- What's up, everybody?
The 16 personalities all have their own uniquenesses.
Sometimes, though, those special
traits can be misinterpreted by the other types.
Misunderstood.
A misblunderstanding, if you will.
But which type, out of all 16,
is likely to struggle the most
with this feeling of being misunderstood?
And which type is most likely
to actually be misunderstood by other types?
It really all comes down to communication.
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Now back to my regular content.
I think to start off, we gotta go back to the granddaddy
of personality types, Carl Jung.
My boy, Carl, actually talked a bit
about the types he thought would be the
most misunderstood in his book, "Psychological Types".
So his opinion was that the types
who had an introverted perceiving function
as their dominant function were the most likely
to be misunderstood, and if you're unsure
of what cognitive functions are,
check out an intro video to that concept
in the card above my head.
Wow, check out that card, yo.
In short, those types that he were talking about (laughs)
are the IJ types.
They are the dominant introverted perceivers.
Perception, in general, is how we take in information
about the world around us.
How do we become aware of reality?
When you see, hear, taste, touch, or smell something,
you are perceiving it.
I mean that makes sense, right?
If you touch something, you are perceiving it
through your senses externally, or extrovertedly.
Easy enough.
So what is an introverted internal perception?
How do you perceive something internally?
And this question is why Carl Jung thought
that these types were the most misunderstood,
because instead of taking perceptions at face value,
they tend to internalize them or view them within.
So if an INFJ or INTJ, who have Ni,
introverted intuition, as the dominant function,
see a tree, rather than saying,
oh, that's a beautiful tree because
it's got lots of pretty colors,
they might say, to me, this tree represents the growth
of young life into old and the passing of time.
To nowhere did this tree actually represent the concepts
that the INTJ or INFJ was perceiving.
Those are just the internal perceptions
that naturally came to them.
An ISTJ or ISFJ, on the other hand,
with Si, introverted sensing, as their dominant function,
could look at that tree and think,
this tree is much like the one
I used to sit under when I was young.
It reminds me of peaceful times
and brings me back to a place of comfort,
which causes them to be happy.
So again, there's nothing they can point to externally
to explain easily to others why
they are thinking what they are thinking.
It all comes from within.
It's kinda like having a movie playing in your head
that you can see very clearly,
but then you have to explain to others
what's going on or why you are reacting the way
you are to this movie in your head
that no one else can see.
So our boy, Carl,
believed that the world should have empathy
for these types because it's difficult
for them to express their perceptions.
But he also made sure to state
it isn't the world's responsibility
to learn how to understand you.
So he didn't just give all you IJs out there a free pass
to blame everyone else in the world
for you being misunderstood.
Damn, my hair is crazy today, yo.
So that leaves us with four types,
ISTJ, ISFJ, INTJ, INFJ.
How do we narrow it down to the most misblunderstood
out of all of them?
And more importantly, let's get real.
Was Jung even right about the IJs being the
most misunderstood types?
Did CJ know what he was talking about?
All right, so let's really break it down.
(electronic music)
All right, so the sensing types,
the types with the S in their type,
statistically make up more of the world's population,
and while, of course, sensing types can be misunderstood,
the fact that there are statistically,
supposedly, fewer intuitives in the world would lead
me to think that intuitives are more
likely to feel misunderstood
and to actually be misunderstood.
But it's not just a rarity thing, okay (chuckles)?
Sensing types, across the board,
tend to communicate much more clearly than intuitives.
This is because they feel a responsibility
to be able to prove whatever they are saying.
Intuitives use much more vague language
that doesn't always mean exactly
what the words themselves, they are saying, seem to say.
Intuitives don't feel like they need
to give you details on exactly what they are talking about.
They just feel the need to kinda give you the overview
and they figure that you can fill in the blanks.
It can lead everyone around them to be like,
I'm not really sure what you just said.
How many times I have heard that in my life?
Okay, then we move on to thinking types,
which are interesting, because they can be misunderstood
as being robotic or cold, when in reality
they just aren't the best
at expressing themselves emotionally.
And that is important, because emotion conveys intent,
so there is a huge difference between, hi, how's it going,
and hi, how's it going? (dance music)
So communicating with emotion,
which is what feelers do much more often
and much more freely than thinkers do,
helps to clear up any misunderstandings
about where your words are coming from.
All right, so even with all that said, though,
thinking types are typically less concerned
about being misunderstood, at least
in this emotional way,
and some of the more ego-driven people
who are thinkers might even hold it
as a badge of honor, sort of like,
of course they don't understand me.
I am just so much smarter than they are.
So the feeling types, though they are able
to communicate with emotion,
are not necessarily communicating
their ideas in a way that makes sense to others.
For example, if a feeling type is excited
about an idea they have and they're trying
to explain it to someone else,
that other person might very well be like,
wow, I can tell you are really excited about this.
But your idea makes no sense.
I do not understand what you are talking about.
So given what we have discussed
in this portion of the video,
that leaves us with the NF types.
They're communicating abstractly,
not about facts and details,
but about the overview and general idea
behind the facts, expecting you
to fill in the blanks, communicating
with emotion, rather than logic.
And if we're taking what CJ said
as authoritative, that would leave us
with the INFJ as the most misunderstood type.
But I didn't say that.
There's another type to look at.
Stop putting away your books
and zipping up your backpack.
Class isn't over yet, 'cause people,
there's another type that we gotta bring
into the conversation.
What type could that be?
Gatsby, what type do you think we're gonna talk about?
(Frank imitates cat meowing)
I can't under...
Gatsby, I do not speak cat.
I don't even know why I asked you.
So out of all the types, INFPs tend
to be the most fiercely individualistic
about their values and identity,
and this is because of their dominant function,
introverted feeling, or Fi.
Now ISFPs also have dominant Fi,
but because the INFPs are intuitive,
a lotta times their identity comes
from an abstract place instead
of an actual experience they had in their life,
or even from any facts.
For example, an INFP might become vegan
because they believe it's wrong to eat meat
and they might not need to see
any factual data for them to form
that conceptual value and make it a part of who they are.
Because their identity is borne from abstract ideas
or principles, it can sometimes be
very hard for the INFP to portray
their values or feelings to others.
So that can lead to a sense of loneliness,
which can sometimes double down on itself
and lead the INFP to go so far
as to take on uniqueness or being misunderstood
as part of their personality.
There's a good case for the INFP there,
but we discussed the INFJ earlier.
So the INFJ type, which we discussed earlier,
may seem similar to the INFP
because only the P and the J are different.
But when you look at the functions of the two types,
you can see they are actually quite different.
Compared to INFPs, INFJs have extroverted feeling,
so their identity tends to be more formed
through their relationships with people
who are close to them.
As an introverted type, they are still independent,
but INFJs tend to be much more willing
to socially go with the flow
or blend in with social groups.
INFJs can find themselves acting
like social chameleons, blending in
to make friends wherever they go.
The downside to this is that,
because they blend in so easily
and usually get along with others
without much effort, they can forget
to spend time processing who they are
or what they, as an individual,
value, which is something that the INFP
with Fi does naturally all the time.
If you spend all day blending in with others,
then it can be hard to know what you are like at your core.
This can lead to INFJs feeling like
not only are they misunderstood by others,
but also that they don't really fully understand themselves.
My conclusion is that INFPs probably feel
like the most misunderstood type,
and that is definitely fair for them to feel.
Along with INFJs, who struggle
with communicating the way they see the world,
as well as knowing who they really are,
I would say, in my book,
these are the most misunderstood types.
But remember, that doesn't give you license
to drop out of society and blame everyone else
for not getting you.
It just means you might need to work
a little bit harder for others to eventually understand you.
What weird thing fascinates each
of the 16 personalities?
Check out the answer to that in this video right here.
And until next time, stay cool and attractive.
Each of the 16 personalities has a strange
and secret fascination, something each type tries
to hide from other people.
Maybe even hide it from themselves.