Personalities.... oh! The Possibilities

Ever taken a Myers-Briggs personality test? A few of us were discussing our personalities at New Year's ... and I thought I'd expound on it a little more here...

I've taken the test several times... and while I don't remember exactly what I scored the two or three times I've taken it before - this last round, I came out as an INFJ. That translates to:

Introvert - I "recharge" my batteries by being home and quiet.

iNtuitive - I like to look for patterns and relationships within the big picture.. I tend to enjoy variety and life, and am usually up for a challenge.

Feeling - I tend to pay attention to how people are reacting to me, and make my choices based on my convictions as much or more so than the "facts"

Judging - (not to be confused with judgemental) Even though aspects of my life don't reflect it... I like to have a method to the madness. I like to be organized, even if it's an organizational system understood only by me! I like to plan, and to know what to expect.

Yes, I'm an introvert. Surprisingly enough - I know several people who are extremely outgoing and social... introverts. When restricted to a social setting, an introvert will pick a 2 hour chat session over a cup of coffee and the extrovert will pick a largly attended christmas party consisting of many 5 minute conversations. Me - the largely attended party will give me a headache within an hour - I can't follow that many conversations at once! Not to say that everyone will ALWAYS pick along those lines... as this site points out, these are only indicators of preferance (sort of like being left or right handed.... you're perfectly capable of catching a ball with either hand (or learning to do so) but you have a natural preference for which hand you'll catch with. There are time's I can't stand my own company - and have to get out and go do something noisy and extroverted.

It's extremely interesting to see how - under extreme stress, the behaviors that people exhibit will flip flop from their normal "settings" to the exact opposite... (I'll get to what pairs with what in a minute). I've seen that flip-flop exhibited in my life as well, in some of the materialistic, impulsive, excessive things I've done (and later regretted) as well as being preoccupied with useless things... like picking the sock lint out of the grooves between the rubber nubbies on my swim shoes.... (extremely pointless - and yet there's an intense sense of satisfaction at the completion, so the organized side of me was happy!.... that was a REALLY stressful day!)

So, without going into too much more detail, because the website I mentioned covers everything much better than I can... here are the pairs:

Introvert vs. Extrovert
iNtuition vs. Sensing
Feeling vs. Thinking
Judging vs. Perception

Neither is better than the other - they're all just different.
An interesting side note - different traits are dominant, depending on the combination of traits (sort of like rock, paper sissors... but not)

Happy reading! I'd love to know what your personality is described as!