6 Things INFJ Says & What They Really Mean

Disclaimer: The MBTI is a personality inventory designed to roughly identify a person’s personality type, split into 16 categories. As such, it may contain some slight inaccuracies, so take it as a list of rough tendencies rather than strict classifications. This article’s primary intention is for providing entertainment and light-hearted content backed up by properly-vetted professional sources. With that said, let’s begin!

Have you ever taken the MBTI personality test? Did you ever get the result INFJ? 

The INFJ is the rarest MBTI personality type out there, making up less than 1% of the population. (Ward, 2019) Being the rarest type, they could often times be perceived as mysterious and private to those who they aren’t well acquainted to.

Being both an introvert and an empathic personality type, INFJs also have tendencies to watch their language to avoid hurting someone. But even if an INFJ does that, there are ways for other types, and INFJs themselves, to understand the fallback phrases that an INFJ may find themselves using.

Whether you are an INFJ or know someone who is one, you could take something from this article. Here are 6 things an INFJ says, and what they really mean.

1) It’s been a while. How are you?

Do you like catching up with your friends and knowing what they’re up to?

A dry, generic response like “I’m fine.” would leave an INFJ coming up with an equally vapid response. An INFJ is at home diving into deep topics that touches people’s soul or discussing something fun and evocative. Talking about surface-level pleasantries is not the INFJ’s intention when they ask “How are you?”; they ask that to get to know what’s in your mind and probe to find someone who is interesting and worth talking to.

2) Don’t worry about it / It’s not important.

Have you ever thrown this phrase around, even when your emotions don’t feel right as you do?

An INFJ is a true introvert: they are conflict-adverse and have a low energy threshold. If they see that communicating a particular problem leads to nowhere, they may choose to dismiss it altogether. Often times, an INFJ could even feel uncomfortable disclosing too much information about a sensitive topic, especially to people they don’t know that well. This would make them feel compelled to retract the topic from the conversation by using either of the phrases above.

3) Can we talk about it later?

Have you ever been told to expect a follow-up from a friend, only for it to never happen?

While INFJs love social connection, they can also be easily overwhelmed by them. If they find themselves stuck in a difficult conversation, they could get drained fast and wish to end the chat right then and there. When the INFJ says the phrase above, what they mean is they wish to postpone the conversation to a later time when they are more recharged and continue it from there. Or, they may not find the conversation worth pursuing but don’t want to say it outright. So in that scenario, they use that phrase above in hopes that the topic would never be brought up again.

4) But I don’t know anyone.

Do you like parties with many unfamiliar faces and new acquaintances?

When an INFJ says this phrase, they actually mean to show their discomfort and apprehension in attending an unfamiliar social gathering. While introverted thinkers would bluntly reveal their apprehension to their friends (i.g. I don’t want to go.), an INFJ is generally more conflict-adverse and open-minded: they cling to the hope that there would be great people to meet there, while also dreading the feeling of experiencing something new, potentially draining, and uncertain.

5) Sorry, I missed your call. Can you text?

Have you ever received an unknown call? Do you look forward to answering it?

Let’s face it: you may have heard of phone call scams running amok with deceptive sales people on the other side of the line prompting you to buy something, and no one wants that, especially not the INFJ. Chances are, an INFJ probably saw their phone ringing but decided not to pick up. This could be caused by being too busy, anxiety, or plainly disinterested. If you’re friends with an INFJ, many of them would vastly prefer you text them beforehand.

6) Sorry, I didn’t quite catch that.

Are you a prolific daydreamer?

The INFJ mind is powerful, creative, and inventive – and often times their minds could pull them away from reality. They could be lost in thought for long stretches of time, rarely feeling bored. However, they may zone out even if another person is talking to them, which is rarely ever well-received. And as they are are brought back to reality, they say something like that phrase above, essentially telling that: “I’m sorry for ignoring you, but if you could repeat what you said it would be much appreciated.”

Closing Thoughts

Do you catch yourself saying the same things above? 

Whether you are an INFJ, or you know someone who shares that personality type, you are much better off learning more about their common phrases. We hope you have learned about the things INFJ say and what they mean.

That’s all for now Psych2Goers!

References 

• Ward, Deborah.10 March 2019. Top Ten Reasons why INFJs are Walking Paradoxes. Truity Retrieved at https://www.truity.com/blog/top-ten-reasons-why-infjs-are-walking-paradoxes
• Garrison, Cianna. 27, Oct 2020. 8 Things INFJs Say, And What They Really Mean. Truity. https://www.truity.com/blog/8-things-infjs-say-and-what-they-really-mean