INFJ Cognitive Functions: Mental Characteristics of the Rarest Personality Type
Although every individual is unique, there are certain personality traits and characteristics they can share or set them apart. Often, these traits dictate how someone perceives the world and reacts in various situations. One source that demonstrates this is the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator, an introspective self-report questionnaire that groups individuals into one of 16 personalities that fall into one of 4 personality types.
INFJ is one of the “Diplomat“ personalities, comprised of the “Introverted,” “Intuitive,” “Feeling,“ and “Judging“ personality traits. This is deemed the rarest personality in existence. Their cognitive functions include introverted intuition, extraverted feeling, introverted thinking, and extraverted sensing.
Read on to learn more about INFJ functions and what it means to have this personality. You‘ll also learn about some of these individuals’ best careers and hobbies and some famous INFJs you might know.
What is an INFJ?
An INFJ, known as the “Protector” personality, is one of four Diplomat personality types deemed the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Test’s rarest character. These are complicated individuals that might seem inherently contradictory. Still, an INFJ is incredibly insightful and people-oriented, highly driven, and guided by deep personal values.
To fully understand an INFJ, we‘ll need to detail their personality type as a Diplomat and what traits and characteristics make them unique.
Understanding the “Diplomat“ Personality Type
It can be challenging, to sum up a personality type briefly. Still, since this article is focused on the functions of INFJs, not every detail of their personality, we‘ll do our best to cover the essentials before moving on.
The Diplomat personality type is one of four possible personality types and consists of the following four personalities:
As you can see by the lettering within each personality type, they all share two personality scale styles, “N“ and “F.“
The N stands for “Intuitive,” which indicates that the personality prefers to imagine the potential and past and future events and leave room for interpretation rather than a straightforward approach. The “F“ stand for “Feeling,“ which means the personality ultimately values emotions over rationality.
As demonstrated by these two scales, Diplomats are highly motivated and focused on emotion, particularly the feelings of others. They prioritize kindness, generosity and are exceptionally compassionate and empathetic with others. This drives them to endeavor to understand themselves and those around them, predominantly to lead positive lives and sway others to do the same.
Diplomats prefer cooperating and pleasing those around them than competing for pride or status. They also profoundly believe in humanistic ideals (e.g., altruism, compassion, and understanding), supplemented with a substantial value of justice. Diplomats detest the mistreatment of others and use these ideas to better the world with the expectation others will do the same.
With such strong views, some Diplomats can become self-righteous or single-minded, particularly since they often feel led by a higher purpose to “serve the greater good.“
Ultimately, Diplomats trust individuals who prefer principles over practicality and strongly value authenticity and connection with others. They strive to create meaningful bonds and rarely enjoy being alone. This fear of loneliness pushes them to strive to fit in and belong, even though it conflicts with their desire to be authentic.
Diplomats are highly optimistic and choose to focus on the beauty in the world, which is why they go to such extensive lengths to protect and enhance it whenever they can. This mentality can also be damaging as it leaves many diplomats feeling unfulfilled as they often set unachievable high standards for themselves.
Since these goals are so lofty, many Diplomats have difficulty getting started on things since they are prone to overthinking and inhibiting themselves by comparing themselves to others. However, Diplomats are highly intuitive individuals and can succeed by following their gut feeling in situations that steer them the right way.
Qualities and Characteristics of an INFJ
Now that we‘ve discussed the overarching personality type of an INFJ for a brief look into what they may or may not value, we can detail what sets an INFJ apart from the three other personalities within the Diplomat type. Describing these characteristics and qualities is essential before moving on to the more advanced topic of INFJ functions.
INFJ as The Protector
Known as the Protector personality and revered as the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator’s rarest personality, the INFJ is a fascinating personality predominantly driven by being deeply thoughtful and imaginative as much as their personal values and humanistic ideologies.
The traits that make up the INFJ personality are Introversion, Intuition, Feeling, and Judgment. Although these individuals value others’ well-being and fair treatment, they often need time to relax and rejuvenate.
Innovative and Empathetic
As already demonstrated in the Diplomat type, INFJs are highly intuitive. They can often make predictions or conclusions about an individual based on observation and their attuned sense of emotion through empathy and compassion. As a result of their introverted but caring personality, INFJs are often very calm and gentle, and yet, they are highly steadfast when it comes to their values.
Ambitious Goals Driven by Humanism
One of the fascinating elements of the INFJ personality is that they are incredibly optimistic people with grandiose dreams to improve the world. Still, they don‘t dwell on them as mere dreams. On the contrary, they make significant strides to make them a reality and ensure their actions make a difference that will last time.
The greatest fulfillment an INFJ can find is changing a person‘s life for the better. Although they are introverted and typically calm individuals, INFJs form powerful bonds with people and prioritize their well-being often over their own. In their pursuit of assisting others, these individuals often forget to care for themselves.
Luckily, because they push themselves to achieve their goals of helping others and eliminating injustice, INFJs are incredibly optimistic and typically selfless individuals who are pleased with their results. However, they can also feel like their work is never done.
What are the Functions of an INFJ?
Cognitive functions have a profound effect on the decision–making process and how individuals choose to live their lives. Each personality type has its procedures. For an INFJ, the relevant parts are Introverted Intuition, Extraverted Feeling, Introverted Thinking, and Extraverted Sensing.
What does this mean? In addition to their unique personality type and traits, each personality has cognitive functions that they rely on more than others. These functions are the basis of nature and what makes it unique. We will detail each cognitive function separately to demonstrate how they are essential to the INFJ personality and attribute to its overall uniqueness.
We will also briefly discuss the shadow functions of INFJs, the polar opposite cognitive functions of the primary four listed above. This will help demonstrate how the primary functions affect INFJ instead of how they could behave if they relied on their shadow functions instead.
Introverted Intuition
The first cognitive function that INFJs tend to express is introverted intuition. We‘ve already discussed how INFJs demonstrate both of these traits individually, but as a cognitive function, the individual tends to be highly focused on internal insights. In the case of INFJs, this is their primary cognitive function that strongly influences how they conduct their lives and make decisions.
They accomplish this by being single-minded in their focus to make conclusions. Rather than looking at the big picture, they will insightfully connect events individually. This differs from extroverted intuition (prominent in ENFPs and ENTPs) because introverted intuition is the function of using intuition to make observations and conclusions. In contrast, extroverted intuition uses intuition more subconsciously.
After they have completed this process, their insightful conclusion is typically held very close to them, and they will stick to it passionately. This differs from their counterpart; someone with extroverted intuition will see all the alternatives of a situation and change their mind with new information, rendering them more open-minded, while individuals with introverted intuition, like INFJs, are more prone to stubbornness.
However, introverted intuition allows individuals to come to a clear conclusion they hold vehemently. In contrast, the changeable nature of extraverted intuition often leads individuals to constantly change their minds and never settle on a firm decision.
Extraverted Feeling
INFJs can attribute their strong empathy and concern to others’ cognitive function of extraverted feeling. This means the individual uses intuition to help them ascertain how others feel. As a result, they are highly aware and sensitive to others’ emotions to such a degree that they are often neglectful of their own emotions.
While they often push their emotions aside, extraverted feeling in INFJ causes them to go to extreme lengths to please people and maintain harmony in a situation, even if it is against their best interests. They tend to struggle with saying “no” to people due to their strong desire to belong in addition to their intuition and extraverted feeling, making them empathetic to others’ emotions.
INFJs often fear disappointing or emotionally damaging others, so they strive to keep the peace in most situations unless their substantial value, such as humanism, is questioned.
As a result of being so attuned to other people’s emotions, INFJs with extraverted feelings tend to struggle with their own emotions. They are either incapable of pinpointing how they feel or prefer to stay out of the emotional spotlight and insist that focusing on their feelings makes them selfish.
These individuals tend to be such people–pleasers that they will ask what others think or feel about a situation rather than outright stating their thoughts or emotions. As a result, they are prone to indecision and often alter their thoughts or feelings to conform to those around them.
Introverted Thinking
INFJs express introverted thinking in their decision–making based on ideas and theories they have discovered or concluded through personal insights rather than external influences. Comparatively, someone driven by extraverted thinking makes decisions based on objective facts and logic they learned from the outside world rather than internal revelations.
Introverted thinking plays a significant hand in the decision–making of an INFJ and their introverted intuition. Others’ emotions might drive these individuals, but when this is not a factor, they turn to themselves and their insights for guidance.
This differs from an extroverted thinker who will make decisions based on the situation’s pros and cons, not others’ emotions. In a social setting, INFJ will be more driven by their Extraverted Feeling than their Introverted Thinking. Still, when alone, they will rely on their intuition over their emotions unless they are in high–stakes and overly emotional situations.
Extraverted Sensing
The final cognitive function of the INFJ is extraverted sensing, sometimes referred to as the “inferior“ cognitive function for these people because it is less developed and essentially performed unconsciously. This function impacts an INFJ‘s overall personality to a lesser degree than the previous three functions, but it is one of their functions nonetheless.
Extraverted sensing allows INFJs to be aware of their surroundings. It is strongly driven by the five senses instead of introverted sensing, which focuses on bodily sensations (ex., pain, hunger, muscle tension). This cognitive function is why most INFJs prefer to live in the present rather than reflect on the past or idly dream about the future.
Although they certainly use the past when they use their intuition to make decisions based on tried-and-true methods, they don‘t spend their time reflecting on past events. Conversely, INFJs are highly creative and have profound dreams, but they use them to make fundamental changes in the present rather than pointlessly envisioning their fulfillment.
One way extraverted sensing affects the everyday life of an INFJ is that the drive to live in the moment often leads them to partake in physical activities for hobbies, particularly outdoors and in nature.
Best Hobbies for an INFJ
Now that we‘ve detailed what an INFJ is in terms of personality type, traits, and functions, let‘s discuss how these individuals live their everyday lives. One of the best ways to do this is to list the most prevalent hobbies of INFJs. Here are the top 12 hobbies of an INFJ that bring them daily joy and fulfillment.
Any form of artistic expression
- Drawing
- Painting
- Photography
- Digital art
- Design
- Crafting
- Writing
- Journaling
- Reading
Outdoor activities
- Gardening
- Walks in the park or on the beach
- Hiking
- Outdoor sports
Musical exploration
- Learning a new instrument
- Practicing a known instrument
- Creating new music
- Listening to music
- Singing
Games
- Board games
- Video games/online gaming
- RPG (Role-playing games, e.g., Dungeons and Dragons)
Cooking
- Baking
- Home cooking
- Gourmet cooking
Other promising pastimes for INFJs include research, deep conversation, dancing, volunteer work, yoga and meditation, and cultural events.
Who Are Some Famous INFJ People?
INFP might be the rarest personality, but some highly memorable names in the 1-3% can claim this personality as their own. One could argue this is partially due to these individuals having grandiose humanistic goals that they are highly motivated to achieve.
Here are some of history’s most famous and recognizable individuals who are proven or suspected INFPs. After reading about the characteristics of this personality, most probably won‘t come as much of a surprise, while others might shock you.
- Martin Luther King Jr.- African American Baptist minister, activist, spokesperson, and leader in the Civil Rights Movement (also speculated ENFJ)
- Nelson Mandela– Former President of South Africa, anti-apartheid revolutionary
- Mother Teresa– Albanian-Indian Roman Catholic nun, saint, and missionary (also speculated ISFJ)
- Marie Kondo-Japanese consultant, show host, author
- Lady Gaga– American singer-songwriter
- Morgan Freeman– American actor
- Oprah Winfrey– American show host and actress
- Shirley Temple– American actress and singer
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe– German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist
- Aristophanes– comic playwright of ancient Athens
- Martin Van Buren– 8th President of the United States of America
- Nicole Kidman-American-Australian actress
Best Careers for an INFJ
The previous list identifying some of the most famous INFJs might give away some of the following list’s content. You‘ll also notice a great deal of overlap between these careers and the best hobbies of an INFJ. Those of you rare few INFJ individuals unsure of what career path is best for you, here is a list of the top 10 careers suited to your personality.
| Career | How it suits INFJs | Top INFJ jobs in this career |
| Counselor and Social Worker | This career path is particularly suitable for INFJs because they require a significant amount of compassion and empathy, which these individuals are prone to have, in addition to profound intuition. Counseling and social work can be performed in some of the harshest settings with the most traumatized and struggling individuals. INTJs find significant satisfaction in changing people’s lives for the better, and there are few careers where this is as impactful as counseling and social work. |
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| Psychologist | Like counseling and social work, INTJs typically find success and fulfillment in psychology. These individuals are good listeners and are often interested in human behavior as much as the emotions of others impact them. Their empathy allows them to create strong, trusting bonds with their clients and is supported by their intuition and insight that will enable them to make quality observations to help others improve. |
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| Scientist | If they are put into the proper setting and field for science, this career path is fantastic for many INFJs. These individuals typically prefer sciences that pertain to the natural world, but their love for reading and research lends itself well to this career. Scientists are also often placed in peaceful, collaborative work settings, which INFJs prefer over bustling, competitive environments. |
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| Health Care | A career in health care allows INFJs to find fulfillment in helping others while also being able to use their intuition and vast intelligence to support their employment and decisions. A wide range of jobs within health care would suit an INFJ since they essentially revolve around helping others improve their quality of life. Some of these careers can also be pretty heavy in the sciences so that the INFJ can explore the world of research and literature. |
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| Human Resources | Apart from the common traits of empathy and intuition mentioned in INFJs, these individuals will often find their way toward the human resources department, where they can demonstrate their intelligence and organizational skills. Many human resources positions require a great deal of planning and management that INFJs enjoy, particularly in a manner that benefits others. |
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| Language | Moving away from some of the more science-related careers, many INFJs enjoy language-related jobs, particularly those that allow expression. INFJs are highly creative and innovative individuals, and although they are not often in tune with their own emotions, they enjoy presentation through language as an alternative.
These careers also lend themselves well to INFJs because they prefer to live in the moment and have the ability to concentrate and laborious creative tasks, such as writing. At the same time, other personalities choose to ponder their ideas but struggle to put them down on paper. These careers also provide environments where INFJs can be introverted and alone or work in a quiet space. |
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| Arts | In addition to literary expression, INFJs enjoy artistic expression in many designer careers. They particularly want creative jobs that involve different forms of media and are used to tailor a specific goal to an audience’s preferences to please them and yield results. INFJ individuals also have a strong love for games, making them the perfect individual to combine their passion for art and attention to detail in game design careers. |
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| Professor/Teacher | Along with their love for improving the lives of others, INFJs also love using their intellect and skills to make topics more understandable to others for quality communication. Many enjoy a teacher or professor’s career because it provides the sense of fulfillment that they are making a difference while combining their love for research, deep conversation, and human connection. |
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| Non-Profit or Advocacy | When glancing at the list of famous INFJs, you might notice many set aside their personal lives in pursuit of a higher cause, like civil rights or other humanitarian issues. It is easy for an INFJ to get lost in a reason they feel strongly about, remarkably if a human’s rights and quality of life are being inhibited unjustly. |
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| Business, Law, and Government | The intense desire for justice and humanism shines for INFJs who choose the path of business and law. Rather than observe the world’s injustice and ponder its effect, an INFJ will enter careers on this path to attempt to change these issues at their core actively. Many will also choose a career as a lawyer or attorney to protect an individual’s justice and change or protect one life at a time. |
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Final Thoughts
INFJs are scarce but highly influential members of society. These individuals are driven by selfless goals that aim to help individuals or communities rather than pursuing self-centered careers that thrive on competition and pride. Their primary cognitive functions render them highly intuitive and driven by the emotion of others. Therefore, they are some of the most compassionate and influential people you will ever meet.
