My Personality (Elizabeth)

You’ve heard both about how my parents met, and how I was when I was younger. Now, I’d like to introduce you to the present me :) I thought the best way to do so would be by using MBTI (or the 16personality types) to define my personality.

First of all, I’ll give you a mini introduction to MBTI. Every personality has four letters. The first letter determines whether I’m an introvert or extravert. The second letter tells me whether I’m more intuitive or sensing. The third letter tells me if I’m more thinking or feeling. And the fourth letter is judging or perceiving. I’m an ENFJ, meaning Extraverted iNtuitive, Feeling, Judging.

Most people don’t go any more in-depth than the letters, but thanks to Hannah, I learned about personality functions. Every personality has four functions: one feeling, one thinking, one intuitive, and one sensing. The function is either introverted or extraverted. I would tell you how to figure that out yourself, but that would require a much longer explanation. My functions are: Fe-Ni-Se-Ti, since I’m an ENFJ. These are simply the abbreviations, so you would read them like this: Extraverted Feeling, Introverted Intuition, Extraverted Sensing, and Introverted Thinking.

If you’d like to know more, try checking out these websites:

Easy Ways Differentiate Between MBTI Functions

Functions for Dummies

Understanding the 8 Jungian Cognitive Processes (Functions)

Now, I’m going to show you how I use each function of my personality.

Fe (Extraverted Feeling)

When a function is extraverted, it means external, so you could think of this as feeling external. This means:

Others’ feelings is often one of my first considerations in making a decision

I get my values from my environment—those around me

I’m very expressive and open

As you can see, my feeling function is external, very other-oriented. If they were internal, I’d be more in tune with my own feelings. Here are some other ways I express my Fe function:

I like making others happy

I’m good at sensing others’ feelings

I’m outgoing and social

I have a strong influence on others’ emotions

I can be sensitive and sometimes offended easily

Group unity is important to me

I believe the best about people, sometimes to the point of naiveté, I’m afraid

I love helping others (though sometimes that can come in conflict with my Ni)

I adjust my behavior to make others comfortable

Someone else’s mood often affects mine

I’m responsible

I’m empathetic

I can struggle to say “no”

I like teasing—without being offensive

I take advice from others

I often struggle to understand my own feelings

Sometimes my default is to conform to what the group wants

Sometimes, I minimize my own opinion

I’m romantic (but practical, thanks to my Ni)

Ni (Introverted Intuition)

Those with introverted intuition often come up with lots of ideas, but have to pursue a few of them to completion. This is my second strongest function, so it keeps my Fe in check. Here are some ways my Ni function expresses itself:

I think ahead (for example: when I go to a summer camp, I double check my packing list, check the weather report, and print out a camp map)

I’m goal-oriented and think long-term (I’ve always had to have a career Iwas aiming for, even when I was little)

I consider how my behavior will affect others

I have a plan of action (which is probably why I like outlining my stories)

I change after realizing my faults

I work tirelessly towards my life-goals

I have a profound understanding of others and how they think

My focus is sometimes narrow

I try to apply the ideas that I brainstorm

Se (Extraverted Sensing)

Those with this function are very observant and in tune with their five senses.

I’m spontaneous

I can be impulsive.

This is one of my weaker functions. You can tell, because:

I prefer planning to improvising

I don’t always pay attention to my surroundings.

Ti (Introverted Thinking)

I lapse into silence when I think deeply

I’m learning to think more for myself, since I have tendencies to conform

I think very independently when it comes to my principles

Sometimes, things that don’t align with my inner logic confuse me

I have trouble accepting criticism, though I apply it

Sometimes, I have trouble separating truth from opinion

I’m not afraid to voice my beliefs, if my beliefs are strong enough

I tend to act more on my feelings (which is why Ti is my weakest function)

I like to work my ideas out on paper rather than aloud

Do you have any of these same tendencies? Have you ever taken the Myers-Brigg test? What did you test as and how accurate did you find it?

Thank you for reading!

-Elizabeth