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A person's type is consistent from birth until death (except in case of severe brain injury or mental illness), though it describes a path of possibilities rather than a static state. So each type grows and changes, but in a way characteristic of that type.

It's difficult to explain this system to someone completely unfamiliar with it, because it's fairly complex and it requires a lot to be understood all at once before any of it begins to make sense. I'll try my best to explain it as I see it.

Each person is assigned a four-letter type, like this:

Each of the four letters has two possible values, resulting in sixteen types in total. Let's dissect it a bit!

So, for example:
INFJ means 'Introverted iNtuitive Feeling Judging'.
ESTP would be 'Extroverted Sensing Thinking Perceiving'.
INTP would be 'Introverted iNtuitive Thinking Perceiving'.
Do you get it?! Do you understand?!?! I sure hope so!

If you've been paying attention, you may already be thinking:

Balderdash! I am capable of both thinking AND feeling! Of both sensing AND intuition! This rot is complete and total balderdash! Pfah!

In those words exactly. It's a valid thought to have, of course, but the system doesn't try to claim that you're ONLY one way or the other, that you're completely incapable of using the letters you don't have in your type. It's all about preferences, not limits.

The whole system is built on eight cognitive functions. These could be seen as the 'vital statistics' of your mind, in a way, and you have points in all of them. You'll continue to accumulate points in them through life experiences. However, two of them will grow faster and have higher initial values than the rest, and these are what determine your type!

The eight cognitive functions are grouped as a pair of pairs of pairs.
Thinking and Feeling are called the Judging functions,
while Sensing and iNtuition are called the Perceiving functions.
Each one comes in an introverted or extroverted version; the introverted ones are 'directed inwards', and generally private, while the extroverted ones are 'directed outwards', and manifest in interactions with the world.

That gives these eight functions, which are often referred to by the two-character shorthand indicated in the dark bar thing:

Each person has a different level of proficiency with each one. Some people find Fe (extroverted feeling) the most natural thing in the world, but struggle with Ti (introverted Thinking). Other people might feel really comfortable when using their Ni (extroverted intuition), but when they have to use their Se (extroverted sensing), they struggle and feel clumsy and strained.

I've mentioned things like "their dominant cognitive function is an introverted one" a few times now, and it's finally time to explain what on Earth that actually means!

Each type is defined by four of the eight cognitive functions, arranged in an order of preference. That order is called the function stack. The function stack always contains two extroverted and two introverted functions, and all four categories - Sensing, iNtuition, Feeling and Thinking - are represented once.

The order of prominence looks like this:

There are two introverted functions and two extroverted ones, and their order follows a pattern. For introverts, the dominant and tertiary are introverted, while the auxiliary and inferior are extroverted (i e i e). This is because their most natural form of thinking is directed inwards; they still have SOME conscious method of taking in and interacting with the external world, but it's not as important or finely-tuned as their inward-facing one. Similarly, extroverts have the opposite pattern (e i e i), because they focus on the external world more naturally than their inner one (though they're still consciously capable of that too).

Many people new to Myers-Briggs - my past self included - wrongly read the four-letter types in a restrictive way. They'd see ISTJ, for example, as an introvert who is good at sensing, thinking, and judging, and... that's it. They can't do feeling, intuition or perceiving at all.

Many of those many people would likely object to something as unrealistic as that, and indeed they should, since that's NOT what the type codes mean!

The four letters merely refer to the order of the cognitive functions. These rules are followed:

The first letter (I or E) determines the direction of the dominant function (the first in the stack).

The fourth letter (J or P) determines the type of the extraverted conscious function. That is, the way in which they interact with the external world, which for extroverts is their dominant, and for introverts is their auxiliary.

The second column (N or S) is called the perceiving column, and the third (T or F) is the judging column. So, if the final letter is a J, the letter from the judging column is used for the extraverted conscious function. The letter from the perceiving column is used if it's a P.

I know that's a lot to really take in all at once, so I'll provide some examples of how it can be actually used!

I'll use this type again, because it's the one that I am:

First of all, you can see that it's Introverted iNtuitive Feeling Judging. That tells you at least something, but understanding the cognitive functions that it describes tells you much more!

Remember, each type has four congitive functions that it operates on. The first two are conscious, and the second two are subconscious, with the fourth in particular arising mostly when stressed. I'll use these four slots to represent the stack:

In case you've forgotten:
The first slot is the dominant.
The second is the auxiliary.
The third is the tertiary.
The fourth is the inferior.

Two of these four functions will be introverted, and two will be extroverted. It's that way for every type! There's a reason for this. One of the conscious functions is used for interacting with the outer world, and the other is used for interacting with the inner world. Both are necessary, since everyone explores both of these worlds consciously! The two subconscious functions add colour to these introverted and extraverted ways of exploration, because nobody's one-dimensional.

The order of the introvertedness or extrovertedness of the functions is easy to work out! They alternate, and the first one is determined by the first letter in the four-letter code. So for an INFJ, the order would be i-e-i-e; their dominant and tertiary are introverted; they're best at exploring their inner world. However, when they do interact with the outside world, they tend to naturally do so using on their auxiliary and inferior functions.
If the type were ENFJ, then the order would be e-i-e-i!

So now for INFJ we have:

The fourth letter - the J in this case - tells us the type of the conscious extroverted function. The way in which they interact with the external world!
J means that the judging column would be used... Remember, that's the third letter, which is this case is an F.
That means that INFJ's extraverted conscious function - its auxiliary - is extraverted feeling (Fe).

That indicates that INFJs tend to be empathetic and sensitive; they're concerned with how people around them feel. They also tend to judge external situations (and people) using subjective feelings and personal values rather than cold, hard facts or logic.

The letter from the four-letter code (INFJ) that we've not used yet - the second one in this case, the N - is used to fill in the remaining conscious slot.
As such, you can see that INFJ's dominant, most important slot is filled by introverted intuition (Ni).

So you can see that INFJs tend to be most at home with fantasy and abstract concepts, which form inside their own minds. They prefer closure, and tend to narrow down possibilities to one 'correct' one, which can lead to 'choosing sides' very clearly, as well as decisiveness.

Ni and Fe together create an idealist sort of mentality. They care deeply about the feelings of themselves and others, and they hold their subjective values very close to their heart, using them - rather than cold facts or logic - to make decisions. They're fond of fantasising and seeing things in abstract terms detached from reality; this tends to make them crave a peaceful, ideal world, and that idealism is what drives many of their actions. Their Ni leads to narrowing down to one 'correct solution', which makes them feel that their ideal way to do things is really the only truly satisfying way for them to be done.

Many, many sources online describe each Myers-Briggs type using paragraphs of text describing how they look as a whole, and while I do think that these can be quite valuable, I'm hoping to show you here that you can know a lot about a type just from seeing its four-letter code. You don't really need a long description, when you can work out the cognitive functions yourself!

Knowing the two conscious functions tells you most of what you'd need to know about that type, or a person who is of that type. INFJs are introverted, sensitive fantasisers, and that really does tell you a lot.

Let's get to the other two functions now, though. Even though they're subconscious and harder to spot in people, they still do affect the person's personality quite a bit.

You can easily work out the inferior (fourth) function because it's the opposite of the dominant. The functions are paired up, you see, so that the other in each pair is the opposite.
The opposite of N (iNtuition) is S (Sensing), and vice versa, for example, because they're both in the Perceiving pair.
Similarly, the opposite of T (Thinking) is F (Feeling), because they make up the Judging pair.
The opposite of introversion is extraversion... so the opposite of Ti would be Fe. The opposite of Ni would be Se. You see?!

As such, we can see here that the inferior is the opposite of Ni, which is extraverted sensing (Se).

Being the inferior function, it doesn't come up much. I know that for me, as an INFJ, my Se mainly manifests as a *dislike* for extraverted sensing things like sport, overindulgence, physical roughness, and aggressiveness. Other INFJs' Se is shown in their carefully maintained (but usually quirky) wardrobes, or overindulgence in food and such when they're upset.

Each stack always contains a member of all four pairs (T, F, N and S), because we're all capable of all kinds of processing. T is missing here, so it's easy to fill in the remaining (tertiary) slot like so:

For INFJ, introverted thinking (Ti) is the internal processor that tries to make sense of and organise their own thoughts. They want their own ideas to make sense, but ultimately it's less important - and consciously thought about - than their Ni or Fe.

Did this make sense?!? I know that I personally struggled to wrap my head around this stuff for a while, but eventually I reached a point where it all just suddenly CLICKED, and made sense! If this is all just whoosing over your head right now, it'll probably just take a bit of time to fully process it! It's really, really useful once you do reach that point though, I think, because the four letter codes start to actually *mean* something, and they succinctly tell you so very much about a person's preferences and mental strengths.

Let's do that again with another, very different type:

That's Extraverted Sensing Thinking Perceiving. The 'opposite' of INFJ!

We start with the four slots:

Extraverted types (those that begin with an E) have their functions in the order e-i-e-i. This is because their dominant way of behaving is through engaging the external world. They do still focus on their inner world, just not as much.

So now for ESTP we have:

The fourth letter - the P in this case - tells us the type of the conscious extroverted function.
P means that the perceiving column would be used... That's the second letter, which is this case is an S.
That means that ESTP's extraverted conscious function - its dominant - is extraverted sensing (Se).

That indicates that ESTPs tend to be very focused on the physical world around them. They tend to have excellent hand-eye coordination, and athletic skill comes easily to them. They're more likely than other types to make their point either through physical contact (hugs, punches) or physical displays (voice raising, big gestures, etc). They enjoy visceral, adrenaline-pumping physical thrills, and they want to make an immediate physical impact in the present moment.

The letter from the four-letter code (ESTP) that we've not used yet - the third one in this case, the T - is used to fill in the remaining conscious slot.
As such, you can see that ESTP's auxiliary slot is filled by introverted thinking (Ti).

The ESTP's inner world tends to be hard, or tough; defined by objective truths, facts, systems and data rather than mushy feelings or emotional values. They have those too, of course, it's just that they're less prominent.

Se and Ti together tend to lead to a fascination with gadgets and machines; physical things with hard, clearly-defined rules. Systems, in the physical world. They also tend to be competitive and more prone to one-upmanship than tender consideration of other people's sensitive feelings.

The inferior is the opposite of Se, which is introverted intuition (Ni).

And the final slot is filled with the letter that's not been used yet:

For ESTP, extroverted feeling (Fe) subconsciously colours their interactions with others. It makes them friendly, even if they don't really think consciously about trying to be. It also means that, despite their auxiliary Ti, the opinions that they actually voice can sometimes come across as half-baked or based entirely on hunches. Possibly.

As you can hopefully see, INFJ and ESTP have the same four functions, just in a different order. It leads to completely different personalities, though; the order really is very important!

Chances are that you might be curious about what the function stack of a specific type is. The examples above show you how to work it out yourself, but you can also use this tool thing to conveniently find out!

All you have to do is enter a four-letter type into the box below, and it'll generate the four cognitive functions associated with that type.

The sixteen Myers-Briggs types can be grouped into four groups of four, called 'temperaments'. The four types in each temperament tend to have similar outlooks on life and ways of interacting with the world.

These are quite distinct from the OTHER four temperaments described on this site, by the way!

I've seen them referred to by different names in various places... "Keirsey Temperaments" - which focus on how each temperament fits into the working world - seem to be one of the most common; it uses the labels Guardians/Artisans/Rationals/Idealists. I've also included alternate names for each temperament that I've seen elsewhere.
They're all just basically synonyms trying to create the same picture, though, and in no way does any of this mean that ONLY SP types can create or ONLY NTs are intelligent and everyone else is a moron. That'd be silly! Instead, the labels are just meant to convey the overall feeling that you might get from briefly meeting someone from one of these categories, or the areas in which they function best.

They are:

Many people take tests to determine their Myers-Briggs type, but they can never really be relied on. The only way to really be sure of your type is to understand the system on a conceptual level, and to do a lot of introspection.

If you've read the rest of the content on this page, then this simple tool might aid you in finding your type!

Essentially, you just have to select the two functions that you think best describe how you interact with the external and your internal worlds. Once you understand those, then you've basically found out your type!

As with all personality test things, it's crucially important that you think in terms of how you usually are, or how other people who know you might think of you, rather than how you feel today or have felt recently.
I feel that iNtuitives have an advantage here, since they're used to seeing things in terms of the big picture, while Sensors tend to rely on real experiences instead... So if you're really struggling to think how you 'usually' are, perhaps that in itself could be a sign that you're an S type?
Though people with conscious Ne (external intuition) struggle to make decisions, because their minds constantly branch out every idea into alternate possibilities and 'what if?'s... Hmm.
So good luck, anyway!!

Which of these best describes the way you interact with the external world?

Which of these best describes the way you interact with your internal world?