Introductions

Hahaha, people love to accuse the MBTI of being like zodiacs and so forth, and though it seems like it would have to be impossible to be empirical, the thing is, it's consistent. You get a consistent picture of a type of person along certain attributes that are general enough that they don't have say everything about you. You could argue that your socioeconomic status meant more than your personality type, and I'd disagree with you, but it'd be a valid argument. But it's consistent in multiple ways. With zodiacs, you don't get a true cohesive picture of a person. It's all over the place because it needs to be, and then people pick out what they like or don't. That's not the case with the MBTI. It's also consistent over a person's life. People get different results when they test themselves over the course of time, but if they knew themselves properly, or understood what the questions were getting at properly, it would be consistent, because as far as official results gained from someone licensed to give the test, people are one type for their entire life. People grow and mature, etc. but their core personality doesn't change, and that's important.

As for the value I personally put into it, honestly, there are few things I value more than the MBTI. It has really helped me. My father is an ESTP, and being an INFP child with an ESTP father is... rough... I can't explain to you how helpful it has been in making peace with myself. Without it, I would have believed fully that there is something deeply, and horribly wrong with me. I believe wholeheartedly that personality type colors each and every interaction we ever have on a profound level. The same arguments pop up over and over and over and over again, and it's as clear as day to me that they are based in type. Everyone wants to make others more like them, and they can hardly stop themselves from doing that. Some typologists call it the Pygmalion Project, because everyone thinks that the image of perfection is some vision of themselves, so they chip away at other people, believing they will sculpt them into being more like themselves. Not only does a person's effort to chisel people in their Pygmalion Project fail, and absolutely fail, but it may actually cause damage to the person that they are shaping. So that to me is why the MBTI is insanely important.

Also, Atom, I love that you got INFP. I would love if it were true, because I'm an INFP, though with the way you reacted to your description, it's very possible that you tested wrong, but don't feel bad, in my experience, pretty much everyone mistypes early on.

Also, INFPs get the reputation of not being logical or rational, but as we mature, we do put a lot of energy into the naturally less-developed parts of ourselves. I actually champion rationality. I know that not being rational was a big problem of mine for a long time, so I guess caring about it so much now is my own sort of balance in life. Some even say that NT/Rational types are a great pairing for the NF types, particularly in romance, and it's probably because of some of the sparks that fly in this area. Anyway, rationality is a rare thing to find anywhere, and it's as important as the idealism that NF types represent, so I find myself sounding like a rational on some level these days, or so I think.

Anyways, I have spent absurd amounts of time with this system, and I feel like I have represented that pretty well here, so there you go! Spend some more time with it, and perhaps it will surprise you! If you are an INFP really, it's the richest type of information on the planet.