Typing people without direct interaction

**lumin** · 12-20-2010, 06:58 PM

I wonder if anyone else here likes to type people based only on observation. Things like clothing, what their hair looks like, facial features, facial expressions, how they interact in their environment, little quirks they do, what they sound like, and many other things I'm not thinking of right now.

N/S preferences are probably the hardest of the four to guess without interaction...but not impossible of course.

**Zsych** · 12-20-2010, 07:57 PM

Stare at their eyes for the N/S.

**Winklepicker** · 12-20-2010, 08:05 PM

I think it's amusing to try. It'd be interesting to see how accurate someone could be. Actually, someone could start a thread where people post photos of people they know where type is already figured out, and others could try guessing type.

I'm not sure how accurately someone would type me without interaction, though. I think I'm aware of the occasional need/importance of the social smile, and I think the smiling version of me probably would make someone think I'm more 'F' than 'T'.

If the person is smiling, though, I kinda think sometimes 'J' vs 'P' can be visible by how definitive vs. tentative the smile appears to be...but maybe I'm thinking of too small of a sample base on this one...hm...

Also...I'd have a hard time believing someone could guess intj for me personally by clothing...although admittedly I think I sometimes subconsciously use clothing to come up with type guesses in my head (maybe E vs I is the easiest to tell here)

OH, I thought of another one--I would throw out the hypothesis that the majority of hair/clothing that leans on the side of disheveled-ness tends to be P more often than J.
I have to say, though, that I personally tend to inwardly rebel against feeling like I'm in a straight-jacket, whether it's my clothes or hair, and I'm J, so maybe this theory is off.

**lumin** · 12-21-2010, 12:58 AM

	Originally Posted by Zsych To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	Stare at their eyes for the N/S.

Example of N versus S in eyes would be?

Originally Posted by Winklepicker
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I think it's amusing to try. It'd be interesting to see how accurate someone could be. Actually, someone could start a thread where people post photos of people they know where type is already figured out, and others could try guessing type.

I'm not sure how accurately someone would type me without interaction, though. I think I'm aware of the occasional need/importance of the social smile, and I think the smiling version of me probably would make someone think I'm more 'F' than 'T'.

If the person is smiling, though, I kinda think sometimes 'J' vs 'P' can be visible by how definitive vs. tentative the smile appears to be...but maybe I'm thinking of too small of a sample base on this one...hm...

Also...I'd have a hard time believing someone could guess intj for me personally by clothing...although admittedly I think I sometimes subconsciously use clothing to come up with type guesses in my head (maybe E vs I is the easiest to tell here)

OH, I thought of another one--I would throw out the hypothesis that the majority of hair/clothing that leans on the side of disheveled-ness tends to be P more often than J.
I have to say, though, that I personally tend to inwardly rebel against feeling like I'm in a straight-jacket, whether it's my clothes or hair, and I'm J, so maybe this theory is off.

Eh, I can be pretty disheveled looking at times. Not that it is necessarily related but my J preference is slowly weakening, which is fine by me.

I don't wear too many different colors in clothing. It's usually brown, grey, red, black, dark green, and rarely dark blue. Nor do I wear anything with letters/symbols...except for a cccp shirt I got in Berlin...which is obviously red and yellow and my most E piece of clothing.
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psykhe · 12-21-2010, 02:19 AM

Typing people can be misleading if you are not knowledgeable with MBTI yourself. There are introverts who appear to be extroverts and NTs who are into visual and performing arts and the list goes on.

**Winklepicker** · 12-21-2010, 08:48 AM

	Originally Posted by lumin To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	Eh, I can be pretty disheveled looking at times. Not that it is necessarily related but my J preference is slowly weakening, which is fine by me.

Funny you said this, I actually was having the same thought about myself when I wrote that...I can be much more disheveled-looking these days, but I also think I'm getting a little looser on J/closer to P than in the past.

**jkatra** · 12-29-2010, 01:28 PM

One of my favorite things to do is to guess the type based on observation of strangers and especially people I've just met in the workplace or on dates. The MBTI "rules" always frown on doing this... so of course I try to do it anyway. I like using my intuition to search for clues on the periphery. I actually find it easy to tell if someone is N vs S and T vs F for some reason. But I struggle with E vs I, and P vs J. Too many introverts look like extroverts on the surface based on the context of the situation and sometimes vice versa.

**waytooserious** · 12-29-2010, 01:46 PM

Originally Posted by lumin
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I wonder if anyone else here likes to type people based only on observation. Things like clothing, what their hair looks like, facial features, facial expressions, how they interact in their environment, little quirks they do, what they sound like, and many other things I'm not thinking of right now.

N/S preferences are probably the hardest of the four to guess without interaction...but not impossible of course.

Yeah I like to. I don't know whether I should though? I sometimes feel like it gives me a bit too much control, but I can't help it.

I think the biggest differences between people are whether they are SJ, SP, NF or NT. If you look for one of the four letters of the MBTI, it's hard to tell, but the characteristics of the four main types (like SJ or NT) are quite distinct. I am only one letter different from my dad, an ISTJ, yet we have totally different motivations and preferences.

Even so, I've been quite surprised before when I've guessed what people are, then they take the test and it turns out they were something completely different.

**timatron** · 12-29-2010, 02:49 PM

This is one of my favourite hobbies. I can't tell you how fun it is. It's a great party trick as well. I mainly use body language, and mannerisms to do this. I think it's next to impossible trying to determine someones type from external appearance such as clothes/haircut etc.

Some types I can get straight away such as ESFPs they are easy. But others are a lot harder. Generally I class people into one of the four large MBTI categories such as rational/idealist. It gets easier and easier from there.

I think the I/E component is largely unimportant unless they are extreme either way.

**Haumea** · 12-29-2010, 05:53 PM

It's certainly easier based on the content of their speech and tenor of behavior.

**JulietCapulet** · 12-30-2010, 12:49 AM

	Originally Posted by Zsych To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	Stare at their eyes for the N/S.

It's true...with N you get a sort of "aware", "knowing" look. With S you get this sort of glazed over look that is hard to connect to. It's really disappointing for me with the whole S thing...I have really wanted to be close to some S types with no success.

**Taklamakan** · 12-30-2010, 02:19 AM

Has anyone tried
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?
Typing from pictures like that lets even less clues than seeing someone in a tram or on the street. But even on the pictures, some people are surprisingly easy to guess (others, not at all).

I am in the process of compiling many faces from this and averaging them (with the use of a morphing software) to get the average face (male and female) for each type. I already have a few done, and it's more or less conclusive (some type faces stand out more than others). I'll probably make a thread about it when I am done.

**Solaris** · 12-31-2010, 05:21 PM

Originally Posted by Taklamakan
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Has anyone tried
To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
?
Typing from pictures like that lets even less clues than seeing someone in a tram or on the street. But even on the pictures, some people are surprisingly easy to guess (others, not at all).

I am in the process of compiling many faces from this and averaging them (with the use of a morphing software) to get the average face (male and female) for each type. I already have a few done, and it's more or less conclusive (some type faces stand out more than others). I'll probably make a thread about it when I am done.

This is a highly suspect socionics practice, and no credible MBTI organization has ever even tried to apply such ridiculous practices to MBTI.

**sadf** · 01-01-2011, 12:27 PM

Originally Posted by Taklamakan
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Has anyone tried
To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
?
Typing from pictures like that lets even less clues than seeing someone in a tram or on the street. But even on the pictures, some people are surprisingly easy to guess (others, not at all).

I am in the process of compiling many faces from this and averaging them (with the use of a morphing software) to get the average face (male and female) for each type. I already have a few done, and it's more or less conclusive (some type faces stand out more than others). I'll probably make a thread about it when I am done.

I have tried it
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I always guess the ENFJs, INTJs and ENTJs. For other types, a picture isn't enough for me. I usually need a few days to observe someones behaviour. But I can only need to make eye contact with an ENTP to know
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**Axel** · 01-01-2011, 02:33 PM

Originally Posted by Taklamakan
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Has anyone tried
To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
?
Typing from pictures like that lets even less clues than seeing someone in a tram or on the street. But even on the pictures, some people are surprisingly easy to guess (others, not at all).

I am in the process of compiling many faces from this and averaging them (with the use of a morphing software) to get the average face (male and female) for each type. I already have a few done, and it's more or less conclusive (some type faces stand out more than others). I'll probably make a thread about it when I am done.

I didn't get a single one right. I was able to peg the women fairly well, but I couldn't tell if they were I or E. Of the males I got most of them completely wrong. Saw a big stout guy with a beard and thought "this is an ESTJ" from his eyes; but he turned out to be an INFJ.

The people I know personally I've been able to guess with almost perfect accuracy. But apparently I cannot do so with just a picture on-line.

Example:

your guess:enfp
their type:infp
single type: 33/72 (46%)
full type: 1/18 (6%)

Whenever I assess ISTJ or ESTJ they turn out to be INFJ.
I type female INTJs as ESFPs.

**phoboser** · 01-01-2011, 05:20 PM

	Originally Posted by JulietCapulet To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	It's true...with N you get a sort of "aware", "knowing" look. With S you get this sort of glazed over look that is hard to connect to. It's really disappointing for me with the whole S thing...I have really wanted to be close to some S types with no success.

What about the puppydog- and bedroom-eyed S-types?

12-20-2010, 06:58 PM	#1
lumin Member [26%] MBTI: INFJ Join Date: Jul 2010 Posts: 1,051	I wonder if anyone else here likes to type people based only on observation. Things like clothing, what their hair looks like, facial features, facial expressions, how they interact in their environment, little quirks they do, what they sound like, and many other things I'm not thinking of right now. N/S preferences are probably the hardest of the four to guess without interaction...but not impossible of course.
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12-20-2010, 07:57 PM	#2
Zsych Core Member [309%] MBTI: XNTX Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 12,376	Stare at their eyes for the N/S.
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12-20-2010, 08:05 PM	#3
Winklepicker Member [25%] MBTI: INTJ Join Date: Apr 2010 Posts: 1,021	I think it's amusing to try. It'd be interesting to see how accurate someone could be. Actually, someone could start a thread where people post photos of people they know where type is already figured out, and others could try guessing type. I'm not sure how accurately someone would type me without interaction, though. I think I'm aware of the occasional need/importance of the social smile, and I think the smiling version of me probably would make someone think I'm more 'F' than 'T'. If the person is smiling, though, I kinda think sometimes 'J' vs 'P' can be visible by how definitive vs. tentative the smile appears to be...but maybe I'm thinking of too small of a sample base on this one...hm... Also...I'd have a hard time believing someone could guess intj for me personally by clothing...although admittedly I think I sometimes subconsciously use clothing to come up with type guesses in my head (maybe E vs I is the easiest to tell here) OH, I thought of another one--I would throw out the hypothesis that the majority of hair/clothing that leans on the side of disheveled-ness tends to be P more often than J. I have to say, though, that I personally tend to inwardly rebel against feeling like I'm in a straight-jacket, whether it's my clothes or hair, and I'm J, so maybe this theory is off.
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12-21-2010, 02:19 AM	#5
psykhe Core Member [238%] MBTI: iNfJ Join Date: Oct 2010 Posts: 9,539	Typing people can be misleading if you are not knowledgeable with MBTI yourself. There are introverts who appear to be extroverts and NTs who are into visual and performing arts and the list goes on.
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12-29-2010, 01:28 PM	#7
jkatra Core Member [723%] MBTI: INTJ Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 28,944	One of my favorite things to do is to guess the type based on observation of strangers and especially people I've just met in the workplace or on dates. The MBTI "rules" always frown on doing this... so of course I try to do it anyway. I like using my intuition to search for clues on the periphery. I actually find it easy to tell if someone is N vs S and T vs F for some reason. But I struggle with E vs I, and P vs J. Too many introverts look like extroverts on the surface based on the context of the situation and sometimes vice versa.
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12-29-2010, 02:49 PM	#9
timatron New Member [01%] MBTI: INTJ Join Date: Nov 2008 Posts: 74	This is one of my favourite hobbies. I can't tell you how fun it is. It's a great party trick as well. I mainly use body language, and mannerisms to do this. I think it's next to impossible trying to determine someones type from external appearance such as clothes/haircut etc. Some types I can get straight away such as ESFPs they are easy. But others are a lot harder. Generally I class people into one of the four large MBTI categories such as rational/idealist. It gets easier and easier from there. I think the I/E component is largely unimportant unless they are extreme either way.
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12-29-2010, 05:53 PM	#10
Haumea Veteran Member [88%] MBTI: INTJ Join Date: Jun 2010 Posts: 3,523	It's certainly easier based on the content of their speech and tenor of behavior.
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12-30-2010, 02:19 AM	#12
Taklamakan New Member [01%] MBTI: INXX Join Date: Dec 2010 Posts: 64	Has anyone tried To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. ? Typing from pictures like that lets even less clues than seeing someone in a tram or on the street. But even on the pictures, some people are surprisingly easy to guess (others, not at all). I am in the process of compiling many faces from this and averaging them (with the use of a morphing software) to get the average face (male and female) for each type. I already have a few done, and it's more or less conclusive (some type faces stand out more than others). I'll probably make a thread about it when I am done.
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