OK the results do not show, I am INFJ.

INTP, same as every other personality test I have ever taken.

Took it twice, doesn't say any thing about trimming trees...

1st

I know that test. I'm a borderline ENFJ/ENFP.

ENTP, same as always.

Don, I bet N and F were your strongest characteristics. You wear them well.

INFJ also, with a very strong I. I took this test as part of career couseling years ago and was surprised at how accurate it seemed. But what really amazed me was the description of DH as a INTJ. I thought he was a total wacko and there he was neatly described. There are evidently an actual subset of people like that, right down to the chess playing.

shadow, I'm glad to know there's another INTJ in the world. We're not total wackos, we just act that way to confuse everyone else.

INTJ here, so that makes at least three.

Make that four. Steve's INTJ too. We laughed out loud a few years ago when I first got him to take the assessment because so much of what we read about the other was already known... but not articulated.

Our similarities on the "NT" continuum serve us well. We both think the other "fights fair" when it comes to normal marital conflict, which allows us to resolve most conflicts with minimal carnage.

I'm a very strong "E" while he is an equally strong "I." We work around it. Most of my closest friends seem to be introverts.

Sory about the wacko comment. Although they confuse me a lot I have the highest respect for INTJ's. :)

I can't speak for the others, but from my own marital experience, "wacko" seems a reasonable descriptor! (Though I wouldn't have it any other way!) ;o)

INTJ here, too. josh

I'm an ESFJ - a guardian provider apparently. The description fitted me amazingly well.

INFP guess Im a healer.

INTJ; remains as I was termed years ago.

I've read that INTJs comprise less than 1% of the population... what are the odds that we have so many participating in GP??

There is nothing wrong or insulting by being or being called wacko. It's being whacked we have to dodge.

INFP here :)

Another INFP

Don, I find it amazing you and I share the same exact birthdate, and the same exact--INFJ. Hm. Maybe there is something to astrology. Interesting. Pam, are you INFJ? That would be truly truly amazing!!!

Lots of "I"s out there! I'm an ENFP. I haven't taken one of these in awhile but that's what I scored in the past as well. I'd like to have DH take the quiz now!

Just a curious aside.

Introverts can learn extroverted behaviour. The world, as it is, often requires introverts to act as extroverts. (I know my job requires it. Any job where one works with the public does.)

Can't think of many situations that require extroverts to act in an introverted manner.

Introverts can learn extroverted behaviour. The world, as it is, often requires introverts to act as extroverts. (I know my job requires it. Any job where one works with the public does.)

Exactly. Nobody would suspect I'm strongly introverted. I think a part of it is the semantics involved. In general use, we label people who aren't aggressively social as introverts, but the test defines it in a different manner. This is a direct quote from the first link:

"People with a preference for Extraversion draw energy from action: they tend to act, then reflect, then act further. If they are inactive, their level of energy and motivation tends to decline. Conversely, those whose preference is Introversion become less energized as they act: they prefer to reflect, then act, then reflect again. People with Introversion preferences need time out to reflect in order to rebuild energy."

This applies more to how they operate on a task driven level. I notice this because I'm terrible about doing a work related task from start to finish in one fell swoop. The mindless activity depletes me mentally and I'll switch to a different job until the inertia again sets in.....during which time I am "thinking" about the first job. I multitask like a demon switching back and forth and in the end pull the magic string and it all falls into place. It drives my extroverted husband completely nutcakes, who is totally the opposite. I like to work with him, but it gets insane if we both are trying to do the same task. We get hopelessly lost following the other's modus operondi

The terms Extravert and Introvert are used in a special sense when discussing Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. Someone with a clear E preference is not necessarily a party animal or a show-off, any more than someone clearly preferring I is necessarily shy, retiring and unsociable.

You've explained it so well, Suzy. I can decide the top of a long bookshelf needs rearrangement of baskets, plants, little artworks...and will glance at it for 3 days perhaps before tackling...then in a trice it's done even though I didn't really have a completed picture in mind. On the other hand, all the books below that top shelf need culling, reorganization and dusting...I'm still thinking about that...maybe next year...LOL

Dealing with the public...as long as I'm well prepared and feel confident I can handle it. When I was just out of school I was thrilled to be asked to do some modeling for a small new shop...one day as I left the hairsalon a bird let go on my new curly coif...LOL But I went on to the tv station, held my head high and smiled a lot...LOL Learned that day that I could handle surprises but still don't like them...try and anticipate and plan for any eventuality. Then I take a deep breath, and I'm "on". Exactly how it feels...whether it's a presentation one-on-one or to a group. I wonder how many actors and performers are "introverts"...josh

I am about off the scale on any introversion test. It really bothers me to be around people I don't know. On the other hand people, even those I don't know seem to like and trust me. Perhaps there are so many I's here because although we like and or are interested in people, online we can communicate without the physical presence of others and thus feel more comfortable or safe.

I have to say you hit the nail on the head (as is typical of you!) Rebecca. It's not that we're not ourselves, we just have to be one dimensional here. I was thinking when I posted mine,"When I say I'm an introvert, I bet most won't believe it." It is me, but since we're not in real life, who can see that I savor being behind the scenes and observing since, while I am here, I am acting (or here, writing). It is so hard to convey all of ourselves here and this medium lends itself to being what is harder to "be" in real life. It's a good outlet for us to express and practice what we feel uncomfortable doing otherwise.

How many of you who post here regularly have at least one good friend, not a family member,living fairly close to you,who you see or at least talk to every couple of weeks or less?

Let me qualify my answer? I would consider work-mates in the category you listed M. I have plenty of friends at work I don't associate with outside of work (other divisions and I go to lunch with them or talk to on a break). I'll talk to anyone at work and consider everyone from the Chancellor to service workers as friends. Its a by-product of making my I act like an E job. Even that was hard to come by though. My circles are wider than they were even four years ago, brought on when working in a two-person operation for a decade.

I do have a couple of "just friends" I see about once a month, alternating, is the true answer

Me! I have work friends and lots of other friends I see as well. It's harder now that I got married, have a house and yard, and moved about 1/2 hour out of the city, but I still see people a lot. I guess that verifies my "E" status.

What does it say about me that I have not one close friend :)

I have no close friends who are not family members but am very close to my sister and my son.

OH Mom..I don't think it says anything about someone if he or she doesn't have any close friends. I think friends of this caliber are hard to come by and if you do, it sometimes is nothing more than very good luck. On the other hand,it takes time,sacrifice and a totally willingness to overlook faults to maintain a friendship over a long period of time and a lot of people aren't willing to do that. It's a lot easier to write words on a keyboard and engage in conversation ,then doing it up close and personal and at times more pleasnt. I do think people need to connect in one way or another and perhaps computers are a blessing to those who consider themselves introverts.

I have several friends whom I do not see any more than once or twice a year eye-to-eye. Three of them from my childhood and they are closer to me than my own kin.......and two of them with whom I worked in another life. It's like time stands still between our meetings, and we can just pick up where we left off. I have several other friends who are primarily only visited through email, but are indeed friends in the real sense of the word.

I have one friend whom I see fairly frequently, and a cousin I'd also call a friend whom I see on a regular basis. She's a relative, but since I didn't grow up in this area, we see each other because we like each other, not because we are kin. In that respect, she's my friend.

I have a lot of "acquaintances" some people would call friends, but I am very choosy about that title and don't consider social or work interactions necessarily friendships. The test of real friendship comes from wanting to interact out of desire and not proximity or the meeting of a set of "needs" like having someone handy to go out with or fill empty hours.

Marda ~ I think you should have made your question a separate thread. We can [and probably will] make all sorts of spin-offs here.

But my answer is yes and no. While I have been in touch with some of my closest friends within the past two weeks, there are some with whom I have not conversed for a couple months. They are retirees who travel extensively and I work full-time; we communicate when it's convenient.

I think Elia is right about introverts adapting extrovertive behavior. That reminds me of something one of my friends pointed out to me. My usual writing is smallish, precise, and with vertical strokes. A while back, I worked as a building receptionist who also took a great many telephone messages. My friend noticed that my messages were written with letters that were all large, somewhat loopy, and with distinctly forward strokes; the handmarks of a genial extrovert. I'm about as introverted as is possible, but the job called for an extrovert and so I behaved as such, even to the unconcious change in my writing.

I don't think that having close friends has anything to do with being an introvert or an extrovert. I think, instead, it has to do with your capacity for caring & giving. It takes a lot of work to maintain a friendship, just as it takes a lot of work to have a successful marriage. In fact, I think the traits that make both successful are similar.

Where being an introvert or an extrovert comes into play is in the ability to make acquaintances - those people who are useful (for the lack of a better term)in jobs, volunteer activities, etc. People may call these people friends because they see each other at large parties, volunteer or work events, or other event specific activities. Those people are not what I term true friends.

A true friend, IMO, is the person you can call to bail you out of jail, or will put you up when you've left your spouse & need a place to stay (or vice versa). And, also IMO, those people are few & far between. They can usually be counted on the fingers of one hand. Know who they are, cherish them, & take care of those relationships. When they end, for whatever reason, the feeling of loss is akxin to losing a close member of your family.

Sadly, as you age so do your friends, and I've lost two in the last few years. Both male, one gay and one not though we were never romantically involved. The friendships predated my marriage and waxed and waned as time went on but was always there. Using Marda's criterion, yes, we talked/wrote often, met more infrequently as one friend's work involved working in other states and Europe.

Using Andie's definition, I'm not sure I would have called either friend for jail or marriage bail-out ...LOL I feel that's more a relative's responsibility...but I'd sure have expected a sympathetic ear and shoulder. The artist would have insisted on new clothes and hairstyling...the chef would have fed me comfort food...LOL

I've not had a close woman friend since college days. Good friends, yes, but not a soulmate. I think you perhaps need to feel the lack at a particular time in life and then if you're very lucky you find that friend. I preferred to keep my personal/work life separate and purposely avoided anything other than casual greetings in neighborhood. (And yes, I was probably judged cold or snooty...LOL) But I didn't "feel the lack" then and don't now. That may change...

I know the experts say that the more one socializes as we age the better but being around strangers or even casual friends for more than 2 hours is H>>>. I can just about be civil for 3 hours to DS and family...LOL Luckily the house has get-away space now and then when DH's time runs out...LOL josh

I have bailed someone out of jail, I have taken someone into my house who needed a place to stay and in neither case did I consider them close friends. I knew the jail person quite well and the other person not that well at all. I did what I did out of compassion, not close friendship.

Then I'd classify you as just an all around good person, Shelia, and probably better than I am. Those are acts of kindness that I reserve for good friends, especially the letting someone stay in my house. I've learned the hard way that once in your house it's sometimes really hard to get someone to leave.

Another ENFP chiming in. Always have been, always will be I guess.

Sheila, I was thinking more of my asking for help for myself in one of those situations...I've "gone bail" for a couple of folks too over the years. My kinfolk would feel hurt if not turned to in my case...maybe a southern thing.

I've also sheltered on two occasions for a few days teenaged friends of my son who were having problems...better that than on streets...but I insisted that parents be contacted. That can get hairy...but in the end it worked out. Both sides just needed cooling-off period. It helped that the parents knew my son fairly well even if not DH and I.

On behalf of others, I can be a fierce advocate...most of my work in latter years has been for nonprofit community projects for just that reason. Even an introvert can step up and speak out if they get fired up in a good cause...LOL josh