What makes you any different?

[Ex-User (5841)]

Differences...

The spoiler in my sig highlights a lot of this from a cognitive perspective. I embrace my mental status and am known to brandish it as well as my past troubles on occasion for use as a case study and a counter against what essentially amounts to discrimination.

I can't stand to eat watermelon, I routinely lie in neutral and/or beneficial circumstances, I hardly ever experience guilt, I've traveled quite the path of political ideology, I'm skinny and fat though prefer the term "athletically challenged," I'm a bit of a carefree lost puppy, and I'm certain I've measured more squirrel testicles than anyone else here.

 

[Solitaire U.]

I imagine a hardline Christian would say much the same thing, in a completely different way of course

What's the difference between a hardline Christian and a hardline INTP?

Besides praying to a different dog, nothing.

 

[Nezumi]

I don't write like other intp's.
I grew up in a very xSxJ based family. My brother is the closest to me, being a ISTP. But he's still a very concrete thinker. Both my parents were very pushy for me to be like them so I had to learn to mimic it. They were divorced My xSFJ father hating me acting like my ESTJ mother...and visa versa.
I also can't spell to save my life. Letters just mix up wrong in my head, even if I know the word and definition just fine. So I often forgo using larger words that a grammar nazi will end up correcting(if my spell check can't figure out what I'm trying to say), in place of smaller ones that have the same meaning/idea.
This has led to other internet intp's typing me as other types rather then my own....which is frustrating.

I'm ok at math but I hate it.
Logical expression is fun and there is even logical rules that don't need to be questioned because they stand on their own merit. Plus patterns! I love patterns! And yet...I hate math. I should love it....Everything points to yes. Others of my 'kind' do. But I'm broken. lol Maybe it's because the projected outcome can always be perceived...and I get bored if I'm doing the same thing over and over or can guess the answer right too many times in a row?

I seem to be in more touch with my Fe then most INTPs for my age.
but this may be an overdose of having a well adjusted INTJ for a boyfriend and a hippy INFP for a best friend. The latter is my savior when my emotions decide to crash down on me suddenly.

I talk more then most INTP's seem to in real non-internet life
I realized long ago that people have knowledge and if I talk to them for long enough I can learn it. But I also realized that means small talk. ugg. So I fake being social with people for knowledge's sake.

 

[Chad]

I don't write like other intp's.
I grew up in a very xSxJ based family. My brother is the closest to me, being a ISTP. But he's still a very concrete thinker. Both my parents were very pushy for me to be like them so I had to learn to mimic it. They were divorced My xSFJ father hating me acting like my ESTJ mother...and visa versa.
I also can't spell to save my life. Letters just mix up wrong in my head, even if I know the word and definition just fine. So I often forgo using larger words that a grammar nazi will end up correcting(if my spell check can't figure out what I'm trying to say), in place of smaller ones that have the same meaning/idea.
This has led to other internet intp's typing me as other types rather then my own....which is frustrating.

I'm ok at math but I hate it.
Logical expression is fun and there is even logical rules that don't need to be questioned because they stand on their own merit. Plus patterns! I love patterns! And yet...I hate math. I should love it....Everything points to yes. Others of my 'kind' do. But I'm broken. lol Maybe it's because the projected outcome can always be perceived...and I get bored if I'm doing the same thing over and over or can guess the answer right too many times in a row?

I seem to be in more touch with my Fe then most INTPs for my age.
but this may be an overdose of having a well adjusted INTJ for a boyfriend and a hippy INFP for a best friend. The latter is my savior when my emotions decide to crash down on me suddenly.

I talk more then most INTP's seem to in real non-internet life
I realized long ago that people have knowledge and if I talk to them for long enough I can learn it. But I also realized that means small talk. ugg. So I fake being social with people for knowledge's sake.

I can relate to a lot of this. The bad spelling and being more social then most INTP.

For me I am selectively social and yes normally as a social experiment and normally with strangers. I have some long term experiments going on with people I know but its harder because if they figure out I am just using them to gain incite they feel uncomfortable around me and I which makes my social experiment explode in my face. This is why I much rather talk to a completely stranger. I don't find small talk that hard. I am normally very honest and upfront with complete strangers and most of the time the open right up.

However, I am not very in-touch with me Fe even though some times I wish I was. This is most likely due to psychological boundaries that I put up as a child to deal with some rather horrific memories feelings.

 

[Nezumi]

However, I am not very in-touch with me Fe even though some times I wish I was. This is most likely due to psychological boundaries that I put up as a child to deal with some rather horrific memories feelings.

Don't worry. My Fe only thrives because I live with a ton of NF's as roommates in a comunity house. So i watch their patterns and try to avoid them. ^.^ Before living at this house it wasn't even really on the stack. Instead it was let to run wild. It hid most of the time and secretly cause heavy bouts of depression. lol

 

[Hawkeye]

I can relate to a lot of this. The bad spelling and being more social then most INTP.

Your spelling isn't bad, you just use a lot of homophones like when you spelt "followed" as "fallowed". I can see why you spell words the way you do.

This quirk makes you different

 

[EyeSeeCold]

You're only as different as you want to be. Individuals may want to express their personalities in interaction, but in preferring a social group you highlight your similarities with certain people.


So I don't know. I post here but it all still seems vague.

 

[Hawkeye]

Everyone is different, however people have similarities (which differs from being the same).

 

[BigApplePi]

If you have ever been in a forest you will find all the trees are alike in that they are trees. All want nourishment. Yet every tree is different. Even the clones are different because each gets sun from a different perspective.

I just saw the film, "Life of Pi." Have you seen it? The hero was exposed to many religions and if I have it right, bought them all. Religions tell a story. Science explores reality. Those are different things and occupy different dimensions. Are you after what reality is like, or do you want to hear a good story? The latter was asked at the end of the movie.

 

[Polaris]

imo, it's naive to think that any one person is that much different from all the rest. Pieces of each of us are scattered throughout the human race. We desire to be different, we compare ourselves to the handful of people that surround us and draw the conclusion that we are unique from most people. The human race is a repetitive system though, it is likely that everyone has at least one identical twin.

It seems to be human nature to desire mutual understanding, with this in mind, it's ironic that we strive so much for individuality.

@PhoenixRising


Agree.

If one looks for differences, one will find differences. If one looks for similarities, one will find similarities.

One may outweigh the other, but that judgement would likely be highly subjective.

We are capable of constant change....if we are intelligent enough to see that 'self' is a self-made construct. <--yikes...infinite regress

Why not diversify? I think someone said something about renaissance-(wo)men in another thread....diversifying doesn't only have to apply to stuff we do...it can apply to who/what we are as well...or what we think we are, more to the point.

We can find common ground if we can be bothered. It requires some openness and thinking.....and letting go of infantile attachments to what one may consider as 'individual'.

Also, I thought INTP's were adaptable, considering their intuitive and perceiving qualities.

Disclaimer: Not sure if I'm INTP.

 

[Chad]

Difference 5.

I seem to be more interested in personal stories then many then many else here.

I find personal stories and personal experience very helpful in gaining a better understanding of human nature. We all are human and we all have a different story to tell. when you add these up you get the human story.

This doesn't seem to be an interest to others on this forum though.

 

[Reluctantly]

This doesn't seem to be an interest to others on this forum though.

Why do you think that is?

 

[BigApplePi]

Why do you think that is?

It's been said once one told their personal story they'd have to kill the readers. That is impractical.

Q.E.D.

 

[Reluctantly]

That's a really good point.

 

[PhoenixRising]

@PhoenixRising


Agree.

If one looks for differences, one will find differences. If one looks for similarities, one will find similarities.

One may outweigh the other, but that judgement would likely be highly subjective.

We are capable of constant change....if we are intelligent enough to see that 'self' is a self-made construct. <--yikes...infinite regress

Why not diversify? I think someone said something about renaissance-(wo)men in another thread....diversifying doesn't only have to apply to stuff we do...it can apply to who/what we are as well...or what we think we are, more to the point.

We can find common ground if we can be bothered. It requires some openness and thinking.....and letting go of infantile attachments to what one may consider as 'individual'.

Also, I thought INTP's were adaptable, considering their intuitive and perceiving qualities.

Disclaimer: Not sure if I'm INTP.

@Polaris

Yeah, exactly

Even though the cognitive functions can draw distinctions between different people's thought processes, we are all essentially human and driven by the same things.

As you said, the whole idea of 'difference' is a subjective construct. All of us change and adapt according to the environment, that is what it is to be alive.

'self' is a self-made construct.

Yes! If only more people would really realize what this means, I think there would be a lot more originality amongst us. So many people live their lives thinking they are one thing or another, feeling stuck in an existence they are unaware of choosing. It's such freedom to release those kind of constructs and become what one desires to be, and to feel free to change.

hmm, INTPs can be chameleons.. that's a combination of Fe and Ne. Fe likes to emulate other people in order to enhance communication, Ne likes the creativity of role-play. Personally, I've always felt that my personality was 'fluid'. The other day, my boss asked me when I was going to pick out who I am and stay that way :P

(You say you're unsure if you're an INTP.. I'm curious if you've tried visual reading or just the written tests?)

 

[scorpiomover]

If you have ever been in a forest you will find all the trees are alike in that they are trees. All want nourishment. Yet every tree is different. Even the clones are different because each gets sun from a different perspective.

True. But if you are in a forest, and all the trees grow moss only on the South side, and one grows moss on both sides, you know that it's a different species or sub-species to the rest.

I just saw the film, "Life of Pi." Have you seen it? The hero was exposed to many religions and if I have it right, bought them all. Religions tell a story. Science explores reality. Those are different things and occupy different dimensions. Are you after what reality is like, or do you want to hear a good story? The latter was asked at the end of the movie.

I think that it's hilarious. Kid gets on a boat, with a sailor, his mother, and one more person. Kills them all. Makes up a cock-and-bull story about how they were animals eaten by a tiger. Sounds like a complete psychopath in the vein of Hannibal Lecter. Probably would go on to kill 20 more people IRL, till he gets caught and sent to prison. Should be a tragedy. Everyone thinks how cool it is though, that this guy doesn't take religions seriously.

Reminds me of the study that found that people would rather date a thin psychopath, than a fat sane person.

 

[Ex-User (5841)]

At some point we're so different that we're all the same.

I just realized ^this, or at least officially recognized it. Hot damn, good day after all.

 

[EyeSeeCold]

So I don't know.

Hmm, in comparison to multiple forum themes:

I've never watched/read Doctor Who, Death Note or LotR; I've occasionally watched Star Trek and have seen some of the Star Wars franchise, but can't say I'm a fan of either(I think I prefer Star Trek TOS more though); I'm not obsessed with atheism, anti-theism or logic; I haven't been interested in anime/manga for several years; I was always into Socionics more than MBTI, having discovered it before even joining. I don't find mathematics, programming or most fields of science stimulating; I don't enjoy chess, tabletop RPGs, or text-based role-playing. And the pod people haven't gotten to me, yet...


Not that I think any of that should necessarily matter.

 

[Jennywocky]

@Chad:

Different...?

Well, I'm at a different age range than most (although there are a handful in my bracket and might have even raised kids). Those kinds of experiences contribute to differences.

I think when I was twenty, I would have been far more the "typical" member of a forum like this. I had some radical shifts when I got married, though, and then when I had children, and so on. Those things change you, if you're allowing yourself to learn and adjust. At core, the general aspects of "me" are still in place, but they've been buffed and shaped in new ways.

One of the biggest changes was being so anal (for me) about my rationality. I was very very preoccupied with "always being rational" to a fault, but it caused me issues in other ways and made it hard for the average person to deal with me. At some point, I reached an impasse and realized that hyperrationality would not make me happy with my life, nor would it even solve my problems. I needed to explore aspects of being human that scared me, and the ambiguities of emotion and the more subjective truths in life were part of that.

So I did. But it does change you, and then you become even more different.
And I've been through some personal struggles with life and identity that also leave me feeling very different than others. It's like I've been through many things, so I can connect with people who have also been through those experiences, but since they haven't been through other things I have, they don't seem to "get" those parts of me. I never quite fit into the box for anyone.

As far as differences on this site. I think I come across as more emotional and volatile (because I consciously choose to approach things that way, for a particular reason at times) in certain situations, even if at other times I can sound very level-headed and unflappable. I think also I've passed from feeling completely isolated to actually acquiring some social confidence and skill, so I don't think I'm as introverted; in fact, I'm not really protective of experiences in my life that some people would be. I think there's many more people here who are more reserved about their personal details, but I'll just ... say things that probably leave some saying, "Did she really say that?"

Age-wise, I don't feel very normal either. I'm likely in the oldest 10% here but come off more in the middle, I might as well be a single woman who has never raised kids. Well, that might make me more similar here... but IRL it makes me less similar to women my age.

With spiritual issues, I'm an idealistic skeptic. I feel like I don't please people on either side of the divide. The same comes to my viewes on fantasy/scifi; I like fantasy/horror more than scifi, yet I need to have a rational pattern to such things. I use my imagination immensely in my life, but those possibilities have to make sense and have some kind of connection that follows rationally. So that leaves me feeling like I don't fit with the creative sorts OR the rational sorts over all; I'm too anal for the fantasists and too loosy goosy with the rationalists.

That goes for just about everything. I'm too T to fit with the F's and too F to fit with the T's. Too introverted for the extroverts and vice versa. etc.

Oh well, I have a meeting, but those are my initial thoughts. I'm kind of accepting I will always feel different and that's okay. And honestly, it's fine, I like being unique; but sometimes it's hard when you feel like you have never ever fit in totally, anywhere you've been in life.

 

[Brontosaurie]

Differences...

The spoiler in my sig highlights a lot of this from a cognitive perspective. I embrace my mental status and am known to brandish it as well as my past troubles on occasion for use as a case study and a counter against what essentially amounts to discrimination.

I can't stand to eat watermelon, I routinely lie in neutral and/or beneficial circumstances, I hardly ever experience guilt, I've traveled quite the path of political ideology, I'm skinny and fat though prefer the term "athletically challenged," I'm a bit of a carefree lost puppy, and I'm certain I've measured more squirrel testicles than anyone else here.

don't understand jack squat but i feel ya man

 

[Cherry Cola]

I am different because I am an INFJ on the INTP boards, sorry bout the intrusion but you probs know how it is. The INFJ boards suck dick and are packed with ISFJ's who cuddle up and act nice to each other. That's all good but nonetheless completely uninteresting.

I dunno how this place managed to not attract everyone and their mother who want to be different and unique like all the other N type forums I've seen have.

 

[SpaceYeti]

Why would it? Are Ns popular?

 

[Cherry Cola]

Yeah they are

 

[Jennywocky]

Yeah, I mean, I have a date every night of the week. Guys just can't get enough of my goofy absent-minded stare and ambiguous answers to specific questions.

 

[Duxwing]

I am different because I am an INFJ on the INTP boards, sorry bout the intrusion but you how it is. The INFJ boards suck dick and are packed with ISFJ's who cuddle up and act nice to each other. That's all good but nonetheless completely uninteresting.

Weird... so, INFJf is de facto ISFJf? Hmmmm... that doesn't ring right. The likelihood of an ISFJ mistaking themselves for an INFJ would be the same as that of an INFP mistaking themselves for an INTP, and I've yet to see a mistyped INFP among us. Moreover, a scanning of ISFJf and INFJf reveals that the topics of ISFJf pertain to concrete things, like family, and memories, while those of INFJf range from leadership to eye movement tracking to perspective evaluation. Yet your complaint pertains less to Si or Ni and more to Fe.

I don't know you all that well, but you might be more Ni-heavy-- or even Ti-heavy-- than the average INFJ. Hence, seeing all that Fe floating around could drain you. Of course, you've 'lived it,' and I haven't, so don't consider my analysis in any way conclusive. I just have a few doubts.

I dunno how this place managed to not attract everyone and their mother who want to be different and unique like all the other N type forums I've seen have.

At the risk of sounding like INTPf's chief propagandist, a few things might be the cause of that:

--To my knowledge, INTPf is not hooked into the Personality Cafe, which has links to all its type-coded subfora. Hence, fewer people venture here on impulse. One must perform a Google search to find it.
--The place is pitch dark, and I noted that in my Introit post. Dark bad. Dark scary! Dark make you fall down stairs!
--The people here are rather depressed and grim, even cynical, and in so being turn many off upon arrival.
--Illogic, puerility, and closed-mindedness are grounds for banishment. There go most of the SF's, SJ's, and extreme N's.
--We revere that which most would rather not discuss: Fine points of logic, which, if taken to heart, shatter often closely-held beliefs; perspectives and details that reveal madness in a superficially sane world; and the replacement of popular myth with human reality.
--Pretending to be an INTP-- that is, if one mistypes oneself-- without Ti high in one's stack is quite difficult, especially in a debate. Myers and Briggs didn't label the type "The Thinkers" for nothing!

Please, do correct me if any of the above isn't true. I'm working off the cuff.

-Duxwing

 

[SpaceYeti]

Yeah they are

Why?

 

[thekatspajamas]

1. I'm a 20-something female who enjoys shopping, trying cute hairstyles, and reading magazines.

2. I'm a stay-at-home mother who married and had a kid at 21 (bing-bam-boom).

3. I'm cheery and perky and I love things like sunshine and a fresh breeze. I literally sing while I clean a lot of the time. I'm known amongst my friends for being "too damn happy" and "so cheerful it's weird".

4. I'm unafraid to be outspoken with people. Family, friends, strangers, etc. I will voice my mind with very little restraint.

5. I get uncomfortable comparing brain pans. I'd much rather talk about topics than about how educated we are about them.

6. I love organization and tidying things. I get immense satisfaction seeing, "A place for everything and everything in it's place."

7. I love cooking and baking, then crafting adorable packaging for my baked goods for my husband to give to his coworkers. My friends joke and call me "Martha".

8. I'm a devout Christian.

9. I love children and animals

10. I'm very outdoorsy. I would much rather be outside than inside.

Not sure how atypical that list is, but those are my main irregularities based on the brief stereotype that I've picked up from the INTP descriptions that I've read and this board.

 

[Kuu]

@Kuu what has becoming more "active, pragmatic, and empirical" entailed for you? I've had a longstanding interest in radical politics, although I go through periodic bouts of disillusionment only to reembrace it later. I've been hesitant to become a part of any serious group because of this instability, but perhaps a little solidarity is exactly what I need?

@Absurdity

Spoiler

Well, (un)fortunately(?) I'm pretty disillusioned with pretty much all local groups too. They're either utterly confused and fearful, or divided by petty things, or have bureaucratic issues. The few groups that still operate and are effective are tiny and I have my disagreements with them, though I still involve myself in the activities of several on occasion and prefer to prove my points through experiments or commenting on the actions rather than infinite debates on theory. It's a pretty dreadful scenario in this city. The extreme street violence and subsequent militarisation of the so-calle drug war in the last 5 years has driven most away from any sort of direct action. The police has been largely replaced by paramilitary mooks that patrol the streets in armoured trucks sporting M16s and full combat attire, and that's just the legal paramilitaries. In the 70s, the government was fond of kidnapping dissidents and tossing them from airplanes into the ocean, and nowadays, anyone can become an unfortunate "drug war" statistic...

My increased activity is mostly unrelated to the strictly political activist groups though. It's impossible to build a large base without going outside of the constraints of direct action. There's an enormous task of education and de-stigmatization. I think it's fundamental to bring the politics back into the everyday, and my field of work (architecture) is neck deep in it.

Every architectural act is inherently a political act, conscious or unconscious, reinforcing or challenging certain social and economic patterns. In developing countries, the very shape of the city tends to be a very evident concrete (heh) materialisation of power stratification; the city itself is a political machine limiting, guiding, or forcing people into certain living patterns. The suburbanisation of cities has destroyed public space (and as the quintessential location of political activity, it has destroyed public engagement and discourse in political matters together with it), supplanted by class-segregating neo-mediæval walled ghettoes and shopping mall private spaces where a thoughtless consumerist arrangement supplants any meaningful social interaction.

Without a public street to introduce people into social participation and the deprogramming of televised preconceptions and misinformation (the great mass of people have little education and limited, if any, internet access), there can be no street-politics. People need to address grievances to each other and not "the authorities". Therefore our tasks are organising previously disorganised neighbourhood communities around the solution of concrete architectural problems, the construction of public spaces and social housing, the denouncing of the massive amounts of corruption in the construction industry (its huge here, an easy target, and unavoidable, really) fostering the public debate of these matters in both online and offline locations, and of course, attempting to design projects that explicitly challenge prevailing cultural mores. The politics inherent with it all emerge by themselves over time. Tiny seeds.

 

[Brontosaurie]

1. I'm a 20-something female who enjoys shopping, trying cute hairstyles, and reading magazines.

2. I'm a stay-at-home mother who married and had a kid at 21 (bing-bam-boom).

3. I'm cheery and perky and I love things like sunshine and a fresh breeze. I literally sing while I clean a lot of the time. I'm known amongst my friends for being "too damn happy" and "so cheerful it's weird".

4. I'm unafraid to be outspoken with people. Family, friends, strangers, etc. I will voice my mind with very little restraint.

5. I get uncomfortable comparing brain pans. I'd much rather talk about topics than about how educated we are about them.

6. I love organization and tidying things. I get immense satisfaction seeing, "A place for everything and everything in it's place."

7. I love cooking and baking, then crafting adorable packaging for my baked goods for my husband to give to his coworkers. My friends joke and call me "Martha".

8. I'm a devout Christian.

9. I love children and animals

10. I'm very outdoorsy. I would much rather be outside than inside.

Not sure how atypical that list is, but those are my main irregularities based on the brief stereotype that I've picked up from the INTP descriptions that I've read and this board.

haha that's textbook ESFJ

ANIMA PROTRUSION

 

[thekatspajamas]

haha that's textbook ESFJ

ANIMA PROTRUSION

It's true-- it's my ISFJ husband rubbing off on me I guess that I'm in that development phase, where INTPs develop their weaker areas. I am most assuredly an INTP, but I do have several unconventional traits.