be confident in a job interview  
• Be more creative and productive at work 
• Maintain happy and healthy relationships 

Introduction to Personality Typology

The road to modern personality typology was first paved by Carl Jung, a Swiss psychiatrist, and psychoanalyst. Based on Jung’s work, psychologists Isabel Briggs Myers and Katharine Briggs created the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). The MBTI identifies 16 different personalities, and it is one of the most popular methods of personality typing today.  

To further explain how people differ in the way they use their cognitive functions, Myers and Briggs use the following preferences for their self-evaluation personality assessment. 

1. Introversion (I) or Extraversion (E). Where you get your energy from. Do you draw your energy from your inner world or the external world and people? 
2. Sensing (S) or Intuition (N). How you receive information. Do you prefer to use your senses to receive information from your surroundings, or use your intuition to interpret and add your meaning? 
3. Thinking (T) or Feeling (F). How you make decisions. Do you take a logical approach, or do you prefer to look at people and circumstances before deciding? 
4. Judging (J) or Perceiving (P): How you interact with the outside world. Do you prefer to have things decided and organized or do you like to remain open to new information and options? 

The letters that are assigned to each of the above preferences make up a four-letter code for each of the 16 personality types. This simple coding system shows you how each of the four preferences interact, and which one you tend to use first.  

How you use these preferences can change over time and some of these preferences may be used more often than others.  

For example, an INFP person is described as an introverted person who uses intuition, feeling, and perceiving preferences.

INFPs are introverts 

INFPs are introverts. They draw energy from their internal world and prefer a solitary life. People who have this personality type are described by others as being quiet, reserved, or even shy, but that doesn’t mean an INFP doesn’t enjoy being around people.  

The saying “never judge a book by its cover” is perfect for INFPs, as they are often misunderstood due to their reserved manner. However, don’t be put off by their aloofness. INFPs are curious about human nature, want to learn more about other people, and like to make meaningful connections.

Overview of the INFP Personality and Characteristics 

The INFP personality has been given the nicknames “The Idealist” and “The Mediator” as these types of people have an idealistic worldview and a desire to help and support others. 

Just because they are easy-going, Idealists are highly principled people who are guided through life by a strong moral compass, and they passionately hold onto their beliefs. When an Idealist supports a charitable cause, they are unstoppable. They will single-mindedly pursue their mission regardless of challenges.  

You won’t find INFPs obsessing over small details or getting hung up on the present as they are future-minded people who focus on the “big picture”. Once they form their opinions, they stubbornly stick to their beliefs which can make them seem rigid and unyielding. But despite this stubbornness, INFPs are clever future forecasters who imagine a world full of possibilities.  

Mediators are extremely sensitive to other people’s emotions and needs, and they are caring, compassionate, kind, empathetic, considerate, and non-judgmental.  

They listen to people’s problems and offer comfort during times of stress, grief, or trauma. If there is a disagreement between people, a Mediator has an amazing ability to see both sides of the story. They will stay calm and successfully bring about a peaceful resolution. But in saying this, Mediators prefer to avoid conflict and they don’t like negativity. 

Imaginative and creative, INFPs are gifted problem-solvers. If there is a crisis or an issue with a project, they will offer practical, constructive solutions that no one else has thought of.  

INFPs must be very careful with their narrow idealistic worldviews. Every personality type has its weaknesses and INFPs can get very disappointed, frustrated, angry, and depressed when life does not conform to their perfectionistic expectations.  

Because they have a sensitive, gentle soul, INFPs can be easily hurt by others when their altruistic actions are not appreciated. They must guard their heart to avoid being manipulated by people who possess a more domineering personality.  

One of the major strengths of this personality type is that despite challenges and disappointments, INFPs will try to maintain their sunny, positive outlook on life and strive to make the world a better place for everyone. 

Cognitive functions 

Intuition 

Intuition is very important for INFP types as they use this powerful gift to receive information from their surroundings and determine future outcomes. To interpret and add meaning to information, they use their insightful impressions and perceived patterns they have picked up from the external world. 

Some INFPs will explain their intuition as having a “hunch” or a “gut feeling” about a situation or person and the strange thing is, they are often right about their “hunches”.