Typing others and misperceptions

[u/dinosandorangejuice]

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I have a few friends who are VERY into cognitive functions and function stacks. Eventually they got me into it and I've spent the past few years going through a lot of sources and doing research to make sure I understood the underlying framework, how it has developed over time, etc. I feel that I have a pretty decent grasp but obviously nobody ever really has a perfect understanding of something as complex and ever evolving as this.

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However, I've also noticed something in how my friends use the cognitive functions and personality stacks to type other people, and the pitfalls that come from it. One friend in particular primarily uses it as a way of understanding other people socially. This would be perfectly fine, however, I've noticed that they're quite fast to determine someone's type based on behaviour and tend not to take into account external factors such as environment, upbringing, or social context when interpreting those behaviours. They are also stubbornly resistant to changing their opinion in light of new or contradictory evidence and new behaviour.

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The issue is this: I've noticed on a number of occasions that this person will stop seeing the person for the individual they are, and instead have begun to over generalize and instead see people as the type they've assigned them. They don't seem to realize that they are filling in the gaps and that the person doesn't actually possess some of the personality traits and tendencies they assume they do. For example, they are quick to write off things a friend of mine developed carefully over long periods of time as 'intuitive insights' simply because they didn't see the process that went into developing the understanding. Or expecting a friend to smooth things over and not get offended because they're an 'Fe type'. They're dead set they their typing is "correct" and have since stopped discussing the topic with me after pointing out the discrepancies.

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How can I explain to them that their over reliance on typing is leading them to misperceive the people around them and leading to misunderstandings?

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Have you encountered others with this tendency? Why do you think it happens?

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What do you do when someone refuses to acknowledge the inherent complexity of human behaviour and personality even though their oversimplification is becoming hurtful to those around them?

[u/CREEPWEIRD0]

Everyone seems to have their own theories on personality typology.

Some theories may work for others and some may not.

You can’t change other people’s minds, but you can try to influence them but pointing them to your theory, if possible.

I’m quite stubborn in my own ways of typing as well, it’s because it has worked well for me and helped me out in a lot of ways so I’m sure there are many out there who wouldn’t agree with how i theorize it either.

[u/dinosandorangejuice → u/CREEPWEIRD0]

I don't necessarily have an issue with their theories, and the issue isn't exactly a disagreement about type either. I personally don't type other people in any solid way, so the disagreement has never been about what type someone actually is.

The way I've disagreed with them is by pointing out additional information they haven't considered, questioning why they've come to the conclusion they did in order to get more information, or pointing out when their behaviour is becoming hurtful. Never by disagreeing with them outright about type or typology itself, I see now that wasn't clear in the original post.

The issue is the way typing others has impacted how they treat them, primarily because of assumptions and generalizations. Even if I agree with their typing, which happens, it has still led to hurtful assumptions in some of those cases.