Are these common things for an INTP to do?

[Secunda]

Hello all,

This is my first post here, and one of the first forums that I've ever joined so pardon me if I don't really understand "internet etiquette" or if this is in the wrong area of the forum.
But basically, I am here to hopefuly gain a little bit of insight into my personality. I'll start off by saying that when I first took the MBTI test I was extremely skeptical. It appeared to me as little more than some cheap online personality test you get in spam mail. That being said I took it at the suggestion of my history teacher (who is quite a brilliant man himself) and figured "Hey, there must be at least some validity to this." My first, and so far only result has been INTP after taking the test multiple times over a period of a few weeks. I quickly realized that the test is actually extremely easy to manipulate, and getting a specific result is quite a simple task even with my limited knowledge of the other types. Every time I retake it I tell myself I'm going to be honest, but I know that deep down inside I had possibly fooled myself into thinking I had answered a question honestly, when in fact I had not. So below I guess I'm going to list a few habits/peculiar aspects of mine just to see if these are commonalities that exist in the INTP community and if any of you can offer any insight or answer any of the questions that I pose that would be great.

1. Okay, this is one of those things that really jumpd out to me when I first aproached the INTP description. "Most INTP's live inside of their own minds with little regard to the external world."One thing that I'm guilty of is daydreaming. And I'm not talking about normal daydreaming, I'm talking about extremely complex, fleshed out and realistic daydreaming. In fact, it's so fleshed out that I wouldn't even call it a daydream and more like a type of internal simulator/emulator that I tap into when I'm idle. I have these characters that exist inside of my mind, all of them with profiles, voices, personalities, styles of dress, backstories, families, etc. I will create the enviroment in which they exist often times from scratch, but sometimes not, and finally I will act it out with dialogue. Normally the topic of discussion, or the event that takes place is religious/scientific in nature. But there are times when I will be listening to a piece of music where I will synthesize a character that is completely different from the others. If the music was upbeat and what some would call "epic" I will imagine a "superhero" type character. if the music is ambient/electronic normally it will be some type of Sci-Fi character and so on. I am aware that other people do this (just from searching the internet) but what I'm really concerned about is this is something that I do with an extremely high frequency. As in I do this every day, and if I'm not engaged in something (say, an art project, I really do love art) and I'm idle, specifically when I listen to music (which is most of my day) I daydream... Is this something I should worry about? I am still quite young (17) and I'm afraid this will get in front of the goals that I have set for myself. That being said my goals are mainly creative/artistic in nature, and I'm not to sure if this type of daydreaming is the source of so much that I have accomplished creatively.


Another question I have is I will often times conduct debates inside my mind. This is one of those times that I do use my own voice, and my own "personality" and I imagine someone else sitting across from me and we're having a conversation. Sometimes there are other people in the room, other times it's just me and one other person. The difference between this and my other style of daydreaming is that when I do this I normally end up verbalizing everything I'm thinking. I will often times go on walks late for around 2 hours (10 miles or walking to the store and back) and that entire time I will have a debate with someone else in my own head,(but my part of the dialogue will be spoken out loud) or I will refine an opinion of my own by practicing how to articulate myself effectively.

Anyways, this is getting long, so maybe I'll split the threads because my topics are completely unrelated so I'll narrow this one down to two.
I don't really know what I'm looking for from you guys by posting this, so if you have any comments just say what you will.

 

[Duxwing]

Hello all,

This is my first post here, and one of the first forums that I've ever joined so pardon me if I don't really understand "internet etiquette" or if this is in the wrong area of the forum.
But basically, I am here to hopefuly gain a little bit of insight into my personality. I'll start off by saying that when I first took the MBTI test I was extremely skeptical. It appeared to me as little more than some cheap online personality test you get in spam mail. That being said I took it at the suggestion of my history teacher (who is quite a brilliant man himself) and figured "Hey, there must be at least some validity to this." My first, and so far only result has been INTP after taking the test multiple times over a period of a few weeks. I quickly realized that the test is actually extremely easy to manipulate, and getting a specific result is quite a simple task even with my limited knowledge of the other types. Every time I retake it I tell myself I'm going to be honest, but I know that deep down inside I had possibly fooled myself into thinking I had answered a question honestly, when in fact I had not. So below I guess I'm going to list a few habits/peculiar aspects of mine just to see if these are commonalities that exist in the INTP community and if any of you can offer any insight or answer any of the questions that I pose that would be great.

1. Okay, this is one of those things that really jumpd out to me when I first aproached the INTP description. "Most INTP's live inside of their own minds with little regard to the external world."One thing that I'm guilty of is daydreaming. And I'm not talking about normal daydreaming, I'm talking about extremely complex, fleshed out and realistic daydreaming. In fact, it's so fleshed out that I wouldn't even call it a daydream and more like a type of internal simulator/emulator that I tap into when I'm idle. I have these characters that exist inside of my mind, all of them with profiles, voices, personalities, styles of dress, backstories, families, etc. I will create the enviroment in which they exist often times from scratch, but sometimes not, and finally I will act it out with dialogue. Normally the topic of discussion, or the event that takes place is religious/scientific in nature. But there are times when I will be listening to a piece of music where I will synthesize a character that is completely different from the others. If the music was upbeat and what some would call "epic" I will imagine a "superhero" type character. if the music is ambient/electronic normally it will be some type of Sci-Fi character and so on. I am aware that other people do this (just from searching the internet) but what I'm really concerned about is this is something that I do with an extremely high frequency. As in I do this every day, and if I'm not engaged in something (say, an art project, I really do love art) and I'm idle, specifically when I listen to music (which is most of my day) I daydream... Is this something I should worry about? I am still quite young (17) and I'm afraid this will get in front of the goals that I have set for myself. That being said my goals are mainly creative/artistic in nature, and I'm not to sure if this type of daydreaming is the source of so much that I have accomplished creatively.


Another question I have is I will often times conduct debates inside my mind. This is one of those times that I do use my own voice, and my own "personality" and I imagine someone else sitting across from me and we're having a conversation. Sometimes there are other people in the room, other times it's just me and one other person. The difference between this and my other style of daydreaming is that when I do this I normally end up verbalizing everything I'm thinking. I will often times go on walks late for around 2 hours (10 miles or walking to the store and back) and that entire time I will have a debate with someone else in my own head,(but my part of the dialogue will be spoken out loud) or I will refine an opinion of my own by practicing how to articulate myself effectively.

Anyways, this is getting long, so maybe I'll split the threads because my topics are completely unrelated so I'll narrow this one down to two.
I don't really know what I'm looking for from you guys by posting this, so if you have any comments just say what you will.

You are an INTP par excellence, my friend. Your quick insight and deduction regarding the MBTI test puts you squarely on the Ti-Ne or Ne-Ti axis, while your constant day dreaming makes you an I. Since Ne-Ti would make you an ENTP, and your daydreaming and self-debates makes you an I, the only remaining option is INTP. QED! Welcome to the forum, artistic one.

-Duxwing

 

[Wolf18]

I am also INTP (slight J?) and I felt the same way about INTP when I first took one of the free online ones. I really took it just for fun, then started playing around with it, like attempting to get a certain type. Then I started to figure out how the whole system worked, and became fascinated with it.

I also have a mental box/house/map where I store memories and information. I can also use it to "daydream," which I agree with you is not really daydreaming. I can pick up a storyline where I left off when I put the story on my map. My stories also change based on the environment (i.e. music), so you're not alone there, either.

I don't really do the debates in the mind thing. I prefer arguing with actual people. I do play lots of other mental games, though. One of my favourites is counting in binary in my head and trying to get past 8 digits, which is my current record. Do you ever do stuff like that?

So yeah, as Duxwing said, you seem pretty standard (if that's possible for an INTP). Welcome.

SW

 

[Grayman]

Anyways, this is getting long, so maybe I'll split the threads because my topics are completely unrelated so I'll narrow this one down to two.
I don't really know what I'm looking for from you guys by posting this, so if you have any comments just say what you will.

You seem to have a dominant Ti Function which is evident in most IxTP especially INTP.

This function in conjunction with your Ne is the cause of your daydreaming. Like anything else it can be good or bad depending on your situation. In my case, it helps with my career. It makes me creative and the daydreaming gives me a testing ground to verify and examine my ideas. I would not try to limit your Ti but instead, exercise your Ne skills. Observation is important. Look for meanings in things and try to understand things in a new way. This is important to using your Ne. I would suggest one thing, use your Ti to regulate your Ne ideas and push yourself toward what is practical to your goals in the real world. If your not writing comics, then imagining super heroes will not be practical. You will get better at this as you find more things of interest and concentrate more on controlling the topic in your mind.

My Ti function does debates with itself and has discussions and will imagine physics occurring to help me troubleshoot a physical problem. It performs a lot of useful tasks in examining possibilities. The importance of the Ti function is to make sure those possibilities given by your Ne are possible and practical.

I would say that my brain is like a computer on 99% cpu power at most of the day. I perform tasks without thought while inside my head. It is like my body is on autopilot while I am spending time examining something consciously in my brain. It is a constant brainstorming. I asked others I know personally if they have such things going on all the time in their mind but they seem to be grounded in the physical world. I sometimes wonder what it would be like to have a mind that is "quiet", as they do.