Is Polly an ENTp?
Ok, I've had a couple actually question this so I'm going to open this up for debate. Personally, I have no doubts I'm an ENTp. I have strengthened some of my other traits over time because I've had to and there others that still need a lot of work.
Some of the things I think that others might see and think hmmm that doesn't seem very ENTpish reaction are influenced by some of the following factors. I think its important because it shows how environment really can influence the way a type behaves:
1. I'm female. We've had this discussion several times so I won't get into the details but society teaches females that they should be more feelers than thinkers and that does have an impact on female thinking behavior.
2. I worked for 8 years in an academic environment. I learned there how to be more aggressive because you have to be to make it there. I don't have a degree but everyone I worked with did pretty much. So I always had to work just a bit harder than everyone else to prove myself. In a University its hard to gain the the respect of some of your colleagues without a degree.
3. When I was a child I was bulllied really bad in school for many years. So whenever I see bullying behavior, I'm sensitive to it and quite often will point it out. I know its probably going to damage my relationship with that person but I'd rather sacrifice that then be an enabler to the behavior.
4. I worked in employment equity for several years and have always volunteered for human rights related stuff. Its an environment that can be very frustrating, just like the area of social work and the health care sector.
You get very little money (if any) to do this HUGE amount of work, you are completely overworked but to stop means you get to personally see the human impact of you not giving 300%. If you are a certain type who feels responsibility for others, to not do something about it makes you feel guilty.
Working in these areas as hard as I have for so many years can put me on the defensive when it comes to these issues when I hear an apathetic remark.
5. I come from a poor and humble background. I was supposed to marry well, not have a good job myself. My goals were really small at first because that's all I was exposed to. The more I am exposed to the more my goals grow. But I am still sometimes amazed at all the opportunities out there. I was raised in a rural area and internet wasn't wide spread then. It wasn't until my early 20s that I got the internet and was like WOW and was exposed to this whole other world.
Basically it took awhile to see that I was just seeing things through the eyes of someone in the lower achelon of a class system.
6. I'm bi-cultural I guess you could say. I'm half native (yeah yeah I know I don't look it...just trust me) and myself and my family has had to put up with a lot of crap because of it. I lived in one racist community for about 7 years and it took its toll on me. Where I don't look native, I was hearing the remarks constantly. Eventually, I dropped out of highschool because of it, and moved to a different town. I had a lot of anger to deal with over stuff like that for quite awhile.
All this stuff created a bit of a shell around me for most of my life. Its only been the last few years that I'm starting to come out of it.
Socionics and MBTI were both tools in this because it helps me understand that parts of me that were so misunderstood by others when I was growing up. I now accept my negative traits a lot better because I value my positive traits more.
I only use the type descriptions as a lose guide to personality traits. There are so many variations within a type I find, and to pinhole someone to a certain behavior might make them think they have no ability to change it if they want.
For me, its been incredibly valuable when dealing with conflict situations and to prevent them from occurring in the first place. There is only one type I seem to lack the talent to deal with in the workplace and that's an ESTp. Their behavior seems so illogical to me sometimes and very hard to predict. Some will even try to compete with me and dominate me when I'm just being me. I often feel some ESTps resent me. Maybe its the whole one-upmanship thing. I do it, even though I don't even realize I'm doing it at the time. To me, its just the back and forth of a conversation. I'm working on it.
Lastly, I always prided myself on being so adaptable to people (including the ESTps...I just let them do whatever they wanted before so they were happy). As I've gotten older though, I realized that same adaptability can make me look wishy washy to some people and taken advantage of by others. So I'm learning to pay more attention to my feelings and wants and be forthcoming with them (I can be a little clumsy about it still though). I'm a lot happier and feel like I'm being more myself. I'm nice and useful enough that people tolerate my faults.
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