[INFJ] have you ever been wrong?

I think intuition for an INFJ is such a powerful and effective thing, it can be tempting to 'overuse' it. I think it's important to step back and examine it critically at times. It's sometimes said there are two methods of human thought. Type 1) rapid every day thinking/decision making. Like talking or catching a ball. It's what we use all the time, it's fast and necessary and what we mostly use.

Then there's Type 2) where we use slow, deliberative, logical, analytical thinking. Much slower, hard to use. We couldn't survive using this type in a high percentage of cases.

However especially in important non-urgent thinking we need to have a balance of both methods to get a better result.

I'm listening to The Cure now - that is all I have to contribute. Apologies.
 
invisible said:
By providing myself with alternative explanations for those ideas. Like the most simplest example I can think of for this is "Maybe he's having a bad day" instead of "Maybe he's a bad person". Or else "These are just my ideas, but he may have a different reason for what he is doing."

But I agree with you. It is really really difficult and I don't think it will ever be something that I will get right. I will just have to keep practicing it.
Click to expand...

This. I'm just now starting to trust my intuition enough to apply it outside of myself. Usually, and for most of my life, I try to find a reason to give some the benefit of the doubt. Sadly, I've been wrong in doing that more time than not.
 
I think the Ti is useful not to cancel the Ni, just to bring it back to earth, contextualise it.

Hasn't anyone had the experience of their Ni being right, but of acting on it being wrong? I've had that experience more times than I want to think about.
 
Milktoast Bandit said:
This. I'm just now starting to trust my intuition enough to apply it outside of myself. Usually, and for most of my life, I try to find a reason to give some the benefit of the doubt. Sadly, I've been wrong in doing that more time than not.
Click to expand...

Giving the benefit of the doubt I see as being an attitude of kindness, self-discipline, and openness to learning. It doesn't mean to give up your gut feeling... you can have both at the same time?
 
highlighter said:
I dont believe my gut as ever really been wrong. What happens to me is yes I may over think something get in the Ni Ti loop. which causes the Ti to act up and second guess the Ni, rationalizations are simply Lies we tell ourselves. this is bad, what also happens alot to me is that what I WANT to happen clouds my Ni. My Ni will be right as always but i may dream a little too much and because of that I get false hope which causes me to end up wrong. Of course being wrong shakes my core, I feel stupid, blind, and I should have known better. This actually just happend to me in the past months. I should have seen all the signs, but I was blind by love. and I lost. I was wrong. in retrospect my Ni was right the whole time, it knew the whole time, I simply didnt listen or want to listen.
Click to expand...

so you're saying to listen to your Ni but still use the Ti? i feel like even if we see or feel something is wrong we overlook it because we hope for the best in everything.
 
James said:
I think intuition for an INFJ is such a powerful and effective thing, it can be tempting to 'overuse' it. I think it's important to step back and examine it critically at times. It's sometimes said there are two methods of human thought. Type 1) rapid every day thinking/decision making. Like talking or catching a ball. It's what we use all the time, it's fast and necessary and what we mostly use.

Then there's Type 2) where we use slow, deliberative, logical, analytical thinking. Much slower, hard to use. We couldn't survive using this type in a high percentage of cases.

However especially in important non-urgent thinking we need to have a balance of both methods to get a better result.

I'm listening to The Cure now - that is all I have to contribute. Apologies.
Click to expand...

this. is what i was thinking. i was just curious as to how many infjs listen to their intuitions before making decisions. thank you for this.
 
bellisima said:
this. is what i was thinking. i was just curious as to how many infjs listen to their intuitions before making decisions. thank you for this.
Click to expand...

If you're asking if INFJs use their intuition first, well - I think that's our default. If you believe the theory of Jungian cognitive processes, we default to Ni First (our strongest process) then Fe, then Ti, then Se. It's hard for me to not use Ni first. In fact, I usually do use it first - but I may have to ignore it if someone's asking me for a quick answer. Ni takes a lot of time to use. Other processes are generally quicker.
 
Yes and no

Every time I've had a feeling about a person or situation, there was truth in that feeling. I was right, and that feeling has never been wrong.

At the same time, I've been wrong a lot in how I interpret or act on that feeling. I.E. someone does a bunch of little bits of behavior that I don't agree with over a period of time. Then they do something else that doesn't mean much on the surface but I immediately know something is up and get a really accurate read of what is really going on behind the lines.

I honestly can't remember a single instance of that "read" ever being wrong. But where I fuck up is how I react to it. Maybe that was real shitty behavior that just happened between the lines, but it doesn't necessarily mean the character of the person is foul. It doesn't mean it's something to even be worried about or upset over (as a matter of fact, usually I am the one in the wrong getting upset over such things). Or maybe it was only shitty because I didn't have the full picture - I was right and the situation/person was bad in that moment to me but in the grander scheme of things this was a good stepping stone for them, or positive for the other people.
 
invisible said:
I have learned that humans are all flawed, me no less than anyone else, and I have learned to go much more easy on people's flaws, and to reserve judgment for things that really and truly matter to me.

I find that my intuition helps me to understand someone else's world view. It's harder to judge someone harshly when you can imagine how they came to have their particular views and behaviour.

In terms of intuition I had a strange experience before my grandmother was diagnosed with cancer. I became very upset and tearful about the eventual death of an elderly lady I was caring for a the time...so in this instant my intuition was right to feel the emotion I felt, but it was like a dream in that the person had been disguised into someone else. I was very close to my grandmother so I think this was a form of protection.
I'm less prone to ask people questions pertaining to my life direction. The path that I follow may not have an immediate 'rational' logic that people in my life can understand when I follow my gut. I know it's right though, and can see in retrospect when I haven't listened to my gut. I think sometimes the mind tries to talk you out of it.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
Lycid said:
Then they do something else that doesn't mean much on the surface but I immediately know something is up and get a really accurate read of what is really going on behind the lines.

I get that. Out of nowhere I get a sense of the whole picture of a situation, or suddenly just know that someone did something or said something, or that someone feels a particular way, or something happened, and it can be quite a while after the event. It's like the information just drops into my head.
Click to expand...
 
ruji said:
Most people are simple, so I'd guess INFJs are probably mostly right. But I'm probably more right, and I'm INTP LOLOL #irony
Click to expand...
#irony

I bet your a funny guy to be around.
 
Ohh dear I think I may have upset him?

...If a thing is possible,
 
SpecialEdition said:
Intuition can only go as far as the vessel it is being filtered through. The interpretation of Intuition is subjective and based on too many variables to be correct all the time. A gut instinct can be a valuable tool but it can be swayed by personal experience and bias.
Click to expand...
This is completely different to my understanding of what intuition is. Intuition itself is not swayed by bias (in my mind), the logical reasoning mind however is swayed by bias. That's the whole point about intuition and why it is never wrong. How you interpret something however, can be because that is to do with the mind.

Apologies @SpecialEdition. I think I miss-read what you said;
e.g. intuition correct, interpretation incorrect
 
Last edited:
SpecialEdition said:
Intuition can only go as far as the vessel it is being filtered through. The interpretation of Intuition is subjective and based on too many variables to be correct all the time. A gut instinct can be a valuable tool but it can be swayed by personal experience and bias. Unfortunately bias can be pretty strong (and is made up of all kinds of things big and small over time) so even if aspects of your intuition are correct you often do not get a full picture. It's not WRONG necessarily, but it can certainly be incomplete.

How many bad decisions have been made due to incomplete information? It's not really an issue with intuition. It's just using it to move forward with an idea or belief without collecting the necessary information to make a better choice or judgement.
Click to expand...

This, pretty much.

I fear for the person who thinks they're never wrong just because they think of themselves as °☆.。.:*・° super intuitive °☆.。.:*・° Much the same, I fear for the person who second guesses themselves constantly. A balance between the two is the ideal, but... life is messy. No matter how much you check your homework, how sure you are of a gut feeling, you're gonna make mistakes from time to time. Better make mistakes and own up to making them than be afraid to be in the wrong. Everything in life is a learning experience.
 
as of now, my intuition is well experienced and battle proven for high accuracy... but before that i was subject to poor judgement and mistakes, haha

yeah, ive been wrong before
 
Not particularly often anymore.
Generally when I'm wrong about someone it's a case of I want to believe that they're not what I think they are. Generally though this has always let me down and people just wont change.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top