Did discovering you were an INTP help you?

[alien530]

I was never exactly disoriented.
But I've never felt comfortable. I've never belonged. Humans are social creatures and I have problems finding groups. I guess I've just never had a pack.
I dabbled in Buddhism once, and a monk at the temple once asked me, "What are you?"
I tried to find an answer, but all I could say was, "Human."
The monk asked, "What does that mean?"
This clued me in to my trouble finding friends. I just didn't know what I was. I know little about what it means to be human. I am many other things, (friend, son, brother) but those are all just hats. When I take of those hats, what am I?
The best I can come up with is a quote from Voltaire,

"It needs twenty years to lead man from the plant state in which he is within his mother 's womb, and the pure animal state which is the lot of his early childhood, to the state when the maturity of the reason begins to appear. It has needed thirty centuries to learn a little about his structure. It would need eternity to learn something about his soul. It takes an instant to kill him."

But I have taken of all my hats and discovered the last one. I am an Introverted iNtuitive Thinking Perceiver. That is what I am at my most basic level. Even with the rest of my life stripped away, I will act in this manner until I lose my mind. Knowing this has given me some peace.

Being an INTP has given me a group to belong to, and showed me why I have trouble finding my perfect hole in society.

Also, I have heard INTPs referred to as Architects. After mulling over this analogy, I have found it to be very accurate and helpful. In everything I do, thinking, writing, or just being, I imagine I am building a house. It must have walls, a roof, a door, windows. It must be sturdy and it must be livable. Only then can I fill the house and make it beautiful. It is very easy to organize my thoughts with clarity and insightful, and I am able to catch flaws easily.

Has discovering this aspect of your nature helped you as a person? And if so, how?

 

[Ogion]

Re: Did discovering you where an INTP help you?

I suppose for me it does not have (yet?) that much meaning, also because i find it a bit simplistic (the Type-sorting). I mean, the longer 'profiles' of INTP are surprisingly fitting, but i am a bit sceptical if the categorisation of humans into such 'boxes' is a good thing.
But then, the more i read some profiles of INTPs the more i find fitting descriptions, sometimes it is like "I never knew that, but it fits". So sometimes there are things i discover as something which describes me, but that i did not actively knew before.

If i read your post, i see, that you call the "INTP-ness" as another hat. I suppose i would see it as beneath the last hat, there is just plain you (and me, in my case).
I think it is not all bad to have some hats. It gives rolemodels for living with other humans, but it is important to know of these hats (to stay in that analogy).

Ogion

 

[Jules]

Re: Did discovering you where an INTP help you?

Well, it's helped in the sense that I'm comforted by the thought that there's more people who think in a similar way as I do. Or at least I think you do, maybe that's what's comforting.
Being INTP has little to do with that. Well, perhaps that it might be less easy to find people who think alike.

 

[Jordan~]

Re: Did discovering you where an INTP help you?

It's helped me insofar as I realise now that there are others like me. I don't think I know any other INTPs in real life, maybe not even any introverts - all those who might be introverted seem to have a desire to be around other people, and with the one possible introvert I know communication is difficult due to social politics. Also, it's helped me understand myself.

 

[alien530]

Re: Did discovering you where an INTP help you?

and with the one possible introvert I know communication is difficult

yeah, communication between two introverts is always hard. cause, you know. we're introverts

 

[Jordan~]

Re: Did discovering you where an INTP help you?

It's a bit more complicated than that, basically we used to be friends via an ENFP who fell out with her. School makes for a great deal of politics.

 

[alien530]

Re: Did discovering you where an INTP help you?

True, true.

I find it tough when I really want to hang out with someone, but I never seem to be able to.

 

[loveofreason]

Re: Did discovering you where an INTP help you?

Discovering the MBTI helped me realise that my way of being in the world was as legitimate as any other.

 

[Jordan~]

Re: Did discovering you where an INTP help you?

I already realised that and indeed elevated it above any others. :P

 

[CowSavior]

Re: Did discovering you where an INTP help you?

XD, I wrote a good two paragraphs, then realised I was trolling...

So I erased it.

Realising that I was an INTP didn't really help me to do anything productive, other than to realise that it was my nature to be socially awkward.

But, somehow, I just decided I didn't want to be socially awkward anymore, so I'm not.

It just seems that way sometimes, though, if I don't care to talk, or something like that.
(Still trolling)

 

[Jordan~]

Re: Did discovering you where an INTP help you?

Deciding that you don't want to be socially awkward sounds odd. An INTP ought to not mind being socially awkward, and have no real desire to be able to interact confidently with more than a small group of close friends. Maybe you're just not very introverted.

 

[Vrecknidj]

Re: Did discovering you where an INTP help you?

Deciding that you don't want to be socially awkward sounds odd. An INTP ought to not mind being socially awkward, and have no real desire to be able to interact confidently with more than a small group of close friends. Maybe you're just not very introverted.

I don't know that the word "ought" here is correct. Why can't anyone not want to feel socially awkward? I don't understand that just because someone is a member of a type, and that members of that type tend to be stereotyped a certain way, implies that members of that type "ought" to fulfill that stereotype.

And I certainly object to this particular use of "introverted."

Dave

 

[Ermine]

Re: Did discovering you where an INTP help you?

Knowing that I'm INTP has and hasn't helped me. Now I know why I am the way I am and why I don't fit in, and know what's going on in the frequent arguments with my ESTJ mom. However, knowing I'm INTP and having my own online community gives me less motivation to adapt to the world I live in, which is a bit of an obstacle in my already struggling social life.

 

[creepingcharlie]

Re: Did discovering you where an INTP help you?

I took a trip down memory lane as I read the description at INTP.org. Suddenly I was thinking about many different incidents, types of behavior, and the dynamics of my past relationship. A webpage written by someone I have never met had me slack-jawed at the accuracy it had picking out many of my personality quirks.

It has helped me understand who I am and will probably help me diffuse problems that are common with INTPs in future interactions.

On the negative side, I can see myself potentially falling more into INTP habits if I'm not careful.

 

[Jordan~]

Re: Did discovering you where an INTP help you?

I don't know that the word "ought" here is correct. Why can't anyone not want to feel socially awkward? I don't understand that just because someone is a member of a type, and that members of that type tend to be stereotyped a certain way, implies that members of that type "ought" to fulfill that stereotype.

And I certainly object to this particular use of "introverted."

Dave

I'm using "ought" to mean that it defies the MBTI's predictions, not that it's in any way wrong. Just saying that the test was probably inaccurate, and indeed, the person it was in reference to took it again and got ENTP instead. It's possible he's (she's?) xNTP.

Introverts

• are interested in their own thoughts and feelings
• need to have own territory
• often appear reserved, quiet and thoughtful
• usually do not have many friends
• have difficulties in making new contacts
• like concentration and quiet
• do not like unexpected visits and therefore do not make them
• work well alone

Most of these describe what we might term "social awkwardness". Essentially, choosing not to be socially awkward is choosing not to be an introvert - if you make small talk easily, empathise well with others, know how to act accordingly in any social situation, get along well with almost anyone, etc. you're probably an extravert.

Perhaps we just have different ideas of what it is to be socially awkward.

 

[Saturnine]

Re: Did discovering you where an INTP help you?

I just know I don't feel as lonely when I come to this forum. I'm still tryin to understand myself but that's gonna take time and I probably never will (fully) understand what the hell went wrong lol

 

[KaizerS]

Re: Did discovering you where an INTP help you?

I took a trip down memory lane as I read the description at INTP.org. Suddenly I was thinking about many different incidents, types of behavior, and the dynamics of my past relationship. A webpage written by someone I have never met had me slack-jawed at the accuracy it had picking out many of my personality quirks.

It has helped me understand who I am and will probably help me diffuse problems that are common with INTPs in future interactions.

On the negative side, I can see myself potentially falling more into INTP habits if I'm not careful.

I'm still going through this process and its almost uncanny relative accuracy and the almost revelation about things I already 'knew' aspect of it.

 

[EditorOne]

Re: Did discovering you where an INTP help you?

"Also, I have heard INTPs referred to as Architects. After mulling over this analogy, I have found it to be very accurate and helpful. In everything I do, thinking, writing, or just being, I imagine I am building a house. It must have walls, a roof, a door, windows. It must be sturdy and it must be livable. Only then can I fill the house and make it beautiful. It is very easy to organize my thoughts with clarity and insightful, and I am able to catch flaws easily."

You can take it a bit farther.

It means you also, probably, would see value in putting a door in a spot where people using it would be exposed to a vista you think valuable, rather than standing at a door at another location trying to convince them to come look. That's obviously simplified, but really: If you can get structure to funnel results, that's the way you'll go. If form follows function, we're the folks trying to use form to enhance, modify or otherwise affect function. We tend toward looking at problems as defective systems or processes rather than defective people, which really helps the people involved adapt solutions.

See, it's not all bad. :-)

And, yes, grasping the terms and definitions has been a great help understanding myself.

 

[grrreg]

Has is helped me to know that there's this behavior pattern called INTP?
hmm...it's helped me to understand that I have a frame of reference for a lot of things I've noticed about myself before, as well as what other people have undoubtedly noticed about me.
I guess having an idea of what you tend to do can help you be more objective about why you may be doing something. Of course I don't use the classification system to limit myself and what I can do in a given situation either. I think that's just unfair to yourself and what may really be in your best interests.
Too much of anything is not a good thing.
I don't tend to open up to a person unless the circumstance is comfortable, but when it is, I have no real problem doing so. I wouldn't call myself socially awkward, I would call myself less socially desiring of other people in general.
But when I want to I can be just as easy with a group of people as anyone else there, sometimes much more so. It's good to know what your limits tend to be but never to just voluntarily accept them.
So, short answer , yes.

 

[Agent Intellect]

i think the best part was just knowing that i'm not just crazy, to know that there ARE other people who think like me (as pretty much everyone i know is a lot different, definite extroverts).

on the other hand, i often find myself now attempting to categorize everyone i meet into the MBTI categories, and just as whats been proven in this thread, the description of the categories is not 100% completely accurate everytime. i don't like generalizing or stereotyping people. not only that, but i've always been very into "self diagnosing" myself as far as my psychology go's, and yet no matter how many (very accurate) descriptions i read about INTP's, i'll never feel satisfied.

 

[fullerene]

fernando + charlie + Agent Intellect = My response

 

[Artifice Orisit]

I am an INTP, I'm proud of it
I found this forum, I enjoy it
In summary I find the INTP classification beneficial

 

[Leafknight]

Discovering I was an INTP relieved me of a great deal of the feeling that I was just some sort of mental deviant. I mean I cannot count the multitude of times friends or loved ones have heard me comment on something (usually after a vast, convoluted cerebral exercise/examination of the thing being commented on of course) and said things like, "Where DO you come up with this stuff?" All the while of course looking like they think I'm both entertaining...and crazy.

It has also helped my family because my wife (INFP) and my daughter (ENTJ) have discovered a sort of "roadmap" for our common disagreements and relations.

On the down side, I think I'm guilty of depending on it TOO much. The original creators of the behaviour types freely pointed out that they were just generalizations and that most people drifted between the various letters a bit from time to time or as effected by situational/environmental, etc. pressures.

 

[Agent Intellect]

i think as time go's on, its becoming a bigger and bigger problem to me, to be quite honest. i keep vindicating my behavior with "well, i'm INTP, its just how i am" now.

 

[grey matters]

Learning I am an INTP helped me accept the way I am, and helps to explain certain behaviors I sometime exhibit, such as brutal honesty. Learning that NT personalities are about 10% of the population helped explain why communication of ideas is so difficult for me. Learning that INTP is very rare in women helps to explain why I feel so out of place in large gaggles of women.

 

[Friar Pug Rush]

I don't know that discovering I'm an INTP helped me... but it did help me find this place, which is pretty cool.
I think the biggest reason I'm hesitant to say it's helpful is because I believe that it's more or less transitional... Since highschool, I've gone through at least two dramatic personality changes. I started out ENFP, the champion. I still exhibit ENFP traits at times, but I think what happened is I changed the way I think from Knowing the inside from the outside to Learning the outside from the inside, if that makes sense...
I don't think of my personality typing as helpful in any real way, other than keeping track of the mutiple incarnations of myself. Anyway, they're just generalizations in the first place, which makes them easy to subscribe to, but makes me very cautious that I don't change myself to fit inside those generalizations.