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In this episode Joel and Antonia dive deep into the needs and desires of the INFP personality type.
In this podcast on INFP Personality Type you’ll find:
- Why are INFPs misunderstood?
- The cognitive function is a mental process that helps you learn information or make decisions.
- The 4 letter code tells you how your brain is wired. It’s like an entrance on how you learn processes.
- Authenticity – Is a way that you (as an INFP) make your decisions which is more inclined what resonates with you the most as a person.
- INFPs understand emotions on a whole different level.
- Questions to ethics become very intriguing to INFPs. For example: “what determines an ethical or moral action?”
- Authenticity is very in touch with the subjective human experience.
- Authenticity is where we humans find conscience. Because that’s when we ask, “how do we honor people’s individuality?”
- Oftentimes, INFPs become masters of human experience in general.
- The ability to determine that something resonates is a maturity of the Authenticity process. As it matures, it understands that not everything they experience is the same as everyone.
- Do INFPs truly want to be understood?
- Nobody could be 100% understand them apart from themselves.
- INFPs feel being marginalized and dismissed way more than being misunderstood.
- INFPs seek validation.
- We want to acknowledge that they have a specific type of pain based from their personality type.
- Authenticity type should be balanced with Exploration. Exploration (the co-pilot function) is about advanced pattern recognition in the outside world – thinking behind the curtain.
- If you want more description or definition, check out our episode “Introverted Intuition VS Extraverted Intuition”.
- Your superpowers are developed when you learn to master your co-pilot.
- Art is one of the places where INFPs thrive.
- Art is a communication of feeling and INFPs simply flourish in this context. They create art that’s impactful.
- For INFPs, they tend to recall how they felt/reacted in the past.
- They have the ability to mirror emotions. They don’t need to mirror emotions in real time. For example, the can look at an art piece and mirror the emotion to themselves.
- Authenticity people tend to recall how they feel/how they imagined they would feel and then instantly replicating the emotion inside them.
- The emotional language can be transferred in long extensive periods of time.
- In order to be authentic, you need to have a mature and vast understanding of how the world works.
- Intent: The Darker aspect of Authenticity. INFPs tend to try to give a reason that’s combated with logic.
- INFPs tend to defend their intent, because they see a wide array of positive and negative intent. They understand how people can easily go and slip into bad intent.
- Healthy INFPs view everything has positive intent.
- Being able to understand that darkness is universal and part of the human experience will help you accept yourself.
- How to go about making a living as an INFP?
- Getting something done can sometimes be very challenging for INFPs.
- INFPs have the desire to make an impact and be an inspirational leader. Oftentimes, they will disregard the passion they have. Passion is extremely important.
- Authenticity people can have the tendency to marginalize people. Make sure you do what you’re passionate with. Check in with yourself what you really want.
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215 comments
Dear Joel,
It would be great if it was possible to download it.
I don´t have a good bandwith here where I´m living at so I download almost everything outside.
If you read this and figure out some way to do it, please, let me know.
Regards from Brazil.
Evan.
Wow!! I really enjoyed your podcast and it has taught me a lot. I’m a 23 year old girl INFP MBTI geek lol. I walk around trying to see the functions in people for it helps me understand people more and also myself more! I like to see myself as an overall pretty healthy INFP thank Gd. When i interact with people. People think I’m extraverted and very logical (ha)i believe when I speak with people, in the best way I can, I am able to assess their emotions and separate them from mine, which is something I wasn’t so good at when I was younger. I’m in Social Work Grad school now and I think the tools i am learning there also help with this.
Something particular actually i thought of is when you spoke about how if an INFP is using immature Fi then they can get other peoples emotions wrong. I work in a school, and my supervisor pointed out to me that sometimes I tend to “feed emotions.” Which means a client can say something like… “My father yelled at me” and I could say “wow that must have made you upset” (because i’m thinking how it would make me feel). Instead, however, the child felt angry! My supervisor said instead to break it step by step and see where the client is “how was that for you?”
When you spoke about the self emotional harm, you gave me a lot of clarity i’ve been searching for a while. So thank you. I’m religious and I try to do things in the best way I can. When i notice bad things in myself though, like what you said I feel like no one is experiencing these things like I am, so I must be bad, and then it turns into a loop like “what’s the point in even trying.” Then i just get upset and down. You gave me clarity that because i’m just super hyper aware of these things that’s normal and other types just don’t recognize as much, but I need to validate it then move on and not let it define me. So thank you for that!!!!
Also I resonate what you spoke about that it’s not that i feel misunderstood rather I need to feel validated…
Also the main thing i struggle in my life is yup… like getting necessary things done! Laundry, errands, or even doing something I don’t want to do… I’m able to do these things though because of the pressure of keeping everything up and not being too overwhelmed in the long run. It’s interesting i know another INFP and she hands in all the assignments in late past the due date (sometimes the teachers care but most of the time not so much) and she can get away with it. I really try to avoid giving in assignments late because, frankly, I don’t want to be bothered with it anymore… so I want to get it done as fast as possible so I could do the things I want to do (well usually I do it last minute lol). So i think that’s interesting.
Ah thanks for this. Can’t wait to listen to the INFJ podcast (kind of obsessed with them)
Hi:) the whole podcast was done really well and explained accurately. It has been very interesting since discovering MBTI and ever since, I’ve joined several FB groups, forums to learn about the other types as well as my own.
The part where you mentioned about making use of the Ne and understanding your subjective can be different from others resonated a lot with me as I have been talking to other INFPs in the FB groups.
I had joined the group to mostly find out how varying our values are to us albeit our shared thought process.
I had actually shared on that group about being seen or appreciated mostly for being cheerful or light-hearted but not being seen as serious much. I wondered if this had occurred to them or what do they think about this. Some of others were questioning why should we act happy when we’re not? It made me realise with the lack of Ne, some people didn’t realise I was talking about being both cheerful, optimistic yet serious and loving to have ‘deep’ discussions.
Somebody asked," what would life be like for you if you got rid of that ‘cheerful’ mask?"
I answered," I don’t know. It’ll be dreadful I guess. I need my optimism as well as my serious side."
Another person resonated with this saying is like having an inner child yet also having an inner philosopher and needing that passionate or optimistic outlook to life while being self-perspective and seeking depth. Throughtout the discussion, it seemed difficult to get through to them because they felt strongly about not being put in ‘boxes’ by other people or wearing a ’mask’when my point is not that at all.
Another lady made a really good point about people seeing you as the fun-loving friend so when you act differently or not something they are used to, they don’t know how to respond to it.
As much as I appreciate my Fi, I can see how it can be very frustrating when someone who is unable or doesn’t want to see from a different perspective.
Another point is about INFPs not wanting to people to understand them completely. It’s such an oxymoron because we want our feelings validated but yet being scared of that rejection so we usually are very private and try to keep a distance until we are 1000% sure we can trust someone with our feelings and thoughts. It’s not so much about being authentic or different but whether out feelings are valid and make sense.
The self-doubt is very true. I think many of the times, society’s or other people’s views on certain things may be different from ours that we question whether we are actually that cynical or evil for thinking differently. It goes hand in hand with validation. I think that’s why many INFPs hold back on expressing on stating their opinion which could confirm their self-doubt and thus, affecting how they see themselves and the beliefs they have. You’re right about Ne being very important. It helps them see they can have their own views and others have their own. It doesn’t have to be a fight about whose values are more ‘right’ than the other and viewing it as a personal attack. It is knowing other people have gone through other experiences that we may never have or never will go through so we can only imagine being in their position and seeing how they have that kind of perspective.
The other types podcast have been very interested too! The other MBTI tyoes have been posting your podcasts and having really good comments for how relatable they were. Keep up the good work:D
That was really on point. Well done! I think all INFPs feel misunderstood. I wanted to mention that I think the maturity of an INFP can be determined by their reaction to this feeling. I think young, immature, or unhealthy INFPs are more prone to outwardly accuse people for making them feel invalidated, whereas an older and/or more developed INFP is more likely to accept it. Not to say these INFPs are emotionally unaffected by external invalidation, just that they have come to terms with it. I’ve noticed that the older I get, the more I understand where other people are coming from. I don’t claim to be extremely mature or wise, but I get why people don’t understand me. And I’m okay with that. I think if you yourself feel validated in who you are; it doesn’t matter what other people think. (Unless you’re a serial killer.) It also helps to surround yourself with like-minded people. My cousin (ENTP), twin sister (ENFP), and her boyfriend (who we think is an INTP or an INFP) all use Ne. This makes it easy for us to communicate with each other and, on some levels, understand each other. We are all interested in typology and we all have a desire and drive to understand each other. Our conversations are always intellectually stimulating and fun. I know “surrounding yourself with like-minded people” might be easier said than done, but it’s worth the effort. On a completely different note, I really identified with the dialogue about intense emotion. I think emotion, especially negative emotion, is something society would rather leave unexpressed. This makes people bottle their emotions which can explode at unexpected times or trap people in undesirable places. It’s better to just deal with it, either by having a good cry, listening to music, playing music, talking to someone, anything. If you can find a way to fully express a negative emotion in a healthy way, you will get over it. Thanks for a great podcast! I found it relatable and educational.
Awesome Heather! This is the feedback we live for! Thanks for sharing your journey with us. Good luck on your new career choices. :)