Profile: INTP
Revision: 1.71
Date of Revision: 29 May 95
=============================================================================
Introverted iNtuitive Thinking Perceiving
by Joe Butt (jabutt@sacam.oren.ortn.edu)
INTPs are pensive, analytical folks. They may venture so deeply into
thought as to seem detached and often actually are oblivious to the world
around them.
Precise about their descriptions, INTPs will often correct others (or at
least be sorely tempted to) if the shade of meaning is a bit off. This
sometimes annoying habit is at once also a strength in grammarians, a
perfect arena for the literal INTP.
INTPs are relatively easy-going and amenable to almost anything until
their principles are violated, about which they may become outspoken and
inflexible. But they usually return to a reserved albeit benign
ambiance, not wishing to make spectacles of themselves.
A major concern for INTPs is the haunting sense of impending failure. They
spend considerable time second-guessing themselves. The open-endedness (from
Perceiving) conjoined with the need for competence (NT) is expressed in a
sense that one's conclusion may well be met by an equally plausible
alternative solution, and that, after all, one may very well have overlooked
some critical bit of *data*. An INTP arguing a point may very well be trying
to convince himself as much as his opposition. In this way INTPs are
markedly different from INTJs, who are much more confident in their
competence and willing to act on their convictions.
Mathematics is a system where many INTPs love to play, similarly languages,
computer systems--potentially any complex system. INTPs thrive on systems.
Understanding, exploring, mastering, and manipulating systems can overtake
the INTP's conscious thought. This fascination for logical wholes and
their inner workings is often expressed in a detachment from the environ-
ment, a concentration where time is forgotten and extraneous stimuli are
held at bay.
INTPs and Logic -- One of the tipoffs that a person is an INTP is her
obsession with logical correctness. Errors are not often due to poor
logic -- apparent faux pas in reasoning are usually a result of *overlooking
details* or of incorrect context.
Games NTs seem to especially enjoy include Risk, Bridge, Stratego, Chess,
Go, and *word games* of all sorts. (I have an ENTP friend that loves
Boggle and its variations. We've been known to sit in public places and
pick a word off a menu or mayonnaise jar to see who can make the most
words from its letters on a napkin in two minutes.) The INTP mailing
list has enjoyed a round of Metaphore, virtual volleyball, and a few
'finish the series' brain teasers.
INTPs in the main are not clannish. The INTP mailing list, now in triple
figures, was in its incipience fraught with all the difficulties of the
Panama canal: we had trouble deciding on
1) whether or not there should be such a group,
2) exactly *what* such a group should be called, and
3) which of us would have to take the responsibility for organization
and maintenance of the aforesaid group/club/whatever.
(Other unsympathetic J types, as I recall, enjoyed the spectacle of our
earnest strivings with that old question, "To be, or not to be..." )
[Anyone who thinks (s)he is an INTP is invited to join the INTP mailing
list by sending a message to intp-request@jubjub.wizard.com with the line
subscribe intp
in the body of the letter.]
Famous INTPs:
Socrates
Rene Descartes
Blaise Pascal
Sir Isaac Newton
U.S. Presidents:
James Madison
John Quincy Adams
John Tyler
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Gerald Ford
William Harvey (pioneer in human physiology)
C. G. Jung, (Freudian defector, author of _Psychological Types_, &c.)
William James
Albert Einstein
Tom Foley (Speaker of the House--U.S. House of Representatives)
Henri Mancini
Bob Newhart
Jeff Bingaman, U.S. Senator (D.--NM)
Rick Moranis (_Honey, I Shrunk The Kids_)
Meryl Streep
Brent Spiner (Commander Data, "Star Trek -- The Next Generation")
Midori Ito (ice skater, Olympic silver medalist)
Ashley and Mary Kate Olsen (The 'Full House' twins)
Tom and Fiona (_Three Weddings and a Funeral_)
+Dr. Susan Lewis (_ER_)