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"A Love Of Problem Solving"
Architect/Absent-Minded Professor/Informative Engineer/Designer (most logical)
0.75% of the total population. One of the Rationals (NT).
Quiet, reserved, impersonal. Especially enjoy theoretical or scientific
pursuits. Logical to the point of hair-splitting. Like solving problems with logic and analysis. Usually interested mainly in ideas, with little
liking for parites or small talk. Tend to have sharply defined interests.
Need careers where some strong interest can be used and useful.
Live their life: outer one more with intuition, inner one more with thinking.
See the possibilities. Value facts mainly in relation to theory. Good at
pure science, research, math, and the more complicated engineering
problems. With nontechnical interests, make scholars, teachers, abstract
thinkers in economics, philosophy, psychology, etc.
Bright, but unfocused
Apt to have insight, ingenuity, quick understanding, intellectual
curiosity, fertility of ideas about problems. More interested in
reaching solutions than in putting them into practice, which others can
do as well. Need to check out even their most attractive intuitive projects
against the facts and the limitations these impose. Otherwise may squander
their energies in pursing impossibilities.
Noticing things
Greatest precision in thought and language of all the types.
They tend to see distinctions and inconsistencies in thought and language instantaneously.INTPs detect contradictions in
statements no matter how distant in space or time the contradictory statements were produced. The intellectual scanning of INTPs has a principled quality; that is,
INTPs search for whatever is relevant and pertinent to the issue at hand. Consequently,
they can concentrate better than any other type.
What INTPs go by
Authority derived from office, position, or wide acceptance doesn't impress INTPs. Only statements that are logical and coherent carry weight. External authority per se is irrelevant. INTPs abhor redundancy and incoherence. Possessing
a desire to understand the universe, they are constantly looking for natural law. Curiosity concerning these keys to the universe is a driving force in this type.
INTPs prize intelligence in themselves and in others, but can become intellectual dilentantes as a result of their need to amass ideas, principles, or understanding
of behavior. And once they know something, it is remembered. INTPs can become obsessed with analysis. Once caught up in a thought process, that thought process seems
to have a will of its own for them, and they persevere until the issue is comprehended
in all its complexity. They can be intellectual snobs and may show impatience
at times with others less endowed intellectually. This quality, INTPs find, generates hostility and defensive behaviors on the part of others, who may describe an INTP as arrogant.
Final purpose
The world exists primarily to be understood. Reality is trivial, a mere arena for
proving ideas. It is essential that the universe is understood
and that whatever is stated about the universe is stated correctly, with coherence
and without redundancy. This is the INTP's final purpose. It matters not
whether others understand or accept his or her truths.
Unappreciated
The INTP is the logician, the mathematician, the philosopher, the scientist; any
pursuit requiring architecture of ideas intrigues this type. They should not,
however, be asked to work out the implementation or application of their models to
the real world. The INTP is the architect of a system and leaves it to others to be
the builder and the applicator. Very often, therefore, the INTP's work is not credited
to him or her. The builder and the applier gains fame and fortune, while the INTP's
name remains obscure. Appreciation of an INTP's theoretical work frequently comes posthumously -- or the work may never be removed from library shelves at all and
thus lost.
Careers
INTPs tend not to be writers or to go into sales work. They are, however, often
excellent teachers, particulary for advanced students, although INTPs don't
always enjoy much popularity, for they can be hard taskmasters. They're not good
at clerical tasks and are impatient with routine details. They prefer
to work quietly, without interruption, and often alone. If
an organization is to use the talents of an INTP appropriately, the INTP must be given
an efficient support staff who can capture ideas as they emerge and before the INTP
loses interest and turns to another idea.
Mating
INTPs take their mating relationship seriously and usually are faithful
and devoted -- albeit preoccupied at times. They aren't likely to welcome
constant social activity or disorganization in the home. In all probability,
the mate of an INTP will initiate and manage the social life. If left to his or
her own devices, the INTP male will retreat into the world of books and emerge
only when physical needs become imperative. INTPs are, however, willing,
compliant, and easy to live with, although somewhat forgetful of appointments, anniversaries, and the rituals of daily living -- unless reminded. They may
have difficulty expressing their emotions verbally, and the mate of an INTP
may believe that he/she is somewhat taken for granted. As a parent, the INTP is
devoted; they enjoy children, and are serious about their upbringing. The home
of an INTP parent is usually calm, low-key in discipline, but well run and ordered.
Weak points
INTPs deal with the environment primarily through intuition, and their strongest
quality, the thinking function, remains relatively hidden except in close
associations. Therefore, INTPs are often misunderstood, seen as difficult to
know, and seldom perceived at their true level of competency. They are
inclined to be shy except when with close friends, and their reserve is
difficult to penetrate. They are very adaptable until
one of their principles is violated. Then INTPs are not adaptable at all!
They may have difficulty in being understood by others because they tend
to think in a complicated fashion and want to be precise, never redundant in
their communications. Because their feeling qualities may be underdeveloped, they may be insensitive to the wants and wishes of others,
often quite unaware of the existance of these wants and wishes.
Morris Cox/morriscat@yahoo.com
