Are INFJ's really that rare?

I'm in computer sciences. Our engineers are almost all INs. Currently I work with an INTP, ENTJ, and INTJ. They are all exactly like you would expect based on MBTI. Everyone gets along with the INTP and he is our resident mathematician. Our ENTJ is a natural leader with a mind that goes a mile a minute. Our INTJ is the classic purist engineer with very exacting standards and amazing coding skills. Its a good group. I had us do the tests after we got into a debate about how to evaluate aesthetics. I think it helped :p

Someone mentioned that INs aren't that useful. But in my experience, IN skills are very in demand in applied sciences and technical decision making.

I've never personally worked/been friends with another person who tested INFJ, so I came here to find out whats up.
 
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Yeah, I have been considering that the myth of INFJ rarity was total bullshit.

What I think is more likely is that they might just be one of the more mistyped off all personalities. I can tell you that there are a handful of INFJs are INTP who think that they are INTPs, although they don't believe me. They all have very strong Ti, but the fact that their Ni is clearly what is calling the shots is blatantly obvious... to me anyway.
 
Let's remember that these percentages are based on only those who have taken typology tests. If you take our population as 300 million, and emit those who are too young to care about this stuff, what do you have, 100 million people in that group? That leaves 200 million people. How many of those 200 million have taken these tests? I don't know how you'd guesstimate that number. If the number is 1%, we're still looking at 2 million people. We're all rare in a relative sense. Maybe are that rare among a sample of 2 million, but like is said above, does it really matter? I think not. So far, the numbers do indicate that we are rare, and while I think that can be a matter of minor pride for us, but where do we go from here? The only data they can go on is based on the number of people that have taken the test.
 
Dragon said:
We are just the best at hiding.
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:m069:Indeed. I could agree with that. I really think the best and worst place to do a study to check types would be in the younger populace. Places like high school where young adults are growing more into who they are. If you just look at a typical high school setting, the vast majority of the population is extroverts, with the minority population of introverts doing a good job hiding. You do have a few introverts who are good at blending in with the extroverts and might be mistyped as extroverts but overall there tends to be more extroverts. E is more common than I. Other than that, I think the other letters are about as clear as mud.

Also being in a fraternity setting, an academic setting, and business setting, I would say that intuition is not as rare as we all think. At worst I would say it is a 60% - 40% split between S and N, same goes with F vs T, and P vs J. It's just the strength of each that is rare. A person with strong NJ, NF, NT, NP is rare vs the middle ground. My guess is that it all works like most data graphs when it comes to population. You have a few at the extremes(which is probably the people who actually take MBTI tests and get on these forums) and then the majority in the middle who could sway between multiple types. The vast majority of people will be in this middle and depending on the day could be multiple types.

It will be the extremes that will stand out because of how strong their preference for a function is. You also see these types throughout history. Also in which case you are probably more likely to see more extreme INXX's vs EXXX because the fact that extroversion in western society is more accepted and even the slightly introverted child might become more introverted because of that rejection thus creating a misbalance in the graph with there being more extreme INxx
 
In my small circle of acquaintances, I know 7 INFJs NOT from this site:

My parents,
My former boyfriend,
My aunt,
Two of my closest friends,
My best friend.
 
I've only met one INFJ irl. She definitely has an INFJ vibe.
 
I'm pretty sure I haven't met anyone in my life who is an INFJ (truth be told, I'm not sure I am) Scratch that, I met QP. Outside of people from this forum I haven't met any INFJs in real life that were/are obviously INFJs.
 
Oops. I forgot I met Arby and Randomsomeone and they're INFJ. I'm not sure I can count that because it stemmed from this forum :D
 
Apparently my mother is infj (I am still leaning towards a more esfj type I think) but I don't think I've ever met another infj type, in real life.
 
Also jimtaylor, it would be difficult to test a highschool because personality types aren't fully developed then. It is really hard to tell until a person is 17-18 at the earliest, and for some it is later.
 
Dragon said:
Also jimtaylor, it would be difficult to test a highschool because personality types aren't fully developed then. It is really hard to tell until a person is 17-18 at the earliest, and for some it is later.
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I understand that. You wouldn't be able to test the extreme details like actual type. But you could get a feel for the general like; I vs E. That would be less likely to drastically change with age.

Now in response to where they pooled what was it 3000 people? Most pools you see especially political are done with that amount because within the US the amount of variance with a pool above 1000 people is +or- 3% compared to the national population. So it's about as accurate as you can get without acctually having every person within the US take the test and record their typology and +or- 3% is not that bad. So what you see % wise on those charts is not that far off from the truth. In some areas the % would be different but it all balances out. In rural farm areas the % would be different and in urban ares the % would be different. So people going by what they have experinced is not valid at all because it changes drasticly based on location.
 
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