#p types

Perceivers (xxxP) tend to be characterised by the need to constantly leave the room open for more information and freedom to quickly react to opportunities as they arise. 

This manifests as resistance to structure (adaptability), constant revision of settled matters (indecisiveness), starting many different projects (inspiration and responsiveness), fickleness (low obstacle tolerance), and even moodiness (strong receptivity).

To Judging types, Perceivers can appear as an undisciplined and non-conscientious bunch. To always be unprepared and react in the moment means that this is the only option they ever have, which is in direct opposition to what Judgers believe freedom is: the ability to devise a plan and therefore influence the world according to one’s vision and will.

If all you can do is react to what life throws at you, that’s not freedom.

However, to understand Perceiving types a little better, Lenore Thomson likens them to surfers: 

The goal may be the perfect wave, but you can’t control the wind or the tides or the weather. What’s important is to go with it in a glorious leap of faith, co-creating the experience as it’s unfolding.

What this means is that P types have a lot of faith in their ability to improvise. But what happens when they can’t do it? 

If improvisation doesn’t work, however, the experience is simply ruined. Once you’ve fallen off the board, there’s nothing more to be done. The moment is gone. P types in this situation are crushed and disappointed and feel exposed as inadequate. 

Indeed, when P types find themselves contending with circumstances in which they have neither skills nor experience to count on, they die a thousand deaths, anticipating all manner of awful things that could go wrong.

That is unlike J types, who don’t invest their self-worth in the successful outcome of one moment. 

The receptivity of P types also manifests as being easily influenced by the ideas and views of each new person they come in contact with, or an article or book they read; especially if the P user lacks T or F function development. 

Whether that leads to overhauling their whole wardrobe, reshuffling their social circle, or making a career or major switch, the change will only last insofar as their attention can be sustained. If the resulting change does not produce enough stimulation or desired feedback, it will once again be abandoned for the new shiny thing.

Perhaps the most interesting part is how this tends to translate into mood cycling: “[P]eriods of enthusiasm and receptivity alternating with periods of overload and withdrawal; P types often experience their legitimate need to withdraw as a feeling of disappointment and depression.”

The P types, as such, should come to accept that some degree of consistency is necessary to eventually balance out the moods and learn to utilise Ne or Se function in a more fruitful manner. In other words, instead of always switching tracks, the NP and SP types should learn to ride out the dull and mundane moments, and eventually redirect their energy to optimising or improving that which already exists, as opposed to tearing it down. 

A very high P or J score, for an Introverted type, doesn’t usually indicate balanced Extraverted development. It suggests an attempt to keep the inner self intact by meeting others’ expectations. 

A high P score for an introvert suggests that the type is using Extraverted Perception to shield a deeply personal experience of life against the expectations and judgments of others. It more than likely suggests an inner life that has no directed means of public expression.

A high J score for introverted types usually suggests that Extraverted Judgment is being used defensively--to establish an outer environment that can be taken for granted, thus to serve, analyze, improve, or deconstruct it.