Simple confirmation that you are an INTP

[Sosekopp]

Dad: "Can't you see it's a beautiful day outside! It's warm, windy, cloudless... Why don't you go on a walk? Better yet, you could go on a walk and take the dog with you! Say, what the hell are you doing, just sitting around like that?"

Me: "Thinking."

Dad: "About what?"

Me: "Stuff".

Dad: "What kind of stuff?"

Me: "I dunno."

Dad: "Like American foreign policy? lulz"

Me: "Yeah, actually I was! Isn't it interesting how... BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH"

This. I don't know how many rants on the situation in East Timor my family has had to survive.

 

[Geminii]

I used my superior intellect through dent

"dint"

Besides the tongue in cheek nature of the posts, is it me, or is the better-than-thou mentality prevalent amongst a lot of INTPs (be they pseudo, wannabe or otherwise)?

Usually with backing data, though. For most of the things we consider to matter, we often ARE better than most people (and can prove it. With charts).

 

[Audentia]

This seems like it could be a persuasive argument for abstaining from sex until getting married. Now because the word "marriage" has a lot of baggage attached to it these days, I'll define what I mean: a lifelong partnership.

I think there may be good moral arguments for keeping sex within the bounds of marriage, but I think this practical argument is far more convincing. With sex there is almost always the potential for pregnancy (excepting things like infertility, hysterectomies, etc). If you aren't committed enough to someone to make a promise to build a lifelong partnership (which I call marriage), then why would you risk forming a lifelong partnership (parenthood) with them anyway?

Excellent point.

I often think the same thing and thus have no desire to be sexually involved with anyone who would not be a good, loving father and partner to raise children with me and be committed for the long run. Being permanently attached to raising kids with a bad and/or selfish father figure would be hell.

 

[EyeSeeCold]

When you, alone, take your food and eat outside amidst the breezy wind, blowing leaves, and grey skies instead of inside a cafeteria with a loud & noisy, rambunctious crowd of people during the Senior Luncheon at your high school.

 

[pjoa09]

When you, alone, take your food and eat outside amidst the breezy wind, blowing leaves, and grey skies instead of inside a cafeteria with a loud & noisy, rambunctious crowd of people during the Senior Luncheon at your high school.

that's just very introverted.

 

[FusionKnight]

When you, alone, take your food and eat outside amidst the breezy wind, blowing leaves, and grey skies instead of inside a cafeteria with a loud & noisy, rambunctious crowd of people during the Senior Luncheon at your high school.

This is like what I would do at a job I had a few years ago. I'd leave the busy cafeteria, and head across the street to this nature preserve. I'd walk the paths, and sometimes just lie down on a bench in the tall grass, and listen to the sunshine. I wrote a little poem about it in the poetry thread.

 

[EyeSeeCold]

@pjoa09
Yea, so introverted I was the only one doing it. Introversion is not avoidance of people, it's having judgment/perception originating from the self.

 

[ScorpioINTP]

Cool avatar EyeSeeCold

 

[Unsure]

I have my doubts about how "P" I am, but I think this is very "P" .... Ex boyfriend (who I greatly suspect to be largely of SF) parting shot to me was "People aren't puzzles to be figured out!" to which I replied (without thinking how cold it sounded) "But I can't help it, it's so much fun!"

If you're out there somewhere ex, sorry, you're really great guy. Statement wasn't meant to hurt you.

 

[Jesse]

You see people as puzzles? That's kinda awesome, I see them as slight variations on the same archetype. Now where near as cool.

 

[Unsure]

You see people as puzzles? That's kinda awesome, I see them as slight variations on the same archetype. Now where near as cool.

Yeah, people, I can't quite figure them out, it leaves me with a large puzzle to be solved. I can't resist a good puzzle. ..... Actually, he should have known; he knows I like puzzles. I think this was kind of a "slap in the face" so to speak, about the way I think. I wonder if he was trying to hurt my feelings? It didn't work.

 

[indigofireflies]

When you find you can argue for practically any side, regardless of previous friendships or etc. and remain perfectly neutral.

 

[Geminii]

When I concisely summarize in five seconds what somebody just spent five

... hours, days, months...

blabbing about.

 

[nexion]

Usually with backing data, though. For most of the things we consider to matter, we often ARE better than most people (and can prove it. With charts).

This is, essentially, the most exact representation of INTP. Well, maybe when conglomerated with this:

When you find you can argue for practically any side, regardless of previous friendships or etc. and remain perfectly neutral.

 

[PhosterPhoster]

in a calcII course, the teacher had a x,y,z axis graph on the board, with a line or a plane through it (i cant remember), and then he wrote the equation for it. then he erased the x,y,z and put them on different axi, like now it was y,z,x, like essentially rotating the graph around but keeping the plane through it still. then he asked if anyone could write the new equation. a few people went to the board to try but couldn't. i went and was able to do it, but when asked, i couldnt explain why. it was purely intuitive.

 

[PhosterPhoster]

in a calcII course, the teacher had a x,y,z axis graph on the board, with a line or a plane through it (i cant remember), and then he wrote the equation for it. then he erased the x,y,z and put them on different axi, like now it was y,z,x, like essentially rotating the graph around but keeping the plane through it still. then he asked if anyone could write the new equation. a few people went to the board to try but couldn't. i went and was able to do it, but when asked, i couldnt explain why. it was purely intuitive.

now that i think about it, actually, it might have been as simple as just swapping the axi variables in the equation. that seems dumb if it was that easy. i havent done math in so long.

 

[Particle]

I can't enjoy the news like I used to when I was younger. As my INTPness has strengthened, my patience for obtaining knowledge has decreased. Often, I read a list of headlines online and feel like I've already received the important information that the corresponding story contains. This comes from years of having actually bothered to read the news articles and always being disappointed by how much they ramble on, repeating parts of themselves many times over.

"Aliens Invade Los Angeles!"

Ok. So the aliens have invaded LA. Great. Next article.

There's only so much elaboration on that point you can do. The only motivation for reading an article is that hopefully the author will include novel tidbits (entertainment themed with what the article is about) or references to other, related events/articles which can then themselves be looked up.

---

My apologies for the poor structure of this post. I'm tired and am having a hard time even getting my thoughts to "externalize" at all.

 

[digital angel]

Please don't take this the wrong way but my first thought when I saw this was"redundant." I believe there was a similar thread or question not long ago.

 

[library]

I forgot my mother's birthday this week, for the first time ever, and became kind of confused as to why she was so upset.. Like if I think about it for a while then I can see why but it didn't occur to me immediately

 

[Geminii]

now that i think about it, actually, it might have been as simple as just swapping the axi variables in the equation.

Yep, it would have been. But the point was that you were able, at that age, to intuitively grasp the correctness of the simple variable swap while everyone else in the class was stuck with approaching it as a 3D rotation. You were able to virtualize the variables themselves in a higher frame of reference rather than being stuck with them as absolutes.

Effectively, you understood that in mathematics, frames of reference are mutable and decoupled from whatever it is they are trying to describe. That's a critical bit of knowledge - that the description is not the object. Even if it's always been described in that particular way, someone else can come along and describe it using a completely different system - and it will still be correct. Not to mention that flipping reference frames is a powerful tool itself.

 

[xbox]

When you, alone, take your food and eat outside amidst the breezy wind, blowing leaves, and grey skies instead of inside a cafeteria with a loud & noisy, rambunctious crowd of people during the Senior Luncheon at your high school.

yup, then obnoxious people come by and join you later, ruining the glorious moment, "OH MY GAD, WHY ARE YOU EATING ALONE?!?!!!"



1. By the end of a 3 hour lecture, I am thinking of a really dark/twisted way of ending my life.. especially if its a class that I hate. Spending years taking classes that I hate, I have eventually become a dark/twisted person.

2. Go into hiding when people approach you with problems, and whenever there's gossip, you go to a land.. far far away..

3. 99% of the time, you're really late. 1% of the time, you're earlier than everyone else. This behavior throws people off guard.

4. Never could use a planner or list no matter how hard you tried.

5. You follow the minimum requirements of writing essays, which drive you crazy. You are great at writing abstracts though.

 

[^_\\]

this, wtf is the point of a 7 page paper about a subject that can be summarized in one or two sentences?

I (like to) think this is reason I'm so bad at essays.

 

[MissQuote]

(train of thought from the maths suff posted before, don't feel like trying to multiquote people whe it only relates sort of because it is about math)

I started flunking out of math at a very young age, around 3rd grade or so, because no matter how hard I tried I could never do the problems the "right" way, or the way they told me to do them, a teacher could explain it in detail to me and as soon as s/he walked away I couldn't comprehend the very next equation whatsoever. However, when left to my own devices, I could do most any problem thrown at me, with my own shortcuts and also long leaps around, inside my head and always get it correct. This wasn't good enough though, it never seemed to matter if I got the answer correct if I couldn't/hadn't show(n) how I arrived there, specifically if I couldn't show haw I had used "their" way to get there. But "their" ways never made any sense whatsoever.

Of course I am not talking about anything too advandced at all, just basic elementary/middle/high school math. So I stopped caring and stopped trying because I was obviously quite a dunce at it all.

Now jump up to recent years and I still feel incompetent when it comes to math much of the time, I know this is just negativity that was ingrained into me when I was younger, but even with this I have had a few very beautiful moments where I was able to "read" complex theoretical problems like a language.

I'm not sure this proves anything, maybe I guess when I consider that long division screws with my head when I'm asked to do it conventionally, yet for some reason I find myself reading these other complex articles and equations and can't understand why no one else I know is excited by the beauty I felt when the equations, even if it was briefly, made as much sense as plain english.

 

[Dimensional Transition]

I forgot my mother's birthday this week, for the first time ever, and became kind of confused as to why she was so upset.. Like if I think about it for a while then I can see why but it didn't occur to me immediately

My parents' relationship and my relationship with my mom have never been the same since me and my dad have forgotten her birthday once, it's freaking ridiculous... ESFJ mothers... It's just a stupid birthday.

 

[IzlaRoza]

my friend called me 1 day crying about how her boyfriend broke up with her... (sigh) and i wanted 2 hear what happened... immediately after she started telling me the situation i lost interest (too many feelings, no real hard evidence). When she (finally) finished telling her story I told her i bought a new jacket. & she asked got mad and asked if i heard her. and i said "yes, 2 b honest i stopped giving a shit 20 mins ago"

 

[xbox]

Haha..^ I think I've done that before.

I hate it when I do this weird thing of suddenly becoming lost within my head when someone is talking to me, when they finish talking, I snap out of it. Either, I pretend that I listened, or I ask them to repeat what they're saying, but at that point, they will just look at me weird.

 

[IzlaRoza]

Haha..^ I think I've done that before.

I hate it when I do this weird thing of suddenly becoming lost within my head when someone is talking to me, when they finish talking, I snap out of it. Either, I pretend that I listened, or I ask them to repeat what they're saying, but at that point, they will just look at me weird.

same thing with me... but only when i feel that the topic is too retarded to waste my perception on

 

[EmergingAlbert]

I remember when I first started interviewing for jobs, whenever the interviewer asked me a question I gave a five second logical response. It's why I spent over half a year unemployed.

Story of my LIFE! Job interviews are the bane of my existence.

 

[xbox]

LOL! Now it all makes sense to me.

 

[EmergingAlbert]

In my tenth grade algebra class, I had a teacher whom I believe was probably an ISTJ. We didn't get along at all. For example, he would explain how to solve a problem that has multiple solution methods using the harder method (let's call it method A).

Me (raises hand until called on): But I thought you do that problem using method B.
Teacher (staring at me with a half embarrassed, half frustrated look on his face): Albert, just listen to what I say. You can't beat me. I'm the teacher, and I'm right.

I couldn't stand him, but thankfully, my 11th and 12th grade math teachers liked me and encouraged me to use my inventive mind to find new solutions to problems.

 

[ummidk]

now that i think about it, actually, it might have been as simple as just swapping the axi variables in the equation. that seems dumb if it was that easy. i havent done math in so long.

Only just completed calc I and not entirely sure of the situation/equation but the letters are arbitrary, changing the x to a y, the y to a z, or w/e doesn't mean anything just representing it with a different variable so it should just be swapping the variables.

 

[digital angel]

Story of my LIFE! Job interviews are the bane of my existence.

I hear you.

 

[boondockbabe]

I am actually doing this all the time.Someone is talking to me on the phone, and they are really not smart. It's always some drama of some kind.-usually saddle club politics. and I just drift off.... and then I hear " are you there?" and I say
"yes...You were telling me about how jamie is a bitch and you cant stand her." and I realize... "I hate talking to theese people why do I do It?" ...and before I know it I hear "are you there?" this might happen 3 or 4 times and somehow I always remember just enough to save my ass and make it sound like I was listening.

I love talking to you guys. I'll always help everyone here any way I can. But fuck the outside world. I can't deal with all the games. Its just too draining.

 

[Citronelle]

I'm not sure how much of an INTP trait this is, but during in-class essays I usually spend a majority of the allotted time just sitting there thinking while everyone around me is writing intently. Then in the last 15-20 minutes or so, I start writing furiously and complete the essay. My teachers have often expressed their surprise because it seems like I am just sitting there spacing out, when actually I am thinking through what I want to write and composing the entire essay in my mind before writing it down.

 

[SkyWalker]

When I concisely summarize in five seconds what somebody just spent five minutes blabbing about.

Just say to them, 'get to the point'.

Saves time.

Watch out for saying that to SJ's (ESTJ's especially), they will declare you their enemy if you do that.

Even though you just want to save time, they don't!

Once an ESTJ asked me why I was so disrespectful to him, always interupting him. While I am actually totally not an interrupting-kind-of-guy, neither am I disrespectful. I was baffled by him thinking that I am disrepectful?
I was actually being very respectful by just staying awake enough to hear him, and awake enough to reply to him as intelligently as I could. If I was disrespectful I would just fall asleep, because that is what those details would naturally do to me! (this he will never get: that it took me lots of energy to hear and reply/nod to his every unneccessary detail)

While I am trying to listen to his details and trying to give intelligent/respectful answers, I probably just send small signals without me knowing it (my face telling him "please hurry up with those details, i know the conclusion already"), and he takes it very personal. i guess it is like an insult to his intelligence? without me wanting to do that.

He also couldn't handle some extraverted Ne-enthousiasm when it came to me in a conversation with all the good intentions for him, he would also see Ne-enthousiasm as interruption/enemy of his line-of-thought, as a breach in his "ESTJ-authority". only after peer approval would he say the Ne-ideas are great.

 

[NinjaSurfer]

The simple fact that I go to bed when people wake up, and get up around the time people are going to bed, for the reason that a) I can, and b) It avoids human contact.

I like option b!

 

[NinjaSurfer]

for physics class in high school, our teacher wanted us to show all our work. We had to 1st write the formula, 2nd fill in the known variables, then work it out showing each step with correct units. My work was usually numbers written in no coherent pattern all over the page with the answer circled somewhere randomly within. For simple equations, I would just write in the answer.

He took 5 points off every quiz/test for this.

Seriously, do I really need to write f=ma 3 separate times for one simple multiplication problem?

granted, when he would take me aside and ask me how i worked through the more difficult (or as I see them, paper wasting) problems, I could never actually follow what I did. But as I see it, as long as I had the correct answer circled, what's the big deal?

the only good reason I could stomach is: that they need to know you understand the material, and weren't hiding a TI-83 somewhere. Other than that, I think school policy should be very careful about "requiring students to show ALL their work." -- mostly I'm thinking about math classes... some physics I could understand that part of the "solution" is showing how you arrived.. because you could get points for doing certain things right within the problem even if you got the wrong answer... for example, say you just forgot to carry the digits a few places, physics professors will usually give you majority of the credit just for showing you understood the process to arrive at the solution, even if you jumbled up the eventual answer...

anyhoo-- my senior highschool calculus teacher got fired for being anal and docking points for not showing work, or not doing the problem exactly how she specified (I think she had "control" issues)...

 

[hilo]

This. It's what kills me in english. Every essay I write the marker replies with 'too brief on your points, more detail required'

This made me chuckle. High school was a long time ago now, but back in those (significantly more angsty) years, this pissed me off to no end. I remember getting thrown out once because I said (roughly paraphrased) "there is no way an intelligent person would go on for five pages about this crap". I was particularly bad at "revisions". I would change three things and hand it in, because I meant what I said the first time! (facepalm). I'm considerably easier to get along with now.

 

[GYX_Kid]

i remember during some metal show years ago, there was one really skinny emo looking guy doing some high kicks in the middle of the floor. something about him seemed arrogant. anyway, in this moshing culture business if you're standing there you're gonna get pushed around. he was histrionic, daring, and stupid.
i shoved the guy across the room, and he got pissed off, punched me in the face, and ran behind a crowd of people to curse at me a lot.

INTP: as my ISTP friend was all like "what happened? kick his ass!" and some guard was like "don't kick his ass" at that point i was standing there aloof, unfazed by the punch and confused. didn't know how to finish him off, or what the point of it would be. then as the crowd cleared the guy just had kind of a confused look on his face as well, also seemed slightly frustrated.

 

[Dr. Freeman]

This made me chuckle. High school was a long time ago now, but back in those (significantly more angsty) years, this pissed me off to no end. I remember getting thrown out once because I said (roughly paraphrased) "there is no way an intelligent person would go on for five pages about this crap". I was particularly bad at "revisions". I would change three things and hand it in, because I meant what I said the first time! (facepalm). I'm considerably easier to get along with now.

I always have the same problem. When I can say something in two pages when it took someone to make a weaker arguement in five, shouldn't that be rewarded instead of punished?

 

[PapyrusAirplanes]

If your mother pulls you aside to give you lectures on respecting and obeying social norms and the benefits of conformity...

..you might be an INTP.

Truth.

"Airplane... it is unacceptable to SKIP in the PARK with your 9-YEAR-OLD-BROTHER in front of TEENAGE BOYS."

"... Why? They can just suck it."



In 9th grade Biology, we were playing Jeopardy for extra credit before the final. All of the 10-point questions were related to the spelling of scientific names. At the end of class, most people had gained about 30 points, but due to spelling prowess, I'd gained 98 and an automatic A. I left class feeling like a cheater.

 

[Roran]

this, wtf is the point of a 7 page paper about a subject that can be summarized in one or two sentences?

The fuckton of details that accompanies said summary.

^ That up there.

 

[cheese]

Truth.

"Airplane... it is unacceptable to SKIP in the PARK with your 9-YEAR-OLD-BROTHER in front of TEENAGE BOYS."

"... Why? They can just suck it."

Wait... really? Skipping in the park? What on earth is wrong with that? Are you sure your mum's on the normal side of society, or is she the so-normal-yeah-I'm-so-normal-nothing-weird-about-me-I-work-my-ass-off-at-being-normal type?

I really don't see any standard social norms being deviated from. Unless you were naked. But who'd worry about that, aside from a mother?

 

[MissQuote]

Yeah, um... what mother is worried about what teenaged boys think? And what mother wants to squash that her older kid and younger kid are playing nicely together?

I think your mom sounds strange Airplane.

 

[cghhmnrtt]

I often awake from a trance, realizing that I'm driving 20 - 35 mph when I should be going faster, much faster.

Many times I fail to realize that my music is no longer playing.

 

[PirateDessa]

When I was a child at a funeral I spent my time during the wake correcting grammar from those speaking, and on the little paper listing his relatives and accomplishments.

I felt I should feel terrible about it.
Then I felt if they wanted to show him respect, maybe they should have spell checked.

And then I got grounded. At a funeral.

 

[PirateDessa]

Ex boyfriend (who I greatly suspect to be largely of SF) parting shot to me was "People aren't puzzles to be figured out!"

Undoubtably this was posted sometime back, but I can't help but say this. My ex said almost the same thing to me. Something along the lines of how I always analyse him, and I think he meant that as me being hurtful, or not really caring. I tried to explain that I wasn't trying to figure him out like some sort of puzzle, and then I shut up, because of course I was. To be fair, though, he really is an interesting person, and its hard to not watch and deduce when around him.

 

[Causeless]

I too have been accused of plagiarism. Glad I'm not alone. I should probably try to write a bit more down to earth...

"Plagiarize, how could I have plagiarized? I barely even looked at any material!"

 

[pirate]

Haha this is great. I've felt like I was the only one for way too long.

 

[Awesome_Person]

EASY!!

A somewhat disorganized, seemingly lazy person who seems like they have depression, without a specific style of clothing, and will most likely talk about something of little interest to others, if they talk at all.

DUUHH