How Does Each Personality Type Ask, “Do You Love Me?”
In any romantic or pair bond relationship, there are myriad ways that a couple communicates to each other. Words, actions, expressions, mannerisms… we’re looking for and sending endless signals to and from our mate.
And while there are a million things each person says (both verbally and non-verbally) every day, it could be argued that there really is only one thing we’re actually looking for: the answer to the question, “Do you love me?”
According to Gary Chapman’s “The 5 Love Languages” we all express love a little differently. In Chapman’s model, the 5 primary ways are:
- Acts of Service
- Quality Time
- Gift Giving
- Words of Affirmation
- Physical Touch
(For a quick reference listen to the Personality Hacker podcast “The 5 Love Languages.” For more in-depth information, read Chapman’s book of the same title. It’s a great read – we highly recommend it.)
These are five very important modalities of communicating love, and knowing which one you and your mate favor can make or break the relationship. That said, while we communicate love in different ways, we are also looking for very specific markers that transcend the form of communication – we’re looking for specific criteria which means love to different types.
For example, we might have a “Words of Affirmation” Love Language and we’ll always feel good when someone praises us. But what are they praising us for? Does it match our internal ‘list’ of important things? For example, one woman might be over to moon to hear her husband praise her beauty to his friends, and another woman might feel marginalized.
How “Evaluation” Becomes “Love”
In our program “Personality Types in Marriage & Relationship” we discuss how different personality types both ask the question, “Do you love me?” and how they answer it, “Yes! I do love you!” Here’s where it gets tricky: each personality type asks it in a slightly different way, and concurrently answers it in a slightly different way.
Here’s a refresher on how the 16 Myers-Briggs personality types correlate to the Genius System:
All FJs use the mental process “Harmony” to make decisions. (ESFJ, ISFJ, ENFJ, INFJ)
All FPs use the mental process “Authenticity” to make decisions. (ESFP, ISFP, ENFP, INFP)
All TJs use the mental process “Effectiveness” to make decisions. (ESTJ, ISTJ, ENTJ, INTJ)
All TPs use the mental process “Accuracy” to make decisions. (ESTP, ISTP, ENTP, INTP)
The “decision-making” mental processes (Harmony, Authenticity, Effectiveness, Accuracy) are ways we evaluate the world and determine their rightfulness, truthfulness and importance to us as people.
Every personality type has a tendency to overvalue their criteria, and unless you understand the concept of different types it’s very easy to assume others are using the same criteria to make evaluations and decisions. That is, if you’re an Effectiveness person it may be very difficult to understand another person who is using, say, Accuracy. When they come to a conclusion that favors conceptual analysis over what works, the assumption is that person is being short-sighted, and somewhat stupid.
Since we all do this (to some extent), in a romantic relationship this can be disastrous. On some level we ‘get’ that other people see the world differently than we do, but without a solid model these differences end up becoming gender stereotypes. “Women just want men to listen to them and not solve problems,” or “Men just want to be alone in their ‘man cave’ when they have problems.”
Since there is definitely a gender skew in personality types, these stereotypes play out often enough that we take them for granted. Real trouble surfaces when we’re a personality type not common to our gender but we’re still expected to play out the normal ‘script’. When our mate can’t ‘read’ or ‘predict’ us (or vice versa!) it can become a serious issue.
It’s a frustrating exercise trying to communicate love (and look for markers of love from your mate) only to watch the attempts fall flat. In most things to ‘fail again, fail better’ is a noble pursuit, but in love if we believe the answer to our question “Do you love me?” is “No” or “I’m not sure” too often, you can do real damage to your own heart and your mate’s.
Knowing your own decision-making process and your lover’s is a much easier way of being able to say clearly, “When I look for love, this is what I’m looking at.”
How “Harmony” asks “Do you love me?”
Myers-Briggs types: ENFJ, INFJ, ESFJ, ISFJ
- Do you feel connected to me?
- Will you check in and make sure I’m okay?
- Will you acknowledge and take care of my needs?
- Am I safe with you?
- Do you accept and approve of me?
How “Harmony” answers: “Yes! I love you!”
- I will meet your needs before I meet my own.
- I will check in regularly and make sure you’re okay.
- I will do my best to keep morale up.
- I will show you appreciation in whatever way I’d like to be shown appreciation.
How it can be misinterpreted by other types: Smothering, intrusive.
How “Authenticity” asks, “Do you love me?”
Myers-Briggs types: ENFP, INFP, ESFP, ISFP
- Do you think I’m being real with you?
- Do you trust my motives and my intent?
- Will you support me no matter what – do you have my back?
- Will you give me space to be “me?”
How “Authenticity” answers, “Yes! I love you!”
- I will be patient with your honest expressions.
- I will honor your feelings and identity, even if it’s a struggle for both of us.
- I will hold space for you, and give you alone time when you need it.
- I will have your back no matter what the fight is.
- I will trust you have my best interests at heart.
How it can be misinterpreted by other types: Passive, self-absorbed
How “Effectiveness” asks, “Do you love me?”
Myers-Briggs types: ENTJ, INTJ, ESTJ, ISTJ
- Will you handle things – can I rely on you?
- Will you make my life easier, can I relax knowing you’re “on it?”
- Will you support my career and/or goals and be self-sufficient?
- Are you loyal?
How “Effectiveness” answers, “Yes! I love you!”
- I will be endlessly loyal on principle.
- I will educate myself on you and learn how you operate.
- I will take pride in you, boasting about your accomplishments even before my own.
- I will protect you.
- I chose you. I continue to choose you. Case closed.
How it can be misinterpreted by other types: Controlling, distant, “unromantic”
How “Accuracy” asks, “Do you Love Me?”
Myers-Briggs types: ENTP, INTP, ESTP, ISTP
- Do you think I’m totally competent?
- Are you impressed with my performance?
- Do you trust that I’m not lying to you or B.S.’ing you in any way?
- Does it make sense that you love me? That you stay with me?
How “Accuracy” answers, “Yes! I love you!”
- I will be rigorously honest with you. If I have a ‘wandering eye’ I will tell you, and provide a solution.
- I will gift you with my precision. I will learn you and give high performance at all levels.
- I will protect you from others, but not from yourself.
- I will never judge you. Instead, I will be there for you when things go bad, no matter why they went bad.
How it can be misinterpreted by other types: Harsh, insensitive, cold
Did this resonate with you and what you know of your type? Were you able to spot your lover’s decision-making criteria, and how can it help you communicate to them that you love them in a way that’s meaningful to them?
Let us know! Leave a comment and share your experience.
-Antonia
Interested in gaining deep insight into how you and your lover operate within your relationship? Want to get to the next level of intimacy on a deep, cognitive level? This article is just a taste of our full course “Personality Types in Marriage & Relationships.“
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I’m an ESTP male, I was married to an ISTJ female for 60 years after a 6 months exciting courtship. I can’t remember either party declaring, I love you or or similarly asking the question, ‘do you love me’? I just knew I wanted to be with her all the time and she identically like wise. We obviously loved each other. Any question is raising doubt. My beautiful wife passed away 2 years ago and I still struggle daily, with a life of memories. About 6 months after her passing, I was introduced to Myers Briggs, and have become infatuated with the accuracy with regards my own life’s behaviour and my ISTJ wife’s similarly. Disagreement & differences, were solved quickly via Sensing & Thinking, which facts & logic, dominating any feelings. Wildly different but so complimentary. Then I find, that the ESTP/ISTJ combination is recognised by MB, as a best of partnership, soulmate relationship. Absolutely amazing.
thanks for making this!
Holy-moly, this is scary accurate!!!!
I’m an isfp female in with a polyamorous love life. One is an infj and the other is an ESTP. My ex husband is an entj. So I’m authenticity loving a harmony and an accuracy with an effectiveness in the past. I have to say this article hits the bull’s eye in all cases. My ex thought that being loyal to me and working hard to figure out how I operate are the love acts I was looking for, while I was drying up from not having the freedom to be me, and at the same time overwhelmed by his dedication to want to learn the details of my operation instruction but there’s no detail. In the end I had no more strength to hold on to him.
My accuracy is a very impressive man who does well in everything he sets his eyes on and if not, he’ll try again with a better approach and mostly he gets it. Such a dedication and drive to perform and determine, apparently oblivious to all the feeling-obstructions like what would the people think, do I look silly doing this etc, are what attract me to him. At the same time it is not possible to talk to him in details about the intricacies and subtle motions of our feelings for each other. For that, I turn to the harmony.
Harmony’s empathy and generosity are astounding. With him I can drop all strange pieces of armor I’ve accumulated in years to protect my soft isfp core. We’re both like teenagers again believing in the perfect boyfriend / girlfriend and treating each other as such, with warmth and unbounded enthusiasm and never hiding behind cynicism or irony or sarcasm. With harmony I’m completely emotionally bare and I feel safe, and he’s the same.
Current problem with accuracy: he feels I’m not appreciating his expertise in the medical field with regards to covid. I feel he’s not appreciating the fact that while I know his expertise is not for me to doubt, it still has to go through my own private set of values and I come to another conclusion as he. I think he thinks I’m being childishly obstinate and I think he overestimates certain aspects and underestimates the others
If you re not an INTP, you probably need some clarification on the second one, especially as seemingly innocuous things can feel like weighty burdens to us. Maybe you want to leave her a chat message that says I miss you 🙁 to show that you love her and remind her that her presence enriches your life so that her absence is noted; there is a hole where she was — that s how important she is!! Who wouldn t want that affirmation??
ISFP : Opens up to you. Shows you their playful side. Makes art about you. Tells others about you. Remembers little details about the time you ve spent together. Initiates affection. Asks you how you re feeling. Lets you take the lead, despite their independence. Makes you feel like the only person in the world.
So, I’m an INFP female. I have had this really close friend for the last 3 years who is an INFJ male. Him and I are about 15 years apart in age, he is 25 and I am 41 and I feel the age difference is too much.
Here’s the thing… according to this, he’s both asked if I love him, and he’s told me he loves me… of course we’ve used the words “I love you” in terms of a connection and understanding each other on some deep level, which no one has understood us before. But, he really does love me, and even though I’ve used the words above to ask him if he loved me… I’ve never told him I love him with those words… it gets more interesting…
So a few years back I had a brief sexual relationship with an ENTP. He is back in my life now. We connected intellectually even then, but it’s been way more intense lately and we have both been damaged extensively by toxic partners.
According to this he’s asked me if I love him… but never has said he loves me.
I’ve told him I love him, according to the above, but I’ve never really asked if he loves me…. thing is… we don’t say I love you, we dart around it out of fear.
We actually have discussed it. We both say we can’t say we love each other but it’d be lying if we said we didn’t.
The INFJ and the ENTP have met… and even if I wasn’t in the equation, they wouldn’t get along… they would be better at pretending and would have sone interesting conversations, but their attempts are quite weakened by my presence. The INFJ sadly has distanced himself. I do love him, but the age thing really does bother me. His mom is only 2 years older than me. Also, the ENTP is my age…
I don’t expect an answer, but I’m sure there are several personality types that may find this highly interesting, if not at least valuable… or maybe I just needed an outlet to vent this without anybody knowing who I am! Then again, maybe a bunch of INFPs, INFJs and ENTPs have some input?
Hello! I read your post and enjoyed reading about you and your relationships with the ENTP and INFJ. I re-read it after you said you weren’t expecting an answer because I can’t figure out what your Q is exactly!
But I am an INFJ and very close to an INFP! I often distance myself from very close friends often and thought I’d share some of the most common reasons why I do this, so that it might help understanding why your INFJ is doing it.. (of course all 4 of these could not even be the reason why he is!)
1. If I don’t feel safe anymore or if I feel misunderstood 2. My life is hectic. Such as experiencing abnormal amounts of anxiety or depression-like emotions because of something else like work, family…. 3. I don’t see the friendship/relationship growing any further. It’s kind of scary how easy it is for me to move on from friends and relationships sometimes. But it’s not that I don’t love that person still, I just personally feel my life is headed in a different direction. And 4. I try to pull back/distance myself when I feel like that’s what the other person wants. Maybe it’s something they said, or did that made me think they are the ones headed in a different direction.
I think the best thing for you to do is communicate more clearly what you feel toward them. And ask those Q that clearly state “do you love me?”
This hopefully will help understand their feelings and motives easier! I appreciate your ability to analyze and critically think about other people’s emotions. <3
Best of luck with everything!
I am an ENTP female who, coincidentally, was hurt in a toxic relationship too. The first thing I’m thinking is this situation can damage the trust of any human, no matter what personality. Hearing the words “I love you” often enough, in any form, and then witnessing the opposite (toxic partner does things that no one would do if they really loved you) tends to cheapen those words, especially for a person who values truth and reason. We always say what we mean, and mean what we say, and having been burned by someone who doesn’t, tends to leave a wound, and the reflex to protect that wound from further injury. The need to wait, watch and be certain that person’s words line up with their deeds is a protective mechanism. In all likelihood, he does love you but will not tend to say it often, as this expression has been used for great damage in the past.
As per the idea you mentioned once — that our auxiliary is how we show love (as the nurturing parent) and our tertiary is what we ask for in love (as our ten-year-old) — do you think that might apply here? For example, would an ENFP be “asking” for the love language of “Effectiveness” whereas an ISTJ would be showing the love language of “Effectiveness,” etc?
I always thought I’m an accuracy type. But having read this, I feel like I related more with authenticity type :/
Yes, this article certainly resonated with me…when I consider “healthy” individuals. I’m an INFJ and was married to a narcissistic ESFP for many years. He did not operate in our relationship as the FP you describe above, and I attribute that to his narcissism. I’ve known other FPs though whom I could see your list as accurately describing…my son is one of them! I would say that readers need to keep in mind that when personality disorders come into play, the game changes.;-)
I am INFJ. My husband is ENTP. We are in our 60’s His description is very ACCURATE. Lol! Personally I am more toward the AUTHENTICITY now than HARMONY, but both.
Interesting. I’m an xNFP and I resonate more with the harmony questions and most with the effectiveness questions and answers. Probably because effectiveness is in my functional stack… I think a lot of times what I’m looking for in a romantic relationship are the effectiveness answers. Almost to a T. I also think my tendencies for answering I love you fall in that same category. Especially the “I will educate myself on you and learn how you operate.” Though, this usually comes into play a lot more once there is conflict. I want so badly for us to understand each other and connect. Usually my partners don’t want to do the same, so I feel really unloved and not valued. I did date and ISTJ once. It went badly :-/. They say that xNTJs are a good match for me. I’m starting to believe it more and more, but I’ve never been with one. I may find the authenticity q&a’s more accurate to my non-romantic relationships. Idk. They’re important, for sure. I just feel like my heart craves something more than that most of the time.
Good explanation and summary of the love languages in relation to the types. I enjoyed this podcast.
I did not understand the abbreviations of infp entj what do these short form stand for ? Please help so that I can understand the article
Interesting. I’m an ENFP, and while I agree that the ways I answer with “yes!” seem appropriate, I resonate more with the “do you love me?” list associated with the Harmony group. Could this be skewed by my #1 love language being quality time? I mean, the ones listed for Authenticity are good and desirable, but the Harmony ones are really the cry of my heart….
I’m an ENFP as well and I totally agree…i dont really relate to showing love in the harmony types way but the questions are definitely ones I’d ask…if not directly to the person at least of myself
I am an INTJ female and my significant other is an ESFP. Yes, I know.. it can be challenging at times. This is really accurate for both of us and very helpful.
ESFJ with an ENFP husband and an ISTJ best friend and this is all accurate for us.
INTP female with an INTP male fiance and yep! This is accurate. Pun intended, of course.
This may be my new favorite article on this website, because you have melded together my two favorite things: personality types and the 5 love languages. I am an INTJ woman married to an INTP man. These questions and answers are quite accurate and make eminent sense.
This is very helpful….as an ENFJ who is seeing an ISTP….I have felt completely out of my comfort zone. I have a desire to check in constantly, whereas he can go days without any contact. He also enjoys keeping an open/flexible schedule whereas I like to plan our next get together. When we are together….he is fantastic, very caring, protective and helpful. It is during our times apart that I start to ruminate and get concerned. I am going to use the information above to not only tailor my style of showing love for him, but also use how he shows love to back myself off the ledge I seem to find myself on too frequently.
I am INTP, I do these things:
*How “Harmony” answers: “Yes! I love you!”
I will meet your needs before I meet my own.
I will check in regularly and make sure you’re okay.
I will do my best to keep morale up.
I will show you appreciation in whatever way I’d like to be shown appreciation.
How “Effectiveness” answers, “Yes! I love you!”
I will educate myself on you and learn how you operate.
I will take pride in you, boasting about your accomplishments even before my own.
How “Accuracy” asks, “Do you Love Me?”
Do you think I’m totally competent?
Are you impressed with my performance?
Do you trust that I’m not lying to you or B.S.’ing you in any way?
Does it make sense that you love me? That you stay with me?
How “Accuracy” answers, “Yes! I love you!”
I will be rigorously honest with you. Delete >>> (If I have a ‘wandering eye’ I will tell you, and provide a solution.)
I will never judge you. Instead, I will be there for you when things go bad, no matter why they went bad.
Interestingly, as I’ve gotten older and grown into a more well-rounded person, I think I’ve naturally gravitated toward using my Fe in relationships. (That is, after all, the context in which Fe functions best!) And now, after all these years, I find that I relate more to the Fe “Harmony” perspective than the Ti “Accuracy” perspective. In other areas of my life–work, hobbies, and so on–I remain very much the accuracy-driven INTP. But with people I love, I’m more and more focused on “Harmony” questions.
I am an ENTP and my husband is an ISTJ and this one post pretty my sums up our entire relationship. I have never loved or felt supported with someone like I do with him and since I have been doing more research into our personality types, I absolutely see why we work. Thank you for the post. It was very insightful.
Hi, I’m an INFJ – I recently listened to your INFJ-related podcast episides and I love what you’ve been saying about developing Harmony being crucial to the well-being.
I found that while I myself mostly avoided the pitfalls of active victimhood and depression (only by a hair, phew.) that might only have been because of my family putting so much importance on developing coping skills through struggle (basically: very early on I had to face whatever problems I caused, learn to problem-solve and develop a belief “I can manage.”).
What I know however is that I am much more productive once I developed Harmony, since it made for so much of moodiness/brooding and downtime that wasn’t effective and conflict avoidance. I wish I had worked on that earlier, it would have changed a ton in my life. Keeping up with daily work/university course work has been a struggle and caused me to seem ‘flaky/unreliable’ or often underprepared even if listening to lectures and taking notes has been a pleasure and my essays have been (after simplification) outstanding.
I am so grateful for you helping out INFJs out there to do the Harmony work early.
In fact if there’s a thing I would say to all INFJs – journal and then read the journal entries to yourself. Out loud if possible. Best start of working on Harmony.
Second – meditation helps. Both a fun time for Sensing, a Harmony “stress-reducer” and Perspectives developer – second only to writing.
I think it would be great if you mentioned how powerful a combo can aligning your Harmony and Accuracy make. I know you talk about using it in the right context, but mostly it’s intimacy/play. I have only enjoyed absorbing knowledge after I found a career that’s satisfying – based on human values, communication and championing others. Before I liked fiction novels with great examples of relationships and complex characters, but then immediately I became a voracious reader of not just psychology books, but business and marketing books as well. Previously the process of acquiring pure knowledge – history, biology, but also large portions of vocabulary of any language – has been more of a reactive one, rather then proactive. In fact I think that INFJs who are not allowed to explore a bit a la Sensing and notice what makes them energized, what is the pay and day-to-day feeling of the career like, what’s their preference for learning – shouldn’t go to University, or they will have quite a difficult time.
Now, mind you, before university I was perfectly fine and would probably have been fine for most of University with great grades, but when you combine the Accuracy methods of learning not being developed and Harmony’s tendency to want to please people and say yes to too many taxing appointments, tasks and projects – any INFJ will easily have a meltdown, I know I certainly have been in some rough and deep waters owing to that.
Language learning came the easiest to me (Perspectives has a knack for observing and practicing/writing according to grammar rules, I found Accuracy much less happy to practice orally or in writing, and once I started reading books vocabulary got into a pattern over time).
There’s also the tricky matter of believing in your skills. It doesn’t just take acknowledging and developing Harmony, but also the confidence that what you have is marketable. I make myself go out of my comfort zone and listen to ENTJs and ISTPs for business savvy, they are… harsh but effective in their ideas, and got me committed to not staying in academia, or being a language tutor.
Another thing I’d love to mention is:
There’s this trend of INFJs feeling “unique” and “misunderstood” in profiles out there.
This is also where Harmony comes in – INFJs with more developed Harmony I think will know how much work and emotional discipline and responsibility for your gift it takes, and I think wouldn not brag about uniqueness. Rather, I certainly have said this more than a couple of times in the past : “I have been dealt a powerful card, and using it wisely will require thought, caution and practice. That is not something I’d wish on just anyone.”. My friend, who’s an ENFJ in my opinion has had just as much a challenging time with her more pronounced Harmony.
Second – the feeling of being misunderstood has mostly been gone from my life once I decided to be less private and joined an organization focused on communication. I will never have a wide network of friends, I believe strongly in quality over quantity, but those few who are around me have been a blessing.
The only time the “misunderstood” feeling creeps in is with intimate relationships.
What I haven’t seen mentioned anywhere is that developing Harmony has a catch-22 at the beginning. To me it seemed at first like so much of a burden to explain to anyone the complex concepts/perspectives I have in my head or the experiences I go through, and the language used to describe the experiences INFJs go through can be woo-woo like you mentioned.
The complexity, tendency to deliver in monologues to flesh out the concepts/perspectives and the language made me very self-aware and to not want to cause anyone the high brow or a wrinkle on a forhead from analysing – that’s Harmony. Oddly, probably together with Accuracy it caused me to look for the right person to share with, and many were disqualified. And once you speak out as an INFJ I think you expect a reciprocally complex, monologued commentary or care for the language used to not hurt your feelings when giving feedback. That is not the case, and I wish I’d shared earlier without as much regard for the listener’s feelings, or choice of the right listener, and prepared myself for the many ways Accuracy and Efficiency based feedback will shock me. Eventually I know I have learned to distinguish who is the person I can share Perspectives with (a combination of testing (Sensing) and knowledge (Accuracy) and developing Harmony) and managed to have better control over the structure and length of the monologues. I wouldn’t have without repeated practice.
My last point would be about the functions and how they ask and answer love. My ENFJ friend who has Harmony as her driver fits your description of how she asks and answers love.
However… I’d like to point out that from my experience I have used a combination of Perspectives and Harmony for how I ask and answer love. While Harmony may cause my ENFJ friend to bake cookies for her coworkers, light up after I check in with her or my ESFJ mom, who’s also got a Harmony Driver, to put her family’s needs before hers, I have done it differently.
A good phone call for me is not about a check-ins but a cool new insight from a friend, a story I could find interesting or this exciting new person who’s delivered a great TEDtalk.
I send out any materials, books and articles or invites to workshops that help others with their interests,
I light up after somebody checks in with my concepts – when someone takes the time to observe how my concept work evolves or notices a shift in my direction or has a suggestion for doing something that could further my abilities.
Putting someone’s developmental needs above mine is easy – a mentoring/coaching session late Sunday evening or early Monday morning is not uncommon for me to give. I will comply with any requests to have a deep conversation, provided I know the person is someone looking to get a better sense of happiness in their lives. I certainly get energy when Perspectives and Harmony is lined up like that. Phonecalls from the same person about the 5th-10th time they face the same problem, without any reflection will have me wanting to end quickly or to set a boundary. But when faced with baking, baby-sitting or walking the dog – I will even grumble and begrudge a little on the inside the time I could spend on writing an email, taking notes or reading. I will still do the deed with zest and zeal but it will not energize me.
I’ll agree with the fact that while the methods are more Perspectives-customized there’s still this point where Harmony tries to reciprocate attention with how I meet my needs, so there was a lot of unwarranted championing and deep conversation where I should’ve relaxed around someone. In time, I learned to not only not take this fact of life personally, but to see the different ways people like to have their needs met, and to know that it’s not about reciprocating equally but in an equally meaningful way.
I see you never mentioned and INFP. I’m one, and I totally understood everything you said! I especially liked the part where you said you were learning perspective.
See, I have 2 INFJ friends (very odd, and rare. I actually literally, and not joking, feel so blessed). I also have an 18 yr old daughter who is INFP, her best friend is as well, and I am friends with 2 other INFPs and one ENFP.
Let me just say, one reason I am blessed is because we rarely all disappear at once, so I always have at least one that I can talk to without feeling like a complete lunatic.
My INFJ friends (one male and one female) are always telling me how wise and amazing I am. They actually appreciate the things I do for them, and are reciprocal! They go out of their way to say thank you, and they also value my authenticity. I’ve been tested… and I don’t mind.
They think I can help them make better decisions. Oddly, they both asked me if they were narcissists, wonder why that is? I was in a highly abusive relationship with a covert narcissist for 4 years. Who knows what his personality type was! They don’t tell the truth about anything! Mine wouldn’t even take the test! Neither one of my friends could possibly be one… first of all… they asked, and second, they didn’t want to be so they felt it was a problem. Narcissism in general, and especially covert narcissism as a personality disorder, by it’s very nature would mean that neither thinking you have a problem, nor thinking yourself a narcissist could happen.
The thing is perspective rarely enables me to formulate a concrete decision EVER! I overthink everything! I ask questions till there’s none left to ask! It’s annoying!!! Out of the box thinker to the power of lunacy!
Just the idea of “a box” gets me going. What color is it? Why get in it? What’s it made of? Where was that material manufactured? Can I flip the box over? Can I sit on it after I flip it over? Will someone be upset if I sit on the box?
Do you see this? However, the INFJs in my life love it! With other INFPs and the ENFP, we never stop going back and forth. We’ll even stop the coversation, and then a year later, pick up on it and continue it. Especially if someone says… “but back to the point I was making…”
You and I definitely think differently, but for some reason INFP and INFJ just “get” each other… thank you for your story and input, hopefully my scattered thinking has enlightened you in some way!
Hi, I’m a female INFP blessed with having found my INFJ guy partner. It sounds like the endless questions going round and round is your “Exploration” function, the INFP passenger (2nd function) Ne, and not “Perspectives” the Ni function which is not in the conscious top 4 of your stack. As an INFP myself, what I find helpful is consciously applying our Te “Effectiveness” function to these endless Ne-driven questions that, in my experience, can feel like a bit of a whirlwind at times so I can relate to your frustration. It’s easier than you might think since they both are extroverted. I use it by trying to group similar questions together so as to organize them and then answer each question going group by group in the context of “how likely or possible will finding an answer to this be and will it be useful when I find it?” This of course is more appropriate with a task or goal in mind. If I’m just sort of day-dreaming and exploring conceptual possibilities or recognizing patterns and connections in my mental landscape of puzzles, I’ve learned to be more casual about it and to remind myself to enjoy the process as freely as possible by temporarily tuning some of my Fi “Authenticity” judging function out. I’m much more likely to enter a flow state when I’m not focusing on self-criticism and allow myself to take a break from the constant sphere of self-optimization I live in. Hope this helps, cheers.
Thank you for this informative article. My dh and I are both Accuracy. Two of our children are Effectiveness and don’t get bumped around so much, but our Authenticity kids have not been so lucky. The INFP seems to fare much better, seems to be more expressive about her personal needs and intent on having those met, but our ISFP carries it all inside. Knowing these things will allow me to communicate without being asked. Thank you.
Aww, this was such a good post 🙂 As an INFP, I always thought I was too passive with my significant others and especially my friends. I allow them to me who they are and make their mistakes, even if it’s out of character, but I always have their back and I always forgive. Its funny how we are wired to be a certain way and instead of celebrating it, we can sometimes be over critical of ourselves 🙂 🙂
As an infp male, I must say that this scary accurate! Not just for me, but my experiences with the
Other 15 types! Personally,I prefer my fellow NFs or isfp and esfp.
Oh. My. Gosh!!!!
This is so crazily on point!! Duuuuuude. I can’t believe it. I’m sending it to allll of my MBTI-educated friends!! Aaackkk
I am an INTP and this is absolutely spot on. My wife is an ENFJ, and she literally asks me those exact questions every single day. Words of affirmation are totally foreign to me — I find little to no value in someone telling me they love me, but my wife cooking dinner or picking up my dry cleaning makes me downright emotional. Meanwhile, my wife needs me to confess my love for her every day, multiple times per day, and needs me to verbally acknowledge how much she means to me over and over. Researching and studying love languages and personality types, and taking in all the information I can on how to accommodate other personality types, primarily my wife’s, has drastically improved my work and social lives.
> she literally asks me those exact questions every single day.
et tu, INTP? I interpret this to mean she asks you similar questions frequently. Regardless, good job dissecting the inner workings of your relationship. 😉
Jack, actually these questions can be asked in an infinite amount of ways. Considering there are so many languages and so many different ways to word the question. The intent of the question itself does not change though. So I think he was right the first that he said it ? smartass
New to this page and love it! Probably saved my marriage. Thanks.
Well said! As an INFJ,I believe you’ve got it spot on 😀
Very accurate 😀 I am an ENFP and from my personal relationships with INFJ / INTJ / ENTP I agree with all of the responses evaluated for those types here, completely 🙂
As an ENFP I also find myself most drawn to the responses under the INTJ (best matched type)’s list.
Love this! I’m an INFJ, and I very much agree with what you’ve written. Nice job!
Love! Spot on and super helpful!
Absolutely on target with Authenticity questioning and Accuracy answering the call.
Very impressive.