Strong Te & Ni in INTP's?

[Razare]

I feel these two functions are fairly developed within me, to an equal extent as Ti and Ne. It makes me wonder if other INTP's have well developed Ni and Te or not?

Strangely, I no longer use Ni or Te much anymore. Te is nice for school projects that have to be accomplished by a deadline, and Ni occasionally gives me some epiphany, like integrating two different ideas into one, creating a new idea from it (that I forget about 5 minutes later).

For the most part, these functions are in a closet collecting dust. I guess I see why they're not part of the INTP personality, without the desire to act upon thought and carry it forward, Te is of little use since it mainly deals with organizing and implementing. Ni, I might use once in a while, it's what gives me a vision of the future with a surety about it. It's nice for stock trading too. I've noticed the INTP type is supposed to be the nitpicker of details, to a certain extent... always seeing another angle to the situation and pointing out the flaw in one's plan, but never really deciding on what course should be taken. Perhaps this is lack of Ni, because honestly, I've never had this problem. I can usually resolve the best course despite any logical faults it may have, which may be Ni at work.

To me it would seem that perhaps other INTP's might have these functions developed and just don't use them. I think the introverted or extroverted version of each lends itself to developing the opposite. Perhaps the process is the same in the brain, just its application differs?

 

[Beat Mango]

Well you said you used to be an INTJ, so I'm not surprised you have the Ni and Te. I don't like Te/Ni tbh, they interfere with my Ti/Ne. See I would say the opposite of you, I would say that Ni and Te take care of details, ie, the manifestation of what Ti/Ne already came up with. Other people find that to be the "beef", the main thing, but I find it to be extraneous.

But I'm not quite sure I fully understand Ni anyway.

 

[Razare]

Yeah I have trouble distinguishing the two N's, to me it feels like the same thing.

 

[brain enclosed in flesh]

Yeah I have trouble distinguishing the two N's, to me it feels like the same thing.

Definitely not to me. I have very little Ni. I'm all possibilities with no clarity. Ni seems to determine the correct course, the proper option, if I understand it correctly. It's like a voice in your head saying, 'this is it,' without wavering while Ne- wavers.

 

[Enne]

I guess this kind of ties in with the other thread I started about not having the witty gun out when it's needed, but I was thinking a lot about my thinking / learning / understanding style. I tend to do something like this;


memorize for the time being (to get by / fake understanding) = > internalize information = > subconsciously think about information & make novel connections = > unexpectedly pop out answer / solution.

Having a better developed Ni, or just faster Ti/Ne integration would help, especially since I have such a poor handle on the time frame in which the understanding / solution occurs.

 

[Ermine]

Well, I've always had moderately strong Ni according to various function tests, though my Te has always been pathetic (up there with Se and Fe). But I think this is all because I'm a very strong introvert, and therefore more comfortable with any and all introverted functions.

However, I do have my INTJ moments when I'm in production mode, just adopting more of a leadership role, getting brilliant solutions out of the blue, etc. However, I don't have a conscious handle on any of an INTJ's functions.

 

[Razare]

Ermine, do your Ne and Ni get along? I think mine argue a lot.

Definitely not to me. I have very little Ni. I'm all possibilities with no clarity. Ni seems to determine the correct course, the proper option, if I understand it correctly. It's like a voice in your head saying, 'this is it,' without wavering while Ne- wavers.

I guess I see their difference now that you put it like that. I generally see all possibilities, and know which is right, but there's also this overwhelming sense that nothing is right because it is all relative. I can poke holes in what I know is right, but this doesn't prevent me from moving forward with it, it just causes me to move forward more cautiously with contingencies in mind.

I've found myself thinking at times how I believe in something, but at the same time do not believe in it in a scientific way because the evidence is faulty. Like two functions stepping on each other's toes.

Yet, I don't know, it's kinda handy. Ni is forced to walk along carefully evaluated paths, using Ti to do the evaluation because Ne is always there throwing out the what-if scenarios that can force Ti to rethink the entire concept. If one of Ne/Ti's thunder strokes topples Ni's vision, it's forced to construct a new foundation from scratch, usually around Ne's derailment that withstood the test of Ti, yet Ni takes this new vision further than Ti would normally allow. It's like, I have many deeply held beliefs, but evidence to the contrary forces me to re-evaluate those beliefs regularly. The more permanent concepts are the ones that withstand repeated testing.

 

[Liontiger]

My Ni isn't terribly developed. I just don't really have use for it or a desire to use it, really. Te on the other hand is, as you said, very helpful when doing schoolwork. I've actually developed this quite a bit and use it when organizing essays. I also have this weird habit of making tables and charts. (My shopping list is in an Excel spreadsheet, the items categorized and priced.) Now, whether or not I implement any of the charts I make is another story.

 

[Ermine]

Ermine, do your Ne and Ni get along? I think mine argue a lot.

The functions don't seem to come in contact enough to argue. And if I had to guess, my Ni is partly a result of Ti and Ne working together. Since that is usually the case, my Ni is mostly unconscious. Since I only deliberately use my Ne, there isn't much arguing to be done. For me, Ni is picking the right idea out of a huge selection of ideas (Ne) on the first attempt using my Ti.

 

[echoplex]

I can do Te pretty well if I want to, I just rarely ever want to. It can be useful but it also seems quite boring to me.

I like Ni though. I'm fairly developed with it, although not as much as Ne. I often find that I don't trust it enough. I'll have a hunch about something but I won't trust it at all. Then, sure enough, things turn out JUST like I imagined they would and I'm kicking myself for not trusting my hunch. I think this is where Ti-Ne can become a problem. They don't like being told "this is the answer!" prematurely. They like to scour the entire universe for all possibilities and then triple-scan that information for accuracy.