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Verbal Clues to Myers-Briggs® mental functions: Ni, Fe
Caveat: I DO NOT recommend solely using phrases people say to make an hypothesis about what their Myers-Briggs® Type code might be. It may be an indicator of what cognitive process (also known as a mental function or function-in-attitude) they are using at that moment.
I do find that people using the same mental function use similar phrases that provide hints as to which function they are using at that moment.
For instance, I know several people who have preferences for ENFJ.
If you are a qualified MBTI® practitioner, you probably know that the ENFJ’s dominant function is extraverted feeling (Fe) , or making decisions based on what is important to others. Usually you will hear them talk about
- relationships,
- important people in their lives
- their care and concerns for others
- the impact of decisions on others, all with a
- full, rich and nuanced vocabulary of emotion descriptors
ENFJ’s auxiliary or helping function is introverted intuiting (Ni) which is one of four ways to take in information. This you won’t see frequently as it is introverted, or in other words, taking place mostly in the ENFJ’s mind. Often Ni provides a positive vision of the future potential of a person, a team, or a group. With that vision in mind, an ENFJ is motivated to help that individual or group achieve that end result.
For instance, one might see that a daughter has the capacity to be a fabulous event planner. The ENFJ parent would guide, coax, assist, suggest to the daughter that she might look into that and share insights into the talents and strengths that would lead to her success. All of these insights would be quite enthusiastic in the telling.
When someone with Ni is telling others how they access information, you might hear them say, “I’ll wait and see what comes to mind”, “I’ll let it gel, then I’ll know”, “I need to let it stew”, or “It just came to me”, or “I just know”.
It’s hard to connect the dots for others to show how you got to that vision. It truly just comes. It cannot be bidden, but arrives when it is ready. There may be no evidence to provide to others to support that vision or insight. Yet, the person with Ni as a dominant or auxiliary trusts the information above all other sources. The intuiting information is always about the future.
So, if you hear someone speak primarily about relationships and emotions you may be talking to an ENFJ, INFJ, ESFJ, ISFJ.
If you hear someone share an insight about the future with conviction, an “aha” moment as their intuition deliveries that vision of the future for the project, a person, or a situation you may be talking to an ENFJ, INTJ, INFJ, or ENTJ.
An NTJs’ insight might be more about the potential of a future business goal rather than about the people involved.
INFJ, ESFJ, ISFJ types also use the extraverted feeling function to make rational decisions as either their dominant or auxiliary function.
INFJ, ENTJ, and INTJ all trust introverted intuiting to access information.
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