INTPs do you have "favourite" ....things?

[AureliaSeverina]

Hi guys, I'm an evil INTJ and I find it nearly impossible to list or talk about "favourite" things like "favourite" books, music, food etc.
I've got this social skills lesson with some kids coming up tomorrow, where everyone is supposed to look at prompt cards and tell the group about their favourite things. LOL, my colleague and I are supposed to take part and model it to the kids, but I know I'll end up agonizing over every single card. I'm constitutionally unable to even answer a simple question like "What's your favourite film?" etc.
And they say INTPs can't make up their mind. I wonder whether this is because INTJs have a compulsion to give the one and only true, correct, and right answer. ??? Would an INTP just give a random answer to keep the conversation going because they could in theory give another answer another time? LOL, my INTP colleague eats the same fish and chips for lunch every Friday although it makes her sick and she eats the same soup every Monday to Thursday (because she could eat something else in theory?). My INTP friend is dead quick to choose a meal at a restaurant, but he can't make up his mind about anything 'important', whereas I cannot make up mind about what to eat and usually end up not eating much as a result.
So:
- Do INTPs have "favourites"?
- Do they change over time or remain relatively stable? (My INTP friend
seems to go through cycles of binging and disappointed romanticism)
- Do you find it easy to name your favourite books, films, games, music
etc or do you brood over it?

 

[Urraco]

- Do INTPs have "favourites"?
- Do they change over time or remain relatively stable? (My INTP friend
seems to go through cycles of binging and disappointed romanticism)
- Do you find it easy to name your favourite books, films, games, music
etc or do you brood over it?

Lol. Your intro sentence made me giggle.
Yeah, I have favorites, and it's usually pretty easy to say what they are as long as it's the #1 favorite. Anything else below that is too hard. Without blinking I can say my favorite movie is Kill Bill, favorite musician is Björk, favorite book is Sirens of Titan. I know that the "weight" of their values (to me) surpasses any other. However, if you were to ask me my top 5 movies/musicians/books it would take me FOR-EV-ERRR because now I have to figure out the value "weight" of alllllllll the other movies/musicians/books I've ever encountered just to make sure my hierarchy is accurate.

My #1 favorites do change but very very rarely. For one it's a pain to have to check new input against allllllll that I've encountered, and for two my #1 favorites usually sit much higher than even my #2. It'd be a pain to mess with that since it's familiar and comfortable. Maybe it's a random Si-digging-its-heels thing.

Relating to your colleague and her food choices, I'm similar in that regard, but I get new things half the time. I have a set of choices I like but I make sure to slowly expand them. The same soup every day? It better be damn good soup.

 

[Darby]

I find it quite difficult to choose favorites, well, not to choose them, but to say it, because my "favorites" change quickly and easily, and I end up feeling like I lied to people. I am relatively young, so I haven't had that much input to sift through, which might make it easier for me to jump around. I understand if you had more to go through that your favorites would become more static.

Relating to your colleague and her food choices, I'm similar in that regard, but I get new things half the time. I have a set of choices I like but I make sure to slowly expand them. The same soup every day? It better be damn good soup.

As for food, I have a deli where I work, we have soup, sandwiches, salads, and pizza (we also have a cold case, with kale salad and junk like that, but deciding for that stuff is too hard). Then I say "am I trying to save money?" if yes, eat pizza($2.50) or soup+rice ($3.00). If No, eat sandwich or salad. If saving money, how good is the soup/ how burnt is the pizza? choose from there. If no, then how much bread do you want? if little/none, get salad. If a lot, then choose a sandwich. I also attempt to eat our specials whenever they look good and I'm not trying to save money.

Not a ton of variety, but I try. Also, I used to just buy the same sandwich every day, so I'd say I've moved up in the world substantially.

 

[AureliaSeverina]

My #1 favorites do change but very very rarely. For one it's a pain to have to check new input against allllllll that I've encountered, and for two my #1 favorites usually sit much higher than even my #2.

My problem is that I think of e.g. all the books I haven't read yet and when someone asks me about my favourites I begin to think "How can I know which book is the one and only best book in the world when I've only read a tiny fraction of the books that exist and will never be able to read all of them?" LOL, I seem to be misunderstanding a question about my personal preference as a request to make an objective appraisal. LOL. But then I don't find myself interesting enough to understand why anyone would want to know about my own personal "favourites". *Majorly confused*
Also, it doesn't help that all my favourites are things that nobody knows anyway, so that would kill off any conversation immediately .... hang on, that could be an advantage

 

[AureliaSeverina]

Not a ton of variety, but I try. Also, I used to just buy the same sandwich every day, so I'd say I've moved up in the world substantially.

ROFL. Yep, you're nearly king of the hill

 

[lord methous]

I always hate it when asked what my favorite things is. I never really pick favorites and the thing that comes to mind will usually be something related that has been on my mind. I cant say that I ever really have a set favorite at any time. Basically I do not have any favorites.

 

[DetachedRetina]

When it's a topic I don't care about too much I'll just make something up.

But "favorite" book or "favorite" musician. Please, that changes like the weather... or like my mood ... or something else that changes a lot.

 

[Beholder]

I don't think I have any favorites.

 

[Cam]

I only have this issue with music and chosing a major.

People hold such strong views on music that it is better to simply say 'I don't like music' or 'I like most types' without going into detail. It depends on each specific song for me, not classed by an entire genre. In theory no matter what you say your taste is in music your gonna reshuffle your position in terms of thier view of you.

To be honest I dont read much. Ill read a word and get distracted in thought so it takes me months to read books, its very tedious.

Favorite movie is also Kill Bill, strange...

 

[MissQuote]

I was just getting ready to make a list of all the things I know for sure are my favorite things, not for this topic, for myself, for other reasons, actually.

By "just getting ready" I mean I decided it would be a good idea to make such a list about four months ago and it was still in my mind as something to get to eventually.

I find settling on a favorite out loud to be a bit finalistic, and therefore intimidating and probably a bad idea.

The rare times I do settle on something as my "favorite" it is usually because of some deep rooted positive memory associated with the thing.

I can name my first and second favorite flowers, and the reasons are wholly rooted in good associations from my early childhood with those flowers. I can name my favorite band, and again, it is more the association and influence and memories, starting at a young age, with that band than it is a continued love for everything new they put out. Same with my favorite movie. there are other things as well, these were just examples.

Everything else, if not catorgorized as "favorite" is put into, I guess a sort of mental graph, of "like" to more or lesser degrees. A fluid graph with lots of shifting around room.

It is much easier to say somithing is one of my favorite things than to deal with making it the favorite. Making something the favorite almost seems like setting it away from all the things in its own category and putting it into a different category of things that don't match it but have also been labeled "favorite", a much more chaotic and private category. Putting something it that category is sort of like labeling myself. This is the sort of person I am. And then what will I do if something better comes along, do I abandon a part of the what I have decided is my label and replace it with the new thing, do I make sub labels to go under already existing ones?

On one hand having a list of all my favorites seems like a good idea to me. I know I have that flower thing handled. That flower thing is under control, I don't have to worry about it. The rest gets complicated and difficult to decide on, I don't really want to decide until I see all the options.

 

[MissQuote]

My favorite movie is the original Planet of the Apes, btw.

 

[Wizardry]

I'm also an INTJ but I'm not evil, at least not intentionally. I have preferences but usually no solid "one favorite to rule them all". The key is usually if it isn't something I think is "important" then I find I have no preference and its more a matter of mood. Most of my favorites are my favorites more because I have some sort of memory attached to them.


My favorite toy was one of the original "my little pony" figures because it wasn't one of the big headed derp looking ones but had slender legs and I was fond of the colors. The main reason it was special over the years though was a few months after I got it my dad died and life changed. It is/was almost like an artifact and it reminds me of a time and things I don't want to forget. I still have it and I kept her in excellent condition. On more than one occasion I've become rather defiantly aggressive when people try to mess with her because I didn't want her getting dirty or the hair fucked up.

I was absolutely aggravating to teachers as a kid because they would put "whats your favorite color?" and I'd put down about 30 different specific colors because my mom wasn't cheap and bought me the HUGE box of crayons. On that note, I beat a kid up because he took my precious cerulean blue as its an essential color for proper ocean coloring, particularly reef pictures.

 

[Sanctum]

I have "favorite" things, but my favoritism towards them is based on feeling but just based on logic. For instance if you ask me my favorite color i would say blue but this is only because i know the feelings associated with blue i.e tranquility calmness etc. and since i feel i am like this i attach myself to that color. I say my favorite animal is an eagle because i feel that's the animal that reflects me the most not because I just love them.

 

[EyeSeeCold]

So:
- Do INTPs have "favourites"?
- Do they change over time or remain relatively stable? (My INTP friend
seems to go through cycles of binging and disappointed romanticism)
- Do you find it easy to name your favourite books, films, games, music
etc or do you brood over it?

I just binged on The Office(U.S., seasons 1-7) and now it's over.
I'm not disappointed though for some reason, I'm pretty satisfied.

So yea I do have favorites, the ones that are easy to name are my lasting favorites that can always be revisited(e.g. Black Sabbath). The ones that change all the time would be current favorites. Permanent favorites have a special meaning to me, for example music I heard during a certain event in my life.

 

[Mello]

My favourite things are Ryan Gosling and Ryan Gosling.

Spoiler

 

[Dragonmythos]

I have a wise assortment of favorite things:
My favorite star is the Sun.
My favorite color is blue.
My favorite scent is wet Earth.
My favorite sight is the ocean.
My favorite person is myself.
My favorite subject is science and history.
My favorite animal is a dragon.
My favorite time period is the Roman Era.
My favorite book is The Encyclopedia of Earth.

I got more, but I think you go the point.

My interests tend to fluctuate over time. My mind needs constant stimulation.

 

[Fghw]

I have favorite things...and now i have new favorite things

 

[P.N. Guin]

I'm a cinephile, so I hate the 'what's your favourite movie?' question. Not only does it change with my mood, but I don't want to alienate the other person by naming an 'obscure' film. I've picked up a tactic from here, which is to name a film you saw recently. But once my mind went blank, struggling to recall what I saw recently, and gave an answer after an embarrassingly long pause.

The same thing happens with music, but it seems to be more acceptable to like lesser known bands, thanks to Spotify and Pitchfork and the like, but not so much with movies.

 

[Kuu]

Accept the Pness and just say "I don't have any favorites" and be done with it.

When asked to make a choice about things I find unimportant I just say "I don't know/care, you choose"

For some reason people find these things exceedingly annoying. It's actually more annoying to me because normally they won't give a shit about your answer, they just wanted an excuse to begin ranting about their thing; only when you refuse to answer do they actually care.

Extra annoyance can be added by explaining in thorough detail why you loathe whatever their favorite thing was (whether you truly think so or not).

People learn not to ask you such questions after a while.


(My favourite conversation killer is disappointing stupid social customs).

 

[Duxwing]

Hi guys, I'm an evil INTJ and I find it nearly impossible to list or talk about "favourite" things like "favourite" books, music, food etc.
I've got this social skills lesson with some kids coming up tomorrow, where everyone is supposed to look at prompt cards and tell the group about their favourite things. LOL, my colleague and I are supposed to take part and model it to the kids, but I know I'll end up agonizing over every single card. I'm constitutionally unable to even answer a simple question like "What's your favourite film?" etc.
And they say INTPs can't make up their mind. I wonder whether this is because INTJs have a compulsion to give the one and only true, correct, and right answer. ??? Would an INTP just give a random answer to keep the conversation going because they could in theory give another answer another time? LOL, my INTP colleague eats the same fish and chips for lunch every Friday although it makes her sick and she eats the same soup every Monday to Thursday (because she could eat something else in theory?). My INTP friend is dead quick to choose a meal at a restaurant, but he can't make up his mind about anything 'important', whereas I cannot make up mind about what to eat and usually end up not eating much as a result.
So:
- Do INTPs have "favourites"?
- Do they change over time or remain relatively stable? (My INTP friend
seems to go through cycles of binging and disappointed romanticism)
- Do you find it easy to name your favourite books, films, games, music
etc or do you brood over it?

My favorite things are:

1. Logic
2. Rhetoric
3. Friendship
4. Intellectual stimulation
5. Love, both romantic and familial
6. Hugs
7. The universe, in all its wonder and mystery
8. Video games
9. Wondering about all the amazing things that our future might hold
10. The themes explored in "A Symphony of Science"
11. Theorizing
12. Putting theory into practice, preferably with explosions
13. Pizza
14. Explosions in the general case
15. Fire
16. Travel at extreme velocities
17. The study of zombies

The key to creating such a list is to stop thinking and start writing. One's answers are surprisingly accurate.

-Duxwing