16 Signs You're an INFJ, the Rarest MBTI Personality Type
How can you quickly and effectively spot an INFJ (the Advocate) in a crowd?
"INFJ"—one of the 16 MBTI personality types. The four letters represent different traits: Introversion, Intuition, Feeling, and Judging. Sometimes, INFJs are called "The Advocate" or "The Mystic," and individuals with this personality type often feel misunderstood.
The INFJ type is one of the rarest MBTI types. These individuals are known for their keen insight, warm empathy, and profound understanding of human potential.
In a crowd, you'll find they exhibit some distinct common traits. Today, we'll provide some clear signs that you might just be an INFJ.
16 Signs That You Might Be an INFJ
1. You're Drawn to Complexity
Wondering how to tell if you're an INFJ? Do you hope for your thoughts to be deep and complex? For an INFJ, the entire world is filled with layers of meaning.
Your goal is to get past the surface details of life and delve into the true meaning of existence itself. You view life as if from a high tower, watching to see how things connect and unfold.
This drive makes you one of the quintessential mbti truth seekers.
2. You're Fascinated by Psychology
Nothing excites you more than studying theories or ideas about how people think and navigate their lives. Understanding others better is one of your greatest goals in life.
You have a natural thirst for more knowledge about the human mind, behavior, and coping mechanisms. This interest in psychology is one of the reasons INFJs are particularly drawn to MBTI or Enneagram theories.
The "INFJ Deep Career Report" mentions that the profession of a psychologist greatly appeals to INFJs because it allows them the freedom to practice their deep intuition and understanding of personal emotions.
3. You See People's "Dual Identity"
In your eyes, everyone has a dual identity. You rarely take anything or anyone at face value. You easily recognize people's public image—their "social shell."
But most importantly, you are searching for people's core. You want to understand their motivations, intentions, struggles, and desires.
4. You Can Be Hard to Get to Know
While you may appear warm and expressive on the outside, your life's biggest dreams and ideas are often kept inside, where you guard them carefully.
This might stem from an INFJ's childhood, where you may have been criticized for "weird" or "unrealistic" viewpoints—because you struggle to articulate those rich, subtle, and complex intuitions.
Your ideas and insights can be startling, unconventional, or too abstract for people to know what to do with. As a result, you often keep them locked in your inner world instead of expressing them directly.
5. You're a Quiet "Cheerleader"
To your friends, you are a quiet cheerleader. You love to inspire them to be their best selves through gentle, consistent praise and validation.
You are very sensitive about how you handle others' feelings and are not one for criticism or micromanagement. You believe the best way to get someone to do something is to motivate them from within, not to push them externally.
6. Learning is Your Medicine
You crave wisdom more than anything else and are always exploring more knowledge about abstract topics and ideas. Attending a class is one of your favorite "leisure activities," and non-fiction books likely fill your shelves.
7. You Quickly See People's Intentions
You are more interested in the background reasons why people say or do things, so you can quickly spot their hidden intentions. To you, motives and intentions are always more apparent than what's on the surface.
8. Your "Disappearing Acts" Are for Self-Preservation
Because you easily absorb the emotions and concerns of those around you, you are very susceptible to being hurt or affected by others' pain.
You might go through a period of socializing and then disappear for a long time. This allows you to process all the emotional interference you've received from the outside world.
9. You Connect One-on-One, Not with a Crowd
When you're around a lot of people, you find it hard to focus your attention on just one person. You prefer going to a quiet place where you can truly concentrate.
You crave depth, not breadth, so you enjoy intimate conversations where you can reach a deeper level of understanding and truth.
10. You Have a Vivid and Amusing Inner World
On the outside, you might seem serious and studious, but deep down, you possess a colorful, imaginative, and playful inner world.
Your ideas are often mischievous, humorous, controversial, irreverent, or even daring. You love spending time mulling over various ideas, images, symbols, connections, theories, metaphors, and possibilities.
11. You Are Closely Connected to Your Dreams
Your brain is constantly consolidating unconscious information, trying to decode hidden meanings and abstract concepts. An INFJ's daily life can often have a dream-like quality, which can make it hard to separate dreams from reality and make this personality type more anxious about nightmares.
12. You Dislike Interpersonal Conflict
Some personality types enjoy a certain degree of debate and conflict, but you prefer a harmonious environment. In the hours after a conflict, you'll be mentally replaying what just happened to ensure that everyone you care about was not hurt.
13. You Can Be Hot and Cold with Affection
You enjoy a warm hug from a partner or a good friend, but not always. When you don't feel like socializing or are under a lot of stress, you'll want physical and emotional space.
Psychologist David Keirsey described INFJs this way: "They are inclined to be physically affectionate, but they want it when they want it—when they are in the mood—and this hot and cold style can be confusing to their mates."
14. You Don't See Events in Isolation
When something happens, you immediately connect it to any other relevant event, mapping out the situation's trajectory. Your goal is to see the connection between the current ripple and the next one. Because of this, you often immediately see the chain reaction that follows every action.
15. You Often Play the Role of "Counselor"
Because of your intuition and empathy, many people find they can confide their deepest secrets in you. You often advise siblings and friends when they are going through difficult times.
While some might resent the "counselor" role, it actually brings you fulfillment because you can utilize both your intuition and feelings. You often feel it's your responsibility to improve others' lives.
16. You Find It Hard to Understand Your Own Emotions
Your brain relies on one of the mbti cognitive functions called Extraverted Feeling (Fe), which means you tend to notice external emotions much faster than your own inner feelings. You can easily understand expressed emotions, but understanding your own inner feelings can be a bit tricky.
Internally, you try to analyze the logic of your emotions rather than truly trusting them. When it comes to your inner feelings, you tend to fall into "over-analysis" because you're trying to think through them, which is like trying to chop vegetables with a spoon.
If you can express your feelings in words or write them down and then read them back to yourself, you can usually process them more easily.
Today's Comments
Carlton • Advocate (INFJ-A)
10 years ago, when I was 20, I left my home in rural Pennsylvania, my friends, and family, and moved 4 states away. I arrived alone, with no kids, and worked hard every day. I would help anyone, but in the end, I found myself getting hurt more. Now I work remotely from home and am taking online classes to improve my skills.
Haruka • Advocate (INFJ-T)
In all aspects of life, being true to yourself is key! We INFJs live our lives with sincerity, respect, kindness, and compassion. We can connect better with others and ourselves. Respect all the advocates in my life, you're doing great.
Julie • Advocate (INFJ-A)
Yes! I'm correcting my husband's (ENTP) interpretation of these points, and I'm very grateful that my parents' personalities are similar to mine, so they understand these "quirky ideas" of mine, allowing me to grow up in my own rhythm. I grew up in a small village, which was very helpful. When I moved to one of the biggest cities in the US, it opened a door for me. Elaine N. Aron's "The Highly Sensitive Person" helped me a lot. Now, I've returned to a rural life with enough time, and I finally embrace the rare uniqueness of being an INFJ. I love myself, I accept myself, and that's enough—to wait for all the beautiful things with a complete heart, instead of pushing the lonely soul far away.