Type Theory

*Note to New Readers

This blog is about Jungian type theory, analytical psychology, and personal growth. Most of the Q&As discuss problems related to personality, so I don’t recommend following unless you can handle such content. Note that some people are mistyped, so avoid overgeneralizing from their experience. Knowledge of cognitive function theory is often required and I have provided study guides for newbies on my blog at mbti-notes.tumblr.com.

Anyone wanting to submit a message/question must follow the guidelines on the contact page at mbti-notes.tumblr.com/contact. I get more messages than I have time to respond to, so I omit any that are repetitive, irrelevant, or easily searchable. It may be faster for you to search the blog yourself than to wait on my reply; there is already plenty of content available, including: a site index, a list of search tags, type descriptions, type analysis, cognitive functions, the functional stack, type development issues, relationship issues, emotional or mental health issues, learning issues.

If you would like to request my help with type assessment, follow the submission instructions on the contact page to write up a detailed profile for me to analyze. I won’t respond to assessment inquiries unless the instructions are followed.
Reblog 2020-07-10 · 516 notes
Anon wrote: Hi,I’m an INFJ, 29. I have a question about developing friendships when struggling with low self-worth/shame/social difficulties. There’s a woman I work with who’s very easy to get along with. She’s extremely friendly, approachable and always giving out invites to people. She often invites me for short walks after work or to go to the cinema together on the weekends. I enjoy her company and learn a lot from her. But I fear I don’t have as much to offer her as she does me.
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Reblog 2025-01-24 · 9 notes
Anon wrote: Hi mbti-notes, happy new year. I hope things are well. I (25F) would like your help in understanding my type. I’ve been trying for some time, but I still have doubts. The theory is a bit hard for me. I want to know my type mostly because I’ve kind of made it a challenge to understand MBTI. I also think it would help me understand people a bit better, but I should get my functions first and that can come later. I’ve been considering ISxP (which I also get on every test), but… I don’t know. I’ve considered IxFJ at one point, mostly for the Fe aux, but I have very little evidence for dominant Si and nothing for Ni and I don’t relate to the J description. I’ve followed the guide, I hope it’s enough
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Reblog 2025-01-24 · 1 note
Anon wrote: hey, 18f. just here for some general advice (?) regarding post-high school life and transitioning into uni in a foreign country. if type is relevant for what i’m asking for, i can’t provide much at the moment so feel free to tell me if you do need a type, i’ll come back to you later with more information at hand. but if it helps, i could share why i haven’t pinpointed what my type is yet (and these reasons may be relevant to how i behave in my current situation).
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Reblog 2025-01-24 · 3 notes
Anon wrote: Hi mbti-notes! I’m an ISFP. I wanted to ask for your tips on navigating success in one of my classes. I’m currently a junior in high school and taking a history course. I went through fall term without really giving much thought to how I was doing my work or interacting in class; I study and work hard in all my classes, and I earned good grades the term, ending up with an A. I also enjoyed and continue to enjoy this class, as I find it intellectually stimulating and my teacher is great at teaching (but also known to be pretty tough since he’s very passionate about the subject).
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Reblog 2025-01-17 · 7 notes
Anon wrote: Just realized I’ve been following your blog for 8 years, so first of all thank you for everything that you have taught me. I sincerely appreciate your work here. I’m an ENFP (26), I moved countries 2 months ago and had a brief 3 month romance with another ENFP (29) before moving. We both have adhd, maybe useful to know. We’ve stayed friends, but we obviously can’t hang out and he’s not a frequent texter, so I find that I’m missing him a lot.
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Reblog 2025-01-17 · 8 notes
Anon wrote: INFP, 26. I have a problem I don’t know the origin of. (Prefacing this by saying I’ve always been this way but I don’t want to keep pretending I can live like this anymore. It’s limiting my life, the opportunities I can take and everything I could be.) So. Let’s say I’m at a bar, someone jokes about something and the joke is either one of those you come up with on the spot or just a reference, a quote, a proverb - basically something people hear once and then in the right moment recall and say to make others laugh. Most people seem to have their own “mental library” with other references like that, so they’re able to reply and start this ironic back and forth of puns, maybe doing wordplay or imagination games and just amusing each other until they’re laughing. This happens pretty quickly and they literally have no hesitation at all. They come up with stuff, share it, bond over humor, strengthen their relationship. They have everything so neat and tidy in their heads, or so it seems to me. I don’t.
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Reblog 2025-01-17 · 7 notes
Anonymous:
ive noticed each time sth tragic occurs to someone i reach out for these cosmic "explanations" (im not religious) like they must have done smth bad that's why smth happened to them but i realize that this is unfair to people and has an effect of blunting empathy to people who are experiencing hardship do you have any ideas why pple think like this i know it's irrational and i want to change this my first thought is maybe it's cognitive biases maybe self defensive Thanks for your
Yes, it is a cognitive bias, commonly called “just-world fallacy”. The researcher who coined the term called it “a fundamental delusion”. And, yes, one of its negative consequences is loss of empathy.
Why do people suffer this bias? It’s complicated. Suffice it to say that it is indeed a defense mechanism: 1) a way to deny difficult realities, and 2) a way to avoid uncomfortable feelings and emotions that arise from witnessing suffering and victimization (such as guilt, shame, anger, disgust, or helplessness).
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Reblog 2025-01-17 · 6 notes
Anon wrote: Hey mbti-notes, I hope you’re doing well! I’m an 18 year old INFJ closeted non-binary (female) from Norway so please excuse my English. There’s basically some really bad behavior I have around my mother and I can’t figure out why I’m like this or why I can’t change, so I figured I’d just ask you since you seem to be pretty good at this stuff.
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Reblog 2025-01-10 · 14 notes
Anon wrote: Hello, mbti-notes! I’d like to ask a question related to my professional life. I graduated as an occupational therapist in 2022, and afterward, I started a postgraduate program in mental health. I’m now completing this program, which lasted two years.
My work has primarily involved patients with mental health issues, but I often feel very insecure. I struggle to fully grasp and analyze cases in the most effective way. When I listen to others discussing patients they’re working with, I admire their case analyses—so critical and sensitive. It seems like they don’t miss anything, take things seriously, and do an incredibly responsible job. I feel that I can’t consistently achieve that level of insight.
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Reblog 2025-01-10 · 5 notes
Anon wrote: Hello mbti-notes. Happy holiday and new year. Hope this year is a better year. INTP here. My question is about being stuck in Si loop. I can’t seem to be able to get out of it. And it’s been a (long) while.
When I was a teenager, I wanted to become an adult, I wanted to get strong, successful, independent, more capable, but now I resent it. There are so many unexpected and unwanted changes and I just can’t get used to them. When I look at my timeline, and some other people’s timelines, I think to myself that despite all the progresses in science and tech, and all the claims that life has become easier and more convenient, life quality is getting worse.
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Reblog 2025-01-10 · 16 notes
I’m off for the holidays. I don’t know how things are where you live, but people in my neck of the woods seem much more stressed, angsty, and reckless than usual. I don’t know if it’s political malaise, economic anxiety, covid brain damage, or something else. I only know we live in “interesting” times, which is not always a blessing. I hope the holidays bring some reprieve for those who need it. Wishing you and your loved ones peace and joy. ☮️
Reblog 2024-12-20 · 36 notes
Anon wrote: Hey, I’m a 25 year old INFP with mild social anxiety and depression. I don’t take negative interactions well and dealing with mean strangers stress me out.
I’ve had a few jobs in the past, working in fast food, as a salesman, and at a call center. I dreaded all of these jobs and they stressed me out immensely, not just due to my bad mental but my toxic home environment as well. I’ve only been able to hold down each job for around 6 months before quitting due to dread.
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Reblog 2024-12-20 · 11 notes
Anonymous:
What is your opinion on the site Personality Database? It's a website where people comment and vote (by majority) on a fictional character or celebrity's MBTI type. I notice people use different theories in their arguments, such as the 8 function stack one, that conflict with with 4 function stack, which isn't very conductive for a debate. This, and the majority vote system, means that many profiles get mistyped. Would you say debating there is of any use to study type theory?
You’re asking two separate questions. The first is what I think about the website. I know about it because it pops up in searches but I don’t use it myself, so I don’t really have a strong opinion. With the voting system, the results are only as good as the people who’ve voted. Generally speaking, if you understand and accept the limitations of a system, then you’re in a better position to get something useful from it.
The second question is whether it is of any use for studying type theory. This is a more complicated question to answer because it depends on several factors:
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Reblog 2024-12-20 · 9 notes
Anon wrote: Hi, I hope you have been in good health and stay safe during this holiday season. I’m INFJ (21 years old). I was hoping to share my problem with you to see what insights you may be able to share:
I’ve been friends with someone (INTP), I’ll refer to as W, for close to 8 years and have felt on-and-off, since lockdown (2021), that we might not be compatible as friends anymore. I’ve been trying to consider the best course of action to end the friendship in a respectful way but have gotten mixed feedback from people I have consulted with.
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Reblog 2024-12-13 · 18 notes
Anonymous:
Hi! INFP. If I'm making mistakes and feel a little discouraged on the spot, but later always get back to motivating myself to try again knowing I will eventually get it, is it healthy? I've been doing the exact opposite for years, giving up every time I seemed really bad at something (and as a consequence never really developing an area I was really good in, despite having so many interests) and yesterday I was rereading your guide about healthy INFPs being able to "not feel inadequate every time they make a mistake". So is this a good sign? How do I know if it is? What if I'm just deluding myself at every mistake because I'd really like this thing to work out, but on a practical level it's way too out of my reach and not really my area? And if that's the case, what do you think I should do? Change? Switch to something else, again?
Allow me to ask a serious question: Does it sound appealing to you to have the whole of life all set out for you in advance, so that you never ever have to make any big or tough decisions about what to do with yourself?
If that’s the kind of life you want, then my suggestion is to join a cult or move to a political dictatorship. However, I suspect that once you were there, you’d regret the decision. Why? Because humans aren’t meant to live under that sort of psychological confinement, that is, if they hope for life to be interesting and fulfilling.
The price of living a free life is uncertainty. You can accept the cost gracefully and keep chugging along, or you can waste precious time and energy in a state of denial, anxiety, or depression. It is the fact of not knowing the future that makes your decisions real and your life experiences meaningful.
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Reblog 2024-12-13 · 12 notes

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*Note to New Readers