ITP Traits

1. Logical and objective

2. Tend to be adventurous, and enjoy taking physical risks
3. They're original and value their uniqueness
4. They're highly independent, and don't like being told what to do
5. They have no interest in controlling or leading others, or telling them
what to do
6. Quiet and serious
7. Honest and direct
8. They're very observant
9. Curious and interested in learning new things
10. Quick to learn new things
11. Not overly affectionate or demonstrative of their love
12. They enjoy books
13. They have a tendency to be loners, and may have one or two friends,
rather than lots of acquaintances
14. They're very easy-going and undemanding
15. Often prefer to work alone rather than in groups
16. They want to be good at things that interest them, and they apply their
own standards rather than trying to impress anyone else
17. They get bored easily
18. They value precision in communication, and are irritated by
exaggerations and half-truths

Potential Strengths

1. When interested in something, they exhibit extreme competence and

will master it completely
2. They're flexible and can adapt well to new situations
3. Laid-back and easy-going, they're usually easy to get along with
4. Strong sense of fairness
5. They're highly observant, and quickly incorporate new data into their
thinking
6. They're usually quite intelligent, and able to do well in higher education
7. They're quite honest and truthful
8. They take things seriously, and are seldom frivolous or flighty
9. They have open and accepting natures, although they're not always
interested in people

Potential Weaknesses
1. They don't have a good sense of time or schedules, and may frequently
run late or miss deadlines
2. They will strongly resist being told what to do, which may present a
discipline problem
3. They do not like to make decisions, and prefer to leave things open until
the last possible moment
4. They will resist doing anything that they don't feel like doing
5. They're often unaware of how others are feeling, or how their own
behavior affects others
6. They keep their own feelings closely guarded and well-hidden from
others, sometimes even from themselves
7. When stressed out or upset, they may react with extreme emotions that
are inappropriate or exaggerated for the situation
8. Highly objective and detached, they may have difficulty forming close
bonds with people

9. With their risk-taking natures, they might get into some trouble

ITP Learning Style

ITP children have Thinking as their dominant personality function. Accordingly, they are
extremely logical and rational. They probably have the capacity to absorb and process
just about anything that a school curriculum would offer. However, if they're not
interested in a particular topic, they will not put forth any effort into learning it. They don't
tend to be as interested in classes that don't require logic, such as the humanities. They
are drawn to and generally excel in work that requires the use of logic and reason, and
enjoy class that present logical challenges. These types of courses, such many of the
maths and sciences, are likely to be completely mastered by the ITP.
ITP children need specific feedback. General praise or criticism (such as "Good job!")
mean nothing to an ITP. They need to know specifically what they did well, or
specifically what they did not do well, and why. Be as specific and detailed as possible
when giving feedback to an ITP child.
ITP children have a strong need for things to be logical and consistent. Accordingly, they
need to have any rules or goals spelled out clearly and consistently. Rules must be
consistently enforced for everyone to suit the ITP's sense of fair play.
ITP children are very interested in learning, but they get bored easily. They need to be
presented with new challenges constantly in order to keep them interested and
developing.
ITP children do not like being told explicitly what to do. They will do best with
assignments in which they are told what the desired goal is and any rules that must be
followed, and left to their own devices to achieve the goal.
ITP children work best alone. They may have problems with groups assignments, and
may reject these kinds of projects by not participating much.

ITP Special Needs

Our society associates the Feeling preference (rather than Thinking) with female
characteristics. ITP girls (who prefer Thinking) may be seen as unfeminine. They're
likely to shun "girly" clothing and may appear distant and reserved, rather than friendly
and empathetic. ITP girls should not be made to feel guilty for these traits. As they reach
the teenage years, ITP girls will become more interested in social acceptance, and may
seek advice at that time on how to use their Feeling function more effectively.
ITP children do not have access to their Feeling function at a young age. That doesn't
mean that they don't have feelings, it means that they don't make decisions based on
subjective data. Their decisions are made entirely based on logic and objective fact.

That means the the ITP values objective truth over a person's feelings in a given
situation. In practice, this makes the ITP child sometimes do or say things that hurt
other people's feelings. The ITP child is not naturally interested in or aware of other
people's feelings, and they will need to develop this interest and skill as they grow.
Parents and other caregivers can help ITP children learn how to form bonds by their
own example. ITP children are very observant and will pick up on adult behaviors. They
can learn how to make friends and be friends by observing how adults do this.
ITP children are typically very direct in their speech. This will sometimes cause them to
say things that seem unfeeling or inappropriate for a given situation. Adults should
realize that the child rarely intends to be mean, although they may say something
hurtful. They are just being their honest and direct selves. They should not be made to
feel guilty about this behavior. If their directness is causing a real problem, you can
speak with them about it, providing real examples and explaining rationally why their
behavior is causing problems. However, they are likely to continue being direct,
because it goes against their nature to tailor the truth.
ITP kids need for things to be fair in order for them to be comfortable. They want rules to
be enforced consistently for everyone, and will become upset over any perceived
favoritism. They have a strong sense of fair play and will treat others fairly. They also
expect to be treated fairly, and may become quite upset if they aren't.

The "Missing" Letter

Adult personality types contain four letters, while for kids aged 7-12 we use three letter
types. What happened to the missing letter? It's there, we just can't usually determine
what it is until after a child is in their teens. Sometimes it becomes apparent when a
child is around thirteen years old, sometimes as late as eighteen years old. ITP kids will
grow up to be either ISTP "Mechanics" or INTP "Thinkers". At this stage in their
development, it's not obvious whether they complement their Thinking function with
Intuition or Sensing. You may have a sense which one the ITP prefers, but we often
have to wait until a person is well into their teens before we can determine their adult
personality type.