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INFP The Great Pumpkin Distraction – definition

April 1, 2014 / Calise Sellers

“If the Great Pumpkin comes, I’ll still put in a good word for you!
Good grief! I said ‘if’! I meant, ‘when’ he comes! I’m doomed.
One little slip like that could cause the Great Pumpkin to pass you by.”
Linus van Pelt, It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

“The Great Pumpkin Distraction” is INFP’s way of coping with the fear that their deep delvings into the realms of meaning and philosophical ponderings make them too out of touch with reality to be of value. INFP’s specialty is exploring conceptual meaning, loving to ask hard questions and explore the nuances of philosophy and understanding, and they excel at that. But their IP deep subject diving can make them feel like the world is passing them by, and with principles being their last and weakest cognition step, an INFP might try and prove that they can apply the specific details they’ve gleaned in their exploration, to the entire world. But since INFPs are good at asking questions, but aren’t naturally good at answering them universally, when an INFP forces an understanding of a principle it’s likely to be an oversimplified truism that doesn’t actually apply in practice and is comprised of lots of little details and exceptions, rather than an elegant function that works with any variable. This can make them look even more out of touch than they were afraid of in the first place.

But the INFP needs to give themselves a break and recognize that they don’t have to do it all. The world needs more healthy INFPs to explore meaning and find possibilities that no one else would have found, understanding the fine details of meaning going on in a situation. INFPs need permission to specialize more, not less. As an INFP doesn’t feel pressure to be in charge of discovering universal principles, they can instead feel excellent in their specialty of exploration and question asking, and let other types be good at their specialties of principles, each needing and learning from the other. 🙂

Examples:
Luna Lovegood, Harry Potter
Screech Powers, Saved by the Bell
and so many more…

Click here for an in-depth look at INFP The Ranger!

aLBoP Shorts: Tactics by Trolls

March 29, 2014 / Calise Sellers

Hey everyone! Just popping in to do two things. The first is to remind everyone that the first aLBoP Live Video Chat Q&A is tomorrow night!! :O And we’d love for you all to tune in and chat with us if you’re free! It’s at 8pm, EDT (GMT-4), March 29th which is tomorrow! And we’re super stoked. Remember, you can email in questions ahead of time to aLittleBitofPersonality (at) gmail (dot) com, or just chat with us right on YouTube while we’re chatting up a storm. You can ask us about anything!

Go here to watch and chat… and hopefully there won’t be any technical difficulties…

The second thing I’m here to do is to introduce a new series on the aLBoP YouTube Channel, “Tactics by Trolls,” talking about some of the most common and predictable tactics internet trolls use to make it seem like they have an argument, when really they got nothin’. Here are 5 new videos and this time they star my INFJ so you get to see him on video too! (I think he’s pretty cute, but you can’t have him ;D) It’s the internet and trolls are everywhere, but that doesn’t mean you have to feel beholden to their foundationless arguments. Watch to see how.

Intro

Trolls, Insecurity and Confusion

Tactics by Trolls: The Lawyer

Tactics by Trolls: The Bolder

Tactics by Trolls: The Twilight Zone

ENFP The McFly Conviction – definition

March 24, 2014 / Calise Sellers

“Nobody… calls me …chicken!”
Marty McFly, Back to the Future II

“The McFly Conviction” (aka “The McFury”) is ENFP’s passionate fervor about their own self-meaning, which can become dangerous when they need external validation in order to prove that they matter. When they feel like their value as a person is in question, a sweet ENFP who struggles with an unchecked McFly Conviction will feel down on themselves and like it doesn’t matter how good their intentions are (their First Cognition Step), because others find them insufficient in their actions and decisions (their Fourth and weakest step), and so they feel like they’ll never be worthwhile. But if the ENFP tries to counter this by attempting to *prove* their self-worth to others, they often, intentionally or not, end up trying to assert their self-worth *over* the worth of others, and make others feel unvalued the same way the ENFP has been. If the ENFP stops caring about others’ self-worth entirely, their McFly Conviction taking over all their choices, ENFPs can become uncharacteristically mean and end up negating their entire Type Specialization by constantly undermining the people around them, even seeking others out specifically to undermine their worth.

ENFPs need to remember, there is *no* sidekick type. But part of being a hero is not needing external validation to know that you are worthwhile. Being a hero means standing up for things, not only when you stand alone, but when you look like an idiot to the people who don’t understand. While sidekicks are busy looking over their shoulders, constantly checking for the approval of others, real heroes are busy making something of themselves. While ENFPs are just as capable of that as any other type, they first must let go of *looking* worthwhile, in favor of *becoming* worthwhile.

Examples:
Michael Scott, The Office
Bowler Hat Guy, Meet the Robinsons
Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel
and so many more…

Click here for an in-depth look at ENFP The Standard Bearer!

It’s Movie Time on aLBoP!

March 20, 2014 / Calise Sellers

Here’s the A Little Bit of Personality Intro video!! (Go ahead and watch it… you know you want to!) Both for the brand new Start Page, which will help those new lost souls find their way around aLBoP, and so that, if you’re trying to introduce aLBoP to your friends, you can help them easily understand what the crap you’re talking about! 😀 *Also* it’s going to serve as an intro to the aLBoP YouTube Channel, which is going to play a big part in the content this year on aLBoP. Starting with…

ESTP Jayne Justification – definition

March 3, 2014 / Calise Sellers

[To Dr. Simon Tam] “Tell me, Lil’ Miss Big Words,
you see a pyramid sittin’ out there? Neither do I.
So here, let me pour you a big frosty mug of ‘shut-the-h*ll-up’.”
Jayne Cobb, Firefly

“Jayne Justification” is the familiar ESTP tactic of trying to imply both that it’s stupid to be smart, and that they’re smarter than everyone else anyway. With ESTPs’ last and weakest cognitive step being action and decisions made through their iNtuition, they’re naturally insecure (as all types are about their weakest area) about their ability to understand and apply concepts and abstract principles to the choices and plans they make, making them feel inadequate and out-of-step with others conceptually and often academically. With their specialty centering around their own self-usefulness and protecting what they are, the ESTP is likely to imply that an understanding of the conceptual is worthless and totally irrelevant to everyday life, implying that those who are good at the conceptual are just as useless as the ESTP *feels*. Because this doesn’t improve their self-image the way they hoped it would, the ESTP is also likely to try implying that they really *are* good at the conceptual, in fact *better* than those whose conceptual abilities make them feel uncomfortable.

But what the ESTP needs to realize, is that they have a unique intelligence all their own, with keen observational abilities and the talent to see the things right in front of them that others simply miss. As they learn to appreciate the conceptual strengths of their friends, while realizing that it doesn’t compromise their own self-worth or their own usefulness, the ESTP can learn to use their awesome powers of Observational Sensing to see new and unexplored sides of the conceptual that are desperately needed.

Examples:
Gaston, Beauty and the Beast
Rainbow Dash, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Strongbad, HomestarRunner.com
and so many more…

Click here for an in-depth look at ESTP, “The Spartan”!

Personalized Typing: Mr. Darcy and the New Email System

March 1, 2014 / Calise Sellers

{Insert fanfare here!} You asked and we’re delivering! The new and improved, customized *just for you*, aLBoP Personalized Typing System!!! Now *you* can get personally typed according to the typing principles found throughout A Little Bit of Personality, and get personalized advice on how to apply things like Paradoxitype, Cognition Steps, Type Specializations, and how to be a Hero in your own unique way to *you* in your own life, with your own unique talents and struggles. Pretty cool, no?

{Update: Due to lots of wonderful demand, the aLBoP Personalized Typing system has been updated! Find all the details here! Now, instead of Personalized Personality PDFs, we have made the universally applicable Cognitive Orientation Guidebooks (COGs), and then if you want to chat about how your cognition applies to you personally, you can chat on the forums So feel free to read ahead and especially to read our personalized help for Mr. Darcy, but just be aware of the new system. :)}

Type Specializations: What Makes My Type Special?

February 12, 2014 / Calise Sellers

There’s an age-old outlook, put blatantly by Syndrome of The Incredibles in his Moriarty Fear, that if everyone is special, then *no one* will be. To this longstanding catch-22, I offer the following rebuttal: What if everyone is special in a way that is both utterly unique and utterly essential?

What if, like colors, genders or flavors, Personality Types create a beautiful cornucopia of complexity and balance, where each member contributes to the whole, an equal and necessary component, without which there would be a gaping hole? And what if becoming special is simply a matter of owning who you are and choosing to pursue the very thing *you* love most?

These are Type Specializations.

This topic is one of my very favorite things about personality typing because it’s so wrapped up in what every type *is* and not only what every type specializes in, but what *drives* every type. It’s easy to focus on cursory traits that may or may not come with a certain type – yes, ISTJs are usually fond of rules and yes, ENTPs often like taking risks; yes, INFPs spend a lot of time exploring inside their own heads and yes, ESFJs can often be found being great hosts and hostesses – but why? What is that common thread that laces itself through a personality type? What means the world to *your* personality?

Type Specializations are made up of two components, Scope and Objective. Continue reading

Is This Thing On?

January 11, 2014 / Calise Sellers

Hey all!

This is Justin, “Calise’s INFJ” 😉 It’s a little weird writing on here, but it’s cool! Calisey’s exhausted so I volunteered to throw out a little update to let you know that she’s eager to get back to you all on your emails and comments, and she will! First, tho, she’s taking care of a few prerequisites.

See, there’ve really been only two kinds of emails she’s been getting. The first, and decidedly the most numerous type, have been so real and personal, and they’ve really made her day. It’s gotten her so excited when people have said, in essence, “Wait, so you’re saying I really can be type XYZB? How can I be an E, I’m not social! How can I be a J, I’m not organized! You’re saying that’s okay? You’re saying I don’t have to listen to the mean little things people say about my letters? My type can really be that heroic? Psychology doesn’t have to limit me?”
Continue reading

What Do All These Letters Mean Anyway?

January 7, 2014 / Calise Sellers

So, once upon a time, you stumbled upon a really cool website. It had interesting pictures combining all your favorite characters in ways you weren’t sure made sense, but it was also pretty cool to read, even if the girl who wrote it liked to use lame phrases like “Rock-awesome,” used too many ellipses and was a little too fascinated by crossdressing. Despite her obvious strangeness though, the things she had to say made pretty good sense and you found yourself pulled in by her unique approach to humanity, obvious geekishness and adorable stick figures 😉

But, whether you were completely new to this personality stuff and wondering what the heck she was talking about, throwing letters around willy-nilly, or if you’re an absolute pro who has been studying this stuff since you and Jung were eating bratwurst together, you need to know what I mean when I throw out a four variable combination, whether it’s ENTP or Unicorn-Daisy-Tomato-Orange. Personality Typing means squat if you have an incomplete or inaccurate understanding of what the variables mean in the first place.

And so here, boys and girls, is where I define my terms… in no uncertain terms 😉
Continue reading

Happy Holidays! I’m drowning in email!

December 20, 2013 / Calise Sellers

Aaaah! Swift influx of emails and I was already *waaay* behind! See, typing people isn’t the hard part. If I could give a four letter response (personality type, not swear word), then it would be easy.

But I want to really help emailers understand why I typed them the way I did, which requires a long explanation, sometimes two. I wouldn’t actually need so much exposition, but pretty much every email requires me to talk about letter misconceptions that come up. While these are almost always just honest mistakes, I am spending *way* too much time repeating myself.

Therefore, as a Christmas (or whatever holiday you favor) present to you all, I am rewriting “What Do All These Letters Mean Anyway?” as straightforwardly and yet detailedly as I can. Then I’m going to quote it constantly so when the faqs get asked again, I don’t have to write the answers from scratch once again.

Sound good?

Then, if you’re really patient and nice, like pretty much everyone has been, I’ll try and write the post on Type Specialities, ie. each type’s life-focus, before New Years! 😀

Then I’ll reply to everyone’s emails and be freed up to write fun stuff like Type Heroes and Group Dynamics: The Avengers (which may even have a video :D).

Thanks for everyone’s patience and happy holidays!