Personality

INTPs value knowledge above all else and live in the world of theoretical possibilities. They see everything with skepticism and independance in terms of how it could be improved, or what it could be turned into. They live primarily inside their own minds, constantly working to generate new theories, or to prove or disprove existing theories, analyzing difficult problems, identifying patterns, and come up with logical explanations. INTPs have unconventional thought patterns which allows them to analyze ideas in new ways. They live much of their lives within their own heads, and may not place as much importance or value on the external world. They have a natural drive to help society move towards a higher understanding. A lot of scientific breakthroughs in the world have been made by INTPs.

Strength : Understanding

INTPs seek to forge a functioning logic of the world around them in order to have a precise and deeper understanding of everything. During their lifetime, INTPs accumulate a great deal of knowledge about the world, and more specifically, about their fields of interest. Prioritizing their own understanding of how things work, they are able to come to inferences that regularly turn out to be true, even when they have no explicit proof of what they are saying. No matter how complex a situation, they take the time to dissect, analyze the facts, locate the flaws and answer their questions, making them masters in the art of problem-solving. These users tend to excel in trades that require great analytical skills. Proud of their objectivity and competence, they take responsibility for opening people’s eyes to the truth (which they cherish so much) in order to lead others away from ignorance.

An immature use of this strength can cause an over-use of logic, and thus an over-consideration of what is true or false. This may generate hurtful rapport with others, which can harm social relationships.

Developement Point : Relating

INTPs have an inability to receive or give love, or more generally, to understand the most human language there is: emotional language. INTPs lack empathy and are often unable to understand people in depth, preventing them from developing true intimate and trusting relationships with others. This lack of understanding of others can lead INTPs to isolate themselves, or even to adopt anti-social behaviors or develop social anxiety. Unfortunately (or fortunately) for them, humans are social beings and are made to live with other humans. This means that INTPs are bound to have to talk to individuals one day or another—so how will they do it? Some are aware of their inability to understand others, so their greatest fear is that they will be rejected from the social group because of it. In response to this, they will try to display a minimalist empathy, being constantly kind and trying never to frustrate anyone for fear of being rejected. Conversely, others will never want to be limited by the “social nonsense” of a group’s recognized emotions and values, which are far too illogical for their understanding. They will not hesitate to tell the truth without ever worrying about what others feel. INTPs have the same approach with themselves on their sentimental plane. They are unable to understand what they are feeling, sometimes to the point that they are unaware of actually feeling something. Understanding that they have feelings towards someone—whether they are angry, anxious, depressed, or happy—is a very fuzzy concept for them. They understand emotions in theory, but they don’t know what they really mean. This is why it is difficult to really communicate with them; they will rarely communicate their real desires to you, so you will never really know who they are behind this wall of logic. However, when they feel emotions, they often act like a tidal wave—whether positive or negative. When emotions appear on the surface, it is often already too late. In spite of the users’ effort not to communicate those emotions, when they do occur, they are uncontrolled and felt with intense purity so that the user can even lose control over reason. From an inability to speak because of love, to trembling during anger, to violent emotional outbursts, INTPs know that this is a part of them that they do not have access to.

However, some INTPs can become the most protective people in society in a mature and selfless way. When they are able to grasp what they feel, show empathy and understanding, and improve their emotional intelligence, they get rid of the one thing that blocks them from exposing themselves to the happiness of true friendships or romantic relationships.

Relationships

INTPs are shy and not at ease until they make lots of puns (and then they can’t stop). Want to make their partner feel good but don’t know how to. Realize seduction is easier in theory. Share something they’ve learned recently that their crush may not understand, even if they think it’s cool. With high confidence, they take very good care of their crush.

INTPs need someone who respects their need for free time and doesn’t push them to socialize or go out. Someone who is really interested in their theories, who gives them feedback, with whom they can explore very random topics with (in many directions). Someone who is lucid and very authentic and mysterious so they never get bored.

Once in a relationship, INTPs are interested in everything their partner love. They will broaden their partner’s knowledge and confuse their mind on many subjects they thought they had formed a clear opinion on. They will share funny and random facts with their partner and their craziest (but somewhat intriguing) theories. They’ll withhold their feelings or share them way too much—there’s no in-between. They’ll reinvent their partner’s life for the better.

Sources : Birdy, Personalitypage