I will answer these questions, since I’ve gotten more than one ask about them, but I don’t really like discussing types in regards to fictional characters. Not because fictional characters can’t be typed, or that typing fictional characters isn’t a good way to better understand type theory, it’s just that I find the conversations themselves incredibly frustrating.
You know, it’s funny to me when people can’t get a handle on the ISTJ type. To me, they always very definitively stand out from the other types. Though, that could just be because my father and youngest sister are ISTJs, so I’m intimately familiar with them.
Anonymous
I would have answered this privately, but you’re anon, so I can’t. That post was not implying that ISTJs favored anarchy; I was implying the opposite. ISTJs are very much in favor of having and following rules. What I said in that post was:
[ISTJs] depend on order and rules and structure to make sense of the world, and if you decide you don’t need to follow one rule, well then, where does it all stop? You people are suggesting anarchy!
I wasn’t trying to imply that the ISTJs were suggesting anarchy, but rather that ISTJs might feel that other types (particularly intuitive types) are breaking down the entire system when they decide a particular rule does more harm than good or doesn’t apply to them.
Basically, you and I are saying the same thing. Sorry for the confusion. Thanks for your comment though! Accuracy is about the highest compliment you give on a blog like this, so thank you very much.
I really do appreciate all of these that I get. I intend to answer them all at some point, but I have over 100 asks in my inbox right now, and every time I answer one, I get three more. Anyway, I’ll be answering some more tonight, so… get excited?
MBTI Senior Bests
If you’ve spent much time at all reading up on MBTI theory, you’ve probably seen a lot of references to Jungian functions; these are the functions with indicators such as Ni, Se, Te, etc. I’ve certainly talked about them on this blog on multiple occasions, but what do they mean, and how do you know which functions go with which MBTI type?
Anonymous
You know, I’m quite protective of ISTJs. I think they, even more than INTJs, are misunderstood by most people. I mean, sure, I’ve wanted to shake them and shout, “It’s just a rule! It doesn’t really matter! The only thing we should be worrying about is if it works, and this isn’t working, so why are you so married to it?!” but overall, I believe ISTJs are generally quite well intentioned.
ISTJs, particularly females, get a lot of crap from people. They’re accused “power tripping,” not caring about people, and “missing the forest for the trees” type thinking. In truth, ISTJs live their lives according to their schemata. They depend on order and rules and structure to make sense of the world, and if you decide you don’t need to follow one rule, well then, where does it all stop? You people are suggesting anarchy!
And, while that’s incredibly frustrating to intuitive types (and feeling types too, but for different reasons,) there’s a lot of good that comes out of the ISTJs way of looking at the world. For one thing, they’re loyal and dependable to a fault. If they promise to do something for you, it will be done. If they agree to something, even if they end up loathing that decision, they’ll follow through to the end. And they’re excellent secret keepers. Also, they’ll follow agreements to the letter — they never look for loopholes, or exploit ambiguities in an agreement to achieve their own ends.
And even in less personal situations, like the workplace, sometimes you need someone that will hold everyone to the rules, regardless of circumstance. For example, you wouldn’t want a safety inspector at a nuclear power facility fudging the numbers to keep their friend out of trouble.
So yes, even though they occasionally make me crazy, I always swoop in to defend ISTJs and I appreciate all the things they have to offer.
