Are INFJ's really that rare?

I think the INFJ is designed to be rare. This type encompasses so many conflicting tendencies:

Introvert who needs people. Person who lives "on his own planet" but gets big things done in real life. Sincere, authentic, deep thinker who functions best by keeing it light and superficial. Person who needs time to be alone for artistic creation who spends time helping other people. Easily saddened person who needs to be cheerful to survive. Lover of facts who succumbs to subjectivity.

This type is not admired by our society. For example: No one brags about being an empath. Who thinks we are "tough" or "logical?" (We are, but not in the typical manner.)

Heck. I resisted admitting I was an INFJ. Maybe more people think they are INFJ than really are, but if you really are one, you know it's a hard place to be.
 
Zola said:
Heck. I resisted admitting I was an INFJ. Maybe more people think they are INFJ than really are, but if you really are one, you know it's a hard place to be.
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I feel what you are saying! It took me a long time to realize I am an INFJ, and because of it, I didn't get much out of the whole theory. (It isn't meaningful or conducive to personal growth to decide you must be INxP).
I believe that INFJs are relatively less common than some other types. But nobody knows how many INFJs are out there that haven't been identified. Or how many who call themselves INFJ are not really INFJ, but some other type who took a poorly designed test, and wants to feel special and rare. It has been my experience that Fi users place a lot of value on being unique and different, while Fe users just want to fit in with others, even if they actually stand out like sore thumbs.
 
I think INFJs have to be at least relatively rare, since in real life it's hard to find one. Personally I have met maybe 2-3 INFJs at most IRL, and I know pretty decent amounts of people in all walks of life.

Miswired7 said:
It has been my experience that Fi users place a lot of value on being unique and different, while Fe users just want to fit in with others, even if they actually stand out like sore thumbs.
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That's so true. It's been my personal experience try to overly fit in than to stand out, even I intuitively know that people in general see me as weird and different, I never like myself to appear so at all. It's a relatively new and strange experience to know that some people really value being unique and different to the point they project that onto others. I heard something like "everyone wants to be special and important" so often it became somewhat common sense and I thought I was weird to not relate to it. (To Fi users, I don't mean to offend you guys though, just my personal feeling towards this idea.)
 
haha, I did enjoy reading your rant. I hadn't thought about where the statistics came from, but I didn't really care enough to find out myself.
I have come across people to claim to be INFJ, who don't act like an INFJ at all, and who keep talking about how unique they are, and tbh my first thought is, 'well they're wrong about their type, i dont really want to deal with the awkwardness of bursting that bubble though'
I feel like true INFJ's wouldn't usually care about the beauty in their type, because that is being self-centered? - That doesn't mean to say that they can't appreciate themselves, some may be able to acknowledge their positives traits and thats a good thing, they just dont brag about it. They might feel some good within them, that they might help the world in some way but they wouldn't feel it in such force that they would shout it out to the world.

My thoughts: I do think INFJ's are rarer than many other types, but like you say maybe not as rare as some statistics make out. I know they are rare because I know how many INFJ's I recognise around me. I have 40ish people in my university class, there are only 3 people who I wonder may be INFJ (but not sure), the rest I really, really don't think would be. I study Fine Art currently, one might think that there would be lots of INFJ's in my class, but truthfully I think my course can be too pretentious for most INFJ's - it's what I struggle with the most, it drives me mad.
Learning my type a few years ago enabled me to think, 'ah yeah, I am a fairly rare type, this makes sense, so many people can't get on my level, or don't care where I'm coming from, there are so few people I meet who are a lot like me' - once I found these people I valued them so much, and I knew they felt the same way and thats why the friendships arose.
 
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