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 a 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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