INFP

Personality Assessment: INFP

When I first read the results, I was annoyed. I felt like the assessment couldn’t be right. I was especially irritated when I read the occupations that would fit my personality: fine arts, counselling, writing, teaching (art, music and drama), library work and entertainment. All of those things sound frivolous and impractical! But the reasoning behind my distaste was not immediately apparent to me. I realize now that money was always a bigger factor in my choice than I wanted to admit. If I study something like fine arts or entertainment, I’m not going to get a good paying job as I could if I became, for example, a chemical engineer. But almost more important than the money, I now realize, is what my parents and friends would say if I became a theater major or something of a similar nature. They would tell me I’m throwing my life away and being impractical, and that I should put my brain to better use than that. Ever since I was fifteen, school counselors, friends, and family have told me I should choose a career in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). The reason for this is that I have always excelled in math.

If I was going to be completely honest, I would admit that the entire list of suggested careers (except for library work; I had never thought of that before) are incredibly appealing to me. But I have always reasoned to myself that anyone would want to do a fun job like that, but the world needs people to do “real” jobs. But, since I’ve been taking a biology class intended for life science majors this semester, I’ve started to question whether I would be able to tolerate a career in that field very easily.

I was shocked when I read the more detailed description found on the other link. It described me with so many details I couldn’t believe it. I am almost everything it described: I am a perfectionist, I hate conflict, I am very passionate about what I do and certainly whatever career I pursued would be a cause to me.

One complaint I do have about the quiz is that I feel like it’s a bit absolute. I don’t believe people can be sorted and categorized so easily. Every person is highly complex and multifaceted. For a lot of the questions I felt like both answers weren’t exactly true or that my answer would have depended on the situation or mood I was in. I still feel like I am capable of some logic and reasoning, despite the results.

Overall, this was very enlightening. I’ve been quietly considering pursuing a career in ancient languages, such as Hebrew, Latin, Greek, etc.  and going on to becoming a professor at BYU. This would fit into the teaching category, though not perfectly because the results suggest I could only teach music, art or drama. I don’t agree with that. I have always had a deep fascination for foreign languages and am wondering if I should more seriously consider this option.