Portrait of the Counselor (INFJ)
Counselors have an exceptionally strong desire to contribute
to the welfare of others, and find great personal fulfillment
interacting with people, nurturing their personal development,
guiding them to realize their human potential. Although they are
happy working at jobs (such as writing) that require solitude and
close attention, Counselors do quite well with individuals or groups
of people, provided that the personal interactions are not
superficial, and that they find some quiet, private time every now
and then to recharge their batteries. Counselors are both kind and
positive in their handling of others; they are great listeners and
seem naturally interested in helping people with their personal
problems. Not usually visible leaders, Counselors prefer to work
intensely with those close to them, especially on a one-to-one
basis, quietly exerting their influence behind the
scenes.
Counselors are scarce, little more than one percent of the
population, and can be hard to get to know, since they tend not to
share their innermost thoughts or their powerful emotional reactions
except with their loved ones. They are highly private people, with
an unusually rich, complicated inner life. Friends or colleagues who
have known them for years may find sides emerging which come as a
surprise. Not that Counselors are flighty or scattered; they value
their integrity a great deal, but they have mysterious, intricately
woven personalities which sometimes puzzle even them.
Counselors tend to work effectively in organizations. They
value staff harmony and make every effort to help an organization
run smoothly and pleasantly. They understand and use human systems
creatively, and are good at consulting and cooperating with others.
As employees or employers, Counselors are concerned with people’s
feelings and are able to act as a barometer of the feelings within
the organization. Blessed with vivid imaginations, Counselors are
often seen as the most poetical of all the types, and in fact they
use a lot of poetic imagery in their everyday language. Their great
talent for language—both written and spoken—is usually directed
toward communicating with people in a personalized way. Counselors
are highly intuitive and can recognize another’s emotions or
intentions—good or evil—even before that person is aware of them.
Counselors themselves can seldom tell how they came to read others’
feelings so keenly. This extreme sensitivity to others could very
well be the basis of the Counselor’s remarkable ability to
experience a whole array of psychic phenomena.
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Career and Job Interests
The Idealists (NFs)
In general, the
Idealists are a satisfied bunch. About 75% are extremely or somewhat
satisfied in their current positions, and it doesn’t appear to be
related to flexible schedules, lucrative stock options, altruistic
practices, allowing pets in the workplace, or even company-sponsored
beer on Fridays. Challenging work helps a bit, but overall,
Idealists just seem to like what they do. The career choice itself
seems to be the key for the NFs.
Temperament Preferences
- Idealists want (in order) balance, teamwork, individual
creativity, challenging work, and a stable environment.
- Rationals want challenging work, individual creativity,
achievement, empowers employees, and balance.
- Artisans want balance, individual creativity, challenging
work, teamwork, and empowers employees.
- Guardians want a stable environment, balance, teamwork,
achievement, and challenging work.
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Dating and Mating -- Idealist
Pairings
Creating deep and meaningful relationships is second nature
to Idealists, and with their sensitivity, their ability to
communicate their feelings, their personal warmth and enthusiasm,
Idealists can make good marriages with all the temperaments. Still,
there can be troubles.
Idealist-Artisan: Idealists thoroughly
enjoy the freedom and spontaneity of their Artisan mates, and they
admire the ease with which Artisans can live artfully in the moment,
so different from their own torn, often conscience-driven experience
of life. Also the sensuality and sexual boldness of Artisan mates
can intrigue Idealists and fire their romantic imaginations.
However, there is one potent seed of dissatisfaction in these
relationships, namely, the total lack of interest that most Artisans
have in discussing and exploring their inner lives. When an Idealist
speaks of the "self-realization," of "higher consciousness," or of
"spiritual awakening," their Artisan mates do not really understand
what they're talking about, and can even feel put down by the air of
saintly superiority. And, sadly, it is from this seed that
interference and manipulation can begin to grow in these
relationships, as the Idealist partners try with all their
imaginative might to cultivate a heightened inner-awareness in their
Artisan mates.
Idealist-Guardian: With Guardian mates
Idealists find a comfortable, reassuring stability and dependability
in the home, conditions which can help give the somewhat scattered
Idealists a feeling of solid earth beneath their feet. Also,
Idealists and Guardians both believe in following, or at least
respecting, the rules and laws that govern everyday life. At bottom,
both temperaments see the world in moral terms-Rights and Wrongs
matter to them-even though Idealists are often of two minds about
moral issues, and so will often question a Guardian's fixed moral
positions. A bigger problem is that Guardians have trouble sharing
the rich inner lives of Idealists, and can disappoint their Idealist
mates' desire for deep bonding. A Guardian might try to be more
soulful and romantic in order to please the Idealist, but sooner or
later the down-to-earth Guardian feels unappreciated and begins to
resist the force of the Idealist's spiritual expectations-and the
result can be head-on conflict.
Idealist-Idealist: Idealists often get
along exceptionally well together. Two Idealists can find deep-felt
satisfaction in sharing each other's inner world and exploring each
other's personal development, each helping the other along the road
to self-knowledge. However, if the pair are too much alike in their
ethical concerns, or pursue the same spiritual goals for too long a
time, they can become rather narrowly devoted to the pilgrim's
journey and tire themselves out along the way. In addition, two
empathic Idealists can create a wonderfully intimate bond for a
time, but eventually they can begin to invade each other's
privacy-constantly getting into each other's skin can result in
getting on each other's nerves.
Idealist-Rational: The choice of a
Rational mate seems to hold the best promise of success for
Idealists. The basis of their compatibility is that Idealists and
Rationals both live primarily in the world of abstract concepts-the
world of theories and possibilities, of insights and symbols. After
dating more down-to-earth, literal-minded Artisans and Guardians, an
Idealist's first encounter with a Rational can be a revelation,
putting the Idealist in touch with a new and intriguing type of
person, someone eager and able to dream the world with them, to
build castles in the air, and to see far distances with the mind's
eye. Also fascinating is the Rationals' calmness and autonomy, two
characteristics which give Rationals a strength of character-a firm
grasp of who they are-that the easily ruffled, soul-searching
Idealists greatly admire, and would like to emulate. These
Idealist-Rational relationships do not always remain harmonious, of
course. Conflicts of emotionality vs. self-control, of intuition vs.
logic, and of ethics vs. technical pragmatics can prove challenging
in even the best Idealist-Rational marriages. And yet, so powerful
is their shared focus on abstract ideas, on what might be rather
than what is, that Idealists take to Rationals as to no other
temperament.
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What the Letters
Mean
The letter names of the sixteen types ("INFJ," for example) are
based on four pairs of letters-E-I, S-N, T-F, and J-P-that represent
the four Jung-Myers dimensions of personality. Each pair of letters
forms a spectrum, and thus no single letter should be taken as
naming a type of person (there are no "Extraverts" or "Thinkers,"
etc., as such). A personality is a complex unity of traits, and
these letters merely suggest stronger or weaker tendencies in a
person's overall makeup. The pairs of letters stand for the
following concepts:
E =
Extraversion
I = Introversion
S =
Sensation
N = Intuition
T =
Thinking
F = Feeling
J =
Judgment
P =
Perception
Your Keirsey Temperament Sorter
II Results
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
| (E) Extraversion |
2 |
 |
|
|
|
|
8 |
Introversion (I) |
| (S) Sensation |
2 |
|
|
|
|
|
8 |
Intuition (N) |
| (F) Feeling |
9 |
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
Thinking (T) |
| (J) Judgment |
7 |
|
|
|
|
|
3 |
Perception (P) |
Extraversion (E)
vs. Introversion (I)
(Your
E-I Graph)
The terms "Extraversion" and "Introversion" describe
two widely different social styles. People who score high in
Extraversion on the Keirsey Temperament Sorter II tend to be
gregarious and expressive; those scoring high on Introversion tend
to be private and reserved.
People strong in Extraversion seem more comfortable socializing
with groups than being alone. They report that they are
energized-charged up, fired up-by contact with other people. They
usually have a large circle of friends, and are happy to approach
others, even strangers, and talk to them, finding this an easy and
pleasant thing to do, something that makes them feel alive. Quiet
and seclusion actually exhaust such persons, and they report
feelings of loneliness (or power drain) when not in contact with
others.
On the other hand, people prone to Introversion seem more
comfortable alone than in a crowd. They draw energy from private,
solitary activities, reading, listening to music, working by
themselves on their latest project or favorite hobby. They tend to
have a few, long-time friends, and can remain in contact with larger
groups only so long before their energies are depleted. If required
by their job, family, or social responsibilities to be outgoing or
on stage-to make a great social effort-they are soon exhausted and
need "down time" in quiet places to rest and recharge their
batteries.
Remember, however, that no one is simply an "Extravert" or an
"Introvert." These terms are end points on the E-I scale, with most
everyone falling somewhere in between, having in their makeup a
mixture of these two social styles. Also, different tasks or roles
at work or in the family can bring out more Extraversion or
Introversion in a person. This dimension of personality, more than
the other three, is fluid and situational.
A graph of the scores of other test takers at
the AdvisorTeam.com web site is shown below, with your score shown
by the red arrow.
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Sensory (S) vs.
Intuitive (N)
(Your
S-N Graph)
The S-N scale on the Keirsey Temperament Sorter II
differentiates between two distinct worlds of human interest or
focus. People with a high Sensory score pay more attention to what
is going on outside themselves in the world of concrete things;
people with a high Intuitive score pay more attention to what is
going on inside themselves in the abstract world of ideas.
Sensory people (the vast majority, maybe 85%) seem
more at home in the physical, material world, where they spend their
time looking after the business of everyday living-food and
clothing, transportation and shelter, job and family, recreation and
social life. With their eye on reality, they tend to see all the
particulars of what is right in front of them, focusing on what is
happening in the here and now, or what has happened in the past,
rather than speculating about what might be or what would happen if.
These are practical, down-to-earth people who want facts, trust
facts, and remember facts, and who deal with situations as they are.
They believe in common sense and that experience is the best
teacher.
In contrast, people strongly Intuitive seem more at
home in the abstract, conceptual world of ideas-inferences,
theories, daydreams, musings, speculations, symbols-all those things
that can only be seen with the mind's eye. Focused as they so often
are in their internal world, these persons can miss a great deal of
what's going on right around them; for them, reality is not solid
and present, but is more a mental image, or a stage of development
toward some future ideal. The possible is always in front of these
people: whatever "is" can be better, and they are fascinated by
hypotheses and potentials. Because they listen so intently to their
inner voice, even from an early age, they often seem to have "their
head in the clouds," absorbed in their vivid and complex
imaginations. The S-N scale measures the most fundamental of the
four dimensions of personality-it's the first cut, so to speak, in
evaluating type. But this does not mean that it's an "either-or"
proposition. Intuitive persons certainly turn outward at times and
pay attention to the world at large; it's just that they are far
more inclined to become preoccupied with their ideas. And of course
Sensory persons do sometimes look inward to ponder and to dream, but
for the most part their flights of imagination lag well behind their
real-world observations. Neither type can be in both worlds at once,
and each will usually show a clear preference for one over the
other.
A graph of the scores of other test takers at
the AdvisorTeam.com web site is shown below, with your score
shown by the red arrow.
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Thinking (T) vs.
Feeling (F)
(Your
T-F Graph)
The T-F scale assesses how people govern themselves and make
decisions. We all have both thoughts and feelings, of course, but
those who score high on Thinking tend to use their head, while those
scoring high on Feeling tend to follow their heart.
People given to Thinking are more comfortable with an impersonal,
objective basis for action. They can be critical and exacting, both
with themselves and others, and they are convinced only by hard data
and sound reasons. They tend to be frank and straightforward,
willing to speak their minds and stick to their guns even if it
causes conflict with others. And they are tough-minded in their
decisions, preferring to keep their emotions and desires as much as
possible out of the process. They have powerful feelings, certainly,
but a strong show of emotion usually embarrasses them. And so,
rather than appear to be losing self-control, they keep their
feelings in check, even at the risk of seeming hard-nosed or cold.
People prone to Feeling, in contrast, are more comfortable with a
personal, emotional basis for what they do. When considering their
course, they consult their feelings first and always show concern
for others. These people are sympathetic and sentimental, and can be
swayed by powerful desire or a touching appeal. And they are
softhearted when making decisions, basing their choices on gentle,
kindly considerations, hoping never to hurt anyone's feelings. They
may not have more or deeper emotions than those on the Thinking end
of the scale, but they let their feelings show more easily, and this
makes them seem warmer and friendlier, and so usually gives them an
easier time getting along with others.
A graph of the scores of other test takers at
the AdvisorTeam.com web site is shown below, with your score
shown by the red arrow.
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Judgment (J) vs.
Perception (P)
(Your
J-P Graph)
The J-P scale measures how people process information and arrange
their lives. Those who score high on Judgment tend to make up their
mind quickly and commit to schedules, while those scoring high on
Perception prefer to keep their options open and their timetables
flexible.
People strong in Judgment waste no time forming opinions or
drawing conclusions. They report they feel a sense of urgency until
a decision is made, and can rest only after everything is settled,
with all loose ends tied up. Closure or finality is important to
them, as is orderly procedure. They are quick to make schedules,
agendas, timetables, and so on, for themselves and others to follow.
They tend to establish deadlines and to take them seriously,
expecting others to do the same. They are comfortable with routines,
and are willing to do all sorts of maintenance and cleaning up after
a task, just because these are necessary to see the job through to
its conclusion. Neatness also counts. These people are unhappy when
their personal space-workplace, house, car-is a mess, and
straightening things up is often near the top of their list.
For their part, people given to Perception tend to keep their
eyes open, gathering information and looking for opportunities and
alternatives that might be available to them. They feel no hurry to
nail things down, or settle on a finished product, but prefer to
explore the possibilities and just see what happens. These people
are often playful and spontaneous in action. Schedules make them
feel hurried and over-controlled, and they tend to look upon
deadlines as mere reminders to get on with the job. Also, they
prefer their work to be enjoyable and to the purpose. If their task
is mere routine maintenance or clean up, they may balk at doing it,
or leave it to someone else. Easy-going, even somewhat impulsive,
these people are usually quite tolerant of mess. Their personal
spaces are often cluttered with an assortment of things they have
picked up, used, then dropped and forgotten about.
A graph of the scores of other test takers at
the AdvisorTeam.com web site is shown below, with your score
shown by the red arrow.
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