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Whether the chicken crossed the road or the road crossed the chicken depends on your frame
of reference.
Albert Einstein
The INTP personality type is fairly rare, making up only three percent of the
population, which is definitely a good thing for them, as there's nothing they'd
be more unhappy about than being "common". INTPs pride themselves on
their inventiveness and creativity, their unique perspective and vigorous
intellect. Usually known as the philosopher, the architect, or the dreamy
professor, INTPs have been responsible for many scientific discoveries
throughout history.
their creative genius and potential can be expressed, there is no limit to the
time and energy INTPs will expend in developing an insightful and unbiased
solution.
companions. This will likely extend to most social conventions and goals as
well, like planning dinners and getting married, as INTPs are far more
concerned with originality and efficient results.
The one thing that really holds INTPs back is their restless and pervasive fear
of failure. INTP personalities are so prone to reassessing their own thoughts
and theories, worrying that they've missed some critical piece of the puzzle,
that they can stagnate, lost in an intangible world where their thoughts are
never truly applied. Overcoming this self-doubt stands as the greatest
challenge INTPs are likely to face, but the intellectual gifts - big and small bestowed on the world when they do makes it worth the fight
INTP WEAKNESSES
Very Private and Withdrawn - While INTPs' intellectualism yields many
insights into their surroundings, their surroundings are ironically
considered an intrusion on their thoughts. This is especially true with
people - INTPs are quite shy in social settings. More complicated
situations such as parties exacerbate this, but even close friends
struggle to get into INTPs' hearts and minds.
Insensitive - Oftentimes INTP personalities get so caught up in their
logic that they forget any kind of emotional consideration - they dismiss
subjectivity as irrational and tradition as an attempt to bar much-needed
progress. Purely emotional situations are often utterly puzzling to
INTPs, and their lack of timely sympathy can easily offend.
Absent-minded - When INTPs' interest is captured, their absence goes
beyond social matters to include the rest of the physical world. INTPs
become forgetful, missing even the obvious if it's unrelated to their
current infatuation, and they can even forget their own health, skipping
meals and sleep as they muse.
Condescending - Attempts at connecting with others are often worse
than INTPs' withdrawal. People with the INTP personality type take
pride in their knowledge and rationale, and enjoy sharing their ideas, but
in trying to explain how they got from A to B to Z, they can get frustrated,
sometimes simplifying things to the point of insult as they struggle to
gauge their conversation partners' perspective. The ultimate insult
comes as INTPs give up with a dismissive "never mind".
INTP RELATIONSHIPS
When it comes to romantic relationships, INTPs have an interesting mixture of
traits that often pleasantly surprise their partners. People with this personality
type are always full of ideas, but they have few opportunities to explore their
more romantic notions. As with any of their theories, INTPs love sharing with
others, and in finally meeting someone where romantic thoughts are
appropriate, they show themselves to be excited, enthusiastic, and even
playful, flirting with word-play and intellectual games.
None of this is to say that these relationships come easily to INTPs - they are
shy and withdrawn individuals, and getting out and meeting new people,
risking rejection and making themselves the center of attention in emotionally
delicate situations are far from being their strengths. It is more likely that INTP
personalities will leave a trail of breadcrumbs for a potential partner, allowing
them to make the first move and committing to their partner as an act of
reciprocation rather than bravado.
challenge of getting to know new people, make them all too aware of how
important it is that they're involved with someone, and they will prove
themselves surprisingly loyal. Even early the dating phase, INTPs are
unusually direct and honest, doing their best to express their mindset and
create mutual understanding, believing that this shared knowledge will help to
minimize misunderstandings and avoid conflict.
As their relationships progress, INTPs' daily needs prove remarkably simple.
Gifts, surprises, complex social plans and date nights are all fairly unimportant
to people with the INTP personality type, but this is also one of their chiefest
weaknesses - their partner may very much need these things, and it won't
even occur to INTPs to plan them out. For all their analysis and attempts at
mutual understanding, INTPs are notoriously bad at picking up on others'
emotional needs.
When it comes to conflict, there is a certain willful ignorance for INTPs, and
they often set aside their partners' feelings, and their own, for far too long.
When these conflicts do arise and are inescapable, INTPs will do their best to
find a logical solution. But this hardly helps if the problem is logic itself, that
INTP personalities aren't meeting their partners' emotional needs. INTPs
should keep this in mind, and try to meet their partners halfway by
communicating on an emotional level - if they make this effort, understanding
partners will recognize and appreciate the gesture, clumsy though it may be.
After all, they need to afford INTPs the same benefit, and meet them halfway
with logic and simplicity as well.
INTP FRIENDS
Many of the usual motivations for making friends - emotional support, social
validation, shared routine - simply don't apply to INTPs. More likely, these
concepts are met with disdain, as people with the INTP personality type prize
intellectual depth above all else. It is not easy to become good friends with
INTPs, but if there is a common interest and a common train of thought, the
connection is likely to spark instantly, surprising everyone else who thought
they had this distant personality type pegged.
INTP PARENTS
In parenting roles, as with many social roles, INTPs find themselves facing a
robust but healthy challenge. Not a naturally sensitive type, INTP personalities
struggle to identify with the raw emotions and irrationality that are often the
standard with young children, who have yet to develop the sort of self-control
and logical thinking that INTPs take for granted.
People with the INTP personality type are nevertheless incredibly devoted perhaps not in the traditional, emotionally supportive sense, but they are
parents who are committed to encouraging their growing children to think and
act independently, seek out new knowledge, and voice and defend their own
opinions.
For INTPs knowledge is key, and they will do their best to give their children
the tolerance and freedom necessary to acquire it. INTP parents take a
relaxed, intellectual approach towards their children, allowing them to explore
the world around them and overlooking the more minor offences along the
way.
Having no interest in exerting control over other human beings, INTPs are
likely to allow their children to form their own principles - though they may take
the opportunity of the "why?" phase to share their own perspectives and
ideas, just in case.
INTP personalities are not particularly demanding parents, at least not in the
sense that they expect their children to live a traditional life of
school/career/marriage/house/kids/retirement (and in that order, thank you
very much). Rather, INTP parents are demanding in an intellectual sense they want their children to ask if this path is the best path for them, and how to
go about following a different one if they need to. This level of personal
freedom can be daunting, and can take a long time to come to terms with, but
INTP parents are prepared to stand by their children with support and advice
for as long as they need.
While there is hardly a better parent for having rational, intelligent discussions
with their children, there is hardly a clumsier example when it comes to
providing the emotional support that many children need, especially as they
approach their teenage years. In this area, INTPs will need to either rely on a
more capable partner, or to take themselves far out of their comfort zone in
order to empathize without trying to clear away the tears with an endless
series of rational suggestions and blunt truths.
INTP CAREERS
INTPs are solitary, eccentric, and independent - none of which is listed as
desirable for corporate positions, which are usually designed for very different
personality types. INTPs duly struggle in finding careers that meet their needs,
but what they do bring, qualities in much higher demand, are creativity, a
passion for theoretical methods and ideas, and an entrepreneurial, innovative
spirit. If they are able to put this better foot forward to secure a position in a
suitable line of work, people with the INTP personality type will find that,
whatever the job listing says, these "less desirable" qualities will prove an
asset after all.
A POEM OF NUMBERS
Chief among INTPs' interests is exploring and building models for underlying
principles and ideas, even going so far as to find these concepts, in their own
way, beautiful - this makes them natural mathematicians, systems analysts,
and career scientists, especially in more abstract fields such as physics. There
are many other careers that allow INTPs to explore these interests, but many
of them are far too rooted in uninteresting practical applications. As useful as it
is to develop a better vacuum cleaner, it is no Large Hadron Collider.
INTP personalities are self-driven and have very high personal standards "good enough" is never good enough - but have few environmental needs.
Despite this relative simplicity, they are often hard for more people-centric
types to understand. INTPs live primarily in their own heads, and have little
interest in social distractions like chitchat and motivational speeches.
All INTPs really want is to immerse themselves in an interesting project, and
anything that interrupts that, be it overactive managers, the need to manage
others, or office parties or meetings, are simply unwelcome burdens.
For this reason, the flatter the workplace hierarchy, the better, making small,
technical workplaces and fields such as law, forensics, and laboratory
research very desirable for INTPs. Insightful and open-minded managers who
can accommodate these needs will find their INTP subordinates to be a
tireless generator of brilliant and unique ideas. However, many people with the
INTP personality type may do away with the immediate hierarchy altogether,
opting instead to provide their services on a freelance basis as consultants.
Where INTPs do not thrive is in workplaces that require them to provide a high
degree of emotional satisfaction - cruise ship masseuses they are not. INTP
personalities struggle to understand emotional exchanges, and serviceoriented positions will prove baffling and exhausting for them. Though INTPs
are talented analysts who are perfectly capable of understanding the
theoretical importance of customer service, the day-to-day application of such
a scheme is simply better left to more people-oriented personality types.
Business is growing more complex every day, and this complexity is managed
with technical systems, economic theories, and data. The need for novel
approaches is stronger than ever for people and organizations to distinguish
themselves. Though general people skills are often phrased as a must, it is
the technical work that creates something to talk about, and it is in this pursuit
that INTPs thrive.
Work as business analysts and corporate strategists is well suited to INTPs,
but they can also move things forward as data analysts, mechanical, electrical
and software engineers, and even as technical writers and journalists,
provided the field is interesting enough. If they can smile and shake hands just
long enough to establish themselves as the brilliant innovators that they are,
people with the INTP personality type will find that whatever the expectations
for social conduct, it is the qualities unique to them that are truly in demand.
INTP SUBORDINATES
Under the right conditions, INTP subordinates are innovative, resourceful, and
hard-working, easily wrapping their minds around whatever complex problems
are placed in front of them and delivering unorthodox but effective solutions.
However, these qualities require a great deal of freedom, something
stereotypical managers are loath to cede. It is difficult to quantify these
qualities on a resume - several other characteristics, like a relative indifference
to job security and to being liked, exacerbate the challenge - and it can take
time to grow to trust INTP subordinates enough to allow this latitude.
INTP personalities prefer to work alone, but at the same time they despise
"grunt-work". Their focus on conceiving new and exciting ideas and ignoring
the details of execution means that INTPs need someone alongside to keep
things in order and actually put into practice their often unrefined ideas. Such
a condition can't be forced on INTPs, but a few logically phrased criticisms
(certainly not emotional appeals or pep talks about working as part of a team)
and clever management can make it happen.
INTP COLLEAGUES
For INTPs, colleagues aren't so much a group of people who they socialize
and work with as they are a series of obstacles and diversions with
occasionally useful knowledge. Mingling, chitchat, drinks after work - these
make INTPs want to work alone, not get up in the morning. Despite this
distance, people with the INTP personality type are unusually good at
developing insightful and unbiased interpretations of others' motivations,
though sometimes they overthink it, becoming unnecessarily suspicious of
others' goals.
What they do enjoy are riddles and patterns, and any INTP would be proud to
be the guru who is sought after as arbiter on the validity of an idea, or for their
insight on how to apply a principle to novel situations. INTPs love discussing
theories, at least with "proven" colleagues, and are almost always available as
impromptu consultants. This, however, does not apply to emotional riddles
INTP MANAGERS
While INTPs don't care for managing other people, it is likely the most
rewarding position as it provides the opportunity to direct concepts and
theories while others handle the logistics. INTPs have a very tolerant and
flexible style, characterized by an openness to logical suggestions and relative
freedom for their subordinates. But this freedom comes at a cost - INTP
managers have very high standards, and they expect others to grasp their
insights instantly, and to provide their own in equal measure.
As well as their demand for innovation, INTPs are better than any other type
at noticing logical discrepancies - their tendency to ignore others' feelings
means that their criticisms often come hard and fast as they direct projects to
their own perfectionistic standards. Here again INTPs do best with a partner,
this time a delegator who can filter their thoughts and direct their team in more
socially productive ways. A liaison can also help to deter schmoozing and
attempts at emotional manipulation, a sure mistake for anyone who tries.
CONCLUSION
INTPs' intelligence and logical reasoning skills are a force to be reckoned
with. Be it a minor debate or a life-changing decision, INTPs will find it easy to
entertain multiple ideas and keep a cool head. This allows INTPs to overcome
many challenging obstacles - yet they can be easily tripped up in areas where
careful and rational thinking is more of a liability than an asset.
Whether it is finding (or keeping) a partner, making friends, reaching dazzling
heights on the career ladder or learning to make difficult decisions, INTPs
need to put in a conscious effort to develop their weaker traits and additional
skills.
What you have read so far is just an introduction into the complex concept
that is the INTP personality type. You may have muttered to yourself, "wow,
this is so accurate it's a little creepy" or "finally, someone understands me!"
You may have even asked "how do they know more about me than the people
I'm closest to?"
This is not a trick. You felt understood because you were. We've studied how
INTPs think and what they need to reach their full potential. And no, we did
not spy on you many of the challenges you've faced and will face in the
future have been overcome by other INTPs. You simply need to learn how
they succeeded.
But in order to do that, you need to have a plan, a personal roadmap. The
best car in the world will not take you to the right place if you do not know
where you want to go. We have told you how INTPs tend to behave in certain
circumstances and what their key strengths and weaknesses are. Now we
need to go much deeper into your personality type and answer "why?", "how?"
and "what if?"
This knowledge is only the beginning of a lifelong journey. Are you ready to
learn why INTPs act in the way they do? What motivates and inspires you?
What you are afraid of and what you secretly dream about? How you can
unlock your true, exceptional potential?
Our premium profiles provide a roadmap towards a happier, more successful,
and more versatile YOU! They are not for everyone though - you need to be
willing and able to challenge yourself, to go beyond the obvious, to imagine
and follow your own path instead of just going with the flow. If you want to take
the reins into your own hands, we are here to help you.