Highly Sensitive + High Sensation Seeker (INFP Personality)

[John G]

The romantic fiction topic kind of confirmed for me that there's something a tad odd about me so I looked around for sources that describe this oddness and found these:

What is the difference between an INFP and an autistic INFP?

Answer (1 of 7): I’m on the Autistic spectrum and usually get INFP as my result on online tests. While everyone on the spectrum is different I can only speak for myself and these are the characteristics I see in myself: i am very empathetic but still struggle with social cues. i am very imagina...

www.quora.com

I am an INFP. One of my closest friends is autistic (asperger) and a while back he did the test and scored as an INFP too. He's repeated the test several times just for fun and it's always INFP. At first his results struck me as odd, i had always thought he'd be more of a Thinker than a Feeler, given how open I am with my feelings compared to him… He has a harder time with idioms, but he's very good with analogies.

I’m on the Autistic spectrum and usually get INFP as my result on online tests. While everyone on the spectrum is different I can only speak for myself and these are the characteristics I see in myself: i am very empathetic but still struggle with social cues. i am very imaginative but also take everything literally. I daydream a lot. I have struggled with feeling different since I was a kid.

The autistic infp is bad at reading social situations and will act on emotion in inappropriate settings. They will want a relationship all the time because quality time is something they want but can’t get because of the disability. I have Nvld which is close and I’m an infp. Usually we want close contact with others but don’t want to seek it out ourselves. We keep a distance to draw people out to where we are comfortable not going to them and being uncomfortable in terms of dating.

…a lot of infps and people high in openness they fall in love with a body of information which is kind of like the autistics narrow deep set of interests that monopolize their concentration in what they talk about with other people… and I've tried to come up with all sorts of explanations maybe maybe it's not just infp maybe it's avoidant personality disorder or now I've got my first murmurings from people that hey Aaron maybe maybe you're on the spectrum and I think a lot of maybe introverted intuitive… i think social anxiety you know just being this sensitive as a sensitive and socially thoughtful as an infp is I think it comes with a natural amount of anxiety and when you look at somebody's eyes you know with autistics it's it's distracting right… I have settled on Schizotypal, but I actually think I am at least comorbid with AVPD which has spurned its own set of debates with fully diagnosed Schizotypal people especially when I recently found that AVPD is arguably on the same schizo spectrum as Schizoid and Schizotypal…

Type Nine: The Peacemaker — The Enneagram Institute

Enneagram Personality Type Nine, The Peacemaker. Learn more about Type Nine and use the RHETI test to help discover your personality type.

www.enneagraminstitute.com

Unhealthy Levels… Level 9: …Generally corresponds to the Schizoid and Dependent personality disorders.

Productive and Defensive Interaction and Ability

Productive and Defensive Interaction and Ability Some are more able to comply with norms than adapt to circumstances, others more able to adapt to circumstances than comply with norms. Some are mor…

professorkeirsey.wordpress.com

Safeguarding Role – Zealot, Defensive Ability – sacrifice, Greek Analogies – Hebephrenic

Disorganized schizophrenia - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

hebephrenia, was a subtype of schizophrenia prior to 2013.

JavaScript Tool for Exploring Typological Space

An on-line javascript tool for exploring two popular personality systems and the relationship between them - the MBTI and and the Enneagram. It permits users to compare definitions of specific MBTI types with specific Enneagram types, in the context of statistical data regarding cross-system...

tap3x.net

The INFP is an introvert… in the grip of inferior sensation, persons may seek pleasures associated with crude or exaggerated sensations… At the fourth level of development of the intuitive function, the individual's interest in 'symbol' broadens to include an appreciation for the larger systems - the 'paradigms'...

intuitive types they're more their perception is tuned to kind of these big picture abstract ideas and looking for patterns in the world um and they speak abstract and i i think it's connect uh it's very much connected to another personality typing system called the big five with a trait called uh openness…

What correlation research has been done on MBTI vs Big5?

Big5 is probably the most used personality model in research, while MBTI has not gained status of being scientifically supported. What exact research has been done on correlating the two models? C...

psychology.stackexchange.com

FFM-Openness was correlated to MBTI-Intuition (r = .72)

Sensation seeking - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

A number of studies have found positive correlations between sensation seeking, especially the experience seeking component, and openness…

https://www.reddit.com/r/infp/comments/7mhnj0

Highly Sensitive + High Sensation Seeker… It's a rare combination but my hypothesis is it could be a common one among INFPs. A person who is HS+HSS feels like she is living with one foot on the gas and another foot on the brake…

Comfort Zone | May 2006 - The HSP Who Is Also A High Sensation Seeker

This article about High Sensation Seeking also includes the High Sensation Seeking Scale for HSPs.

www.hsperson.com

I have always used the analogy one HSP/HSS gave me, which was that she felt like she lived with one foot on the gas, one foot on the brake… Your HSP part is a spoilsport with all its worries? A hindrance to every plan? It's also prudent. It keeps you safe to enjoy more novelty another day. Is it indecisive, always wanting to wait and see? It's also a good strategist; it helps you win. Is it needing all of this down time, this boring doing nothing that keeps you from being able to join in when others are out doing new things? But as it processes, it discovers new insights and fresh aspects of every situation. It is finding novelty and satisfying your curiosity. It's just a kind of exploring that does not require going anywhere or taking any risks at all.

 

[John G]

Expanded my quoted part for one of the sources:

JavaScript Tool for Exploring Typological Space

An on-line javascript tool for exploring two popular personality systems and the relationship between them - the MBTI and and the Enneagram. It permits users to compare definitions of specific MBTI types with specific Enneagram types, in the context of statistical data regarding cross-system...

tap3x.net

The INFP is an introvert… In this way Inferior extraverted thinking (in the INFP or ISFP) can be manifest in 'intellectual mono-mania' - a one track mind (as exhibited by Freud, according to Von Franz): 'In all his works the basic ideas are few. With them he has raced through an enormous amount of material'… in the grip of inferior sensation, persons may seek pleasures associated with crude or exaggerated sensations… At the fourth level of development of the intuitive function, the individual's interest in 'symbol' broadens to include an appreciation for the larger systems - the 'paradigms'...

 

[3DStudent]

I haven't watched the videos you posted, but I've taken interest in MBTI for the past two or so years. I just watched the other day a meme video on INFP's. They seem to be a complex type. I haven't officially typed myself, but I'm pretty confident I'm an ISTJ.

INFP has the same cognitive functions as an ISTJ, but the stack is sort of reversed with regard to weakness and strengths. First function = introverted feeling, or values as I understand it. Second is extroverted intuition, or branching out. Third is introverted sensing, storing data. Last and weakest is extroverted thinking, or logic and efficiency. Not really familiar with the type, but I'd say they have a complex imaginative inner world, and difficulty storing concrete sensate experiences and explaining things.

 

[woneill1701]

@John G

I would say that your ability to comprehend advanced Geometric Algebra pre-qualifies you as odd . (Note: This is meant as an absolute complement and uses odd to mean exceptional/not normal - rather than anything derogatory…)

I am also hard on the Aspergers scale (they used to call me Rain Man in my first job), but I have consistently tested INTJ on Myers-Briggs…

I take all these tests with a grain of salt! But, the MB description of INTJ matched my previous self-assessments better than any of the others, so I accepted the label.

I studied “Human” for many (20+) years, and to the untrained eye, can now pass for one (though I still regularly get labeled as eccentric, and am often the source of much humor amongst my team at work…)

EE meditation, if done properly, will allow you to experience your true inner self.

Learning to experience your raw inner soul, to differentiate that from your ego, and to accept your imperfect self for what it really is is a truly liberating experience!!!

I eventually stopped trying to be something I aspired to be, but wasn’t, and learned to accept the imperfections of what I really am… I am truly happy and free!

As a Rain Man, I learned incredible insights about the human condition from the older NLP works of Bandler, and though he derided them as useless, the works of Milton Erickson.

(There is some PROFOUND stuff in there!!!)

Between them, they taught me human!

Note: Non Aspergers types appear to be largely incapable of learning from either Bandler or Erickson… (It appears to be a mental block, and a good test for Aspergers… Yes, I know I will catch a firestorm for this, but I am basing this statement on 20+ years of experience and the reactions of hundreds of people…)

I used NLP to reprogram my brain to “emulate“ the missing instincts. I also used it to accelerate and amplify my ability to learn…

Generally, the reaction to that statement is fear/bull from non-Aspergers types, and a “tell me more…” from anyone WITH Aspergers…

Coming from a computer background, I always described people with Aspergers as a PC that has an incomplete but “flashable” BIOS, while “Humans “ have a complete, but fixed BIOS…

NLP allowed me to “flash” my BIOS and upgrade it beyond what it would have been…

An interesting and provocative topic…

(Not intended to denigrate anyone, but intended to stimulate questions/research/thought…)

 

[Alejo]

The romantic fiction topic kind of confirmed for me that there's something a tad odd about me so I looked around for sources that describe this oddness and found these:

Hi John G,

That was an interesting read, I think I could identify myself with some of the traits that are described on some of the quotes that you shared, but I also have realized that it's not a constant state for me, sometimes i am more introverted and sensitive, sometimes i am more outgoing and less sensitive. So it might not be a static state, in my case at least.

However, what I would like to ask you, if that's ok, is how did the romance reading project helped you reach this conclusion? what about it made you look within and identify yourself as a HS-HSS INFP? And is there something about it that you'd like to change? or work on?

 

[John G]

I haven't watched the videos you posted, but I've taken interest in MBTI for the past two or so years. I just watched the other day a meme video on INFP's. They seem to be a complex type. I haven't officially typed myself, but I'm pretty confident I'm an ISTJ.

INFP has the same cognitive functions as an ISTJ, but the stack is sort of reversed with regard to weakness and strengths. First function = introverted feeling, or values as I understand it. Second is extroverted intuition, or branching out. Third is introverted sensing, storing data. Last and weakest is extroverted thinking, or logic and efficiency. Not really familiar with the type, but I'd say they have a complex imaginative inner world, and difficulty storing concrete sensate experiences and explaining things.

View attachment 50317

Yeah kind of into dreamy harmonious research that would be tough to talk about even if they could talk better.

 

[John G]

@John G

I would say that your ability to comprehend advanced Geometric Algebra pre-qualifies you as odd . (Note: This is meant as an absolute complement and uses odd to mean exceptional/not normal - rather than anything derogatory…)

I am also hard on the Aspergers scale (they used to call me Rain Man in my first job), but I have consistently tested INTJ on Myers-Briggs…

I take all these tests with a grain of salt! But, the MB description of INTJ matched my previous self-assessments better than any of the others, so I accepted the label.

I studied “Human” for many (20+) years, and to the untrained eye, can now pass for one (though I still regularly get labeled as eccentric, and am often the source of much humor amongst my team at work…)

EE meditation, if done properly, will allow you to experience your true inner self.

Learning to experience your raw inner soul, to differentiate that from your ego, and to accept your imperfect self for what it really is is a truly liberating experience!!!

I eventually stopped trying to be something I aspired to be, but wasn’t, and learned to accept the imperfections of what I really am… I am truly happy and free!

As a Rain Man, I learned incredible insights about the human condition from the older NLP works of Bandler, and though he derided them as useless, the works of Milton Erickson.

(There is some PROFOUND stuff in there!!!)

Between them, they taught me human!

Note: Non Aspergers types appear to be largely incapable of learning from either Bandler or Erickson… (It appears to be a mental block, and a good test for Aspergers… Yes, I know I will catch a firestorm for this, but I am basing this statement on 20+ years of experience and the reactions of hundreds of people…)

I used NLP to reprogram my brain to “emulate“ the missing instincts. I also used it to accelerate and amplify my ability to learn…

Generally, the reaction to that statement is fear/bull from non-Aspergers types, and a “tell me more…” from anyone WITH Aspergers…

Coming from a computer background, I always described people with Aspergers as a PC that has an incomplete but “flashable” BIOS, while “Humans “ have a complete, but fixed BIOS…

NLP allowed me to “flash” my BIOS and upgrade it beyond what it would have been…

An interesting and provocative topic…

(Not intended to denigrate anyone, but intended to stimulate questions/research/thought…)

I used to talk on another forum to a guy from Australia who is very into NLP and Erickson too. I was a little into Erickson via one of the sources I briefly used here (David Keirsey).

 

[John G]

Hi John G,

That was an interesting read, I think I could identify myself with some of the traits that are described on some of the quotes that you shared, but I also have realized that it's not a constant state for me, sometimes i am more introverted and sensitive, sometimes i am more outgoing and less sensitive. So it might not be a static state, in my case at least.

However, what I would like to ask you, if that's ok, is how did the romance reading project helped you reach this conclusion? what about it made you look within and identify yourself as a HS-HSS INFP? And is there something about it that you'd like to change? or work on?

Well I've known for forty years that I'm an INFP and in the romance reading topic I described myself as acting autistic-like in high school, kind of hiding alone in a room, a sacrificial zealot, lots of zeal but too easily overwhelmed. In college the friends of the girl I liked pushed her into me but I could only just get away as fast as I could. Was basically like that until my 30s when I could be online what I couldn't be in person. So I just searched for INFP and autism and used previous knowledge related to openness/intuition and sensation seeking for more searches to combine with INFP. I definitely wish even now I was less sensation seeking, probably should wish I was more outgoing but really don't that much. In theory you should be able to develop in traits you aren't biased towards.

 

[Alejo]

Well I've known for forty years that I'm an INFP and in the romance reading topic I described myself as acting autistic-like in high school, kind of hiding alone in a room, a sacrificial zealot, lots of zeal but too easily overwhelmed. In college the friends of the girl I liked pushed her into me but I could only just get away as fast as I could. Was basically like that until my 30s when I could be online what I couldn't be in person. So I just searched for INFP and autism and used previous knowledge related to openness/intuition and sensation seeking for more searches to combine with INFP. I definitely wish even now I was less sensation seeking, probably should wish I was more outgoing but really don't that much. In theory you should be able to develop in traits you aren't biased towards.

Thanks John G,

Since you mentioned wishing you were less sensation seeking, what does that mean specifically? From what I know about INFP personality types, there's a tendency to be very isolated and quiet, which can lead to a higher empathy from a quiet observation. But that isolation also tends towards day dreaming and escaping reality and that's where I would imagine the trouble can be.

Now, I am not sure if you're asking for feedback in attempting to change an aspect of your life, or if you were simply sharing something you noticed, either way is fine, I just wouldn't want to overwhelm you with feedback you weren't really seeking.

 

[John G]

Thanks John G,

Since you mentioned wishing you were less sensation seeking, what does that mean specifically? From what I know about INFP personality types, there's a tendency to be very isolated and quiet, which can lead to a higher empathy from a quiet observation. But that isolation also tends towards day dreaming and escaping reality and that's where I would imagine the trouble can be.

Now, I am not sure if you're asking for feedback in attempting to change an aspect of your life, or if you were simply sharing something you noticed, either way is fine, I just wouldn't want to overwhelm you with feedback you weren't really seeking.

The need to daydream is kind of the problem. From my first post in the romantic fiction topic:

One problem I have relates to not being able to get things to work on my wedding night. I eventually figured out I had to fantasize just like when doing it solo and it's just always seemed wrong doing that.

 

[Voyageur]

Hi John G,

Regarding the romantic fiction topic and your reply, from a review of this, it also is aimed at the partner in relating to one with INFP in relationship, so hopefully there is that awareness of support - the thinking being that it helps as a relationship is two way street, that one can grow with the other.

From reading a few of the romantic thread books and this subject, indirectly, as trait labels were not used, it seems that one might see this in a few of the charters described by certain authors with similar situations, along with their work to overcome them; or not really that in the sense that one can overcome, just finding some peace within themselves, some acceptance and balance. At least what was read from the link made me think of some loosely similar situations in those fictions.

This is generally a sensitive topic for any individual, so feel free to create a thread in another private section of the forum if so inclined to do so - if you want to try to work this through. Otherwise, you may receive some further advice of this nature by others that have direct understanding of it.

Wonell1701 said:

EE meditation, if done properly, will allow you to experience your true inner self.

Perhaps this alone can be explored further if you are not practicing, yet I'm not sure what you are asking for, and yet the question of "the need to daydream" which you reflect as a problem, is certainly one, with its own nuances.

 

[Alejo]

The need to daydream is kind of the problem. From my first post in the romantic fiction topic:

I see,

well... I think that there's a lot of habits that can simply be that, habits and as such there's a path out of them which is similar to the way they're created, discipline and time.

If you're having trouble getting things to work, due to anxiety, but have developed a habit that maintains that anxiety in place, then you perhaps could use some training and some mental detox of whatever means of dissociation you're using until your goal becomes more attainable.

And start small, give yourself small goals of remaining present and not using means of dissociation and see how far you can go each time and watch the progress, you will be surprised.

The only other thing I would ask is, what do you get out of daydreaming? it's an honest question, not simply a retort.

 

[John G]

Hi John G,

Regarding the romantic fiction topic and your reply, from a review of this, it also is aimed at the partner in relating to one with INFP in relationship, so hopefully there is that awareness of support - the thinking being that it helps as a relationship is two way street, that one can grow with the other.

From reading a few of the romantic thread books and this subject, indirectly, as trait labels were not used, it seems that one might see this in a few of the charters described by certain authors with similar situations, along with their work to overcome them; or not really that in the sense that one can overcome, just finding some peace within themselves, some acceptance and balance. At least what was read from the link made me think of some loosely similar situations in those fictions.

This is generally a sensitive topic for any individual, so feel free to create a thread in another private section of the forum if so inclined to do so - if you want to try to work this through. Otherwise, you may receive some further advice of this nature by others that have direct understanding of it.

Wonell1701 said:


Perhaps this alone can be explored further if you are not practicing, yet I'm not sure what you are asking for, and yet the question of "the need to daydream" which you reflect as a problem, is certainly one, with its own nuances.

My wife is an ISFJ assistant principal so yes she interacts with the real world better than me and she's anti-vax and sees things like 9-11 for what they are so we can be totally on the same page for some important things. I'm overall quite awed by life, just wish a little that I wasn't so deaf mute character-like in my memories. I got laid off at 40 and never worked again so it's not just an early life lack of relationship thing. My 30s were great but the 20 years before and 20 years after could have used a more assertive me.

 

[Jones]

My 30s were great but the 20 years before and 20 years after could have used a more assertive me.

I don't know about you, for me learning assertiveness felt like I was being overly aggressive and maybe it had that appearance sometimes specifically when I was also feeling very reactive, but I cringed at the thought of being aggressive so often doubted my application of assertiveness. I'm not really sure what MBTI type I'd be classified as except I'm definitely introvert according to Susan Cain's description. In any case a councellor helped when he said assertiveness doesn't have to be loud and big. It can be handled quietly in the manner of Clint Eastwood.

Have you checked out the thread on boundaries?

 

[John G]

I see,

well... I think that there's a lot of habits that can simply be that, habits and as such there's a path out of them which is similar to the way they're created, discipline and time.

If you're having trouble getting things to work, due to anxiety, but have developed a habit that maintains that anxiety in place, then you perhaps could use some training and some mental detox of whatever means of dissociation you're using until your goal becomes more attainable.

And start small, give yourself small goals of remaining present and not using means of dissociation and see how far you can go each time and watch the progress, you will be surprised.

The only other thing I would ask is, what do you get out of daydreaming? it's an honest question, not simply a retort.

It's not anxiety, I can't get it to work by myself unless I have a very erotic fantasy going on in my mind. I have tried no nudity but still naughty videos and that works but that seemed like the wrong direction even if less erotic.