Being An INTP

What is an INTP?

Within the last year I've taken the Myers Briggs Personality Test and discovered I was an INTP. An INTP stands for Introverted, Intuitive, Thinking, Perceiving. It is one of sixteen personality types described by the Myers-Briggs Personality Test. Unlike most other personality tests, which are B.S., this test has a lot of nuances on it such that 90% of my friends who have taken it have said that their personality descriptions resemble them accurately. Sometimes, the personality test is scary because it reveals stuff about ourselves that we really didn't know previously. I recommend taking it online at www.personalitypathways.com or other free sites. It should take no more than 30-40 minutes.

How was the Myers-Briggs Test developed?

Isabel Briggs Myers and her mother Katherine Myers created this personality test based on Carl Jung's ideas about personality types (typology). To create their version of the test, the Myers interviewed individuals for forty years and took detailed notes on their unique idiosyncrasies. As a result of their research, they found 16 stereotypes, or common patterns of behavior. To organize the 16 types, they used 4-letter types. Each of the 4 letters can be either of two possibilities:

1. Extravert (E) or Introvert (I).
2. Intuitive (N) or Sensing (S).
3. Thinking (T) or Feeling (F).
4. Judging (J) or Perceiving (P).

Any given person has a unique combination of 4 letters. For example, my combination of letters (personality type) is INTP. I'll explain later what this means for me.

Extroversion versus Introversion

This first 2-letter possibility is called your "dominant trait", meaning this trait guides and directs how you apply the other 3 personality traits. It is the most important trait and has the biggest effect on your personality. Most people in America are extroverts. Extroverts direct their energy and attention outwardly. They are energized by prolonged socializing, and by the outer world of people and things. They hate being alone for too long, speak what's on their mind, can be somewhat impulsive, and tend to be outgoing and aggressive. On the other hand, introverts tend to be more quiet, contemplative, and think before speaking. An introvert enjoys reading a book and having a deep conversation with few people rather than speaking with a large group of people. They enjoy ideas and focus their attention inwards towards their inner thoughts and feelings. One of the best analogies given was by Isabel Myers. She exclaimed that speaking with an introvert is like speaking to the General's assistant. What you see is not the person's actual personality (the General, so to speak), but are speaking to the person who the introvert decides to portray to you. In fact, introverts are more private and difficult to get to know. Extroverts, on the other hand, display that what you see is what you get. They are who they appear to be and are less private with their thoughts and feelings. Are you an introvert (I) or extrovert (E)? In short, introverts direct their thoughts and energy in, whereas extroverts direct their attention and energy outwards.

Intuitive versus Sensing

Intuitives are the abstract, dreamy types who are future and past-oriented. They like to fantasize about future plans and possibilities. Sensors, on the other hand, are detail-oriented individuals who focus on the present and do not like to think about abstract or theoretical things. In contrast, intuitives love good metaphors. A good way to think of this trait is how to perceive the world. Intuitives who observe an object might think of the metaphorical significance of it, and discern relationships between that object and other objects they've seen in the past in different contexts. For example, to an intuitive, an apple could represent knowledge of good and evil. To a sensor, an apple is just an apple. They notice the surface-level details. Sensors are excellent with details. Are you a sensor (S) or an intuitive (N)?

Thinking versus Feeling

Thinking and feeling refer to how you make decisions. Thinkers tend to make decisions by detaching themselves from emotional and interpersonal considerations, and instead focus on what makes most logical sense to them. Feelers, on the other hand, primarily make decisions to increase group harmony, or to make people happy. Thinkers come across to feelers as being cold or too analytical, whereas feelers come across to thinkers as impulsive and too emotional. Are you a thinker (T) or feeler (F)?

Judging versus Perceiving

Judgers are those people who are organized, structured, meet deadlines on time and have a high need for closure. Perceivers, on the other hand, are flexible, less good at planning but better at improvising, and are more creative. A judger tries to control his or her environment, but a perceiver is more likely to "go with the flow", and to consider every possibility before making a decision. Hence, perceivers could come across as indecisive and judgers could come across as high-maintenance. Perceivers are also much more likely to procrastinate, dislike routine and prefer loose structure to allow for greater flexibility. Are you a judger (J) or perceiver (P)?

Great! You have your 4-letter type. Now what...?

Now you can google your 4-letter type description. Please keep in mind this is not identical to who you are. This is a template, a stereotype. Think of the personality test as a spectrum rather than a binary thing. It's not black and white: you are not an ESFP or not, or any other personality type. In actuality, researchers found that statistically people are a mixture of several personality types. Think of the personality test (MBTI) as a bunch of nodes or a grid. Each point on the grid represents a personality. Almost everybody lies somewhere in between each of those nodes, a mixture of personalities. You may resemble an ESFP in some regards, but you may also have a pretty strong judging function, so you may resemble an ESFJ (the most common personality type in American culture). The important thing is not to treat this test as the ultimate authority over your personality. People are dynamic and unique. They are constantly changing and cannot be precisely categorized. In actuality, I think personalities are constructed by the complex, cyclical and dynamic interactions between people's genetic personality predispositions and their environment (personal experiences, upbringing, etc.). Hence, there are many different types and subgroups of personalities within each 4-letter personality group. The test is a general instrument, and is not completely precise. Just as every American doesn't have the same accent in English, every 4-letter personality is not identical. However, the personality test is excellent at describing the general patterns of personality analogous to someone saying people in the Southern U.S. generally speak with this accent whereas people from Brooklyn, New York speak with a different accent. The instrument is pretty dang powerful in this general regard.

So, now that we understand the theory behind it...

Ok, enough with the theory. Now that we all understand the underlying theory and principle behind MBTI, I want to talk about my personality type and what it means to me (although, I'm really interested in hearing about your experiences with MBTI too if you want to comment below). To sum up an INTP in as few words as possible, the INTP has been nicknamed the Thinker and the Architect. Adjectives that have been used to describe my personality type are thoughtful, analytical, complex, quiet, eccentric, ingenious, etc. Wikipedia, the most reliable source in the world, described INTPs as "quiet, thoughtful, analytical individuals who tend to spend long periods of time on their own, working through problems and forming solutions. They are curious about systems and how things work." For the most part, this is true about me. I also don't like too much structure because I think it can sometime restrain creative thought and problem-solving. For me, life is a puzzle, and its my job to figure it out. I love aggregating information and making new connections. I love to discover things and solve difficult problems. For example, I like special relativity because it allows me to explore the implications of infinity, the speed of light, and other mind-bending ideas that are difficult to wrap your mind around. I love complexity because it challenges me, and allows me to think in new ways to understand the universe. This is my main goal in life: to understand everything, at least the things that interest me. This is a blessing and a curse, since I'm interested in so many different things: philosophy, music, writing, poetry, physics, psychology, photography, art, programming, to name a few of my hobbies. I love to many things and there's not enough time in a day to pursue them all.

I have been on this path to self-discovery since my early childhood. I've always been curious about the person that I would become: my career, my interests, and my family. I would imagine myself 10 years in the future as a kid, being an adult and wondering what my life would be like. My main difficulty growing up was feeling misunderstood, since I thought and acted differently than other people. I really had to work hard to fit in. Until one day I just decided to be myself. I love ideas and talking about them. Most people just like to make small talk, but I am horrible at that. So I do either of two things: I pretend that I'm interested or I talk about what's more interesting to me. For example, recently I've been fascinated by the concept of probability. Does true randomness really exist or is it a human construct because we only have finite information about everything? For example, if we roll a die and call the outcome random, is it because it is truly impossible to know the outcome? What if we knew the direction the person planned to throw the die? What if we knew the friction that the die would incur when it interacted with the table and the precise direction the die would move in order to calculate the precise outcome? Then couldn't one argue that true randomness in this situation never actually existed? Rather, the uncertainty is caused by the observer's lack of information of the true conditions of the situation at hand: all of these variables (friction, intent of the thrower, etc.). Most people aren't interested in this stuff. But I live for thinking about these things, because I enjoy them. Just like some people enjoy singing, dancing or writing my deepest and most rewarding pleasure comes from understanding a difficult concept or figuring out a problem I previously did not understand or was previously unsolved. The EUREKA moment gives me this high that I can't explain. To me, this is what it means to be an INTP. One day I want to work alone for long periods of time solving difficult problems. I want room to be myself, and to express my idiosyncrasies, odd or otherwise. Another few facts about me: I only realized I was strange when my friends pointed this out, to me my thought and behavior patterns make perfect sense. I'm a bit absent-minded because I'm always thinking of interesting problems to solve. I can be somewhat oblivious in public. I'm not too interested in social rules and am suspicious of social institutions, especially when they persuade people to conform to particular standards. I hate conforming. Why be anyone other than yourself? This is who I am. I'd be happy to answer any questions you have or hear any thoughts. Feel free to comment below :).