I believe you have to have enough experience with people in many situations to really understand your type and yourself, and others, and consequently figure out what orientation is development.
For secluded people or introverts, this is more difficult because there is less experience, less things to test against, so actually being able to compare things takes time.
I wrote a thread called "Settling in to your type" several months ago, and it was related to this. I am certain I am LII at this point, and a lot of my questioning was seeing how far I could push the constraints of the type. Really, any type can do or be anything, it is more related to how you are using the functions within the structure of the type you have.
Quote:
So, in a nutshell, when would you say a person's psychological type manifests itself most definitively?
You are always growing and learning, always taking in more information and refining how you use the tools of your psyche.
It can flash when they are their weakest, and it can be built upon when they sincerely look for who they are and who they want to become. Type is more a structure than something that dictates how someone actually acts. It is more of a basis for understanding how decisions are made, rather than the actual making of decisions and the actual actions taken.