So You’re Dating a Logician (INTP)

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What’s it like to go out with a Logician (INTP)? Well, we can tell you this much: it’s not like dating someone with any other personality type. That’s because most Logicians have an unconventional streak a mile wide. They don’t believe in doing things just because “that’s what everyone does” – so you probably won’t find them adhering to traditional dating etiquette when it comes to asking you out, planning dates, or observing Valentine’s Day and anniversaries.

From the outside, you might think that many Logicians don’t care all that much about romance. But you’d be mistaken. Logicians might not be lining up to buy roses and teddy bears on Valentine’s Day, and they certainly aren’t smooth talkers who can woo you with perfectly wrought declarations of affection – but people with this personality type do fall in love, and they do care deeply. They just approach dating and romance like they do everything else: uniquely. And, quite frankly, we at 16Personalities wouldn’t want it any other way.

In that spirit, here are a couple of things you might want to keep in mind if you’re dating a Logician.

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Logicians Find Falling in Love a Little Scary

Fun fact: 76% of Logicians say that falling in love scares them.

Some personality types are all about falling in love. They throw themselves into relationships with abandon, basking in the warm glow of romance without worrying too much about the cold, cold specter of rejection.

Logicians are not one of those types.

Offbeat and inventive, most Logicians are used to not quite fitting in with the rest of the world. Even if they’ve generally made peace with feeling different, entering into a relationship can bring up all kinds of new worries and vulnerabilities about being misunderstood: What if I show my full, unique self to someone I care about…and they still don’t get me?

This might explain why only 29% of Logicians say they feel more relaxed and calm overall when they’re falling in love with someone – less than any other personality type.

Advice: Don’t Push

If you’re someone who relishes falling in love, you might find it hard to relate when your Logician partner doesn’t seem to feel the same way. They may seem reluctant to define the relationship or to say they love you, which can make you question how committed they really are. In these moments, remember that your Logician may be struggling with some fear or misgivings – even if they care about you and are excited to be with you. It’s totally reasonable for you to want to know how they feel, but try not to push for labels in the early days, when Logicians are still becoming comfortable with the prospect of opening up to a new relationship.

Logicians Can Be Indecisive

Fun fact: 92% of Logicians say they mostly listen to their head rather than their heart when making important choices.

If Logicians had one of those Valentine’s Day conversation hearts drawn up specifically for their personality type, it would say something like: “UR PLAGUED BY DOUBT.” Logicians have a tendency to overthink…well, pretty much everything. Even a simple decision like where to go out for dinner can become a mental battle for them as they consider – and find it hard to let go of – all the good possibilities.

Here’s where that can get tricky in a relationship. You might text your Logician partner to ask where they want to go to dinner tonight. Or you might ask them to make a far more significant decision, like how they want to go about meeting your parents. And then…radio silence. You’re waiting for your Logician to make a decision, but they either keep quiet or keep putting you off.

From the outside, it might seem as if they’re not taking the situation seriously, but the reality may just be that your Logician partner is taking the situation way, way too seriously and getting caught in the trap of analysis paralysis. Once you understand this trait, it can be endearing – after all, would someone with any other personality type spend half an hour weighing the pros and cons of which sushi restaurant to take you to? But, at times, you may still find it difficult to remember that Logicians generally aren’t indecisive because they don’t care but, rather, because they care so much.

Advice: Minimize Decisions

For someone with the Logician personality type, every choice that they have to make has the potential to be overwhelming. When it comes to minor matters, consider making suggestions (How about we get sushi tonight?) rather than asking more open-ended questions (Where should we get dinner tonight?). That way, your partner will have more mental bandwidth for the big stuff. In the meantime, try to remember that Logicians put off decisions because they’re trying to make the right choice – not because they’re indifferent.

What Do You Think?

So, Logicians and the people who love them – does this sound anything like your dating experience? What advice do you have for people who are dating someone with this personality type? Tell us in the comments below!

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A grayscale avatar for an anonymous user
I wish I had known this earlier
INFJ avatar
I guess our types share a mutual disdain for clichés lol. We'd get along for sure.
A grayscale avatar for an anonymous user
sooo true, I thought I had too high of standards when I said, "I don't want my future boyfriend to bring me flowers and gifts for Valentine's Day" because I always thought it was too cliche and I wanted something more interesting, so I agree with you.
ENFP avatar
interesting,very
INFJ avatar
Love at first sight for me and been married now to my precious Logician genius for 18 years now. "Thinks like no one else" "offbeat" and "most loyal, deeply caring person you had no idea deeply cared" describes INTPs in my experience to a T. Even though I am a florist, the man has maybe only once given me the traditional flowers on Valentines or Anniversary and instead randomly and sneakily...once having another florist building my arrangement for me right there in front of me and I had no idea it was for me until she finished and handed it to me! My INTP just LOVED tricking me like this just to see my face and surprise. One time, around Valentines but now FOR valentines, he got an idea when he noticed those boxes of Valentine cards showing up at the stores. He took a whole box of 30 little cards, wrote sweet messages on them, and hid them in places all over the house from the obvious to buried in books and DVDs. When I found the first one, he handed me a pretty little box to collect them in. IT TOOK ME 3 YEARS to find the last one! Amazing. Another time, for my birthday, he took me to a garden center and bought me everything I needed--from soil, to plants, to decor to live worms--to transform the bare dead patch of dirt at the bottom of our stairs in our first apartment together into "my little birthday garden." He helped me measure it all so precisely. Again, amazing. But the real key to loving and dating an INTP is not in the physical gifts. They will only ever give you gifts that you will love most and will surprise you most, but it is almost never on the days you are "supposed to" get them. INTPs are sneaky as hell like that. But no, the real key to loving these brilliant and completely misunderstood, and often stupidly underestimated (to your own peril) types is loving deep, deep, conversations with seemingly otherworldly insights. They just DON'T think like the rest, and so can shock you with the connections they make, the solutions they can offer, the perspective they give. If you can be patient with them to listen to their minds as they wind from one seemingly random thought to another, you will be rewarded in the end when at last--out of nowhere BOOM!--they bring those thoughts all together and hit you with just what you needed to know or hear. It's a miracle. Feel so sorry for men or women who pass up the chance to get to know and love INTPs. Best lover ever, best friend ever, best advice giver, and so, so sane and wickedly funny in a crazy, mean, grumpy world.
ENTJ avatar
awwwwww
A grayscale avatar for an anonymous user
I was so touched when I read this comment
A grayscale avatar for an anonymous user
I'm currently in love with a Logician as well, and what you said just describes my current love interest so well. I just get so excited when he's around. He rarely but often only gives gifts to his friends but becomes shy and quiet when he hands them as if he's waiting for their reaction. I notice this about him and it makes me smile in adoration, wishing that one day it'll happen to me.
INFJ avatar
It totally will. Patience with them is really so key. My INTP hubby makes sure I get everything I want. But it took time to get there.
A grayscale avatar for an anonymous user
This made me cry.
INFJ avatar
Aww! Just as I know my own sweet hubby might, cuz your feelings actually run so, so, deep. I think it is also just such a moving relief to feel like someone really gets you and loves you for just who you are. And I love all you INTPs! Except Bill Gates, cuz he is taking the dark side path of the INTP. Well-meaning always, but sometimes too easily benighted by their own brilliance to understand the real human impact of their plans.
INTP avatar
Thank you for the brilliant ideas. Some of these sound like things that I would have done.
INTP avatar
This article is quite insightful.