My roommate's type

[Gilly]

I've always assumed he was ISTj because he typed as such on a quick socionics test, but I want to explain some of his behavior to see if anyone can give an objective perspective on him.

Here we go:

He's a fairly quiet guy, and doesn't intentionally socialize much. He definitely has social skills, and can hold a decent conversation, but tends to stay in the background when around a more outgoing person like myself.

He's a bit vain; he has a fancy-shmansy haircut, refuses to wear anything that isn't expensive, and tends to think he's the best at whatever he's doing at the moment. He's decidedly paranoid: he insists that I lock the door when I so much as go to the bathroom (which is right across the hall), and thinks that someone is trying to get him kicked out of school.

He's a decent athlete, but refuses to rise above whatever level of skill he naturally has. There is one exception to this: he's on the Hong-Kong international/Olympic ping-pong team, and apparently worked his ass off from age 8 until he came to the US in order to get to the level he's at now.

When it comes to schoolwork, he tends to take the same approach as with athletics. We have the same calculus class, and he absolutely refuses to do the homework because he insists he can learn it on his own (then promptly comes to me after class, asking me to teach him what the teacher was talking about).

We have problems when it comes to our room. I naturally tend to leave things lying around, which he has a problem with. Even when my mess doesn't drift over to his side of the room or affect him, it apparently annoys him, and he's constantly reminding me to "be responsible" and keep my own things neat.

He can be quite diplomatic when he wants to. When he sees a problem in our relationship as roommates, his first instinct is to approach me calmly and reasonably as to what exactly the problem is, and what we should do about it.


So, any guesses? Feel free to ask for any other details about his behavior; I'm quite sure I haven't got it all down here.

[Rocky]

ISTp

[MysticSonic]

Agreed.

[Gilly]

I can see it. He fits the mold: whenever I ask him for ANYTHING, he always tells me that it's not his "responsibility" to provide for me. Most people would just take this as a friendly request, but with my roommate, it's all business.

[Expat]

That would be an indication that you're not ENFp since otherwise your roommate would be your dual.

But I never particularly thought that you were ENFp.

[Gilly]

Yea, the more I interact with REAL ENFps and read descriptions and all that jazz, the more I realize that I'm just not the same kind of person. On the surface we're similar, but there's not that "Holy crap, you're me!" feeling that I get with other ENTps.

[implied]

[Gilly]

You know, I just might do that...

[Creepy-Diana]

.

[Gilly]

It's not that his orderliness annoys me, it's the fact that he tries to impose it on me. It's not the only thing he imposes, either; sometimes I feel like he wants to make me a little copy of himself, and it drives me NUTS.

I do the same kind of thing, though: I see how big I can let my mess get before he just pushes it back over to my side of the room. A little passive-aggressive, but it's funny to observe. Oh well, it'll be over soon.

[Creepy-Diana]

.

[Gilly]

That's great. Wish it'd worked with him.

[Slacker]

Yes he sounds like an ISTp.

I think if you were ENFp you'd want a clean environment but be unable to have it without his help, and you'd therefore be glad he provided oversight. At least that's my reaction to my ISTp husband's efforts in that around here.

[Gilly]

See, I'm more inclined to not give a shit about my environment. In fact, I more or less enjoy having a living space that just feels natural/chaotic; I hate forcing myself to do things.