How To Get the INFJ Test Result (3 Reasons Why Faking a Personality (Test) is Wrong)

“How to get the INFJ test result” is something many people are searching for on Google and I am quite shocked.

In this article I will discuss 3 reasons why it’s wrong to fake a personality (test). Read them all to avoid sabotaging yourself!

How Faking a Personality Test To Get the INFJ Test Result is Wrong

1. By Faking a Personality (Test) You are in Self-Denial

Self-denial is what faking a personality test is. You deliberately deny yourself any insight in how your personality works.

You deny who you are as a person.

All that to be able to falsely convince others that you are an INFJ.

Not yourself, because you already know the truth. In a way it’s understandable.

The INFJ’s enigmatic and contradictory nature makes them really stand out on a personality trait level, besides just their sheer rareness based on their prevalence in society.

I can see that this image of the INFJ can be quite alluring.

Together, with the increased attention and adoration the INFJ has gotten over the past few years I would say it is the most popular MBTI personality type on the internet at the moment.

But if it’s that feeling of being special, rare or self-esteem that you’re after, why not find that within yourself? Whatever personality type you are?

You can’t Fake Needs

I mean, you can fake it all you want by telling others that you’re an INFJ and even try to act like one in public.

You might force yourself to be alone all the time like an introvert, but is that truly what you need?

You might force yourself to think only about existential matters, but can you do that without going insane?

You might force yourself to be focussed non-stop on the needs of others, but can you do that without exhausting yourself?

Don’t get me wrong, I do think it’s beneficial for our development to flirt with traits that aren’t integral to our personality.

For instance, the introvert that joins a ToastMasters group to learn how to speak in public or an extravert that plans to read a book on a Friday night once a month to have some alone time.

This is how you expand beyond your current capacities.

But, the big difference here is understanding how your personality works and standing firmly into your personality strengths with one leg on first base, while exploring things outside of your comfort zone (second base) with your other leg.

However, to deny that authentic core personality and to try to do a 180 degree turn by forcing yourself to act like your polar opposite personality doesn’t make any sense.

Because, at the end of the day you can’t fake your own needs that come forth out of your personality type.

Your true needs based on who you are will always be there, just underneath the surface of that facade.

For example, I could be wanting to be a fish. I can become better at holding my breath for longer periods of time while I’m underwater (me as an introvert going to social gatherings).

But, I’ll never be able to breathe underwater on my own (like extraverts do in social situations), because as a human I need to breathe air for oxygen.

Photo by Nate Neelson on Unsplash

Personality is Deeper than MBTI Labels

Often it is forgotten, but at the end of the day the MBTI is just a descriptive tool for understanding the basic tendencies of our personalities.

It is no absolute truth, nor are the results set in stone.

The different types/labels can be helpful, but I think we are treading into dangerous waters when we try to base our deep identity on such shallow labels.

The labels themselves are not what a personality is.

For example, before I knew my personality type could be labeled as INFJ, I was already operating as one in my life.

Matter of fact, if I never had come across MBTI in my entire life, my needs, traits and behavior would still fall into the INFJ category without my awareness.

Your personality is so much deeper than just four letters and a few pages of words can describe.

You might fall into a certain MBTI personality category that is very common, but you still are an unique expression of that personality type and far more.

There’s no-one on this planet that is exactly like you, even if someone would be the same MBTI personality type.

It is all about owning who you are and developing yourself so that you can become a whole, differentiated and self-actualised person.

Again, these MBTI personality types can be helpful in a descriptive way, but don’t let them define you.

Even if you were honestly an INFJ according to MBTI, I would go as far to say that it would also be Self-denial if you would take that label too seriously, because it can never substitute who you are.

Eckhart Tolle said it best with an analogy.

Let’s say you are traveling to the beautiful city of Rome.

A few kilometres before you reach Rome, you see a beautiful sign post saying: Rome 5 km.

Instead of driving to Rome, you now get out of your car to study the sign post from every angle.

You glance at the sign post the whole day. You take pictures of yourself with the sign post.

You have arguments about the sign post with others, when they say it stinks.

You’re completely obsessed now with the sign post, instead of driving just a few more kilometres to visit the real Rome.

Sign posts, just like personality labels show directions or give us information, but they aren’t the things they point towards.

There comes a time that you need to let them go to reach the destination you are truly heading towards: yourself.

2. By Faking a Personality (Test) You Hamper Your Own Growth

Personality tests are tools that are used to gain insight in the different personality traits you possess.

By gaining understanding of who you are, you become more conscious of your strengths & weaknesses, virtues and vices and what are the best ways to apply your unique mixture of traits.

For instance, knowing that you score highly on the trait “Openness” of the Big Five Personality Test, you’ll realize that it would suit your personality much better to pursue a creative career or one in a field where you’ll be dealing with a lot of novel and intellectual ideas (science).

When you discover that you are very much introverted, you might choose to expose yourself more to social situations in which you can train your social skills and expand your extraverted side more to your own future social benefit.

When you honestly answer the questions on a personality test, it can be a genuine snapshot of your personality.

You can use that to your advantage to double down on your natural strengths and mitigate your so called weaknesses.

True Growth = Brutal Honesty

True growth requires brutal honesty.

You’ll need to take a good look at yourself and be absolutely honest about the person you are at that given moment.

You might not like what you see, but that doesn’t mean you can’t change.

Will you be able to become the complete polar opposite of your current personality type if you want to?

Perhaps not, but there is a lot of room for growth.

However, to know in which way you want/need to grow, you’ll need to know where you are and who you are.

Faking a personality test, because you desire to be labeled in a certain way is therefore pure Self-sabotage.

Okay, so after manipulating your test answers, now your Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) result is INFJ, the precious angelic, indigo star child label you hold so dearly.

Now what? Does that provide insight into your true personality?

Can you use that to develop your character? Were all of those rhetorical questions? (In case you’re still confused: yes).

You might be able to pacify the discontentment around who you are in the sub Reddits for a little while with that fake INFJ persona you crafted and want others to worship so much.

But 5 years from now, you’ll still be that same person you are so discontent with more or less.

Instead of closer to the true person you are capable of being and which you would be truly proud of, if you were honest with yourself.

3. By Faking a Personality (Test) You Distort the Image Others have of You

By faking a personality test and portraying to the world that you are a different person than you actually are distorts the image others have of you.

By doing that, you also lower the chance that you’ll get your needs met in the relationships you have.

Think about it. You might actually be a sensing MBTI type who pays a lot of attention to physical reality and what can be experienced through all of the senses (vision, touch, taste, hearing and smell).

As a sensing type you are predominantly focussed on facts and details.

This preference lives inside you, despite you pretending to be an INFJ.

Now, because your friends think you’re an INFJ or an intuitive type (who are known to like abstract theories and symbolism), you find yourself always in existential conversations (spirituality, psychology et cetera.) with them, which you hate.

Perhaps not only because they think you like it, but because they themselves like it as well, as you probably attracted the same personality types as friends, you are pretending to be.

This is only one example of the possible unmet needs.

Photo by Cottonbro on Pexels

The Mask Will Slip Sooner or Later

In the long run those people close to you see through that facade anyway.

By interacting with you personally, they’ll get a good look into what you truly like and dislike.

They’ll see what your true needs are, because one can’t pretend forever. You have certain needs that must be met.

Trying to fool others is like trying to hold a beach ball underwater.

Sooner or later your arm muscles will fatigue and need some rest from all that strain you put on them by holding that beach ball below the water surface.

That’s when the real you shows its face.

It is inevitable. Deep down you already know it is.

Conclusion: The Solution is Self-Honesty

The solution to the problem of pretending to be someone or something you’re not is Self-honesty.

Self-honesty is the doorway into Self-acceptance.

Probably most true INFJs went through a rough time growing up, because their nature was often misunderstood.

INFJs are among those personality types that most likely struggled a lot trying to find a way to fit in somewhere in society.

They most likely started off pretending to be something they’re not, to finally be accepted by their social environment and society at large.

Speaking personally, I was pretty good at taking on roles that I thought others expected from me, by being pleasing, friendly and extremely forgiving.

It even got me acceptance by a lot of the people around me.

The irony however, was that I still didn’t feel accepted, because inside I knew this wasn’t the real me others were accepting, but just some roles I knew how to play.

Inside I knew I wasn’t accepting myself!

You see, taking on a rare personality label like INFJ isn’t going to solve anything.

Only when I started to listen to myself, things started to change for the better.

Perhaps, many INFJs are so alluring, because they’re often forced into radical Self-honesty and Self-acceptance, because their facade becomes unbearable.

Often (mental) illnesses, like burn-out or anxiety put them on a fast track to authenticity.

Perhaps, it is the unapologetic authenticity of the matured INFJ that gives them their charm.

Well, in that case the good news is that you can reach that level too, no matter what personality type you are.

Keep growing, learning and expressing yourself and become a self-actualised person, because aren’t they the rarest of all?

Food For Thought

1. Why would somone fake their personality?

What is your personality type? Take the MBTI test!