Princess Diana

[malovian]

Princess Diana

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She was really fond of personality tests so she must have had a type.. So do you know what it was?

 

[katerp]

Princess Diana was an INFP.

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[ragashree]

Princess Diana was an INFP.

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Yes, I've seen her given as an example of the type any number of times, despite the fact that as far as I can see she neither thought or acted like one (or a very strange one, anyway). I would say ISFJ fits better from what I know, or possibly ISFP as I'm not sure about the J/P. Definitely not an intuitive type, however, unless I was really missing something. This will be fun, bring it on!

 

[tinkerbell]

I'd say INFJ - I think she was megga controlling from what I've read about her.

L

 

[ragashree]

One good reason why Diana was unlikely to be an N type:

Academically weak, she failed all her exams at school twice, passing no O levels, despite having had every educational advantage, apparently trying hard and being a fairly well adjusted and popular student. For the benefit of the non-British: her performance these days would put her roughly in the bottom 10% of students. Americans in particular: she wouldn't have graduated high school. Unless there are other factors to impede their performance, IN types (and intuitives generally) represent the more academically able portion of the population. INFPs are usually high achievers unless there is a good reason not to be. I don't see any in her case.

Several good reasons why she is likely to have been an S type:

Did well at and enjoyed sport compared to her poor academic performance, was excellent at swimming and wanted to be a professional ballet dancer until she grew too tall.

Was known for being very helpful to others with practical tasks while at school, won an award for helpfulness which was almost her only tangible acievement from her schooldays.

Chose practical, people-oriented jobs after leaving school and before marriage: Cook, nanny, kindergarten assistant.

 

[NewEra]

INFP or ISFJ.

 

[dynamiteninja]

Not all INFPs are smart, or maybe she just wasn't motivated enough. And the only type that I've seen her been professionally typed as is INFP.

 

[ragashree]

Not all INFPs are smart, or maybe she just wasn't motivated enough. And the only type that I've seen her been professionally typed as is INFP.

I thought I heard the "professional typing" was from one of her new agey friends, actually, though I may be wrong on that. No, from what I've seen she appears to have been trying with her schoolwork and to have been at least a reasonably well motivated student, as I have said... it's not a case of intelligence, so much as cognitive focus.

Intuitive types tend to do better in traditional academic settings than sensing types not because they are more or less "intellligent", depending on how you define intelligence, but because their intuitive preference gives them a natural advantage, all other things being equal, in coming up with an appropriate answer to an unfamiliar question in a time limited situation. If she wasn't obviously disaffected nor had some kind of learning difficulty (I haven't seen any evidence of either) why would she not have been using her putative intuitive capacities to achieve at least a reasonable level of academic performance?

But I bet, DN, that you must be speaking from experience as an INFP. Please tell me that you were a sporty, energetically helpful academic dropout with a preference for practical tasks over intellectual interests, and I shall consider humbly retracting my argument!

 

[Wild horses]

I would Never pretend to be enough like jack flak to be able to say her type for sure but I don't know if I could call her stupid.. even academically. There is much evidence to suggest that was quite bright.. She often wrote her own speeches which shows a certain talent for writing and she had much politcal knowledge. Even academia is not confined to the grounds of a college!

 

[Lady_X]

i wouldn't call her stupid either...that bothers me...i think infp...said that in your other thread...where'd it go?

 

[tinkerbell]

One good reason why Diana was unlikely to be an N type:

Academically weak, she failed all her exams at school twice, passing no O levels, despite having had every educational advantage, apparently trying hard and being a fairly well adjusted and popular student. For the benefit of the non-British: her performance these days would put her roughly in the bottom 10% of students. Americans in particular: she wouldn't have graduated high school. Unless there are other factors to impede their performance, IN types (and intuitives generally) represent the more academically able portion of the population. INFPs are usually high achievers unless there is a good reason not to be. I don't see any in her case.

Several good reasons why she is likely to have been an S type:

Did well at and enjoyed sport compared to her poor academic performance, was excellent at swimming and wanted to be a professional ballet dancer until she grew too tall.

Was known for being very helpful to others with practical tasks while at school, won an award for helpfulness which was almost her only tangible acievement from her schooldays.

Chose practical, people-oriented jobs after leaving school and before marriage: Cook, nanny, kindergarten assistant.

I'm confused about your understanding of S and N types, N types are not academically gifted, S types are not stuipd/physcal.

N types like the big picture and are imaginative
S types are detail orientated and factual.

BOTH can be stupid or bright.

Diana wasn't the sharpest student but her family was breaking up and the whole dynamic left a lot to be desired - so hardly a reflection of her acadmeic ability I would think. If I'm honest I don't think she was the sharpest tool in the box but that doens't = S type.

Lis

 

[Mondo]

I know of dummies who do well in school and non-dummies who do poorly in school. That is almost irrelevant here.
Finally, N doesn't equal smart, S doesn't equal stupid!!!!

 

[The Ü™]

N types like the big picture and are imaginative
S types are detail orientated and factual.

Indeed. I did poorly in school precisely because I daydreamed a lot and didn't have patience for the detail orientation that school usually emphasizes.

K-12 was designed with the SJ mindset in mind. The "academics" involved are more about teaching responsibility and there's very little learning of concepts involved.

Which brings me back to Diana, didn't she type herself as an INFP?

I think INFP is likely, in any case.

 

[ragashree]

I'm confused about your understanding of S and N types, N types are not academically gifted, S types are not stuipd/physcal.

N types like the big picture and are imaginative
S types are detail orientated and factual.

BOTH can be stupid or bright.

Diana wasn't the sharpest student but her family was breaking up and the whole dynamic left a lot to be desired - so hardly a reflection of her acadmeic ability I would think. If I'm honest I don't think she was the sharpest tool in the box but that doens't = S type.

Lis

You're confused about my understanding, meaning that you think I don't.

I'm confused about your understanding of my posts *read however you want to*. Perhaps you didn't read the second one:

Intuitive types tend to do better in traditional academic settings than sensing types not because they are more or less "intellligent", depending on how you define intelligence, but because their intuitive preference gives them a natural advantage, all other things being equal, in coming up with an appropriate answer to an unfamiliar question in a time limited situation.

I mean what I actually say, no more and no less. If you want to think that I was implying that she was stupid by referring to her academic performance, go ahead, but actually I would be quite happy to say so if that was what I thought; I have no need to imply. You would presumably be making some assumptions about the value I am attatching to academic performance in supposing me to be thinking that. You also appear to think I am equating a preference for physical activities over mental activities with a lack of intelligence. I can assure you I don't, but since you are making the equation yourself, how about you? She does not seem to me to have been unintelligent as such; but it seems to have been a sensing type intelligence; I merely happen to think she is mistyped.

Edit: mondo also, please read! You two are at any rate showing your own intuitive preference in responding to what you think I have said by reading something extra into it, and responding to that rather than what I have actually said!

 

[tinkerbell]

" not because they are more or less "intellligent", depending on how you define intelligence, but because their intuitive preference gives them a natural advantage, all other things being equal, in coming up with an appropriate answer to an unfamiliar question in a time limited situation."

My point is that Intuition doesn't give you any advantage what so ever in academic subjects. A lot depends on how a subject is taught, but as far as I am aware every subject I've ever learned has big and small picture details in it. I've got three different levels of education, small picture stuff bores me but my N type doesn't give me advantage.

S simply means deatil - good for practially any subject taught within British schools... but then maybe in the US they teach things differently and that History isn't pending dates or facts ... maybe it's just there was a war some time between some countries...

N have no advantage, neither have S's

Lis

 

[ragashree]

My understanding is that the old O Levels (which Diana would have done) were significantly more biased towards an intuitive approach than the current GCSEs at the same level. I rather fancy she would have passed a few GCSEs, particularly with the large proportion of coursework that most courses contain, and is a gift to a dilligent and well organised person.

I do think that intuition comprises more than simply the tendency to focus on the big picture. It is also at the very least the subconscious forming of connections and relationships between different entities, which gears a person with strong intuition more towards an abstract style of thinking and comfort with abstract concepts. Where these are valued more in education, I believe intuitive types will tend to do better. Where the learning of a sigificant amount of detail is valued more sensing types may be at an advantage, and intuitive types in danger of being disadvantaged through boredom. But I don't believe that the British school exam system is quite what it used to be in this resepct...

 

[AOA]

INFP.

 

[Mondo]

I mean what I actually say, no more and no less. If you want to think that I was implying that she was stupid by referring to her academic performance, go ahead, but actually I would be quite happy to say so if that was what I thought; I have no need to imply. You would presumably be making some assumptions about the value I am attatching to academic performance in supposing me to be thinking that. You also appear to think I am equating a preference for physical activities over mental activities with a lack of intelligence. I can assure you I don't, but since you are making the equation yourself, how about you? She does not seem to me to have been unintelligent as such; but it seems to have been a sensing type intelligence; I merely happen to think she is mistyped.

I get what you're saying now. She might prefer sensing over intuition because of this.
Also I didn't read the fact that she didn't pass her O-level tests. If it's anything like the tests in America, it favors iNtuitive thought processes..

 

[PeaceBaby]

From the forum here: Princess Diana's Type

She self-identified as INFP. Although I have often wondered about that myself ... S vs N?

 

[Ardea]

Don't INFPs have learning problems? Something about how they have to observe for a long period of time, and then get the "hang" of it rather well?

This was from some weird socionics website, and an INFP friend was all "YEAH, THAT IS TOTALLY ME!!!!!!!111one"