Nostalgic MBTI Personality Type
Personality
What personality type is Nostalgic? Nostalgic is an INFP personality type in MBTI, 6w5 - so/sp - in Enneagram, RCOAN in Big 5, IEI in Socionics.
there is an actual explanation as to why INFPs are more nostalgic than ISFJs, and that has to do with some old si stereotypes that we need to unlearn. (before i proceed, do check out the comment by @[manipulate mansplain malewife] below! it basically says everything i'm about to say, but simpler. i'm just going to expound on that point) first of all, si as a whole is NOT equated to nostalgia; it isn't simply about being past-oriented or dwelling on memories (or it can't be reduced to just that—a cognitive function obviously goes waaay deeper than that). si is a data-gathering (perceiving) function which deals with personal, internal impressions drawn from sensory data. si perceives how we label sensory experiences, as well as the things we subjectively associate those experiences with. si handles personal experience—knowing how things are, how things work, which things go together, etc., based on what you've personally observed. si is subjective because the conclusions or impressions we draw from experience are subjective. when i mix ammonia and bleach (and face the consequences), i personally find out that it's dangerous to do so; i would not have known this before doing it, since i'd assume that mixing colorful liquids would be harmless (maybe based on some other previous experience). that is how si *normally* works. nothing about nostalgia, sentimentality, or having razor-sharp memory. especially in higher si users (xSxJ), the focus of si is less on the "subjective" and more on the "personal" aspect of the function. xSxJ's pair si with an objective (extroverted) judging function (te or fe), hence si is used to produce objective, not subjective judgements. in other words, the "subjective" nature of si is realized not in actual subjectivity, but rather in the "personal" nature of si's experience. (sidenote: this is why unhealthy si users *can* become closed-minded and dogmatic, since they merge si with their judging function and assume their *personal* experience to be objectively true. basically, they actually don't acknowledge their subjectivity, which is not a very "nostalgia" thing to do. nostalgia is literally about wanting something different from the current, objective reality) so how come tertiary si is responsible for producing such heavy nostalgia in INFPs (and to a lesser extent, INTPs)? yes, si is indeed responsible for it—that we all agree on. but it is not purely on account of si itself, but rather si's position as the INFP's tert function behind fi and ne. nostalgia is defined as "a sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations." nostalgia is a *personal* feeling, particularly a feeling of longing. let that sink in for a while. which function is all about personal feelings? that's right, fi plays just as large a role in creating the feeling of nostalgia as si does. si provides the subjective personal associations, but fi provides the actual *content* of those associations (i.e. the personal, positive emotions connected with those experiences). in that way, nostalgia is evidently fi-si, and indeed INFPs are known to become nostalgic or past-oriented when in a fi-si loop. but lemme go one step further, and show why nostalgia is also connected to ne (hence INFP fi+ne+si = ultimate nostalgia machine). ENFPs can also be very nostalgic and sentimental people (like me!), despite having si as their INFERIOR function (and i'm sure of that). how so? back to the definition, nostalgia is a "longing" for something. longing implies that what you desire is not there, i.e. not currently existing. hence, nostalgia is also a *possibility*—it asks the question of "what if things were better, instead of how they are right now?", connects "now" with some point in the past, and concludes that "things were indeed better at that point, so let's dream of the past and imagine what isn't now." actually, the moment you take away "past" from nostalgia, it becomes shockingly similar to how ne operates—connections, possibilities, "what-ifs," imagination, all that stuff. and it doesn't even need to be that way, because one could easily argue that nostalgia is also future-oriented because it idealizes "what could be" based on "what once was" (both in contrast with "what is happening right now"). besides, ne isn't even inherently future-oriented, for the exact same reason. it simply considers ideas for the present/future, some of which may have been inspired from the past. tl;dr - si: nostalgia focuses on personal, subjective associations of experiences fi: nostalgia is a deep, personal feeling of longing; it longs for a certain feeling ne: nostalgia considers possibilities connected to the past ("what if things were this way") fi+ne: nostalgia imagines idealized scenarios based on personally-valued things i rest my case 😔🤚
Biography
Nostalgia is the feeling of pleasure and also slight sadness when you think about things that happened in the past.
