INTP strengths
- Great analysts and abstract thinkers. INTP personalities are great at noticing patterns and seeing the big picture. They also possess an impressive ability to jump from one idea to another, linking them in ways that usually bewilder most other personality types.
- Honest and straightforward. INTPs do not play social games and see no point in sugar-coating their words. They will clearly state their opinion and expect others to return the favor.
- Objective. People with the INTP personality are very logical and rational individuals, who see no point in involving emotions in the decision-making process. Consequently, they tend to pride themselves in being fair and impartial.
- Imaginative and original. An INTP’s mind is always working, always producing ideas regardless of whether they are likely to see the light of day. Not surprisingly, INTPs have no difficulties coming up with innovative, original solutions.
- Open-minded. INTPs tend to be open-minded and willing to accept ideas different from their own, provided that they are supported by facts and logic. Furthermore, INTPs are usually fairly liberal when it comes to social norms and traditions, judging people solely on the basis of their ideas.
- Enthusiastic. INTP personalities can spend an enormous amount of time trying to figure out something they are interested in. They will also be very enthusiastic when it comes to discussing that topic with other people.
INTP weaknesses
- Absent-minded. INTPs are able to focus all their efforts on analyzing a specific idea, but this usually comes at a cost of ignoring everything else. They may be forgetful or simply miss things that have nothing to do with the object of their interest.
- Second-guess themselves. INTP personalities may be excellent analysts, but they often lack the decisiveness of J types. An INTP may find it quite difficult to decide which idea is the best one, always looking for more information and doubting their own conclusions.
- Insensitive. INTPs are likely to find it difficult to include emotions in their decision-making process, focusing all their efforts on getting the rational basis right. Consequently, they may often come across as insensitive or be puzzled when it comes to dealing with an emotionally-charged situation.
- Very private and withdrawn. INTPs are often reluctant to let anyone inside their minds, let alone their hearts. They may often come across as shy in social settings and even the INTP’s friends are likely to have a difficult time getting to know them well.
- May be condescending. INTP personalities are usually proud of their extensive knowledge and reasoning abilities, but they may get easily frustrated trying to describe their thoughts other people. INTPs enjoy presenting their ideas to other people, but explaining how they got from A to Z is another matter.
- Loathe rules and guidelines. INTPs need a lot of freedom and have little respect for rules and traditions which put artificial limits on their imagination. People with this personality type would rather have less security and more autonomy.
Do you agree or disagree with these points? Please share your opinion in the comments!
You may also be interested in our INTP Personal Development Guide – it gives specific practical advice on how to leverage your strengths and address your weaknesses.
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INTP personality
As a very strong INTP type myself, I do typically agree with a great deal of traits this type has, however, one trait I’ve found on several websites is that the INTP is poor with money management which, at least for myself, I very strongly disagree with. I would say that I’m one of the BEST money managers I know of with investment interests and savings far exceeding most people in my socio-economic demographic and my circle of friends and family. Perhaps that is due to having wealth creation as one of(from an abundance) my core interests, where other INTPs may be more inclined to not priorities wealth as a system to work out and perfect.
I totally agree. I’m a strong INTP too and I’m one of the best money managers too. Everyone else I know always asks help from me if they have problems with management.
samad sõnad!
I agree, I am a college student paying my own way through a four year degree without a single loan. I have bank receipts coming out my ears because I stay on top of every single purchase. I have the desire to spend money on new ideas or new plans or interests but I rationalize the situation and decide to save my money for other things. My Esfp brother is beyond reason when it comes to money management, so I think it is a personality trait.
I also have to agree with Jeanna about empathy. I am a pretty good listener, I’ll drop what I’m doing and listen to my roommate go on about this or that. All the while I am either trying ot figure out the reason she is telling me these things or figuring out ways to fix the problems she is telling me about. I hear her out then I tell her either why she might be reacting this way to these situations or all the rational ways of going about fixing the problems she is having. I can’t stand listening to her complain about the same problem over and over. My favorite phrase is “you’re not allowed complain about something if you are not going to take the steps to fix it”
Again I like to listen to people but only when they have something new to say. I don’t like to hear things I’ve heard before or things that have no standing.
I can put myself in other peoples shoes fairly easily to see why they are reacting the way they are, but I have the tendency to discredit what they are saying if it’s based on feelings alone.
I can pick up other peoples emotions easily because I have a tendency to be contemplating and thinking about what is happening in my surroundings.
I have to agree with being kind of egotistical. Not all the time but I realize that I think a lot and I like that about myself and so when other people are not thinking the way I do, or can’t understand what I’m talking about.
I am sorry I said so much about myself since I don’t usually like talking about myself, but since this is for the betterment of this website I figure it’s worth mentioning.
I think one reason could be that we see the LOGIC in managing our finances properly. Getting that “chore” out of the way means less time worrying about it or resolving bigger financial problems that would come later. The faster we deal w/any logistical problems in life (bills, food, obligations, etc) the more time we’ll have to think about things that interest us. In Matt’s case his interest IS finance.
Many ‘famous’ INTP’s are economists. (And scientists, writers, and philosophers). I am also quite good with money management, though I have a biology and English degree, and work in environmental scientist and write experimental fiction. I am also a strong INTP.
Famous INTP’s.
http://www.celebritytypes.com/intp.php
I have to strongly disagree with the money management as a weakness. People know me as someone who’s really careful with his money. The other day I was talking to my co-workers at this internship I’m doing, and they were talking about how they rather get in line to get their check than have direct deposit and getting the money a day later. I don’t mind getting it a day early because I’m not going to spend any of it, and I really rather not make any lines. My coworkers talk about spending their pay check on frivolous things and to me it’s like they’re in la la land when it comes to money.
I’m also very sensitive to other people’s moods, body language, which can be a negative.
The description of the INTP, I believe, has described my personality to an almost T. And I do have a problem with managing my finances, perhaps most people who are INTP’s are generally bad with their money? Also, each individual is very different and complex. This test only comprises of 16 different results so it is difficult to jam billions of different personalities into 16 categories.
Like the person above I’m also very sensitive to other people’s moods and body language.
Yes, I don’t agree with the money managing part. I am very good at managing my money as well as other people’s money.
Money and sense of people’s feelings seems to be wrong.
I’m positive I’m an INTP, and I AGREE with the poor money management. I can be very impulsive, and with it comes the tendency to buy things I don’t need – frequently. It’s usually something you can buy at a gas station; cheap food/drinks that bite me in the ass at the end of the month.
Still, I’m sure this depends on how much money you have at your disposal. During times of financial strain I only spend on necessities, but when my pockets are a bit fatter I tend to chase immediate satisfaction. I’m not entertained by much, so I suppose this helps me feel something other than “content”.
Unfortunately, I disagree with all of the comments. Every single strength and weakness is me. And most STRONGLY the point about money management.
I’m a strong INTP myself, and I know money management is one of my most glaring weaknesses. Maybe we all have some well-developed practical skills, and other really crappy ones? For instance, I’m terrible with money, but I have excellent senses of time and direction, and an intuition for complex systems like computers and languages.
Jon said:
“Maybe we all have some well-developed practical skills, and other really crappy ones? For instance, I’m terrible with money, but I have excellent senses of time and direction[...]”
I think you’re on to something. I am also a strong INTP, but I am awesome with money. My sense of time is borderline creepy to some people (I am within 5 minutes of an atomic clock when asked, any time of day or night). But my sense of direction is /awful/. Without the sun to look at, I have no idea which direction I’m facing. Not even a guess. And I can stand in place, eyes closed, and twist around for a few seconds…I’ll have no idea what to expect when my eyes open.
Sounds about right to me, I don’t have any problems with money management, that is, when I get to actually thinking about it. Admittedly I have gone home and the lights have been off and it’s always a surprise
I WAS poor at money management, but I think that was because I hate routine administration and prefer to avoid it. It was too easy to ignore the administration tasks associated with money and vaguely hope it would look after itself.
The trick is to treat it as yet another problem to be solved as effectively as possible. Do so, then move on.
I agree with everything, except maybe for the last point.
Sometimes I like traditions, because it gives me rest in everyday life. And if it is getting boring, I just will think of a way to make it more interesting. Or just change the tradition or just add a few things to the tradition. Its like me loving the principles; if the tradition is a rough scetch of everyday life, then I’ll add the fun things to it to keep it interesting and stimulating.
And I am a fairly strong INTP so I don’t think that its completely out of character for an INTP.
The description of INTPs hits very close to home. Yes there are somethings about it that miss me or skipped me completely. But the strengths are right on the money. I detest the word liberal though I am a conservative with libertarian beliefs that have yet to be shaken. I cannot stand a person that believes in stuff they can not defend or explain or debate.
Now the weaknesses are interesting and I think the fact I have been a boss or an owner for nearly all of my working life of 26 years now may have contributed to the weaknesses being off the mark in some cases on me. But proper grammar is not something I value nor understand and at age 42 I accept it’s never going to happen. My mother on the other hand who did make it into Mensa can proof read something I write that was spell checked and said to be good and find dozens of things to fix on it. Yet she has no ability to reason.
On the financial topic I was a god when I cared back in my 20s I once was balancing 20 credit cards never late never an issue. But now I have no personal bills to speak of and its good because I couldn’t care less about the subject. Yet at the same time I run a small company 4 employes about 200k a year in expenses and I don’t even need to balance the check book I can tell you with in 100 bucks whats in there at any time. I know whats coming up even if its just an annual bill, the AMX is due in full every month sometimes as much as 9k and I manage never to charge on it if I wont be able to pay it.
So if the weakness is in fact a personal interest it becomes an unexpected strength. Hence managing a company means despite being shy and quite by nature I am loud and forceful when I need to be. I do not like public speaking but will jump into it when needed. And I almost never second guess my self I am proven right so often I completely trust my decisions. Yet at the same time if something better comes up I adapt to it very easily I do not care where the idea came from as long as it is good.
Insensitivity is called a weakness but I don’t value being sensitive nor understand its purpose. So it’s a weakness I have but do not mind it in fact if anything I am proud of it. Never been married and date very seldom I honestly do not even look nor remember how too. But since becoming aware of the personality types and seeing what my ideal match is I think that may be something I would like to try. The trouble is by my calculations it means there is only 1.3 women per 1000 that fit me and then you still need to screen for married women or those that are too young or old. So it sounds like I am screwed.
But every thing else is pretty accurate. It’s funny how honesty is so rare and most can not see how it fits with total disdain for rules or any “authority figure”. I conduct myself very ethically I can not stand cheats and liars probably why I do not like cops. I am law abiding but my interests are military tactics and strategy so you could only imagine the things that go through my mind in a typical day.
Matthew I totally agree with your thoughts on sensitivity. I have accepted that I am simply not that friend. I value an honest opinion above all else, because if one cannot trust their friends to speak the truth, it is a defeated purpose isn’t it? I can admittedly take as good I get, & that tends to surprise people – why, for the life of me I cannot understand? I can read between the lines, so I almost always know whether the truth comes laced with malice or not; & if it is not, I suck it up & accept it.
I have INFJ friends, & I warn them before heavy conversations that they HAVE to warn me in advance if they need kid glove treatment – I need a lot of time to prepare myself to keep my tongue under control, & not try to give them solutions. My point is that I am that friend who you can rely on tell you the truth, in as objective a way as possible, & stand by you without judgement. And I know from personal experience that the very few friends I have, value me for the exact same thing. I anyway do not go by social norms; I am law abiding, but disregard them not, when it’s convenient, but when it is unethical, or plain hurtful or impedes progress of thoughts & ideas.
I think so much about money as a concept, that even though I wasn’t great with it, I have, due to sheer fascination with the mastery my banker spouse displays with money, has helped me observe & absorb a bit. Now I’m intrigued about what kind of thought process occurs behind financially sound brains, & no prizes for guessing where that intrigue can lead
I’m a strong INTP, and I agree with almost everything here (esp. money management–LOL), but I actually like rules and am more empathetic than the article seems to suggest. I don’t have problems with insensitivity–in fact, in a lot of cases, I’m TOO sensitive. It’s true, however, that I hate overly emotional arguments and don’t understand people who only appeal to pathos, or give into the other side solely on the basis of a desperate appeal to emotion. I also feel awkward in emotionally charged situations, but that’s an extension of my overall awkwardness in social situations, not because I don’t care or don’t want to help. I think rules are important in every society–it’s one of those strong opinions that, as an INTP, I am very honest, straightforward, and stubborn about xD
I was reluctant at first of the idea of a personally test, I was not sure how accurate it would be. But after doing one for career orienting purposes I got a very high score for INTP. When I read the description it confirmed almost every idea I had of myself. Almost all the traits seem to fit me perfectly.
I definitely pride myself on being very objective and rational. I also despise it when people use subjective reasoning as a method for acquiring truth. It’s also true that I am very open-minded and only judge people on what matters, their brain. And yeah, I don’t follow authority or tradition. I love history but that’s where I feel tradition should stay as a thing of the past, progression is what matters most to me. Don’t get me wrong, I do think discipline and rules are essential.
But I have to disagree with the notion that we are like machines with no emotions. It is true that I am a very private person and I dislike revealing myself to others. But I am also a very passionate person, so in consequence I am very emotional. Since others have mentioned it, I am personally great at managing money. My sense of direction is quite poor however and so is my sense of time. I always seem to merge days together, and I honestly never know what time it is or the current date. I am also probably the most hardcore procrastinator I have ever met, its hard for me to finish anything because I’m always like ‘I’ll do it later’. I’m also pretty disorganized and like to act spontaneously.
As for careers and such well I am still in high school so I can’t really comment from experience. But I would say that I have a knack for science, followed by history and philosophy. I am not too tech savvy, I prefer nature over machinery. All in all, I would without a doubt consider myself INTP. It sucks that we only count for about 1-5% of the total population. I feel quite lonely at times not being able to share my ideas in person with people who will understand.
Now I am sort of confused my personality type switches from INTP to INTJ depending on what mood I am in when I seem to take the test. Either way I only go over by a few points so I guess I am some sort of hybrid. Which probably explains why I don’t completely fit in INTP so I wonder are hybrids common? Or am I just some weird off shoot of two already rare types of personalities.
Ditto for me too Matthew… I was actually thinking the exact same thing after getting both results for this test, having first gotten an INTJ result having taken this test years ago and now I’m getting an INTP result with this test. I’ve always been a perfect fit for the INTJ my entire life so I don’t know if having my son born 16 months ago might have had anything to do with the slight change of personality, but I can’t think of any other life-altering event that has happened in my life that would require a change in personality other than becoming a new father. Re-reading the INTP result, I can see & feel how I also don’t completely fit into it neither, although I’m thinking that maybe the money issues that show up here in the INTP description can be attributed more closely towards me having a new mouth to feed rather than towards any innate inability, having never had any major money issues in the past.
The strengths of both personality types are 100% accurate in describing me, seeing as how they are both already so similar to each other & even share a few of the exact same traits, but the weaknesses is where the discrepancies start to come up… For example: I am a definite Perfectionist (an INTJ weakness) and I’m pretty sure being a Virgo doesn’t help neither…
Also: Trying to completely rationally analyze something as complex & intricate as a(n) (often irrational) human relationship is an INTJ weakness that I do not agree with at all. Private, withdrawn and shy in social settings are apparent INTP weaknesses that no one who has ever met me would ever use to describe me. I know a very small hand-full of souls (3 automatically spring to mind at the moment) that I would consider as (close) friends and tons of acquaintances, neither of which have had a difficult time in getting to know me well at all (INTP weakness). Being thrown into centre stage of any public situation is definitely outside of my comfort zone though, no matter how well I may apparently perform or how at ease as I may appear to be. I strongly believe in being warm, helpful, friendly, respectful & empathetic towards all human beings and simply practice what I preach. We’re not all going to be around on this planet forever… I figure that we all actually do need each other to survive or else we wouldn’t all be alive on this planet all at the same time. So why be so arrogant (INTJ weakness) as to look down on another person & make them feel worthless, inferior or devalued just for not being able to “keep up” with your mental processes or line of thinking/train of thought? How does that positively help them grow?… That’s right, it doesn’t. If they do actually end up feeling intellectually inadequate or inferior, then it usually stems from me just expressing myself as succinctly, objectively, comprehensively & thoroughly as possible in all situations on a consistently constant basis and is probably more of an indictment on their own personality, as a possible insecurity they may possess perhaps, rather than on any point of malice intent from my side.
I do seemingly possess the INTP weakness of indecisiveness, but that pertains more to personal and trivial decisions that don’t normally have grave consequences, i.e. What errand do I start with first? However, I am very decisive where & when it counts the most, especially when it comes to work/business decisions.
Being “clueless in romantic relationships” (INTJ weakness) has never been a weakness in my life though, having had most of my past relationships be long, generally happy, fulfilling & serious ones. But the only time I have ever had reason to get frustrated trying to understand how my partner thought (INTJ weakness) was because she herself didn’t understand how she thought, even with as much reading material, explaining, discussing, empathizing, listening and analyzing was given/done over the years, clearly displaying to her how she thinks, all of which included past examples of statements & decisions she had made. Self-admittedly, she said she did take it all for granted though and having “thrown away a good thing by being selfish & dishonest” (…her words, mind you) she came to understand that it was because she was still “finding herself” because she “never knew who she was” & “never liked the destructive person she saw.”
In any case, I think me intellectually venting my emotions like this is my cue to get back to work…
As much as I may have digressed, I just hope that any part of this was helpful to anyone who reads it. Later guys…
After reading this article, I’ve found a few things that seemed a bit..off. While I dislike sharing SOME emotions with others, I’d say I’m a quite compassionate person. This is not a “weakness”, actually, I find it more of an advantage. Personally, I don’t enjoy seeing others cry in public, complain, and show ridiculous fits of emotion everywhere I go. It’s annoying.
Another point: I have the ability to be VERY social, and I use this skill often. Do I enjoy socializing? Sometimes, but not always. As the passage states, I do tend to be more withdrawn than involved in a social standpoint, but I certainly can. I have quite a few friends, and loads of aquaintances. Shy is completely different than what I believe INTP’s have.
But, like another reader commented, it’s not going to be spot on, naturally. How can you possibly sort billions of people into sixteen categories? Great write though. Described me almost to a T.
It’s not that I consider money management a weakness. It was, until last year when I finally decided to do an assesment of my spending habits. While I do not value glamour (which in my point of view is only affordable once I begin to earn 4 times my current income as I am allergic to spending money I don’t physically have) and see myself as unambitious, I do value stability.
I just turned 24 and had been in the labor force for four years now. And the first three years I never took my finances seriously. I spent what I had (which was more than enough for a single woman with no responsibilities), only making sure I had no debts since they make me itch. What made me decide to control my finances was my father’s offer to see me through graduate school (the tuition’s on him) and so then I felt my salary start to feel smaller and mediocre what of all those ambitious career-people you find yourself surrounded with in gradschool. Only when the necessary expenses begin to grow and eat up my humble hard-earned moolah did I realize the importance of paying my self first — something I’m really quite obsessed with these days.
I’m married to an INTP, and I can say this description is extremely accurate. One thing I would add: He actually interacts with others’ emotions in a sensitive & careful way. Rather than this being an innate trait, however, he built a system for “how to interact with others.” This may sound odd to someone unfamiliar with how INTPs operate, but as someone on the receiving end, his system is both complex and accurate. He listens well, and is careful and considerate when considering how others will react to what he is saying. So it’s possible for INTPs to interact with other people (and their emotions) in a generous & kind way, it just takes time (and much thought) for them to develop a system on how to do so.
Have any of you ever taken the test and come out as one thing but you actually fit the description of another? I took it a couple of years ago and came out INTP. The description fit me perfectly so I’ve thought that’s what I was all this time. However, I just took the test twice and came out INTJ, but looking at the descriptions of the two I feel the INTP still describes me better. Is it probably just that I’m somewhere in the middle of the PJ spectrum?
This is the best description I have seen, and I have been reading and studying this subject since a friend handed me “Please Understand Me” in 1989. Excellent Work!!!