Endless Possibilities
INTP
Topics covered in this document:
Introduction
If I were asked to provide a thumbnail summary of an
INTP, I'd start with a picture of an absent minded professor,
then add the following characteristics.
Meaning of INTP
Their inner reflectiveness (I) enables them to explore
the vast number of imaginative possibilities that their
intuitive preference (N) provides. And their objectivity (T)
demands that they analyze each and every one of those
possibilities. At the same time, their open-ended and
flexible attitude (P) allows them to respond to any new
insights or possibilities that are uncovered during the
course of the analysis.
Endless Possibilities
Such a paradoxical combination of preferences keeps
the INTP caught up in the endless pursuit of making a
coherent whole out of a proliferation of constantly changing
input parameters.
Whether it's a magazine article, a drawing, a plan, a
scheme, a thought, or a theory, the INTP stuggles to fit
all the many disjointed, individual pieces together into
a complete, comprehensive picture — one that keeps
expanding with the continual discovery of new pieces to
the puzzle.
As a result, all their thoughts, beliefs, ideas, dogmas,
and plans — however final they might seem at the
moment — are subject to last minute changes when
new data (from either internal or external influences)
becomes available.
This trait is very exciting to INTPs ... and very frustrating
to others — especially for those with a J at the
end of their personality type.
Quest for Flawlessness
For the INTP to have arrived at what seems like a conclusion,
or at least one possible solution — only
to have it challenged and changed by some new insight —
is at once both exciting and challenging to an INTP.
As a result, they are their own greatest critics ...
and they pride themselves on being the first to cast aside
their own theories ... or to correct themselves with a
better word or an improved idea.
The quest for flawlessness, cleverness, conceptual perfection,
and self-mastery is a driving force for INTPs. When carried
to the extreme, however, these goals can become tiresome
and self-punishing liabilities.
What Next?
Return to a higher level:
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Have a pleasant day!
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