Pop psychology

[indri]

So, I popped over to The All Things Philosophical Board for a good lurk, only to find that someone has decided that Angel's Myer-Briggs type is INFJ. In my post-finale emotional state, I find that this irks me a great deal because, dammit, I'm an INFJ. Should I now seek some deep psychological insight into the fact that I often wish to slap Angel with a wet fish out of pure impatience? Should I ponder what specific charcteristics we might have in common and warn friends and family of my incipient serial killer characteristics? Perhaps I should discourage people from going down into the cellar and start to avoid goldfish and roses. But I mean, I'm only somewhat of a control freak and I haven't tried to run my siblings' lives for them for years. I do hold grudges though and I fancy Spike so maybe that counts for something. But why am I only focussing on Angel's bad points?

Up until now I have been most afraid of turning into Sheila Rosenberg.

Comments

[2am-optimism.livejournal.com]

I'm afraid I'm a pop(psych) tart who is far too willing to Type people and fictional characters. I've rambled on at probably far too great a length in my own lj about my thoughts about the MBTI types of the various Buffy characters.

But--Angel? INFJ?

Hmm - don't think I see it myself (my sister's an INFJ too, while I'm an INTJ)

If you wouldn't mind telling me which forum was discussing this I'd be really grateful - went over to have a look and couldn't find it but it could just be me being blind.

Also - have you seen this up on infj.com?

It's a long running family joke that my mom and I aren't 'F' enough when it comes to dealing with my sister - so she sent me the link. I laughed so much that for the first time in my life I literally couldn't speak :)

[indri]

How have you categorised people?

The comment is here. It's a throwaway comment really and does nothing to explain how he came to that conclusion.

Also - have you seen this up on infj.com?

Maybe I should read that every morning to make sure I get out the right side of bed :)

[2am-optimism.livejournal.com]

Hmm - glad I came back here after all the posts below - never realised anyone else had really thought about it, although in retrospect it seems pretty obvious someone must have made a study.

I'm finding it fascinating how we all come to different conclusions from the same source material though (although I suppose that's a definition of fanfic in a nutshell too :)

My thoughts are summed up here (mostly Giles and Spike) and here (brief overview of the main players)

I hadn't really looked at this again since I wrote it,and I think Anya should be ESTJ, rather than ESTP.

Spike I'm equivocating between ESFP and ESTP now too. Hmmmm... God I'm such a geek

[onetwomany.livejournal.com]

It's a throwaway comment really and does nothing to explain how he came to that conclusion.

I don't see it either, but I've seen Angel characterised as an INFJ in a couple of places and, from memory, the reasoning seemed okay at the time. Unfortunately, I can't find any of them right now. Bugger.

I'm INFP, which I will argue I share with Spike - although he hides it well ;)

[indri]

This guy reckons that Spike is ESFP. I'd go through the questions with Spike in mind to see what "my Spike" is but right now I'm rewatching "The Girl in Question".

Err, yeah, I made quite a study of this a while back.

[miggy.livejournal.com]

Well, that's just silly. For one, there's no way Angel's a J, and I really don't think he's an F, either. The coupling of T and S can make a person bog down in contemplation of situations, which certainly seems to suit him. Furthermore, the N classification could go either way, making him either an ISTP or INTP.

The big question with Spike is whether he's I or E; he often seems to desire to belong to a group, only to reject it given the chance. I'm leaning to I, simply because he comes alive more in one-on-one situations. He's quite obviously a N, F, and J beyond that. (You cannot get more J than Spike. I think it's a physical impossibility. Were you to be more J than Spike, I believe you would actually be reacting to situations before they even happened.) So he's either ENFJ or INFJ. That three of the determinants are different from Angel -- and the ones that most strongly affect decision-making -- goes a great deal toward explaining their natural tendency to butt heads.

Re: Err, yeah, I made quite a study of this a while back.

[indri]

That makes much more sense to me, that I'd sympathise with someone of similar type but find someone quite different to be exasperating.

But I usually take these things with a pinch of salt anyway.

Thanks!

Re: Err, yeah, I made quite a study of this a while back.

[2am-optimism.livejournal.com]

Hey - I'm not alone ::boggles::

Did you by any chance put any of these thoughts up in your lj? (I talked about it last year here and here fwiw)

::hopes it's not rude that I've now linked this twice in these comments to this post::

I'm such an MB geek and I'd be really interested in where you learnt about MB, as it sounds like we have slightly different interpretations of the letters. (Hee - I was highly amused by the fact that I take it for granted that Spike's 'obviously' an E, S and a P)

For the record, I think I agree with you on the Angel as ISTP theory, and gawd help me, I'm even starting to try and type the Lotrips guys too, which is sad and pointless and probably an invasion of their privacy to boot.

Re: Err, yeah, I made quite a study of this a while back.

[indri]

Thanks for the links. I think what I've learnt is that I really don't understand the MBTI :(