Detective Seo Tae-yoon MBTI Personality Type
Personality
What personality type is Detective Seo Tae-yoon? Detective Seo Tae-yoon is an INTJ personality type in MBTI, 1w9 - sp/sx - 153 in Enneagram, RCOAI in Big 5, LSI in Socionics.
I would argue that Seo and Park's characters outline the difference between Te-Fi users and Ti-Fe users. I would say that Seo is most definitely a Te-Fi user based on the way he gathers information. Extroverted Thinking is not about whether new information has consistency within the parameters of what makes sense to it; instead Extroverted Thinking is all about using information in a manner which is objectively traceable, provable, and repeatable in the external environment. Seo seems to do this reflexively, and to serve his needs rather than focus his entire worldview around his need to surround himself in systems. It's because of this, that I think Seo is a secondary Te user (so either an ISTJ or INTJ). But I'll go into further detail on this. As opposed to Park and his partner, Seo usually investigates in a manner that is more proven to objectively work through the use of evidence gathering, and predicting where the killer is going to strike next through the use of provable patterns in his behaviour. While that is *not* a Ni dominant trait (simply seeing patterns is often described as an NI trait when all it means is that you have some brain-cells), it is certainly one for Te. On the other hand, Park (who is a Ti-Fe user) goes off on what his own logical framework deems to make sense to him (which usually leads him off on different leads, with various failures and successes). Park is a far better responder to "in-the-moment" information, and I would argue his use of Ti-Fe gives in a gift in reading people and analyzing what they say in real-time. Seo doesn't display this aptitude for in-the-moment analyzing to the extent that Park does, which leads me to think that Seo is a Te-Fi user. On whether Seo displays dominant Si or Ni is a better question. These are both introverted functions, so this can be a bit difficult; and the movie doesn't go at length to describe Seo's ambitions or inner monologue. I would point to Ni over Si because of Seo's inherent pragmatism. Despite his time in the US (and even Seoul would likely have far better protocol), Seo had no qualms in adapting his approaches to whatever suited his needs the most. While he posed the question and disagreed with Park potentially falsifying a testimony, beating suspects, etc, he never took direct action against it (while an ISTJ would likely have far greater issue because in his experiences this is not likely would have given him results). He also likely went to the US to further develop himself professionally (despite the resentment that would likely bring him from his contemporaries, as he seems to be aware of with his interactions with Park). An ISTJ raised within 1980s South Korea would be far less likely to openly pursue an alternative career path (especially when South Korea was under a strict regime). ISTJs often tend to be more comfort oriented, and do not feel a need to take unnecessary risks. Another way of looking at this is approaching the inferior function. I would argue that Inferior Se grips Seo, in where he'll often suppress his more psychological impulses until the point in where he can't anymore, and he'll abandon self-discipline when his Dominant Ni can no longer restrain it. For instance, in the beginning of the movie, Seo was incredibly professional in his manner. By its end, he was fully capable of beating and killing the suspected murder in spite of the insufficient evidence (which earlier, he would've advocated for) when he has reached his peak of frustration and instability. This impulsive tendency is more characteristic of Ni-Se, because Ni tends to suppress those Se urges in favour of preserving the meaning of their actions. Si-Ne is more an anxiety of underlying alternative possibilities, which isn't really shown with Seo's character. ISTJs are also far more consistent and detail-oriented, even under pressure. Additionally, I would go as far as to argue that to him, his effectiveness as a detective is intrinsic to his worth as a person. This underlying anxiety (and the fact that he failed in protecting one of the students he befriended), probably both contributed to his breakdown at the end of the film. As such, I would argue that Seo is most likely an INTJ. He shows an adept usage of Te, and likely has inferior Se that ties his performance as a detective to his overall worth as a person (if one looks at his pursuit of career development outside of social stigma and tradition).
Biography
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