(Source URL for this file is http://www.brad.ac.uk/~mdavarle/intp.html) (rev 1.4 - 30 Apr 94 by Joe Butt <jabutt@sacam.oren.ortn.edu> ) (converted to html by rsedc@holistic.gse.rmit.edu.au ) (adapted for this site by Nebe Barnett <NBarn53245@aol.com> )
INTPs are pensive, analytical folks. They may venture so deeply into thought as to seem detached and often actually are oblivious to the world around them.
Precise about their descriptions, INTPs will often correct others (or at least be sorely tempted to) if the shade of meaning is a bit off. This sometimes annoying habit is at once also a strength in grammarians, a perfect arena for the literal INTP.
INTPs are relatively easy-going and amenable to almost anything until their principles are violated, about which they may become outspoken and inflexible. But they usually return to a reserved albeit benign ambiance, not wishing to make spectacles of themselves.
A major concern for INTPs is the haunting sense of impending failure. They spend considerable time second-guessing themselves. The open-endedness (from Perceiving) conjoined with the need for competence (NT) is expressed in a sense that one's conclusion may well be met by an equally plausible alternative solution, and that, after all, one may very well have overlooked some critical bit of *data*. An INTP arguing a point may very well be trying to convince himself as much as his opposition. In this way INTPs are markedly different from INTJs, who are much more confident in their competence and willing to act on their convictions.
Mathematics is a system where many INTPs love to play. But so are languages, computer systems, and potentially any complex system. INTPs thrive on systems. Understanding, exploring, mastering, and manipulating systems can overtake the INTP's conscious thought. This fascination for logical wholes and their inner workings is often expressed in a detachment from the environment, a concentration where time is forgotten and extraneous stimuli are held at bay.
INTPs and Logic -- One of the tipoffs that a person is an INTP is her obsession with logical correctness. Errors are not often due to poor logic -- apparent faux pas in reasoning are usually a result of *overlooking details* or of incorrect context.
{ As a personal note, I really enjoy the 'minesweeper' game on Windows 3.1. It's a great theatre for testing both the ability to recognize patterns (a strength for N's) and logical correctness, and the added dimension of time gives the impetus to improve my skills. I usually get blown up because in haste I overlook a 'minor' detail, but there's always next time. ( My previously posted "best time" has been overtaken--by an ENTP. I'm down to 155 seconds, but my nemesis claims 137!) - JB}
Other games NTs seem to especially enjoy include Risk, Bridge, Stratego, Chess, Go (hence the server on the net), and *word games* of all sorts. (I have an ENTP friend that loves Boggle and its variations. We've been known to sit in public places and pick a word off a menu or mayonnaise jar to see who can make the most words from its letters on a napkin in two minutes.) The INTP mailing list has enjoyed a round of Metaphor, virtual volleyball, and a few 'finish the series' brain teasers.
INTPs in the main are not clannish. The INTP mailing list, now in triple figures, was in its incipience fraught with all the difficulties of the Panama canal: we had trouble deciding on
(Other unsympathetic J types, as I recall, enjoyed the spectacle of our earnest strivings with that old question, "To be, or not to be..." Finally one of our firstborn patriots took the bull by the horns and declared that we could be if only we would, and now we are.)
[Anyone who thinks (s)he is an INTP is invited to join the INTP mailing list by sending a message to listserv@sefl.satelnet.org with the line
subscribe intpin the body of the letter.]