Changing personality types?

[Machiavelli]

I think it'd be fairly accurate to describe myself as an INTP. I'm a melancholic, and probably one of the most analytical people that you're likely to meet. But I'm not sure that it was always that way ...

Before the end of high school, I probably had a much more black and white view of the world. In that sense, would I have then been an INTJ? The thing is that I've studied political theory and philosophy at university, which has contributed to what I regard as a less certain, more neurotic, less black and white worldview.

So I guess my question is as follows: Does one's personality type change through time? Can one consciously change it? Is it affected by one's environment and circumstances?

Regards,
Machiavelli

[jittus rye]

Of course it can. A person isn't set in stone. Their behavior grows as does their knowledge.

[Seraph]

I don't think you can ever fully change your personality type. I tried to become an Extrovert and a Judger, but it didn't work. In fact, I think if you try to be a personality type you aren't, you're only playing down your true type's strengths. Even now, I have trouble saying what's really on my mind...I'm constantly dumbing it down for other people.

[Google Monster]

Some things I've tried to change about myself end up making me more INTP. lol

[CeSoirNoir]

I've noticed that I turn into an INFP or even ENFP around certain people, its kind of scary when it happens, because I can't help myself. I believe in HS I was more of an INFP.

[Laeskis]

A deeply traumatic life-changing event can change a core personality type.

[int]

I've heard stories that could prove that true.

[Laeskis]

generally it seems to occur in situations similar to these:

a strongly extroverted person loses a loved one...is driven inward and becomes an introvert.
an introvert comes very very close to death, or suffers a critical illness and becomes highly extroverted.
a 50/50 goes through a divorce, causing him/her to look inward analyzing for flaws (that caused their spouse to reject them) and become trapped into a permanent introvertive mode.
there are many situations along these lines that could cause a shift of primary type.
consider a highly attractive extroverted individual who becomes terribly burned and suffers significant scarring...wouldn't you expect them to become introverted?

[Salad]

I like changing myself. Not to actually change completely, just to make myself more complete.

I'd miss too much if I limited myself to being a complete and total intp

[jetboots]

I think that basically a pretty stable set of foundations allow your personality to "settle by path of least resistance" into whatever you are. If you try to change yourself, it means you either had an iternal change (which would be traumatic), or an external change, either short or long term.

ps: this topic was on page 39 of 40 before I decided to see what was on page 39

[CoHo]

No problem, you just need to boil 6 Smurfs

[kikthinking]

1) you cannot change your personality. it is innate. like left/right handedness, you have one preference for the rest of your life.

2) however, that does not mean you will be the same person forever. in different times in your life, you will utilize certain function more than others. especially during puberty, feeling function is noticeably dominant.

3) continuing from the point above, you will develop different functions as you get older. i will use ENTP since that is what i am. the first function i became to rely on was extraverted intuition. however, as i grew older, i developed introverted thinking to support (and control) my intuition. i'm at a stage where i'm developing my feeling function. and it is very common for older/mature ENTP to focus on introverted sensing activites.

edit: wow. just realized this topic is a year old

[SwirlingSugarSparkles]

I definitely think that people can change as a result of experiences and different influences throughout life. When I first took the MBTI 13 years ago, I actually tested ENFP. I took it again 6 years later and tested INFP. And then took it 2 years later and tested INTP. Now, I've been testing INTP for about 5 years. It would be cool to morph into an ENTP, but I just don't see myself becoming an extrovert. School of hard knocks actually toughened me up and turned me into more of a thinker and less of a mushy feeler. As did growing up and seeing cold harsh reality.

[meshou]

1) you cannot change your personality. it is innate. like left/right handedness, you have one preference for the rest of your life.

2) however, that does not mean you will be the same person forever. in different times in your life, you will utilize certain function more than others. especially during puberty, feeling function is noticeably dominant.

3) continuing from the point above, you will develop different functions as you get older. i will use ENTP since that is what i am. the first function i became to rely on was extraverted intuition. however, as i grew older, i developed introverted thinking to support (and control) my intuition. i'm at a stage where i'm developing my feeling function. and it is very common for older/mature ENTP to focus on introverted sensing activites.

edit: wow. just realized this topic is a year oldHighly doubt it's inherent. Even if it's genetic, that doesn't mean it can't change (genotype vs phenotype).

As a child I was an INTJ (strong I, weak N, strong T, strong J). I went through what was basically the most heliish experience I have ever been through and can really concieve of at the moment, and came out ENFP,ten IQ points shy of where I was, and with my motor skills shot. Past three years have sorta slowly meandered back (Weak I, strong N, Very weak F, strong P) but I think I'm about settled.

[kikthinking]

i'm sure everyone has different experiences. what i stated above is what the psychologists have theorized so far. nothing more, nothing less.

and especially in a traumatic event, i guess anything goes.

[meshou]

i'm sure everyone has different experiences. what i stated above is what the psychologists have theorized so far. nothing more, nothing less.Yeah, I know. Thing is, take all psychology with a grain of salt. It litterally does not qualify as a science, as the theories it contains are not verifiable in the same person twice, never mind a majority of people.

It can sort of work most of the time, but much of it is about as accurate as fortune telling-- exactly as effective as the person paying believes it is.

[StevINP]

2004 was the last year of an incredibly busy and stressful few years for me, and during that time I was consistently testing out as an INTJ (90/100/38/30). Now in 2005 all of that stress is over and I've relaxed into an INxP (80/90/0/30). I think this is more natural for me, and that I was an INTJ because my situation demanded it, not because it's who or what I really was.

One thing I'll always probably be is Introverted and Intuitive. I'm very strongly expressed on both of those. My J/P can flop around though, and my T/F preference is practically zero. I feel more like an INFP these days though.

Steve