6 Types That Mistype as an INFJ

I’ve been playing around with writing mistype articles for a while now, but I’m going to do something a little bit different than I typically see; I’m going to write about the various types who tend to mistype as INFJs, based on what we’ve seen. As we know, it’s an extremely popular personality to be, so the number of mistypes are fairly plentiful. I’ll make sure to provide the basic reasoning for why or how each type rationalizes being an INFJ. I’m not trying to talk everyone out of being INFJs, but if you or someone else is questioning their INFJ status, hopefully this will provide some useful information on what other types to consider. I’ve made sure to include each type’s cognitive function stack in each section so that you can easily reference and compare it to the INFJ’s stack, in order to understand the differences that I’ll be explaining.

The INFJ (Ni-Fe-Ti-Se) Mistypes

1. INFP (Fi-Ne-Si-Te)

There are a couple of reasons why INFPs mistype as INFJs. The first has to do with what seems to be a war among the feelers, about who is most empathetic, who is most caring, who is more selfish, and etc. This war is part of the reason why INFPs feel drawn to the INFJs; Fe users (knowingly or unknowingly) tend to unfairly claim the best feeler tendencies. Fi is labelled as selfish, while Fe is labelled as understanding, caring, and selfless. For the record, both types can be equally selfish and empathetic. That’s not what distinguishes these two types from each other. However, distinguishing the types is not the point of this article. Bottom line, an INFP may realize that they’re intuitive, recognize traits like empathy and thoughtfulness within them, and then as a result, grab the INFJ label.

The second major reason that INFPs may gravitate toward the INFJ type is due to Fi’s in built desire to be unique. With INFJ constantly being talked about as the rarest and most special of all types, it’s easy to see why an INFP may subconsciously bias themselves toward this type.

(To explore this mistype further, check out Exploring Introverted Feeling (Fi) and 4 Differences Between INFJs and INFPs.)

2. ISFP (Fi-Se-Ni-Te)

This mix-up is a touch more nuanced. Bear in mind, the Fe vs. Fi confusion from above applies here as well, in addition to Fi’s desire for uniqueness. But in the interest of not needlessly repeating myself, I’m going to move on to the other ISFP specific confusions here.

The ISFP shares perceiving functions with the INFJ, just in different orders. ISFPs prioritize Se, while INFJs prioritize Ni. However, ISFPs can be very aware of their tertiary Ni. In fact, it’s actually very common for people to be hyper aware of their tertiary. In other words, ISFPs may feel very intuitive. In addition to that, Se can be a bit tricky to identify in one’s self due to all of the stereotypes. Se gets stereotyped as highly impulsive, driving all of it’s users to be daredevils and adrenaline junkies. That is an extreme description that many Se users will not relate to. The average ISFP will use Se to express their identity, which may manifest in art, style, fashion, sports, music, and etc. An ISFP may actually feel somewhat like a judger due to being introverted (ie: less impulsive), and having inferior Te, which will give them somewhat of a desire for structure.

(To explore this mistype further, check out Mistyping the ISFP and 7 ISFP Stereotypes)

3. ISFJ (Si-Fe-Ti-Ne)

The INFJ and ISFJ is actually more similar than people give them credit for, which is why the mix up occurs. Granted, their dominant and inferior functions are different, but they’re introverted, which can make identifying the differences (as a third party) a bit trickier. Now, the main reason this confusion occurs is due to bias. While INFJ is one of the most desired types, ISFJ is one of the least desired. ISFJs tend to be described as rigid, stuck in the past, rule-followers with no minds of their own that only want to clean, care for others, and raise children. On the other hand, INFJs can described as highly imaginative, unconventional and empathetic mind readers who see the big picture and chase their ideals in spite of others. The contrast is pretty ridiculous. Naturally, an ISFJ without aspirations to be a nurse or a mother is going gravitate toward the INFJ type.

As stated earlier, this article is not designed to differentiate the two types, so I’m going to stop with this: an ISFJ can be creative, future oriented, progressive, and even abstract due to their lower Ti.

(To explore this mistype further, check out Si vs. Ni: 5 Main Differences and INXJ vs. ISXJ: Comparing Inferior Functions.)

4. ENFJ (Fe-Ni-Se-Ti)

These two types should actually be remarkably similar, due to using the exact same functions, just in different orders. The confusion here tends to occur for a couple of reasons, which aren’t that dissimilar. First, there is a misconception that all extraverts are social extraverts and socially confident. Second, it assumed that extraverts don’t need alone time, and will always feel compelled to surround themselves with people. Most of the personality type descriptions online have actually been written by introverts, so it’s not a surprise that they mess this up. An NFJ who struggles with social anxiety, enjoys their alone time (due to being in touch with Ni), or is a bit more cynical or ambivalent in regards to others may initially identify as an INFJ, when in reality their cognitive function preferences fall more in line with the ENFJ’s function stack.

(To explore this mistype further, check out Extraversion in Typology and Typing 101: Introversion vs. Extraversion).

5. INTJ (Ni-Te-Fi-Se)

This confusion is probably more likely to occur in women. You’re welcome to correct me if I’m wrong on that. However, oftentimes cultural norms tend to associate women with the traits of a feeler. They’re encouraged to be more emotional, more nurturing, and etc. As a result, women thinkers tend to dip into their feeling function earlier than men, because of societal expectations. Ergo, women thinkers may confuse themselves with a feeler, since that feeling function is much more conscious for them. In many ways, Te can actually emulate Fe quite well if a decently developed Fi backs it up. This is especially the case for the IXTJ since that feeling function is tertiary rather than inferior, and thus can be used more effectively in comparison to the inferior feelers.

(To explore this mistype further, check out ISXJ/INXJ: Am I a Te or Fe auxiliary?)

6. ISTP (Ti-Se-Ni-Fe)

Interestingly enough, I was only just made aware of this mistype. Multiple different people reached out to me recently after reading various Ti or ISTP-specific articles of mine and realized that they had been mistyping as an INFJ. They gave me two main reasons that this occurs, which made a lot of sense when I thought about it, and there’s a potential third that I can add to the list. The first and simplest one is that inferior Fe can cause ISTP’s to fixate on their social or people-related insecurities. As a result, their troubleshooting tendencies focus on figuring out how people tick. There is this assumption that ISTPs cannot ever pursue careers like psychology, which is incorrect. It can happen. The second and slightly more nuanced confusion happens because Ti is described as having Si-like qualities, being detail-oriented and desiring precision in order to be accurate. This happens because Ti descriptions are largely written or sourced from NTPs. The third would be because of the Se stereotypes that I described in the ISFP section. While STPs tend to be more chaotic or impulsive in comparison to their SFP counterparts (due to lacking Te), they will still typically look inward first before acting.

(To explore this mistype further, check out An ISTP’s Perspective On Ti Accuracy and Inferior Fe from the Mind of an ISTP.)

In Conclusion…

Hopefully this article is helpful to you in some way. These are the main mistypes that we’ve run across. I’m sure that there are other types that have mistyped as INFJs, because of how varied people are in addition to all of the discrepancies between how the personality types and functions are described. After all, there is a vast array of source material that can be found, and many contradict each other. If you know of any other common mistypes, let me know in the comments! I’d be curious to hear!