Myers Briggs judging vs perceiving: What is the difference?

The difference between judging and perceiving is that Judging personalities prefer an organized and structured life whereas Perceiving personalities are spontaneous and carefree. We all live within this busy world and we are constantly taking in information and making decisions on what the best course of action would be. Those who prefer to observe and perceive everything that happens around them are the perceivers and those who like to take action and make decisions are the Judgers.

MBTI is the acronym for the Myers Briggs type indicator, which is a tool created by Carl Jung as a way for us to understand the actions and behaviors of the people around us. Comprised of four components, namely sensing vs intuition, extroversion vs introversion, thinking vs feeling, and perceive vs judge. This article will keep focused on the difference between perceiving and judging.

The benefits of judging over perceiving

• Fond of making lists and scheduling their lives which puts the j in Myers Briggs
• Prefer to be prepared and informed
• Dislike being in the dark, or caught unaware
• Judgers are not overly fond of change unless it’s premeditated
• Decisive and self-disciplined
• Feel uneasy without a concrete plan
• Feel in control by being chief of their environment.
• Tend to have multiple backup plans – just in case!

The benefits of perceiving over judging

• Seekers of spontaneity and flexibility, which puts the p in Myers Briggs!
• Perceivers feel that too much structure holds them back from their full potential
• Routine bores them and creates inner frustration
• Crave change as they are adaptable
• They are the kings and queens of procrastination
• Choose never to end a project but have many projects left to be finished later, or when inspired
• By only making decisions when necessary they feel in control
• Decisions are left to the last minute to ensure they did not make the wrong choice.
• They enjoy the fun side of life, often prioritizing it over work.

Perceiving vs judging examples

To truly understand the differences between perception vs judgment, we have laid out some real-life examples in a way everyone can relate to.

Travel

When it comes to an upcoming travel expedition, we all get ourselves excited and have different ways of preparing for the trip. People with the judging function would have pre-planned their entire trip, booked all the hotels and planned the route, made sure they know where the train stations are, and even downloaded the country’s map on google maps so it works offline. People with the perceiving function will gussy up their excitement but listening to tales of people who have visited the place before, making mental notes, not concrete ones, to visit the places that strike interest if the chance arises – unless something better comes up along the way.

Work

In work life, judging types are most likely to be in leadership roles where they can make decisions. They are driven towards success by their self-disciplined and determined nature. The perceiving types may have had many careers before their current one, which will not be their last. They are more likely to have a job in which they travel a lot, ensuring a constant change of scenery.

Examples of the judging personality type

The judging personality types out of the 16 personalities of the Myers biggs personality typology that falls under the judgers are as follows:

ESTJ – The director

• This personality type, or the directors, are undoubtedly one of the extraverts.
• They are quite assertive and sure of themselves
• Live by the book
• Great at making difficult or impartial decisions
• Directors have a strong set of morals and expect other people to live in the same ethical manner
• Confident, dependable, hard workers
• Can seem insensitive, argumentative, or unable to express feelings.
• Straight to the point in communication.

ISTJ – The Inspector

• Inspectors are made up of introverts
• Prefer life to be ordered and synchronized
• they’re extremely practical but also extremely reserved
• Their life, in every aspect, must be organized
• Realistic, down-to-earth, responsible, logical, and observant
• Tends to be blameful, judgmental, and insensitive
• Enjoy plans to be made well ahead of schedule
• Rely on past experiences to make decisions for the present or future.

ENFJ – The Giver

• The givers are extraverted
• Friendly and warm, easily approachable
• They are adaptable and likable by all the personality types
• Givers love to help others whenever they can
• Strong sense of values
• forgets own needs over the needs of others
• They love to empower people to rah their full potential
• Empathetic, affectionate, persuasive
• Tend to seem manipulative, overly sensitive, and indecisive

INTJ – The Architect

• Architects are introverted
• Prefer to work alone than in a group setting
• Lovers of organized life, with structure.
• Pre-plan for everything thread of schedule, with a backup plan or two
• Makes decisions according to logic, as opposed to feelings
• They are great listeners
• Hard-working, deals well with criticism,  and self-confident
• Tends to be a perfectionist, too blunt, or judgemental

Examples of the perceiving personality type

The judging personality types out of the 16 personalities of the Myers biggs personality typology that falls under the perceivers are as follows:

ESTP – The Persuader

• Extrovert personality type
• Confident people who enjoy taking action
• Have a large circle of friends, or many different groups
• They live in the present moment
• Great at improvising instead of planning ahead
• Perceive smaller details that others usually overlook
• Great with their words, able to rally people up and persuade them to take a particular acion
• Friendly, talkative, resourceful, and observant
• Tends to be dramatic, judgemental and enjoys competition

ISTP – The Crafter

• Introvert personality types
• They are determinedly independent
• Loves to spend time alone
• Love applying practical solutions to problems as opposed to coming up with ideas
• Prefer working with their hands
• Crave change and seek new experiences
• Detached from their own feelings and that of others
• Grows via experiences and lessons learned, realistic and practical workers
• Tend to come across as insensitive, they get bored easily nd take risks

ENFP – The Champion

• Champions are extraverted
• Excited and enthusiastic about life
• They have a mind for creativity
• Thrive in situations where they are free to express
• Not fond of routine
• Can be distracted if the project is not in line with their interests
• Spontaneous, empathetic, “people persons”
• Tends to be disorganized, overthinkers, unable to abide by the rules

INFP – The Mediator

• Mediators are introverted
• Strive to improve the world around them
• Introspective on how they feel and keen to understand why
• Want to understand the behaviors and experiences of others
• Gain energy from alone time
• Decision making is last minute, preferring to keep open options
• Empathetic, compassionate, see the bigger picture
• Tends to miss smaller details, defensive, too idealistic

MBTI judging vs perceiving: Key takeaways

Ultimately, you can be an introvert or an extrovert but still either be a judger or a perceiver. You may do a little bit of both but the way you portray yourself to the world around you will be behaviorally one or the other. If you are interested in finding out which personality type you have there are a multitude of tests available online. Also check out our blog post on sensing vs. intuition.

FAQs

Can you be both judging and perceiving?

We are all a little bit of perceiving as well as judging. Being more judging does not exclude you from being a perceiver and vice versa.

Which is better perceiving or judging?

Neither is better than the other. We all do a bit of judging as well as a bit of perceiving at times. The one is how we tend to behave outwardly in the world and without the balance of all different personality types, we would have a very boring society.

What does judging mean in Myers Briggs?

People who are of the judging personality are more comfortable when they have a set plan. they feel in control when they are aware and prepared for just about anything.

Are there more judgers or perceivers?

There are an equal amount of judges as there are perceivers. to be exact there are eight judging personality types and there are also eight perceiving personality types.