INXP/ISXP: Am I a Ti or Fi dominant?

And here it is: another common typing dilemma. Ti, or Introverted Thinking, and Fi, or Introverted Feeling,  are both introverted judging functions, which subsequently makes them introspection functions. People with Ti or Fi as their dominant function tend to be over thinkers, and are the most prone to questioning their type. To put it bluntly, out of all the types, the Fi and Ti dominants seem to spend the most time confused about their personality type, and I mean no offense by that. They just over-analyze or question themselves over and over again, often seeming uncertain or dissatisfied. Of course, I’m not saying that no other personality type will ever do this. I’m just pointing out a pattern that we’ve noticed.

WHO DOES THIS ARTICLE APPLY TO?

In case you’re new to the cognitive functions, there are only four personality types that have Fi or Ti as their dominant function. The dominant Ti users are the ISTPs and the INTPs. The dominant Fi users are ISFPs and the INFPs. Their cognitive function stacks are listed below for your reference.

ISTP: Ti-Se-Ni-Fe
INTP: Ti-Ne-Si-Fe
ISFP: Fi-Se-Ni-Te
INFP: Fi-Ne-Si-Te

BEWARE OF BIAS

Before I launch into the differences, a bias warning. Ti seems to be mistakenly idolized within the typology community by certain people, while Fi users have been reduced to weepy or naive. To be clear: Ti dominants are NOT smarter or more capable of strategy or rational thought than the Fi dominants. The types simply think differently, prioritize different things, and have different natural strengths.
Due to bias, misunderstanding, or ignorance, it appears more common for an Fi user to mistake themselves for a Ti user. Although, I have seen the occasional Ti user wonder if they were actually an Fi user. Typically, the premise for this is: ‘I have emotion, so can I really be a thinker?’ That of course, is another bad stereotype, as we all have emotion… whether we like it or not. For someone to claim that they are never influenced or affected by their emotions is irrational and ignorant. Similarly, it is often assumed that thinkers are mean, and feelers are nice. This is also incorrect. Feelers can be jerks, and thinkers can be affable.

Bottom line: Approach this article with an open mind, and honestly evaluate the way you think and the way you act based on those thoughts.

DEFINITIONS

Fi simply explained is the framework of personal impressions of how something made you feel used to create your morals and identity.

Ti is the interconnections of personal information used to create your thought system, from which will spawn beliefs and values.

As mentioned in the introduction, both are introspective and self-analytical. Both are also individualistic, and prone to defying the collective for the sake of self. Also bear in mind, for the sake of complementing and balancing, every Fi user does have Te, while Ti users have Fe.

THE DIFFERENCES

1. Fi values internal emotional consistency, while Ti values internal logical consistency.

I wrote an article recently about each function’s priority that covered this point. I don’t think I can write it any better here than I did there, so I’m literally going to copy the relevant excerpts from that article below. Feel free to check out the entire article here: Each Cognitive Function’s Priority.

Fi users evaluate “how things (situations, beliefs, people, etc.) make them feel. Those feelings give them a quick reference point to make in-the-moment judgments. They do not ignore their feelings, and ergo can trust them to not lead them astray, in a sense. Think of it like pattern recognition. They can use their raw feelings to detect when something runs counter to their being, and thus must be rejected. They have a high enough intelligence in this respect to understand those feelings in the moment, because they are in harmony with themselves. From this awareness of self and synchronization of self with personal feelings, they form their values. Judging new information against self is the main drive of an Fi dominant.”

“The primary drive of a Ti dominant is to judge every new piece of information against their intricately woven, internal system of data, and to continue to reinforce the threads of connection between what is already there. This information is subjective because if you’ve built a system off of false premises, the entire thing will be false, even if consistent with itself. When a Ti dominant is confronted with a piece of data that they cannot reject, yet is not consistent with their internal system, the entire system collapses, leading to a mental breakdown, of sorts. The entire thing unravels and collapses, leaving a state of pure and utter confusion. They’ll have to start from ground zero to make sense of things again.”

2. Fi makes you stay true to your personal values and Ti makes you stay consistent with your personal logic

Fi is commonly described as being about values rather than feelings, which is not completely incorrect. People incorrectly began assuming that feelers would always be emotional storms, which caused the definition to shift to something that led people to a more accurate conclusion. However, as explained above, Fi users desire to understand their own emotions, from which forms their values, and then their identity. This personal identity will be of the utmost importance to them, and will cause their values to be constantly placed at the forefront of their mind. (Realize that they can be hypocritical.)

While not without values, Ti users are not as prone to displaying those values openly, which is partly what has resulted in the misunderstanding that they will have none. Ti users have their internal web of subjective logic at the forefront of their mind. Consistency among everything they hear and intake is of the utmost importance to them, values included. Ergo, their drive will be to keep their thinking consistent with itself. No contradictions. (Realize that thinking based on false premises can be consistent with itself and not consistent with reality.)

3. Fi may try out new identities, while Ti may try out new thoughts

Earlier I stated that Fi will try to be consistent with their internal values while Ti will try to be consistent with their internal thought system. There is a catch to this though. Fi users, while trying to discover themselves, may go through phases in which they try out different “identities” as they attempt to figure out what fits. An older Fi dominant may look back on their past and deny an earlier version of self as not them.

In a similar fashion, Ti users are prone to tossing out a new thought or potential logic trail to see if it makes sense. (They may want to hear how it holds up logically in the eyes of others.) They may quickly discover it doesn’t and then renege on it later. This may make them appear contradictory or inconsistent to some people.

4. Fi dislikes someone who goes against their own values, Ti dislikes someone whose reasoning is contradicting itself

Fi dominants are prone to speaking out against values that contradict their own, or expressing disapproval. Fi dominants easily can fit the mold of an activist.

In comparison, Ti dominants most often feel compelled to speak out when people are acting inconsistent (ie: contradicting themselves) or when people are being illogical from the Ti user’s perspective.

5. Fi understands personal feelings, Ti is detached from personal feelings

Fi dominants are emotionally aware, which is more valuable than it’s oftentimes made out to be. Fi users are usually highly aware of their own feelings as they arise, and when healthy, are usually very empathetic towards others. (However, since Fi is ultimately more aware of self than others, Fi users may supplant their own emotions onto others accidentally.) It is commonly said that Fi users know themselves. However, some Fi users do not actually view themselves as knowing themselves. Rather, they are in a constant state of getting to know themselves.

Ti dominants are prone to suppressing their own emotion. Due to a lack of Fi, they are not naturally aware of their own feelings, which frequently results in a processing delay, of sorts. They may be confronted with a situation, but be physically incapable of feeling the emotions of that moment until sometime later, when they’ve had time to process. (This may be best described as an emotional blankness or nothingness.) Since they have inferior Fe, they may have a natural awareness of other people’s emotions, but not know how to respond appropriately to them.

Relationship Tip: Never try to force an immediate emotional response out of an IXTP. This is a common point of conflict between feelers and IXTPs, and it never ends well for either party.

6. Fi is emotionally intense, Ti is prone to apathy

While Ti dominants certainly have emotions, as a whole, these types will typically struggle to dwell on that emotion for extended periods of time. A Ti dominant’s reflex will be to push it out of mind and distract themselves somehow, rather than dwell on it. Obviously, these types can get depressed, or emotion can resurface via certain triggers. However, their default behavior will be to suppress, and return to a more mellow mindset, because emotion will be exhausting. Bear in mind that their tendency to suppress can lead to sudden and extreme outbursts of inappropriate emotion due to their inferior Fe.

Fi dominants are more prone to searching out their emotions, and not just discarding them. Subsequently, this can make them prone to being broody or moodier. (Of course, this behavior may or may not be displayed in public.) People want to make Fi all about tears and depression, but that’s a very narrow view of emotion. For instance, on a very basic level, there’s anger, love, and joy. Fi users tend to feel whatever they feel intensely and respond accordingly. This isn’t to say that a Ti dominant can’t feel intense emotion, but they tend to struggle to display it, and will feel extremely uncomfortable when confronted by someone else’s intense feelings.

7. Fi recognizes authority, Ti ignores authority

Ti dominants are known for rebelling against an authority; however, Fi dominants can be the exact same way. There is a distinction that people frequently fail to recognize.

Fi dominants (with the presence of their Te) tend to naturally recognize authority, but this speaks nothing as to how they might treat authority. Fi dominants may possess a deep respect for authority, or even idealize certain people of reputation. On the other hand, they might instinctively rebel against all semblance of authority, to the point of seeking situations in which they can actively fight back when they find themselves in disagreement with said authority. Notice however, in both cases the authority is being recognized.

Ti dominants tend to discount authority. Obviously, consequences will teach them to see that authority does exist and is relevant. However, they tend to naturally disregard titles and positions of authority, seeing themselves as equals. They view titles as meaningless, and want people to prove themselves with skill. This makes them prone to arguing with authority or fighting against it, but the distinction to make here is that they won’t actively look to do this. They usually won’t feel a need to stand on principle in this way or prove a point. If authority is preventing them from doing something that they’re determined to do, they’ll fight back. Otherwise, authority is irrelevant and not to be given a second thought.

8. Fi defines self, Ti may allow others to override

Fi dominants define who they are and who they want to be. Their natural instinct when hearing someone describe them contrary to their own personal view is to reject. After all, who can know me better than me?

Ti dominants don’t specifically give who they are much thought. They may adopt an “I am what I do” or “I am how others see me.” Inferior Fe may result in them looking to others, or placing weight on other people’s opinion of their identity.

9. Fi is comfortable in demonstrating self, Ti prefers to remain nondescript

Fi dominants tend to be more comfortable dressing in ways that make them standout, since they are comfortable with who they are and desire to demonstrate it.

Ti dominants tend to dress in nondescript ways, and lack the desire to demonstrate self. Inferior Fe may make them self-conscious about minor social standards like dress codes.

10. Fi can be fake when attempting to achieve an idealized persona, while Ti can be fake in order to blend in to their surroundings

High Fi users will struggle to put on a facade or act in any way that isn’t in line with who they truly are. This is what people refer to as Fi authenticity. However, sometimes, in their desire to achieve a certain ideal or image that is line with who they truly want to be and believe themselves to be, it may result in those close to them seeing them as two sided or fake, since they are presenting a perfect image to the world and masking their flaws.

A confident Ti user will keep their actions in line with their thoughts, but will be less concerned with achieving an ideal image or persona. Ergo, they’re less likely to mind putting on a metaphorical mask, or allowing others to see them in a way that is not entirely accurate. This is as a result of low Fe’s chameleon tendencies.

11. Fi (with inferior Te) secretly desires external order, Ti probably won’t care until external environment becomes too inconvenient to navigate

I should probably state in advance that both can be slobs. However, Fi users, especially as they mature, tend to desire physical order. They may enjoy cleaning or organizing, or feel a keen sense of relief upon completion of such activities.

Ti users lack Te and ergo tend to not give their physical environment a whole lot of thought. Sure, they may enjoy aesthetics and won’t necessarily want to exist in squalor. However, they don’t tend to feel as much of an urgent need to be physically organized, and are unlikely to gain any kind of enjoyment or relief from such activities.

(For the sake of context, remember that roommates play a huge part in adjusting our behavior from what would be default. IE: A Ti dominant living amicably with an ISTJ will likely appear more orderly than they otherwise would be.)

In conclusion…

Hopefully you found this to be helpful. I know it was a long time coming. I feel like there’s more that I could have written on this subject… but then it’d get too ridiculously long and I’d possibly never finish. Feel free share any feedback.