Distinguishing Genuine INTJs and INFJs from Impostors | Introverted Intuition (Ni) Deep Dive

This video goes over how Introverted Intuition (Ni) manifests in a person depending on where it is on the person's function stack.

Get to know the INFJ: Starring Joyce Meng

[NB-qyku]

5:58 ni: organize data - try make sense of things
SE: collect data
6:25 example ni/se (Intj/infj)
7:05 Se/ni example (estp, esfp)
8:05 ni parent
8:10 ni child
10:30

[artixi]

The bike analogy is one of the best explanations I have seen to contrast Ni-Se and Se-Ni. Having high Ni in today's world is having everyone assuming you are against them simply for bringing up nuance that is not being considered.

[jessicahunt]

Infj here…
What you said at the end is spot on. We don’t feel “special” because we are misunderstood and lonely. It is the worst to have people close to you not understand you or misunderstand what you are saying. It’s a terrible feeling, not a “special” feeling.

[-HiddenInPlainSight-]

A real INFJ knows how hard a INFJs everyday existence is...

[BuizelCream]

"Why would we [INTJs] be proud of something we don't have to put effort in?"

That's so freaking true. I tend to be proud of the stuff that I had accomplished in reality, such as when the plan is complete and the task is done, because it's when my ideas are being put out there for people to engage in. In fact, I don't brag about my ideas, which was built up by Ni and comes naturally to an INTJ, and the plans that I make, which Te naturally structures itself around due to being an INTJ.
I love to explain and ramble about it, sure, but it's the work that I have to do that's when my self-respect grows.

I also tend to notice myself making a subtle implication that whenever I talk about my ideas and plans to other people, I kind of appear or sound like I had already done it. It's like a prophecy already made sure (but it's not a prophecy ofc). I dunno. Maybe it's just me and how I self-actualize my plans by stating it as it had already happened to ensure myself of its completion ahead of time.

[jocelynleung]

My husband and I came back from a meeting with a friend and he said, "I really like talking to her because she can stick with a few key themes throughout the conversation." I asked, "what specific themes were those?" And he actually didn't know how to strictly answer that, until I pointed a couple out and he said "yeah, that's what I meant, but I couldn't express it until you did."

I feel like that's an example of "I Ni so much I don't even realize when I'm Ni'ing"--even Carl Jung said that Ni-dominants were terrible at verbally explaining themselves!

[denizegb]

This explanation of Ni is the clearest I’ve listened to so far. Thank you for helping to dispel a lot of misconceptions about us Ni doms (INTJ woman here). I truly don’t understand why some people (who already know deep down that they’re not Ni dom or even aux) would want to pretend to be one for rarity points lol. It’s lonely… it’s lonely to most of the time be the only person in a crowd going out on a limb to point out the nuances about a situation or topic and reason out why their black and white conclusions fail to account for a lot of missing data– only for your breath to be wasted on these people who fail to grasp the essence and follow your line of reasoning. The bicycle analogy is so on point.
I’ve guessed that maybe some legitimate INJs have learned to romanticise our supposed rAriTy and mYstEry to distract from the actual struggle of being misunderstood and often vilified. But I’m more inclined to think majority or many of us would rather be understood down to the level we seek than be seen as some prophetic figure that comes by once in a blue moon

[BlackSailPass_GuitarCovers]

"Treat MBTI as a game where you win by becoming more than just a stereotype."

[FriskRobotnik]

“Ni doms have been prepping our entire lives to have enough information that we can fix a problem without having to engage in the sensory world in order to collect more information about it” 🤯
Get out of my head 😂😂

[SohamHamsah]

I get really angry about this too, to the point where I completely stopped trying to talk about the topic entirely. What I realized is that many non-INTJ types simply do not care about accuracy and don't think about the consequences of their actions. INTJs are constantly verifying the facts because we only want to put out content with high quality information. And we can't help thinking about how this information impacts others. Whereas some types are just completely blind to this.

[melodiej]

I'm so happy to have found your channel. You are probably the most real INTJ I've found on youtube- what I mean is, you aren't going out of your way to act out the ridiculous stereotypes of an INTJ. You're authentic. I greatly appreciate what you had to say all throughout this video, especially at the end. You've gained a female INTJ subscriber 👍🏻 Looking forward to listening to the rest of your content!

[Elodie_N_INTJ_Analyzes]

Great video as always.
I noticed too certain MBTI contents creators mistyping people, and the money, views, subscribers, likes they got by spreading wrong informations, and using methods which lead to wrong results (methods which for me stay in surface) or sell online course which are just informations we already share for free. INTJ, we know it, we know a lot of things, but more often we say nothing. Trying to detach, let go, and focusing on ourselves, even if inside we feel the urge to correct & solve everything.

The day I was sure about my type, by connecting my memories (Ni does an amazing job to understand traumas) : I just cried, because it was so true that I didn't expressed emotions. It hurt me to know I was Fe blind, but also happy to have Te.
Being an INTJ is more a traumatic, soul breaking, frustrating experiences. Being so deep is loosing people, is feeling lonely on this planet is probably the worst feeling. Feeling we have not our place in this world, or that we have to completely rebuild/improve it, having to correct the wrong informations and solve all the problems. Sometimes I just want to throw my brain and have another, because it's a suffering, even if it's also amazing.

Thanks to you to correct that intuition is not a hunch, and that there is no relation between a vaccine and Autism (I am Asperger and passionate by this topic)

Se dom almost created problems about me and another INTJ because of their wrong associations of informations.
One assuming we were together, another assuming that I move to another city (one of the reasons why we share few about ourselves, we are sure people will not spread misinformation about us)

Sometimes I even lost INTJ enneagram 8, because I (enneagram 5) go deeper than them.
In these moments, I felt so sad and lonely, that I can't completely connect with other INTJ. I felt that uniqueness, that I am.

"We see things that are important in systems that other people can't see." It's so true.
I loved the way you talk about bushes, it bring magic. And I love geometry.

The ultime "test" to know if someone is INTJ or not, is the ENFP detection : they notice us in a flash. They are attracted to us like magnet. Our authenticity attract them.
We also recognize each others. We see ourselves in their way of thinking and behaving. We can't miss the Ni stare.
So yes our own interpretation and understanding, and level of depth, at the point we lost people on the way, and come back to the loneliness feeling.
I once got judged because I didn't use a specific model and bring my own understanding (Sorry it's Ni)

My favorite contents are the one made by INTJ, and sometimes INFJ ENTP, who bring new, deep, authentic, unique ideas/topics that no one ever made before, who think by themselves. (and who don't copy paste informations/text found on internet and make automatic video on it)
It's so refreshing, and entertaining to listen the own understanding of others, their unique way.

If someone want to be an INTJ, I hope they are ready to suffer and to be able to handle it (they will probably not survive more than 24 hours)

[Bobby_]

One of the better videos I'v seen on Ni. Good job.

One of the things you said in the end reminded me how every time my higher Se friends got into a "deep conversation", it always felt somehow childlike to me, I instantly sensed as if they are inexperienced in having "deep thought" and they somehow seemed to be so proud of it as if doing something they don't do much, while I had to sit there and pretend that I find their insights impressive not to hurt their feelings, but to me it all felt like obvious stuff I thought through in child years already.
Since the "deep thought" is just the basic Tuesday morning for dom Ni, I kind of have to hold back in situations like these and play dumb, not to sound like I just got the answers to everything.
When others have a deep convo, there really is just this sense of being a parent to children, and not wanting to interfere.

[Azdaja]

I've just thought of another rant about this topic:

There's this thing constantly about trying to predict which types are the "most narcissistic" and pretty much always I hear INTJs, INFJs, ENTJs etc. getting called the most narcissistic type for really stupid reasons. A lot of the time it is stereotyping from people who don't understand INTJs (or INFJs) and who often don't seem to understand narcissists either. They look at a list of stereotypes about INTJs and go "Sounds like a narcissist!!!" and make really shallow comparisons, then disregard patterns from actual INTJs, often disliking manipulation (not very narcissistic), being unaware socially (very not-narcissistic, narcissists are socially hyper-intelligent - it's how they manipulate people and create cults of personality around themselves) and often shun materialism (again, very not-narcissistic). Narcissists also are known for impulsivity, irrationality, black and white thinking devoid of nuance etc.

The other thing is that they cite so-called "INTJs" they know irl who are narcissistic but the only thing they have to go off of is the narcissist's own word about being an INTJ and shallow stereotypes about INTJs (as well as their own preconceived notions and prejudices). Yeah, this cannot be taken seriously at all because narcissists lie constantly about themselves. It's a manipulation tactic they use called a false self. They create the illusion of being something they're not. Now, amongst the MBTI types, which one is most often fetishised and given this vaunted status of specialness? INTJs. And secondarily there's INFJs. Narcissists are well known for creating the false self of being "intuitive", when they're most often not intuitive at all (why would an actual intuitive brag about being intuitive?). They are precisely the types of people to be _mistyped_ as INTJs because they're going to lie about themselves (because they lack a sense of self, hate themselves, and need to orient their sense of self around how they want others to see them), and they'll see INTJs as the cool, special type to be (or INFJs if they want to use the whole "I'm an empath!" shtick, which is very common, narcs do often tell everyone how "empathetic" they are) like "I'm dark and edgy and totally a sociopath! That means I'm INTJ! Aren't I such a genius!?" From my own observations in my personal life, most narcs I've encountered have been ESFJ, ISFJ, and the SP types. This isn't necessarily because there's something wrong with those types, it's because most people are those types so I'd say most narcs are likely to be those types too.

[richardjones]

Thanks for telling the truth about the difficulties I encounter with people I love. Not being able to fully share what you know or really be understood can be one of the loneliest feelings.

[Azdaja]

1. The main takeaway that people should take about dominant-Ni users is that we actually tend to be quite careful when making predictions. I know this probably isn't apparent to an outsider (sorry, can't think of anything else to call people who can't see in my brain) but INTJs and INFJs are usually very careful when making predictions about what will happen because they'll want to make sure they're not missing any information and want to make sure they actually understand what they're saying before they say it. This is why I get really confused when I see things like "Personality Database" where they constantly mistype characters as INTJs because they're "so certain about this one thing" yet most of the time, those characters (usually villains because prejudice, stereotypes and ignorance...) haven't actually looked at all the information and considered all the possibilities which is very out-of-character for Ni-doms (most of these characters are either very abnormal Ni-doms, or they're just not). People hear "consider all the possibilities" and think Ne but no, it's both Ni and Ne, but they approach possibilities in opposite ways. Sure there may be possibilities an INTJ or INFJ hasn't considered but that would be due to a lack of Se information which, once presented, is going to cause an INTJ or INFJ to re-evaluate everything (rather than what a lot of the denizens of Personality Database seem to think which is to just ignore the information). Ni-tunnel vision is a thing but if an Ni-user sees they're about to hit a wall, they'll stop, or slow and change direction. Ni-doms are also unlikely to reject something out of hand if they don't understand it, but are far more likely to reject something out of hand if they understand it enough to know someone is talking out their arse even if they don't recall (or discarded - because no longer necessary) the exact data.

2. This clarifies a lot of arguments I've gotten into over the years (or people I've observed and chosen not to engage, that's more recent. Younger me would have engaged and gone for the jugular) where the person has made some very black and white statement where if something isn't one thing, it's another. Binaries do exist so saying "black and white thinking is always bad" is black and white thinking in of itself, but most of the time such black and white thinking is used where far more nuance is both possible and required to actually understand something. I got into argument over this a while back when it came to relationship dynamics with what I'm guessing was a low-Ni user (was actually trying to figure out what they were when we were arguing so I could understand them better and use that information to predict their moves and pre-emptively counter them - was inconclusive though) and they kept saying things like "If you're not dominant in a relationship then you're submissive and someone has to be dominant" as though relationships were a constant power game and struggle and as though the concept that a relationship could be harmonious and a partnership where both people operate as one unit (rather than two opposing sides always in a state of conflict playing a charade of happiness) was completely foreign to them (to the point where they were acting like such a thing couldn't exist, even though I've observed it but also theorised it when I was a child thinking about what kind of woman I would want to marry - basically someone who was an equal to me... yes, I thought about that as a child... >.<). The concept of "equality" has become very muddled and oversimplified where it either means completely the same, when things can be different and yet be of equal value. The irony was that he kept accusing me of not being nuanced enough when talking about language (basically explaining how verbs work...) while simultaneously dictating to me how I _must_ (yes, they actually used the imperative...) live and talking about halves of the population while not allowing for any nuance in behavioural patterns whatsoever. In fact I think they even told me the human mind was incapable of taking into account all the possible variations (I was explaining how it's best to allow people to be individuals but collectivists gotta collectivist...) which is just wild like how can someone say that and not realise they've hamstrung their entire argument?

3. This also helps me with writing a character since at the moment I'm writing an ISFP female protagonist and not only do I have to get over the hurdle of writing a female character (this is more having to learn things I'd normally have zero interest in), but also have to think of her as having all the same functions as me and yet in a completely different order and it's getting to grips with how low-Ni works, and how to integrate that (that black and white thinking aspect will be crucial... I can see it now).

4. I really don't love planning at all. I rely on it. I need a reason for what it is I'm doing or going and once I've thought through what it is I'm doing, then I'll do it. It's not even really conscious, it just ends up happening. If anything I need to learn to not rely so much on plans and start being okay with being more spontaneous. Literally the most common feedback I'm getting right now is to stop overthinking and just do the thing even if I feel nervous or anxious about it due to being uncertain (which by the way is terrifying - not having all the information). I've noticed it with my driving lessons how I'm usually very slow to make decisions because I'm trying to consider all the possible options rather than just going when I see an opening since I don't have enough data yet to understand fully where those openings are or what information is important because there's too much sensory chaos in such a short space of time. In fact, rather than bragging about planning or waxing lyrical about how much I "love planning", I'm far more likely to beat myself up for not planning enough if my plans fall through or if I overlooked a seemingly insignificant aspect which actually unravelled the entire plan (funnily enough, one of those occasions may have been one of the best things to ever happen to me - even though I was extremely embarrassed and anxious when it happened).

Anyway, this was stream of consciousness. Hope it wasn't too long or rambly (normally I try to rein myself in when I think I'm going on overlong) and clarified things.

[questinpodcast]

Made it to your end rant - laughing at the planning part! Thank you for sharing this video. Learned a lot about the noticeable differences between Ne + Ni. Great examples throughout!

[PaleGhost]

Schrodinger's bike seat. You don't know if it's there or not until you sit.

[John-bfcc]

This has to be one of the best NI video's out there. I guess what makes it so great is; not only does the video explain NI super well but of course is itself an example of Jon's strong NI. Jon identified problems in the INTJ/INFJ videos and online MBTI community broadly and used his NI to carefully craft a video that narrowed down the problem. He included a few reasoned and logical explanations to help account for why people are shoe horning themselves into NI dom personality types and then even offered some great solutions. Next Level!

[ptyleranodon]

Great analogy! I am constantly floored by people who can be so utterly certain about... well anything. And then if I ask someone if they've looked at a certain topic from this or that other perspective and they react as if that's the most absurd thing they've ever heard. It's just mind -boggling to me.
The down side is that it can be really hard to decide that the information you have is sufficient to move forward with a decision. It never feels like enough.