How compatible are the INFJ and Enneagram Type 4 patterns of communicating, feeling, and thinking?
Reading time: 5 minutes
Gregory Park, Ph.D.
Author
In this article, you’ll find comparisons of two personality types — INFJs and the Enneagram Type 4s — across four important personality domains: Interpersonal/Communication Style, Emotional Style, Intellectual Style, and Organizational Style.
TraitLab collected data about personality traits from thousands of participants who identified as a particular type from the 16 Personality or Enneagram typology.
For each comparison area below, you’ll see show the average similarities and differences between INFJs and Type 4s. While these comparisons are useful for understanding broad trends across these types, it’s important to remember that all personality types are oversimplifications. For an assessment of your unique personality, you’ll want to use an assessment that goes beyond single personality types.
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Your particular style of communicating and interacting with others can be described fairly well by two dimensions: assertiveness and warmth.
Assertiveness describes your tendency to assert yourself, lead, and influence others in social situations, while warmth describes your tendencies to empathize and put others’ needs ahead of your own.
People with the same personality type often share some similarities in assertiveness and warmth. In the graph below, you can see where most INFJs and most Type 4s fall along both of these dimensions.
First, take a look at where people in each type, on average, fall in this interpersonal space.
INFJs often agree, trust, and cooperate with others. At their best, they are friendly, affectionate, and bring out the warmth and sympathy in others. INFJs may be too agreeable and quick to compromise. At their worst, they may seek approval and agreement too much, and be dependent on the approval of other people.
Type 4s often respect others, conform to expectations, and ask for guidance. At their best, they are loyal and reliable, and encourage others to guide and help. Type 4s may be overly clingy, gullible, and have difficulty expressing anger, even when appropriate. At their worst, they will try to please others too much, put others’ needs ahead of their own, and allow others to take advantage of them.
One aspect that you and many Type 4s have in common in their interpersonal warmth. Both INFJs and Type 4s tend to be on the friendlier side and are attentive to the needs and interests of other people, sometimes at the expense of your own goals.
Likewise, you and most Type 4s both tend to be on the more reserved and passive side in social situations. On one hand, this is a benefit: both of you tend to be reliable partners, ready and willing to help each other when needed. On the other hand, your mutual passivity can stall decisions and action, especially if both of you are waiting for the other to take the lead.
Another characteristic of your personality is your emotional style — your tendencies towards different kinds of moods. There are two dimensions that influence emotional style: arousal and valence.
Arousal describes your relative energy level across different situations. Those with high baseline levels of arousal tend to be generally more alert, active, and engaged, while those with a lower baseline are more reserved, subdued, and inhibited.
Valence describes whether these moods tend to be positive (pleasant) or negative (unpleasant). People with a more positively valenced style are more likely to experience emotions like joy, enthusiasm, satisfaction, and serenity. People with a more negatively valenced style are more likely to experience sadness, frustration, dissatisfaction, and anxiety.
The graph below shows where each type, on average, usually sits in this emotional space.
Most INFJs and Type 4s overlap heavily in their emotional style.
INFJs and Type 4s have a tendency to be quiet and inhibited. Compared to most people, they can easily drift into gloom and melancholy. They see the glass as half-empty and have a more skeptical outlook and a hesitant approach to life. For better or worse, INFJs and Type 4s tend to notice the negatives in most situations. In stressful times, they are more likely to withdraw quietly and retreat inward, rather than share their frustration with others.
Like many INFJs, you and most Type 4s tend to be on the more reserved and quiet side. You both prefer to sit back and observe, and the two of you are usually perfectly happy with lower levels of excitement and stimulation. You understand each other’s need for personal space and solitude, and you are both content to leave each other to do their own thing.
Likewise, INFJs and Type 4s often default to the negative side of the emotional spectrum. While you may not always express them, you are both more likely to experience negative emotions like sadness, worry, frustration, and impatience. It’s rare to find INFJs or Type 4s in a bubbly, cheerful mood. Like most people, they have moments of joy and satisfaction, but these dissipate quickly. They often point out the negatives in most situations and have a more pessimistic outlook.
Your intellectual style describes how you receive, process, and pursue different kinds of information. Differences in intellectual style are captured well by two dimensions: ideas and aesthetics.
Ideas describes your appetite for new information and your interest in complex, challenging material. People high on the ideas dimension have an appreciation for complexity and technical details. People lower on ideas are less interested in learning for learning’s sake, and they prefer to simplify complex topics down to the essential details.
Aesthetics captures your relative interest and sensitivity to aesthetic information and its emotional impact. People higher on the aesthetics dimension usually have strong artistic interests and a deep appreciation for beauty in many forms. Those lower on aesthetics tend to value practical application over artistic merit and usually adhere to more conventional standards of beauty.
In the graph below, you’ll see where INFJs and Type 4s, on average, fall in this intellectual space.
INFJs tend to be deep thinkers — bright, curious, and philosophical. They are highly receptive to new ideas and drawn to complex, abstract concepts. INFJs enjoy taking in large amounts of information and typically have one or more creative outlets.
Type 4s are idealistic, creative dreamers. They tend to be interested in the nuances of emotional and artistic experiences, looking for patterns and meaningful insights. Type 4s are comfortable with ambiguity and abstract concepts, focusing on the big picture rather than technical details. They often practice some form of creative expression and are likely to hold a few unconventional, eccentric beliefs.
As with many INFJs, you tend to have a stronger need for information and complexity than most Type 4s. You are much more likely to become enamored with a fascinating new idea and dive head first into learning everything you can about it while your Type 4 counterparts are focused on the practical matter in front of them. You may find yourself pulling the conversation to a more theoretical level when you’re together, while your Type 4 partner resists and keeps things down-to-earth.
Likewise, both INFJs and Type 4s share a deep appreciation for beauty in the natural and artistic world. Both of you can easily become absorbed in aesthetic experiences and overcome with a sense of awe and wonder. The two of you can find common ground in your love of creative expression and unconventional approaches to life’s challenges.
Your organizational style describes your habits around organization and planning. Your organizational style influences how you structure your time and physical space. Differences in organizational style fall along two dimensions: industriousness and orderliness.
Industriousness describes your persistence, need for achievement, and intensity of focus. People higher on industriousness usually organize their behavior around a few important long-term goals. People lower on industriousness are usually more focused on the present and will more easily change their focus when new opportunities appear.
Orderliness describes your need for regularity, order, and structure in your environment. People higher on orderliness prefer tidy, organized physical spaces, detailed schedules, and reliable routines. People lower on orderliness can tolerate more disorganization and prefer a more spontaneous, unstructured approach.
The graph below shows the average position of INFJs and Type 4s along these dimensions of organizational style.
INFJs are usually systematic and highly organized. They like setting big, long-term goals and then creating detailed plans to accomplish them. INFJs are generally good at ignoring distractions and making steady progress through consistent routines and habits.
Type 4s thrive in unstructured environments with fewer constraints and more room for improvisation and serendipity. They generally focus on enjoying the present rather than preparing for the future. Type 4s highly value spontaneity and the flexibility to change their mind, and they resist setting hard deadlines or rigid expectations.
As with most INFJs, you and many Type 4s can clash over your need to set goals and use time efficiently. While you have an easier time getting down to work and staying focused, your Type 4 counterpart may be more easily distracted and unpredictable. Working consistently with a narrow focus often comes naturally to many INFJs like you, but you may find that Type 4s benefit from additional structure to keep them on track. While you enjoy planning and tend to mind the future, your Type 4 counterpart helps you enjoy the present, injecting some much-needed spontaneity into your schedule.
A second difference between INFJs and Type 4s is in their relative need for order, structure, and regularity. While you and most INFJs thrive on well-defined systems and consistent organization, your Type 4 counterpart often feels overly constrained and bogged down by too much structure. They are more comfortable with chaos and are happy to take life as it comes, whereas you try to create order, routine, and predictability. Your differences in tidiness, punctuality, and compliance with social expectations may occasionally create conflict, too.
Most people have complex personalities, and they don’t fit perfectly into a single personality type.
With TraitLab’s comprehensive analyses of your traits, strengths, and interests, you can see how your personality compares to every type from the Enneagram and 16 Personality typologies. Start building your personality profile by creating a free account today.
For comparisons between INFJs and other Enneagram types, visit any of the type pairings below:
For comparisons between Type 4s and other types from the 16 Personality typology, visit any of the pairings below:
