Are INFJs Psychic? Examining Introverted Intuition in INFJs

One of the stereotypes about the INFJ personality type is that they have a sixth sense-like ability to predict what will happen in the future. Many INFJs perpetuate this stereotypes with claims that they feel as though they have psychic powers. But are INFJs psychic?

While INFJs do experience strong intuitive insights, it’s not the same sort of psychic ability that’s going to allow you to see the future in a crystal ball or make a killing at the race track. In this article, I’m going to discuss what Introverted Intuition (Ni) looks like in INFJs and why it’s often confused with a sort of psychic ability.

Jung’s Description of Introverted Intuition

INFJs psychic “powers” are actually their dominant function, Ni, at work. According to Carl Jung in Psychological Types :

“Since the unconscious is not just something that lies there, like a psychic caput mortuum, but is something that coexists and experiences inner transformations which are inherently related to general events, introverted intuition, through its perception of inner processes, gives certain data which may possess supreme importance for the comprehension of general occurrences: it can even foresee new possibilities in more or less clear outline, as well as the event which later actually transpires.”

INFJs often have strong hunches based on unconscious reasoning, especially when it comes to other people. These “aha” moments are the result of the INFJ unconsciously detecting patterns and connecting the dots to form a conclusion, which is often (but not always) accurate. Since the perception process is unconscious, the conclusion seems to come out of nowhere, even to the INFJ. Therefore, INFJs have trouble explaining how they formed the conclusion. When probed by others to explain their insight, the INFJ often responds that they “just knew.”

Introverted Intuition Compared to Introverted Sensing

Introverted Sensing (Si) is the 8th and last function in the INFJs function stack. This makes them extremely different from ISFJs and ISTJs, who lead with Si. Ni and Si are both introverted perceiving functions. This means that they explain how we access information internally. According to Jung, both functions are subjective and unconscious. The difference is that Ni perceives ideas, and Si perceives objects.

Si is skilled at making sense of the present using previously learned information and impressions. Think of Si as the reviewer or editor. It skims new information and says, “Yes this looks correct based on what I know” or “No, this seems odd compared to what I’m familiar with.” While Si makes sense of the present by its understanding of the past, Ni makes sense of the future by what it conceptualizes in the present.

Introverted Sensing-dominant types do use intuition and experience intuitive insights, but these are weaker than their sensory perception. Intuition can easily get mistaken for fear or paranoia. In Psychological Types , Jung explains the Si types use of intuition as follows:

“His unconscious is distinguished chiefly by the repression of intuition, which thereby acquires an extraverted and archaic character. Whereas true extraverted intuition has a characteristic resourcefulness, and a ‘good nose’ for every possibility in objective reality, this archaic, extraverted intuition has an amazing flair for every ambiguous, gloomy, dirty, and dangerous possibility in the background of reality.”

Intuition-dominant types are often excited about future possibilities, while Sensing-dominant types, primarily introverted sensors, tend to be more conservative with their future goals and ambitions.

(Want more information about your personality type? Take the TypeFinder Personality Test.)

Introverted Intuition In INFJs and INTJs

Ni is the dominant function in both INFJs and INTJs. Because of this, these types share several similarities. However, the INFJs intuition focuses primarily on understanding people and relationships. INTJs focus their intuition on understanding systems and information. Both types often claim to experience a leap in logic where the core issue or solution seems to appear out of thin air.

Ni-dominant types need to spend a lot of time researching and making sense of the external world. This is because their intuitive insights don’t come with a step-by-step manual. To explain these insights to others, they often have to take the time to process and connect the dots.

Younger Ni-dom types often expect others to understand their subjective and intuitive understanding of the world. They experience significant challenges when they realize that few others see the world exactly as they do. However, once an INJ learns to develop their intuition in conjunction with their auxiliary function (Extraverted Feeling in INFJs and Extraverted Thinking in INTJs), they can excel in helping others grasp deep intuitive insight. Because of this, healthy and mature INJs are sometimes considered “prophets”, a term used by Jung when describing the Ni-dominant type.

Introverted Intuition and Extraverted Feeling

INFJs are most successful when they use their Ni with their auxiliary judging function, Extraverted Feeling (Fe). Fe makes decisions based on what it detects about the energy and moods of other people. Strong Ni-Fe is talented at reading others and helping them gain a deeper awareness of their strengths and weaknesses. Many INFJs find success and fulfillment as counselors and coaches because of this skill.

INFJs are good judges of character. They look beyond how someone presents themselves to understand the person’s intent. They are quick to pick up on someone who is being fake or has less than pure intentions. Ni-Fe can also see how a person would react in a given situation. INFJs can skillfully guide people toward the choices that are healthiest for their particular personality and situation. They prefer to guide based on what works best for the individual rather than what works best for the majority of people. INFJs can’t help but to see multiple perspectives and understand that there’s not a one-size-fits-all solution to individual and relational problems.

Are INFJs Psychic?

INFJs aren’t psychic in the traditional sense of the word. However, since Introverted Intuition is the dominant function in less than 5 percent of the population, it often feels impossible for many to understand and explain. Introverted Intuition isn’t simply “just knowing” something. It subjectively and unconsciously recognizes patterns in ideas and connects information to produce those “aha” moments that INFJs experience so frequently.

Are you an INFJ who feels like you have psychic abilities? Leave your experiences, feedback, questions, or thoughts in the comments!

About The Author

Megan Malone

6 COMMENTS

  1. Hong Hanh | 21st Jul 17

    I’m a young INFJ (16 yrs) and I can predict what will happen in the future but I sometimes don’t notice it. What I predicted right about it is usually what I’m talking out loud (or thoughts appears surprisingly in mind or random actions) without noticing. Until it happens, I realize what I thought (said) is incredibly true.
    For example, one time I was discussing about “Mr.Bean” comedy with my brother. In my mind (naturally) pick up 3 most funniest episodes and talk with him. And you know what? that 3 episodes were showed on the next day XD
    Another, before my most important exam day. I was taking random tests on several websites. Surprisingly, almost what I studied was in that important exam and I have passed nicely!
    There are more but I don’t remember sorry 🙁 so you know, those times make me question myself “am i a psychic or what?”.
    I really love this article and I want to improve this ability for my future!

  2. Cameron | 22nd Jul 17

    INFJ here. I love your articles! So easy to digest and put to use.

    But I want to respond directly to your question about INFJ psychic experiences.

    I’m pretty skeptical about supernatural anything, including psychic abilities. But! Throughout my life I have had experiences that could easily be described as such.

    For example, when I was pregnant with my first child, I dreamed she was a girl with brown curly hair, a knack for performance, and that she was pushing boundaries, going out of her way to break rules. And that’s exactly who she is. 10 years later we have 10 years of examples.

    While pregnant with the same child, I also dreamt (twice) that my first love was going to die. In one of the dreams I even tried to warn him, but it was too late (in said dream). Three days after her first birthday he was killed after falling into 15-ft deep pit in Mumbai. The accident itself happened on her birthday, but a drug-resistant infection would take his life 3 days later.

    I very clearly remember standing in the hallway of my parents house on her birthday, and it was as if someone punched me in the chest. I was stopped in my tracks with the sharpest chest pain I had ever experienced. I *knew* something terrible was either going to happen, or had happened. Because his accident happened in India I didn’t find out for weeks afterwards…

    I have had other dreams that came to fruition, but in less dramatic ways. Someone coming out as homosexual. Me giving birth to a son (which happened 3 years after the dream, and was certainly not expected; see death of first love above)

    • Megan | 25th Jul 17

      Hi Cameron, thank you for sharing your examples! Those are some very intense and heartbreaking experiences. I haven’t yet had children, but I’ve had a few dreams about having a daughter with straight dark hair. For some reason I feel really confident that my firstborn will be a girl. While I’m also skeptical of psychic powers, I do think dreams have power that we don’t quite yet understand. Maybe our conscious sees time as linear but the unconscious comprehends it differently. I’m going into Ni hypothesis here but it’s interesting to think about.

  3. Shalena | 17th Sep 17

    I really enjoyed your article! You even said something I wrote in my blog word for word. I also like how you pointed out how we’re not ALWAYS accurate as I’ve noticed people like to take the “I know this” too far. In the end, we should remember it is still our subjectivity and we are wrong, at times. ~ Great post!

  4. KM | 17th Dec 17

    Hi everyone, I usually don’t comment on post but this one hit home for m. I 💙 how the explanations were right on target. Im an INFJ and in regards to the psyhic comment at the end on this article I’ve been seeking an answer to the exact same question. I have always had weird premonitions that came to life which I called Deja Vu or God’s way of telling me something. When i say weird I mean weird such as I could dream of seeing a stranger and a week later walk past that exact same person. Nothing sentimental happens it’s just odd. I am beginning to be more cautious of my words because I have been known to speak thing’s into existence both good and bad. Another thing I’ve been trying to understand is a strong energy I have felt. I’ve had a few people say I pulled there energy. Have any other INFJ’s experienced that?

  5. Caroline Jones | 3rd Mar 18

    I’m an INFJ and I’m a psychic/medium. Many people in my family have strong psychic abilities and most are definitely sensing types. My daughter, an ISTJ, has the strongest abilities. This leads me to believe that Ni isn’t the root of such abilities. My fiance, an ENFP, has dreams that very often come to pass. His dominant function is Ne.

Leave A Comment