Profile: INFP
Revision: 1.5
Date of Revision: 21 Feb 95
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Introverted iNtuitive Feeling Perceiving
by Joe Butt (jabutt@sacam.oren.ortn.edu)
"...beyond the open door the green hillside ran down to
the river and the spring sunshine touched the broad sweep
of the shallows with a million dancing lights. A beach of
bleached stones gleamed bone-white against the long
stretch of grassy bank which rolled up to the pastures
lining the valley floor." (James Herriot, _All Things
Wise and Wonderful_)
INFPs never seem to lose their sense of wonder. One might say they see
life through rose-colored glasses. It's as though they live at the edge of
a looking-glass world where mundane objects come to life, where flora and
fauna take on near-human qualities.
INFP children often exhibit this in a 'Calvin and Hobbes' fashion, switching
from reality to fantasy and back again. With few exceptions, it is the NF
child who readily develops imaginary playmates (as with Anne of Green
Gables's "bookcase girlfriend"--her own reflection) and whose stuffed animals
come to life like the Velveteen Rabbit and the Skin Horse:
"...Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has
been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the
joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all,
because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who
don't understand..." (the Skin Horse)
INFPs have the ability to see good in almost anyone or anything. Even for
the most unlovable the INFP is wont to have pity.
"I must have made the acquaintance of Satan and Shylock
at about the same time, for the two characters were long
associated in my mind. I remember that I was sorry for
them. I felt vaguely that they could not be good even if
they wished to, because no one seemed willing to help them
or to give them a fair chance. Even now I cannot find it
in my heart to condemn them utterly. There are moments
that I feel that the Shylocks, the Judases, and even the
Devil, are broken spokes in the great wheel of good which
shall in due time be made whole." (Helen Keller, _The
Story of My Life_)
Their extreme depth of feeling is often hidden, even from themselves, until
circumstances evoke an impassioned response:
"You're just torturing yourself!," I said sharply. That's
part of your trouble. You're using Digger to punish yourself
instead of doing something useful... Keep in touch with
your doctor, Andrew. Take your pills regularly -- and
remember." I raised my voice to a shout. "Remember you've
got a job to do with that dog!" (Herriot, op. cit.)
+Of course, not all of life is rosy, and INFPs are not exempt from
+the same disappointments and frustrations common to humanity. As INTPs
tend to have a sense of failed competence, INFPs struggle with the issue
of their own ethical perfection, e.g., performance of duty for the greater
cause. An INFP friend describes the inner conflict as not good versus
bad, but on a grand scale, _Good_ vs. _Evil_. Luke Skywalker in _Star
Wars_ depicts this conflict in his struggle between the two sides of 'The
Force'. Although the dark side must be reckoned with, the INFP believes
that good ultimately triumphs.
Some INFPs have a gift for taking technical information and putting it into
layman's terms. The following is an excerpt from a very 'friendly'
document which many of us have read:
"Getting where you want to go can often be one of the
more difficult aspects of using networks. The variety
of ways that places are named will probably leave a
blank stare on your face at first. Don't fret; there
is a method to this apparent madness." (Brendan Kehoe,
_Zen and the Art of the Internet_)
Famous INFPs:
Homer
Virgil
Mary, mother of Jesus
St. John, 'the beloved disciple'
St. Luke; physician, disciple, author
William Shakespeare, bard of Avon
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (_Evangeline_)
A. A. Milne (_Winnie the Pooh_)
Laura Ingalls Wilder (_Little House on the Prairie_)
Helen Keller, deaf-blind author
Anne Frank (_The Diary of a Young Girl_)
Carl Rogers, reflective psychologist, counselor
+Fred Rogers (_Mister Rogers' Neighborhood_)
Dick Clark ("American Bandstand")
Donna Reed, actress (_It's a Wonderful Life_)
Neil Diamond, singer
Tom Brokaw, news anchor
James Herriot (_All Creatures Great and Small_)
Annie Dillard (_Pilgrim at Tinker Creek_)
James Taylor, singer
Scott Bakula ("Quantum Leap")
Terri Gross (PBS's "Fresh Air")
Amy Tan (author of _The Joy-Luck Club_, _The Kitchen God's Wife_)
+John F. Kennedy, Jr.
Megan Follows ("Anne" of _Anne of Green Gables_)
Fred Savage ("The Wonder Years")
Fictitious INFPs:
Calvin (the controversy continues :-))
"Deanna Troi" ("Star Trek - The Next Generation")
"Wesley Crusher" ( " " " " " )
"Doctor Julian Bashir" ("Star Trek: Deep Space 9")
Sebastian (_The Neverending Story_)
E.T.: the ExtraTerrestrial
+Doug Funny, _Doug_ cartoons