Learn More About Yourself - Try This Personality Test!

@zuzaman - You can still decide how you want to behave in every situation. It might just be interesting to now be aware of this change and be aware of what you decide to do in every situation.

@StormsandStars

Hi!

Knowing your type can help you improve on functions that you are naturally inclined towards and also help you work a bit on those that tend to fluster you when you're under stress.. Knowing someone else's type can help you figure out how they might view the world differently from you, what they value and what they are receptive to.. It helps improve inter-personal relationships and communication.. If you're a listener, it is going to help you figure out what functions they need to develop in order to be the best version of themselves, hence helping them find the path they need to take to overcome their problems gets a little easier.. So there are a lot of advantages to being aware of personality types.. However, this is a "pseudoscience" currently.. So, many people are skeptical about the truth behind it.. Personally, i find the idea of types both rationally plausible and conceptually beautiful.. I have understood myself better because of it and it has surely helped me understand others better..

So, I'm going to talk about what forms the basis of these types first and then a bit about INTP, since that's your type..

The theory of Psychological Types was proposed by Carl Jung.. Which was later developed into the Meyers-Briggs Instrument .. The 4 letter code is actually the Meyers-Briggs type indicator.. And the 16personalities site appears to have added it's own twist to the whole personality type idea.. However, in general, the idea is that over all there are 8 cognitive functions that human beings work with.. 4 of these functions relate to information absorption mechanisms that we can employ.. The other 4 functions guide how humans make judgments/decisions.. These functions are as follows :

Information Absorption Functions :

Extraverted Sensation - Focuses on the here and now and on concrete real world data received by the 5 senses. Characterized by a keen sense of physical observation of its surroundings and a what you see is what you get approach, also very good at kinesthetic learning (learning by doing). Receptive towards objects (living and non-living) and enjoys figuring out how objects influence it and how it can influence objects. Gets bored without physical stimulation.

Introverted Sensation - Focuses on the impressions made on the psyche by past experiences. Characterized by a keen memory and ability to relate with something that has been experienced before. More receptive towards subjective experiences (how this has affected me in the past and what I would like to do about that) rather than external objects. Value security and comfort and providing it to others.

Extraverted Intuition - Focuses on making connections between seemingly random observations. Characterized by an openness towards exploration of a variety of ideas and by the ability to see the various possibilities and patterns in every situation.. Receptive towards objects (both living and non-living) and enjoys novelty of experience..

Introverted Intuition - Focuses on gathering and fitting information into a network of internal connections to create a bigger picture (like finding and assembling pieces of a puzzle to complete the picture), based on past and present experiences. Characterised by insight, perspective and enjoyment of abstract analysis. Receptive towards subjective impressions rather than external objects.

Decision Making Functions :

Extraverted Thinking - Relies on facts and objective data to reach conclusions that will help it achieve the most efficient results (a generally accepted standard of what is valid and logically sound). It's highly practical, rational, methodical and impersonal in its approach. Aims for external structure and control.

Introverted Thinking - Relies on subjective rationality and developing an internal framework of logic and a personal philosophy which is constantly referenced while making decisions or arriving at conclusions (a personally developed standard of what is right or wrong). Aims for inner logical stability and accuracy.

Extraverted Feeling - Relies on weighing the emotional impact of a decision on all those involved in the situation before reaching a conclusion (an objectively developed standard of what is morally right or wrong). Aims for general harmony and enhancing the emotional state or experience of all it comes in contact with, especially when interacting with a group.

Introverted Feeling - Relies on referencing the emotional impact of a situation with an internal framework of emotions to reach a conclusion which feels most authentic or in line with personal values.. Aims for personal emotional stability and upholds individuality..

Function Stacks

Each human being favours one of these 8 functions the most.. This is called their dominant function and they would tend to work within its scope most of the time (the most natural state a person can be in, hence a very well developed function).. This could be either an information absorption function or a decision making one.. Since we need to employ both types of functions to survive as humans, our second strongest function will be one which performs the other type of operation and it is called the auxiliary function (should be fairly well developed and is required to balance out the hold of the dominant.. lack of usage of this function or suppression of this function is what leads to problems).. Then there is something called the tertiary function (which is pretty attractive to an individual but requires a lot more conscious effort to develop and make use of) and the inferior function (poorly developed and tends to be the function which trips an individual during times of stress).. The tertiary and the inferior are the polar opposites of the auxiliary and dominant respectively.. Each human is conscious only about his/her top 4 functions.. The other 4 are very weakly developed or not developed at all and do not influence his/her personality in an evident manner..

There's a lot of theory behind how we arrive at a type.. Very briefly - which functions form our dominant and auxiliary is described by the middle two letters of our type and the orientation of the functions is decided by whether we're introverted or extraverted.. And the type and orientation of the tertiary and inferior is decided by that of the dominant and auxiliary..

So an INTP is an Intuitive (N) Thinking (T) type. The function stack is as follows :

Ti (Dominant introverted thinking)

Ne (Auxiliary extraverted intuition)

Si (Tertiary introverted sensation)

Fe (Inferior extraverted feeling)

So, the description that 16personalities provides is an elaboration of the behaviour that results from the above mentioned function stack.. There are going to be many such descriptions of the INTP type available online.. For example :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyqpj75VB18

You may resonate with 80% of what they say.. You might not agree with 20%.. That's because we as individuals are way more complex and unique.. We might fall under categories and yet cannot be categorized.. Our mental wiring is just the bare bones of our personality.. How these functions are developed depends on the life we lead and the environment we are surrounded by and various other influences.. But in general, understanding what comes naturally to us and focusing on improving that and, most importantly, appreciating that surely improves our emotional health..

Personal growth is largely associated with the development of the auxiliary function.. The more you work on that the more rounded you are going to be as an individual.. As an INTP i would say you should continue working on developing your Ne.. You might already be very good at it.. But the more the better.. Explore.. Look for connections.. Look for novelty.. Look for variety.. Look for the bigger picture.. Challenge your inner thought framework by giving it something new to work with all the time.. Look at things from various points of view.. Step out of your comfort zone regularly.. Secondly, what trips INTPs is their inferior Fe.. From my experience I have noticed all the INTPs i know to have difficulties expressing their emotions and in being able to make others realize that they get hurt too.. I guess this happens cause they tend to come across as very logical and self-assured while talking about general things.. It's very hard to win a debate with an INTP cause they have simple and extremely rational explanations for everything and they are really good at finding flaws in others theories cause they have themselves already spent a lot of time on finding and weeding out flaws in their own theories.. So friends of INTPs are used to this self-assuredness and they don't realize how emotionally sensitive INTPs are on the inside and that they need affection and validation from those around them, without feeling like their individuality is being threatened.. And from an INTP's point of view, i guess it would help to always remember that each individual has a different outlook and to try and figure out what makes others tick and what they are receptive to, cause that would help in not appearing to be insensitive.. Sometimes its not the content but the delivery which makes INTPs appear to be a lil insensitive (this is far from their intention, cause they are just stating the truth).. Most INTPs tend to get depressed cause they feel very misunderstood and they feel like they don't fit in and at the same time don't want to fit in cause they kind of disapprove of the shallowness around them.. But well, its just about embracing the variety and kind of being entertained by it and accepting it as it is.. And of course, letting people in and appreciating them as they are before they can learn to do the same for you.. Anyway.. I'm not sure about what your context is.. Maybe I could elaborate more if you tell me about what you want to work on.. And I hope this wasn't boring and it helps.. Again, choosing to believe or not believe in it is a subjective choice.. But its an interesting theory and there's a lot you can read about it and learn from it if you're interested.. You could also talk to other INTPs on online forums cause that will give you a platform to discuss experiences with people who have a similar way of functioning.. Trust me.. It helps to know you're not the only one :)

Sorry about going on and on.. Hope it helps :)