MBTI/The Trio/Thinking&eeling

[blpurdom]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at y..., "bbennett320178" <bbennett at j...> wrote:
> Barb wrote:
> <You make an excellent point. I think folks were labeling Harry an 
> I and Hermione an E (while most people appropriately labeled Ron an
> E). Based on this approach, however, one has to call Harry an E 
> and Hermione an I. He definitely feels wearied by solitude (he had 
> to withstand years of it in his cupboard, didn't he.>
> 
> True, but Harry  also seems very introspective. Being introverted 
> doesn't mean you can't bear the company of others, simply that you 
> need time for yourself more so than Extraverts, that you prefer 
> smaller groups, and that your focus is more internal than 
> external. Harry does want and need time with his friends, but he 
> doesn't shy away from spending time "in his head". In the MB class 
> I took, the instructor said "If you don't know what an Introvert 
> is thinking, you haven't asked, and if you don't know what an 
> Extravert is thinking, you haven't been listening." I see Harry as 
> an Introvert, but both Hermione and Ron as Extraverts (Hermione 
> definitely has more I tendencies than Ron, I think).  Both Ron and 
> Hermione are more outspoken than Harry, and both are usually eager 
> to share what's on their minds. 

I believe Harry is what is called a "learned I" but really an "E" at 
heart.  There is a version of the MB test by Kersey which takes 
preferences into account, whereas MB is mostly about the way you 
actually behave, which is often constrained by one's circumstances 
(how you respond to others is determined by who those others are and 
how you expect them to respond to you--Harry's responses to the 
Dursleys and to the rest of the world are different).  Harry has 
learned to be an "I" during his early life and had little choice 
about it.  Plus, just because a person is an "E" doesn't mean he 
never examines his life.  The "I" means the person gets energized 
from being alone and prefers that; the "E" means the person gets 
energized from being with others and prefers that.  Harry prefers 
being with others, and whenever he is isolated by circumstance 
(living with the Dursleys, having the whole school turn on him in 
CoS) he is very depressed and feels uneasy.

Earlier, I said:
> <Hermione, on the other hand, is happy to spend hours in the 
> library, even alone. 

Hermione is the flip side of Harry.  She's a learned "E," but an "I" 
at heart.  One gets the impression she was told to get out there and 
socialize and not keep her nose in a book all of the time.  She 
forces it.  I think that's why she was so awful at it in the first 
book.  Do the boys take to her right away?  No; she intrudes upon 
them to look for Neville's toad (more an issue of being in charge 
than being extroverted) and then insults Ron and just in general 
comes off as a person they don't want to be around.  She speaks like 
she's reading from a book a lot, and even in a room full of people 
socializing, she's usually in the corner reading.  Classic, 
classic "I" who's been told to pretend to be "E" sometimes, but much 
of the time she doesn't even try. 

> She gathers information. She's a huge S, whereas the boys are both 
> Ns; Ron's inadvertant correct predictions (the ones that make 
> people persist in saying he might be a seer) are an example of 
> this, whereas Harry's sometimes lucky guesses also fall into this 
> category>
> 
> I thought of Harry as an N originally, but the more I read on 
> personality typing, the more I'm pretty convinced he's an S. A 
> strong aspect of NTs are their knowledge seeking desires and their 
> love of playing with theories and ideas; Harry seems to be much 
> more of a "here and now" kind of guy. SPs, on the other hand, are 
> Artisans - most of our athletes, actors, and musicians are SPs. 
> Harry's talent with Quidditch is a tip off, I think. I see 
> Hermione as huge S as well!

Again, I think it's a difference between practice and preference.  I 
think Harry's learning to do more information gathering, but his 
preference is to be able to do things quickly and effortlessly, like 
when he flew a broom for the first time.  It still makes him an N, 
IMO.

--Barb