Life and the Mind

from EggHead Cafe’s Personality Types page

INTJ - The Free-Thinker

Profile

INTJs are strong individualists who seek new angles or novel ways of
looking at things. They enjoy coming to new understandings. They are
insightful and mentally quick; however, this mental quickness may not
always be outwardly apparent to others since they keep a great deal to
themselves. They are very determined people who trust their vision of
the possibilities, regardless of what others think. They may even be
considered the most independent of all of the sixteen personality
types. INTJs are at their best in quietly and firmly developing their
ideas, theories, and principles.

Living

The independent and individualistic INTJ
manner appears early in life. As children, INTJs are often inwardly
focused on their thoughts of the way the world is or ought to be; they
enjoy day dreaming. They can be quite stubborn when information relayed
to them by authorities, such as parents and teachers, contradicts what
they believe. They are sure of their own belief system. INTJs are
compelled to establish their own rules, boundaries, standards, and
style. Often at an early age, INTJs make a commitment to furthering
their education. The life of the mind is very important to them.
Examples abound of INTJs from economically or intellectually
impoverished circumstances setting goals for themselves to continue in
education, often earning the highest degree possible. INTJ teenagers
may be seen as serious and reserved young people who are labeled as
bookworms by others. They set internal standards of achievement for
themselves and often do well academically. Being sociable is a standard
that they rarely think is worth their time and energy. As adults, INTJs
are focused on attaining their inner goals and standards. They set a
particular course based on their theory of what ought to be. They work
extremely diligently to accomplish what they feel is important. They
enjoy what they do and see it as a challenge. They are not easily
dissuaded and may regard others’ needs and wants as an impediment to
attaining their objectives.

Learning and Working

INTJs learn best when
they can design their won approach and when they are able to absorb
themselves in an area that interests them. They tend to focus on
systems, theories, and constructs relating to universal truths and
principles. They prefer challenging teachers, ones who meet their
standards. High grade-point averages and test scores tend to
characterize INTJs, who like rigorous academic work. Learning needs to
be a creative process. Rote memory can be dull and boring for the INTJ.
INTJs are diligent in pursuing new ideas and thoughts, and they exert
effort to master a given subject. This makes INTJs particularly adept
in most school situations. Because of their resourcefulness, thirst for
knowledge, and inner needs, INTJs tend to find ways of acquiring
knowledge. They gravitate toward libraries, public lectures, courses,
and other learners and teachers - sources that offer them information
and direction. At work, INTJs use their conceptual strengths to analyze
situations and then develop models to understand and anticipate through
relentlessly to reach their goals. They will continue on with their
plans, even in the face of adversity and data that might suggest to
other more practical types that their goals are no longer feasible. By
nature, INTJs are independent individualists. They see their visions so
clearly that they are often surprised when others do not see things the
same way. INTJs are strong at critiquing and as a result tend to notice
the negatives. To them, a job well done should be reward enough in
itself. They may neglect to comment favorably on others’ contributions.
INTJs tend to seek occupations that allow them to change the status quo
and to design models to express their vision creatively. They desire
autonomy and room for growth. They prefer to work in a place in which
the future can be planned and where they can work for change in an
organized manner. Some occupations seem to be especially attractive to
INTJs: computer systems analyst, electrical engineer, judge, lawyer,
photographer, psychologist, research department manager, researcher,
scientist, university instructor, and other occupations in which
long-range vision is essential.

Loving

For INTJs, love means including someone in
their vision of the world. INTJ men tend to be attracted to partners
who enjoy living their lives with and outward vitality and zest.
Perhaps it is to compensate for their internal, visionary focus that
they often find partners who are more outgoing and may even run
interference to help the INTJ deal with the day-to-day world. INTJ
women, however, may seek someone more like themselves. INTJs tend to
have a model in mind of how their relationship ought to be. This is
less a romantic vision than it is and idea that relates to how the
relationship functions in a unique or special way. They tend to
withhold their deep feelings and affections from the public and
sometimes even from the object of their affections. They can be
intensely loyal and caring, even though this is not always expressed in
words. INTJs can be generous with their gifts if the gift fits their
vision of what ought to be appreciated by their partner. When scorned,
INTJs retreat to their own world and may share none of their feelings
with others. They may assume that there is a right way for a
relationship to end and look for that. They act on the outside as if
nothing has happened to them when indeed much has. They may lash out
with criticisms of their former loved ones. It may take them a while to
recover.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 26th, 2007 at 8:02 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.