Personality Types - INTJ - Our Lord Jesus Christ

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opusAquinas said:
Being an introvert does not mean shyness.
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I agree; I don’t dispute that. One way to view it is as a matter of where one draws energy from–being around others, or being alone to recharge.

About your comment regarding public policy–could you clarify please?
 
St_Francis said:
Yes, things can be misused this way, but overall I see reasonable personality tests as showing us how we are. Virtue has some correlation with our strengths and weaknesses, but this type of testing could be equally used to say, hmmm, as an introvert I tend to neglect being with others, or as an extrovert, I need to avoid neglecting times of silence.
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I agree with you–I think we are basically saying the same thing about this.
But having insight on one’s strengths and weaknesses can also help us in humility. Taking this to an academic level, knowing i am much stronger in verbal than in math skills could help me see that I’d be better off in education or a social science than i would be in physics. This is not a matter of virtue or vice, is it? In the same way, knowing our strengths personality-wise can help us chose more wisely an area of concentration for doing good, an introvert might chose to volunteer to do office work while an extravert might volunteer in the food pantry.
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Both tasks are necessary, let’s have each done by the person who will be better at the one task.
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I agree with you to a point on this one, but I think we are responsible for developing our areas of weakness as much as possible to become additional sources of strength and grace for others. I once heard a Catholic theologian explain/translate Matthew 5:38 as “Be perfected as your Heavenly Father is perfect,” emphasizing that there is a process involved in growing in holiness. It is a help to recognize our weaknesses in order to work on them…some spiritual directors encourage the faithful to identify specific areas of weaknesses (with their help) and work on them before going on to identify more and work on those.

So if an introvert tends not to make eye contact with others, does not smile and say good morning, that could be something to work on and develop.
Well, I’m not sure which virtues are associated with personality traits… if you lean one way in how you make decisions, is that *sinful? *
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No–see the paragraph above.
 
daisybee said:
I agree with you–I think we are basically saying the same thing about this.

I agree with you to a point on this one, but I think we are responsible for developing our areas of weakness as much as possible to become additional sources of strength and grace for others. I once heard a Catholic theologian explain/translate Matthew 5:38 as “Be perfected as your Heavenly Father is perfect,” emphasizing that there is a process involved in growing in holiness. It is a help to recognize our weaknesses in order to work on them…some spiritual directors encourage the faithful to identify specific areas of weaknesses (with their help) and work on them before going on to identify more and work on those.

So if an introvert tends not to make eye contact with others, does not smile and say good morning, that could be something to work on and develop.

No–see the paragraph above.
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I am a little bemused because I think that growing in virtue is different than one’s personality characteristics. One can have problems with any vice; one’s personality is more likely to influence how the vice manifests itself than which vice one has.

What I liked about the MB (and I had a great boss who knew this well and showed all of us how to use it well in our lives) was that it helped me see that I am a certain way and others are different ways *and that’s ok. *And how to recognize those differences and roll with them rather than being flabbergasted by some of the crazy things people do or say 🙂

OTOH, I think that your original concern may have a basis, but that it comes from the general “non-judgemental” tendency in all of psychology. So if a person’s decisiveness causes them to be inconsiderate of others, *that *is a problem, bit not one taken into account or dealt with on any but the most pragmatic level in psych–does this work for you or not? Not, is this virtuous behavior or not?
 
St_Francis said:
I am a little bemused…
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That’s a bit condescending.
I think that growing in virtue is different than one’s personality characteristics. One can have problems with any vice; one’s personality is more likely to influence how the vice manifests itself than which vice one has.
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Hmm…I think that given the strengths and weaknesses of one’s personality, certain personalities are likely to have tendencies toward certain vices than others.
What I liked about the MB (and I had a great boss who knew this well and showed all of us how to use it well in our lives) was that it helped me see that I am a certain way and others are different ways *and that’s ok. *And how to recognize those differences and roll with them rather than being flabbergasted by some of the crazy things people do or say 🙂
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Yes, I’ve been exposed to the MB at various times, and I think it’s a starting point, but for Christians, I think we need to be cautious about accepting it as a stopping point. What I don’t like about the MB and other tests of personality is to take the perspective of “Well that explains it–that’s just how s/he is.” By cooperating with grace, we can be transformed powerfully.
OTOH, I think that your original concern may have a basis, but that it comes from the general “non-judgemental” tendency in all of psychology. So if a person’s decisiveness causes them to be inconsiderate of others, *that *is a problem, bit not one taken into account or dealt with on any but the most pragmatic level in psych–does this work for you or not? Not, is this virtuous behavior or not?
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If you’re saying that a personality trait is completely separate from virtuous behavior, I don’t agree. I believe they are very much integrated… it is our task to discern that which affects non-virtuous behavior and address it.
 
I’ve taken it several times over a period of several years and got the same result each and every time.

INTJ
 
daisybee said:
I don’t believe in static personality types. Especially for those who score on extreme ends of the ranges–a high E or a high F–it can become an excuse not to advance in virtue. (eg, Well I’m such an extreme extrovert I couldnt possibly commit myself to attending a silent weekend retreat. Or, Im an extreme introvert and therefore will indulge my preference not to interact with others even if to do so would be an act of kindness… Etc)

There is an excellent book I will look on developing and growing in virtue–maybe published by Sophia Institute?–I will plan to look it up soon, cant remember it offhand–that describes how growing in virtue by addressing our weaknesses should be the work of a lifetime for a Catholic. Therefore a high F Catholic should work to develop the virtues associated w/ T, and so on.
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Very interesting. But how about people who are basically balanced? They don’t score very high on either end of the scales. Except for introversion, the rest of my scores were very close.
 
tomgosse said:
Back in the 1980’s I had to take this as one of a series psychological test before I entered the monastery.
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They give them at most offices too, I have had several. The problem is, who uses this information? I mean just I know people had a high score in extroversion on their test, so what? I can already see they are the sociable ones at the water cooler all day!! This stuff is pretty self evident and people who have extremely high scores in any area will stand out, but most won’t because they are just average.
 
St_Francis said:
I am a little bemused because I think that growing in virtue is different than one’s personality characteristics. One can have problems with any vice; one’s personality is more likely to influence how the vice manifests itself than which vice one has.

What I liked about the MB (and I had a great boss who knew this well and showed all of us how to use it well in our lives) was that it helped me see that I am a certain way and others are different ways *and that’s ok. *And how to recognize those differences and roll with them rather than being flabbergasted by some of the crazy things people do or say 🙂

OTOH, I think that your original concern may have a basis, but that it comes from the general “non-judgemental” tendency in all of psychology. So if a person’s decisiveness causes them to be inconsiderate of others, *that *is a problem, bit not one taken into account or dealt with on any but the most pragmatic level in psych–does this work for you or not? Not, is this virtuous behavior or not?
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I agree with you. We are what we are, and we should use whatever our personality is to help others. I think the Time, Talent and Treasures model works better for me.
 
daisybee said:
That’s a bit condescending.
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That was not my intention and I am sorry I put my thought badly.
Hmm…I think that given the strengths and weaknesses of one’s personality, certain personalities are likely to have tendencies toward certain vices than others.
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Yes, I’ve been exposed to the MB at various times, and I think it’s a starting point, but for Christians, I think we need to be cautious about accepting it as a stopping point. What I don’t like about the MB and other tests of personality is to take the perspective of “Well that explains it–that’s just how s/he is.” By cooperating with grace, we can be transformed powerfully.
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If you’re saying that a personality trait is completely separate from virtuous behavior, I don’t agree. I believe they are very much integrated… it is our task to discern that which affects non-virtuous behavior and address it.
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Maybe the fact that MB was presented to us in a certain way mitigated these weaknesses. My boss specified that the characteristics were not set in stone and also encouraged us to use the results as a starting point for various things rather than as a stopping point as you put it. So I think that the impression each of us (you and me) received was probably very different. Your concerns are certainly important because I don’t think a person should just say, well, I’m an XXXX and you just have to deal with that.
 
Our Lord and Savior is the Truth and the Way.

What does it mean?

He is the Truth. Tragic irony, Pontius Pilate asks Truth “What is truth?” Philosophy begins with the Logos.

Jesus Christ is the Way - to righteousness, holiness to the Father. We must be as our Lord was during His time on earth as our model to follow in our thoughts, words, actions and our hearts. How do I love Jesus? Is the question for all types.

Foolishness to greeks and a stumbling block for jews.

Foolishness and a stumbling block for certain types too enamored by the wrong sensations or thoughts or feelings.
 
I have taken the test three times and have come out as an INFP all three times, though I think I was fairly in the middle on the T/P dichotomy, and I might be somewhat of an ambivert, since I like rock concerts and modern worship, and have been to dance to pop music at a school prom (though mostly to music I would never listen to on my own).

As for the theological significance, I like to think of humanity as a jigsaw puzzle of an image of God, with us all reflecting different parts of him. None of us reflects God completely, but all of our personalities are found in God, and we all reflect different aspects of his personality. Also, we all have different parts to play in his plan, depending on which personality he has given us.

Yes, Jesus being perfectly balanced seems more plausible. God is perfectly balanced, though I suppose since Jesus was also fully human, his personality may have been affected by his particular mental and emotional make-up. But he would have to be more balanced in thought, word and action than most of us, since the different personality types tend towards particular sins. Even if he was a particular personality type, it wouldn’t seem as pronounced, since he would never sin and would always do what was right, even if his personality type made it easier for him to do particular sins or only certain good things.
 
Since Jesus is God, I would say He is an both an extrovert and introvert, sensing and intuition, thinking and feeling, judging and perceiving and uses all types perfectly. For myself, I am an INFP.
 
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