How many INTPs do you know?

Ex-User (221) · Mar 26, 2008

I mean personally know, not through forums. I was just wondering because I don't know any and the way I worked it out anyones chances are less than 1:100.

INTPs account for less than 1% of the population(we'll be nice and round it up to 1)

Total world population=about 6,700,000,000(6.7 billion)

1% of 6,700,000,000=67,000,000(67 million)

Ratio of INTPs to other types=67,000,000:6,700,000,000=1:100(obviously)

So, if statistics are to be believed, you'd need to know 100 people to know 1 other INTP(assuming you arn't the 1 in that 100) and being the "introverted" type I'd think having 100 friends is a feat in it's own.

Better than a million to one, but still not great...

And while we're at it, does anyone else ALWAYS think of the most complicated way to do something first? Like I did back there with the ratios?

Vrecknidj · Mar 26, 2008

Quite a few, actually. Partly, this is because of work (I teach and so know some other INTP teachers). But, also I happen to have several friends who are INTPs. And, one of my sons is an INTP.

Dave

Cabbo Pearimo · Mar 26, 2008

Two; my brother and another friend.

Different dave.

Wisp · Mar 27, 2008

You're a dave? I'm a David. Coolness. I know... 3 INTPs and a borderline INTX

Alie · Mar 27, 2008

As far as I know, I know one INTP and he is in this forum!!

Wisp · Mar 27, 2008

Whom?

Alie · Mar 27, 2008

craze_sniper...he is my guitar teacher and the one who told me about this!

Chimera · Mar 27, 2008

I don't know anyone in "real life" who's an INTP. And believe me, I'm looking for them.

WildC · Mar 27, 2008

I can't say I know anyone who's an INTP either.
I know a couple of IXXXs, but most of my friends seem to be EXXX for some reason.
Online, it's a completely different story.

Wisp · Mar 27, 2008

Ahhh... craze_sniper. I've only seen him in about one thread. Is he/she always that nature conscious?

Cabbo Pearimo · Mar 27, 2008

Of course. Although if they play guitar they can't be too fond of trees.

I know a good few EXXXs as well as IXXXs. I know two UXXXs and one MEXX.

Alie · Mar 27, 2008

Why is it you cant be nature conscious and play the guitar at the same time?

Just asking!

EditorOne · Mar 27, 2008

My wife is an INTJ. So, I believe, is my editorial page editor. INTXs in journalism seem to be pretty rare, and we have to "fake" E so much a lot of folks don't believe the I is in there. I suspect Bartlett of Bartlett and Steele, the reporting team that won Pulitzers for the Inquirer a few years back, was an INTP (and the other one was an S, accounting for the wealth of detail in the stories. One gathered interesting details; the other explained the pattern of official corruption those details supported. Some kind of symbiosis.) Pretty sure I don't know, for sure, any other INTPs in person, which is why this forum is such a hoot. We're almost parodies of ourselves in here. :-) I meant that in a good way. The ability to read what someone is saying in here and 'get it' when the rest of the world would be flummoxed or appalled is quite joyful for me.

WildC · Mar 27, 2008

Alie, I believe it was a simple pun on how guitars are made from wood, nothing more.

Yes EditorOne, I agree for the most part, but there are also a lot of simple puns and sarcasm that is completely misinterpreted. I guess it can be troublesome to feature your own brand of sarcasm in a forum where people tend to take what's written at face value? I know my own sarcasm doesn't usually make it all the way to the recipient.

Alie · Mar 27, 2008

Oh, haha..I sometimes seem to be literal in my thinking. Thank you for clearing that up WildC!

Wisp · Mar 27, 2008

Its not something wrong, it just seems that he lives in the "green" threads...

Cabbo Pearimo · Mar 28, 2008

And yet he's too good to fashion a guitar out of wild berries.

Ermine · Mar 28, 2008

I don't know any INTPs so far as I know.

Wisp · Mar 28, 2008

That sucks...

LastRailway · Mar 30, 2008

I don't know any INTP either, in real life. I know a few NTs (possibly, I think a friend of mine might be an ENTJ and I think I know another ENTJ plus an ENTP).
The closest type to INTP I know is an ISTP friend. I am fairly sure of his type, he seems to be rather textbook ISTP and the shared Ti helps a lot to the communication.
Most people I know are SJs or SPs. And most of them extroverts.

Kianara · Mar 30, 2008

I know two definite INTPs, but that's it as far as I know. I know a startlingly large number of INTJs though. At least a half dozen.

mindovermatter · Mar 30, 2008

never met another in person- do think i have met my "soul sister" on another forum. same likes and dislikes, we sort of finish each other's sentences- she even has the frequent bizarre dreams

p.s. if my avatar offends i will gladly remove it- i am fond of bender

Death · Mar 30, 2008

I don't know any INTP either,I know one INTJ and one loud extraverted ENxx.I t's quite hard to spot INTP in the wild,the only way I think is to talk to them and spot the 'uncertainty' that lives within us.

mumblin · Mar 30, 2008

I dont even know what any of the letters in INTP stand for..but I wish it was PNTI instead cause that woud almost be meaningful

farlda · Mar 30, 2008

I don't know any other INTPs, I don't think. I know one INTJ, who is a pain, two ESFPs, which is good, since we're meant to get along best with them, but most people I know just seem to be enigmas, at least while I'm not certain of each types' characteristics.

Linsejko · Mar 30, 2008

We're meant to get along best with ESFP's?

Really?

Really?

hmm...

How does that work?

--

I know one other INTP. He's significantly younger than me. Maybe I know another one, who lives several hundred miles away (for now), and whom I see very occasionally.

I feel like you are missing a factor, though. Having 200 friends is one thing, but encountering 200 people is quite another. One would assume INTP's would have better 'sticking power' when they meet, because they would intrigue one another.

Still, though, I concede the odds are not in our favor.

>

.L

Wisp · Mar 31, 2008

One has to keep their eyes peeled to find one who's most important social characteristic is not to be noticed...

Cabbo Pearimo · Mar 31, 2008

A friend's a friend. You can figure the rest out later.

Wisp:
Depends on how smart they are at it. You'd notice a 'weirdo' instantly, but someone who blends in with the crowd?

Wisp · Apr 3, 2008

Ah, true. Some of us ARE really obvious... I'm prob'ly one of those...

Cabbo Pearimo · Apr 3, 2008

I'm not one to judge my outward appearance, so I'll leave it to them. What? I'm a weirdo and you don't like me? Oh, well...

loveofreason · Apr 7, 2008

In real life, one other.

mm1991 · Apr 10, 2008

Zero.

whojgalt · Apr 29, 2008

I work with one now, and another who is ENTP with a borderline E, so he's close. The three of us have been talking a lot about this, and have been trying to learn how to be J when we need to. The ENTP guy has been fairly successful at it. I have another friend who is. One of my best friends in high school had to have been one, though I didn't know about it then, and another might be. A lot, if not most, of the people I know well outside of family are NT.

Radioactive_Springtime · May 2, 2008

my best friends an INTJ, which is pretty cool, but I don't think I know any other INTPs.

CowSavior · May 2, 2008

I'm not sure that I know many other INTP's, but if I had to guess, I'd say about three.
But a great majority of my freinds is Introverted.

Jesin · May 3, 2008

Sure, we may be about 1% of the population, but that doesn't mean that only 1% of our friends would be INTP.

Or do you pick your friends at random?

Olba · May 4, 2008

Jesin said:
Sure, we may be about 1% of the population, but that doesn't mean that only 1% of our friends would be INTP.

Well, this is true to some extent. However, INTPs find themselves best fit with another INTP. Though I do not know about the classifications of anyone I know offline, two of my best online acquintances both happen to be INTP and I get really well along with them.

Or do you pick your friends at random?

With some theory about probabilities under my belt, I can say that whether we pick them at random or not does not matter. Actually, we never pick them at random, as there is always some thing about a "friend" that attracts us. However, in theory, the percentages start coming true after the numbers get really big. For example, taking a sample of 10 friends tells us nothing. Then, let's take 100 friends. That gives us a rough idea of what it should be, but is still very inaccurate. Take 1 000 and you're decently close to the truth. However, to get an accuracy that pleases all parties, you would need 10,000 or 100,000 friends. Which, by any means, isn't realistic.

Also, there is a problem of existentialism that rises its ugly head rather quickly. Is someone an INTP if they've never been tested? Does someone become an INTP only after they're tested and the result is INTP? Yes, the more classic example would be "does a tree that falls in an empty forest make a sound?", but the idea is the same.

In my case, I don't know since most of my friends don't have a clue about the whole MBTI system. Heck, even my psychology teacher has barely heard of the thing. Or at least so he seemed when I asked about Jung during a lesson.

And while we're at it, does anyone else ALWAYS think of the most complicated way to do something first? Like I did back there with the ratios?

I've been told that I tend to do a lot of things differently, usually via the worst possible way, especially in maths. Also, I tend to over-think things. That is, I think something is more complicated than it is and then end up discarding the simple-looking solutions as too simple.

Aphasia · May 5, 2008

INTPs: My sister (I made a mistake in an earlier post), perhaps my older brother, and a classmate who's (amazingly) quieter than I am (this is a guess).

@Olba: For the tree-in-forest question, for me the answer is yes. Just because I can't sense or somehow know something doesn't mean it doesn't exist. And about the complicated thinking bit, sometimes I find elegantly simple conclusions, sometimes I get everyone else as confused as I am. Must be common.

Radioactive_Springtime · May 5, 2008

My best friend comes up with ideas (INTJ) and I troubleshoot (INTP). although im completely sure i havnt taken the time to fully understand Meyers Briggs typing

Wisp · May 5, 2008

Read Gifts Differing by Isabel Briggs-Meyers. Comprehension dawns with completion of the book.

CowSavior · May 6, 2008

Oh my God, Ashley Olsen is an INTP...

I kinda don't want to be one anymore...

Wisp · May 7, 2008

OLSON TWINS??!?! KILL!!!!!!

</badreference>

Ermine · May 7, 2008

All I can say is that Ashley Olsen is a very good actor. She doesn't come off as INTP at all.

Radioactive_Springtime · May 7, 2008

Zakai-388 said:
Oh my God, Ashley Olsen is an INTP...

I kinda don't want to be one anymore...

What about Bob Saget?

cohlinn · May 26, 2008

I know of two. A classmate that I've connected in some strange level in high school, by strange, I mean unlike my other NF and SJ friends. We've known each other for more than 15 years before we found out about MBTI (independently) and that we were both the only INTPs in a class of 50.

The other one is my ex-boss. So far, he is the only boss I really respect and hold in high regard and we still remain close friends after I left the company. (I generally think my bosses are ID10Ts. Is this generally true for most INTPs?). Anyway, this INTP CTO found MBTI about a year after I knew him and had everyone in our department tested. Turns out 95% of the R&D dept are NTs or NFs. Rather significant, considering that all the hirings are done by two people, an INTP and an ENTJ.

Olba said:
In my case, I don't know since most of my friends don't have a clue about the whole MBTI system. Heck, even my psychology teacher has barely heard of the thing. Or at least so he seemed when I asked about Jung during a lesson.

Heh. I'm taking part-time Psych BSc and Jung is barely mentioned and if he ever appears, is quickly brushed aside or trivialized. The irony is, compared to Psych students/teachers, more people in the Arts, esp Literature, are aware of Jung and his theories and willing to discuss/apply them.

Cathy

Ermine · May 26, 2008

cohlinn said:
Heh. I'm taking part-time Psych BSc and Jung is barely mentioned and if he ever appears, is quickly brushed aside or trivialized. The irony is, compared to Psych students/teachers, more people in the Arts, esp Literature, are aware of Jung and his theories and willing to discuss/apply them.

Cathy

Yeah, I've noticed that a lot in literature. From what I've read from Shakespeare, he was way ahead of his time with his knowledge of psychology.

Radioactive_Springtime · Jun 1, 2008

Recently found out that my social group consists of 2 INTJs another INTP and several other introverts

Frosty · Jun 2, 2008

I interact with a lot of chess players. Overwhelmingly they are *NT* types, and around 50% are either INTJ or INTP (based on about 30 online MBTI tests done). In this circle of acquaintances I've found 3 other INTPs.

ThreeMostAlways · Jun 2, 2008

One I think.
And I'm not entirely sure she's an INTP.

zxc · Jun 23, 2008

How many INTPs do you know?

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