What's your Myer-Briggs Personality Type?

[DixieGal]

Are introvert and shy the same things? Can one be a shy extrovert?

[TenaciousBadger]

INFP (at a first glance) - Introverted iNtuitive Feeling Perceiving

Guess who else was INFP?

Homer
Virgil
Shakespeare
A. A. Milne (Winnie the Pooh)
Jackie and JFK

and.....

Mary, mother of Jesus

and

ET

-------------------------
at a second more thorough glance: ISFJ - Introverted Sensing Feeling Judging

underappreciated and down-trodden, sounds more like me

• analytic
• keeping to the straight and narrow
• few friends but extremely loyal to them

famous people suffering from the affliction:

St. Teresa of Avila (Teresa de Jesus) - yeah a great improvement on the Virgin Mary
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Queen Elizabeth II of England *wiggles eyebrows*

and... the kicker because there has to be one

Ophelia in Hamlet

...oy!

[montsnmags]

Originally Posted by DixieGal

Are introvert and shy the same things? Can one be a shy extrovert?

I'll have to look for a couple of recent links I've obtained, basically blog posts about introversion. I'll also look for the link to that long personality survey I mentioned much earlier (they have a shortened version of it too).

Effectively I would say the answer is a strong "No" (first question), dragged from me because for me personally the answer is "Yes" (but that's me confusing Neuroticism and Introversion in my personality, both of which I score equally extreme in). I am, as they say, "painfully shy" amongst other things, but reading on it (introversion), and seeing others' experiences and personalities, makes me realise I've conflated two different things in myself into a generalisation for all.

I'll get back to you, DixieGal. Oh, and in the meantime I read somewhere (Lifehacker) about the efficacy of an introvert riding the coattails of an extrovert into a large social situation they would otherwise be uncomfortable in. I can see (and have experienced, even with my painful shyness ) that with mutual empathy there is little barrier between parties even at their extremes of the extroversion-introversion scale (my best friend IRL, outside of TL1, is an extrovert, and he gets from me as much as I get from him. In fact he may be coming up to stay with us next weekend, which is nice ). Certainly here at MR, the extrovert parts of your personality are things I love of you and initially drew me to you the most.

Cheers,
Marc

[DixieGal]

My sister is coming to spend 10 days with us next Sunday. She is shy, introverted, unadventurous, and diagnosed OCD. Married to her emotional twin. It is a testament to their trust that they will go along with anything we suggest. Eventually.

I am married to my emotional twin. We don't have an "off" switch. It is often exhausting, but never boring.

[montsnmags]

Originally Posted by DixieGal

My sister is coming to spend 10 days with us next Sunday. She is shy, introverted, unadventurous, and diagnosed OCD. Married to her emotional twin. It is a testament to their trust that they will go along with anything we suggest. Eventually.

I am married to my emotional twin. We don't have an "off" switch. It is often exhausting, but never boring.

I wonder if OCD has correlation with introversion, as I have some milder aspects of that (though perhaps, again, it could be Neuroticism).

I imagine you're both quite good at putting forward convincing propositions.

Cheers,
Marc

[orlok]

Originally Posted by DixieGal

Are introvert and shy the same things? Can one be a shy extrovert?

The answer is no. Introvert and shy are not synonymous. Introverted simply means:

• Think/reflect first, then Act
• Regularly require an amount of "private time" to recharge batteries
• Motivated internally, mind is sometimes so active it is "closed" to outside world
• Prefer one-to-one communication and relationships

I'm an introvert in Myers-Briggs terms, but regularly give presentations to large numbers of people (and enjoy it), mix with people in teams and gatherings, and am quite comfortable meeting new people. Is that shy?

[beppe]

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

...
The internet makes that easy--I only have to deal with one person, one screen, at a time. I can spend as long as I want thinking up a reply. (Even in chatrooms, the conversation is much slower than speech.) I don't have to wait for a break in the conversation or feel like I'm forcing myself into other people's space.

I don't have to give out more personal details than I'm comfortable with. Even if someone asks direct, personal, invasive questions, there's no way for them to be as forceful as in-person confrontations. The computer screen works as a buffer zone that lets me relax enough to participate.

Undoubtely Internet opens the possibility of easier social exchanges. The distance makes the exchanges much more controllable then the interactions de visu, that are real time and implacable, unless carefully cultivated. Which for many people might mean no interactions at all, if it were not through Internet. The solitude, the isolation. The plague of modernity. Thanks Internet, with an impact on our individual life that is comparable with what has been the industrial revolution and the advent of electricity. Since Internet our life is not the same, maybe not for all of us, but much more so for our children.

Of this easier social exchanges Is take advantage, but Es also, like myself. It remains to explain why on MR there is this impressive predominance of Is versus Es. Is this common to other sites also?

I might venture an idea. On MR, participants are interested in reading. Reading offers to the Is a further occasion of entertaining themselves with their inner world, using the words of the book as a catalyst, but at their pace and in total control. Reading requires concentration, that Is are likely to have in larger measure: they must be doing something while they sit all alone, mumbling to themselves. The same for me of course. But maybe Poppea, Dixie and me, we are exceptional.

[straygator]

Another INFP checking in. And I don't remember the last time I was lonely. Or aggressive (well, overly aggressive, anyway . . .). A big part of my (non-writing) day job entails being anything BUT shy, so I'll vote, "no" on 'introverted' and 'shy' being the same thing (though I do need quiet time by myself at the end of the day to recharge).

[nohmi2]

Originally Posted by orlok

The answer is no. Introvert and shy are not synonymous. Introverted simply means:

• Think/reflect first, then Act
• Regularly require an amount of "private time" to recharge batteries
• Motivated internally, mind is sometimes so active it is "closed" to outside world
• Prefer one-to-one communication and relationships

I'm an introvert in Myers-Briggs terms, but regularly give presentations to large numbers of people (and enjoy it), mix with people in teams and gatherings, and am quite comfortable meeting new people. Is that shy?

I agree with all of the above.
I choose my friends very carefully, and keep them practically forever. Most are fellow-introverts.
I admire extroverts, but can find them tiring after a while.
I find that introverts are also able to create a persona for social occasions.
I have done 'photographic modelling in my youth (invariably facial) as I am too short for runway.
I have done theatre, and taught ballroom dancing.
So I would say that being shy and being introverted are not the same thing.

Cheers

[jinibiza]

Originally Posted by DixieGal

Are introvert and shy the same things? Can one be a shy extrovert?

I'm an ENTP, and I'm shy.

I'm surprised at how few E's have responded. Perhaps extroverts don't read much, or perhaps they're too busy extroverting to engage in forums!

[Ea]

Originally Posted by DixieGal

Are introvert and shy the same things? Can one be a shy extrovert?

No, you aren't necessarily shy just because you are introvert. But I think the need for time alone and inclination to socialise less means that introverts as a general rule don't "practise" being around other people as much, and that can make some people more or less shy because you are unsure about what to do in certain situations. Personally I feel more insecure in what I call un-structured social situations, like parties, than structured social situations, like a class or at work. When I know what I'm "supposed" to do, I can relax more and probably appear more outgoing as a result. Another reason to stay quiet is, of course, that I simply don't feel I have anything to say on the current subject.

[peitsao]

INFP twenty years ago the first time I took the test, and again last year.

[MJK2111]

Huh. Mine came back as "CASN'; Call a Shrink - NOW!

[TenaciousBadger]

Originally Posted by MJK2111

Huh. Mine came back as "CASN'; Call a Shrink - NOW!

[PeterT]

INTP but then; none of you know me! (This was some time ago).

INTP - "Architect". Greatest precision in thought and language. Can readily discern contradictions and inconsistencies. The world exists primarily to be understood. 3.3% of total population.


(And LOL... I just retried one of the online freebie tests.. Still INTP


Introverted (I) 83.33% Extroverted (E) 16.67%
Intuitive (N) 57.14% Sensing (S) 42.86%
Thinking (T) 57.58% Feeling (F) 42.42%
Perceiving (P) 58.33% Judging (J) 41.67%

)