Submission: INTJ poster

Fiona submitted:

Hi, I’m an INTJ and I created the above poster which you can use on your tumblr. I like the INTJ tumblr by the way. F.N

Thanks Fiona :)

I challenge all INTJ-gamers to finish Fable 3 with the built in loophole. Every person who’s already done this, stay quiet. It takes some thinking, honestly, but try to find a way to save all your citizens (all 6.5 million of them, yes), and finish being the good guy. Just a bit of fun.

- Quel

Shadow Functions

shadowsfaith submitted: 

I was just wondering if you had read anything about shadow functions and what your take on that theory was if you had.

Yes I have actually. Here’s an article I read about it from personalityjunkie. My understanding though that here they are talking about shadow functions as things that manifest themselves when people try to fight back/ overcompensate. (This is explained in Schema Therapy).

My take on shadow functions is that they do manifest themselves in individuals when put in situations where, in order to cope, they behave in a way that is not in line with their natural disposition.

Oh edit: There is a very good website that describes different coping styles and how they affect behaviour etc. It’s called Schema Theory and honestly, it’s a very good read. You should check it out!

I am a walking example of this. I grew up in an environment where I had to keep my emotions and opinions to myself because in all honesty, no one cared. They just cared if I was following protocol. And this I think is what lead me to believe I was an INTJ. Because I was very receptive to the emotions of others around me, I was forced to act in a way I never wanted to just to keep peace. It lead to all sorts of problems; anxiety, depression etc etc.

But now that I’ve moved out and although I may not feel 100%, I don’t suffer from long periods of depression anymore, but I still do gets bouts of uncontrollable anxiety from time to time.

Final edit!

Quel said: They can also manifest when a person is stressed, or otherwise in an unusual state - for instance, when I don’t take my medicine, for the first 24 hours, my Se will manifest like a motherfucker. I’ll become loud, hyper, active, everything you’d associate with Se, basically.

News About the Forum.

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Edit: More info from our admin -  DNS changes can take up to three days. Sorry!

Question

shadowsfaith asked:

I saw this question and answer on MBTI Junkie:

Can P types develop their Te? Or will they always use their Ti meanwhile never getting anything done?

You can, but why would you? Anything outside of your main functions will exhaust the heck out of you. Stick to your strengths.
I’m guessing you’re a Ti dominant. Work on your auxiliary extroverted function (Ne/Se), it will give you a big boost to confidence and decisiveness.>

I don’t know enough about functions to say one way or the other but this seems….wrong?….to me. If we are weak somewhere why shouldn’t we try to strengthen those functions rather than just ‘sticking to our strengths’?

Because the functions directly oppose each other?

It’s a weird concept to me to develop all eight functions… if everybody could do that, then everybody would be the same surely? :/

Region P4: The Strategic Gamer Skill-set

This region lies between the middle and back of your head, on your right side. It lies in the right parietal lobe. It is active when you:

• Weigh numerous pros and cons.
• Calculate and compare various risks versus their likely rewards.
• Objectively evaluate many factors at once.
• Locate and apply leverage (influence).

This region helps us grapple highly complex problems in a comprehensive, strategic way that simultaneously considers numerous risks, uncertainties, rewards, and outcomes. For example, if you are in mixed company and are wondering whether to tell a particular joke, you might use this region to quickly assess whether the overall impact will be good or ill in light of your adience’s probable values, how much people have likely had to drink, any likely repercussions that might occur, the apparent demeanour of your host, and so forth. Notice how much uncertainty is embedded in this situation! Little, if anything, is taken as precise or absolute. Instead, it helps us weigh many pros and cons at once to arrive at intuitive solutions.

Economists often study this region. In experiments, they ask people to solve economics problems. Maybe a card game offers a 25% chance to win $10 or a 75% chance to lose $3. Set aside personal circumstances such as whether $10 means much; do you consider this a sporting game to play? When testing people who are trained to answer these questions, this region activates. It appears to be responsible for weighing odds, risks, and uncertainties in an intuitive holistic way. This region may also aid us to solve a system of equations - a collection of two or more mathematical expressions that share variables - in a simultaneous way. It is no surprise that, as with region P3, studies associate this region with skillful math performance.

Besides helping us strategise game scenarios and math problems, this region helps inform us where leverage points may lie to steer those games closer to our benefit. For example, we might seek to change the odds above more in our favour, with a 30% chance to win $10 or a 70% chance to lose $3. This region considers nudging and gut intuitions as well as the numbers. Like region F4, it has a spatial quality and may make “calculations” based on the relative weight of different options. As a metaphor, each factor is like a planet with a gravitational pull, with some factors having far more pull than others. We can evaluate the sum of pulls from all directions to arrive at an average or best fit.

Like regions F3, F4, and P3, a majority of people do not utilise this region as much as they could. For example, because most people are not savvy with economics, they tend to use other regions. When presented with a gambling scenario, a person might wonder how a casino owner would answer, invoking region F7, rather than solving the question strategically.

Using this region can frustrate us sometimes, because not every activity in life is nicely resolved as a game of chance.

Region T6: The Purposeful Futurist Skill-set

This region lies a few inches behind your right ear, but not yet to the back of your head. It lies in your right posterior temporal lobe. It is active when you:

• Say the word “will”; as in, what will occur in the future.
• Imagine yourself within a complex system.
• Notice abstract spatial-structural relationships.
• Assign a symbolic meaning.
• Envision your future.

This region lies next to region P4 and is diametrically opposite region F7. It is similar to both these regions but is highly future-oriented and relational. It activates when we pick a location, time, or system and insert ourselves into it. For example, this region lets you know what “will” occur at your workplace tomorrow. Unlike region F7, this skill-set is not about acting “as-if” or dreaming up a fantasy. Nor is it about planning an outcome. Instead, it aids us seriously, offering predictions that will likely occur in actuality. Saying “I will…” really encourages activity in this region to foresee our future.

This region is holistic as it notices and weighs many abstract spatial relationships at once. Imagine exploring an architectual model of a city with its many parts, layers, and details. Then focus on the spatial arrangements of the buildings to find patterns. Now, instead of a city, consider a model of the psyche or an organisation or culture. This region is nonverbal and cannot, by itself, explain insights and predictions. Its offerings thus seem obvious or mysterious.

This region also gets active when we consider symbolic meanings, such as what an icon, photo, musical score, or piece of clothing symbolises. It’s unclear how this fits with the future-oriented quality of this region, though symbols are a great way to holistically represent complex situations when we lack words and analytics to explain ourselves.

Studies suggest this region helps women but not men to distinguish other epople’s face in a holistic way. Men rely more on Region T5 instead.

People who under-use this region may be surprised by how their lives unfold. They dail to predict and deal with future events. Under-use also shows up when people confuse whatwillhappen with what they hope to happen.

Using this region can be frustrating sometimes. It is mostly nonverbal and lies next to region O2, which handles abstract visual impressions. Thus, using this region may evoke only symbols, vague visual glimpses, and a few words. Also, though it focuses on foreseeing the “right” future, it can assure nothing.

Region Fp2: The Process Manager Skill-set

This region sits just above your right eye, behind your forehead, in the right frontal lobe. It is active when you:

• Notice which step you are on in a task.
• Perceive that you are done brainstorming.
• Consider a new or unpleasant idea.

This region is like an ever-vigilant (but hands-off) facilitator or taskmaster, letting you know when to start, stop, or try again. It gets active when we are exposed to new information and helps us process that information in a productive way. People use this region when they say, “I’m done,” or “I can’t think of any more ideas.” It fires fractions of a second before we note where we are in a process. Broadly, this region helps us track whether we are at the beginning, middle, or end of a task. For an open-ended activity like brainstorming or re-living a memory, it suggests stopping points but is flexible. You are welcome to keep exploring. Unlike region Fp1, this region is not very verbal or directive, and it may quietly allow other regions of your brain to do their thing until it is time to move on.

This region helps us explore and deal with information that is counter to what is typical or desirable. When we hear criticism, take in violent or depressing content, or otherwise receive disruptive data, we can use this region to delve into that information, considering its meaning and how it applies to us; simultaneously, it helps regulate our emotions so that we remain calm rather than getting angry. In one study, this region lit up for people who decided to explore how a sad story they read applied to their own lives. This suggests that sadness and depression may be a price we pay for introspective living.

People who under-use this region may be impatient, preferring to focus on decision-making; and they may get side-tracked or erupt with bursts of hostility when called to grapple with odd or unpleasant input.

Using this region may frustrate us sometimes. While using it, we likely are ineloquent. Also, over-using this region may lead us astray as we delve into negatives or endlessly try a task without making decisions.

Perceiving functions

This is how the perceiving functions work, in what time-frame they think and why;

• INTROVERTED SENSING - past-past ➜ Si is a “long-term past” function, and it generally references anything from ten years ago until the present moment.

• EXTRAVERTED SENSING - present-past ➜ Se is a “short-term past” function, and it generally references anything from ten days ago until the present moment.

• EXTRAVERTED INTUITING - present-future ➜ Ne is a “short-term future” function, and it generally references anything from the present moment until ten days from now.

• INTROVERTED INTUITING - future-future ➜ Ni is a “long-term future” function, and it generally references anything from the present moment until ten years from now.

It has to be said that Ne and Se need to be short-term functions, because they are extraverted; it works based on what is around them, it is stimulated by the environment, and reality is always present tense.

More evidence comes from two particular instances;

• ESTP: My brother is an ESTP, and thus Se-dominant. I saw this theory brought into practise by something peculiar he said - or something I found to be peculiar. He was talking to my father about money that he’d booked over from his own account to a friend. My brother said he’d done that a very long time ago already, and when questioned by my father how long a time this was, he answered it to be, “Three weeks ago or something.” As a Ni-dominant, the term ‘a very long time ago’ would mean something like years - whereas for an Se-dominant, it means weeks, rather, months at the most.

• ENTJ: My father is an ENTJ, and he has told me about the time he needed to undergo a three-day psychological evaluation when he got the job as Helo Systems Operator in the Dutch Navy. A psychologist asked him how he saw himself ten years from now, and he told me that at the time, he didn’t know. He told me that he only judges the future based on problems he faces - typically Te-dominant. He clearly uses his Ni - a long-term future function - as an auxiliary, to envision how current, specific problems could turn out years from now.

How Critical Thinkers Lose Their Faith in God

 This is in the July 2012 edition of Scientific American. It’s technically not about INTJs, however I thought the analysis of the mind and religion is a bit interesting

submitted by thebrainiswhatcounts (special thanks!)

(Source: theintjway)

Something a conversation with an INFJ made me think about…

I find, in current society, that many people feel so pressured to be someone, do something, make decisions even when they don’t want to make them or aren’t ready for them. What people don’t seem to realise is that, nature takes its time, so why shouldn’t you? Your brain isn’t fully matured until your mid-late twenties - many people don’t even know this. There’s no hurry in being someone, fitting some sort code or defined traits, or even rules. Your personality, quite frankly, takes over fifty years to fully develop. That’s right - you may think you know yourself now, but you’re still very young, and you’re not done developing.

There comes a time in every INTJ’s life, I’ve found, that they come to a point where everything clicks. It’s not something I can explain, but you know when it happens. This most commonly happens around twenty - twenty-two, and before that time, there’s going to be a lot of insecurity, a lot of not-knowing, a lot of confusion, and along with those factors, emotional turmoil. When that point comes, and everything clicks, you’re going to be free. For those who have already been through this, you know what I’m talking about, and for those who haven’t, you will know, in time.

But don’t rush it. Be natural. Take your time for everything, because that idiom rings true, all roads do lead to Rome. Some may be less direct than others, but that’s okay. Like I said, your brain takes its time fully maturing, so there’s no need for you to rush anything.

However, the latter isn’t true just for INTJs. It’s true for every single person on this planet, of every culture, every race, every religious belief, every gender, and every nationality.

I’ll tell you a story about a young boy that graduated high school and didn’t do anything with his life for almost a decade there after. He wasn’t motivated, he was an underachiever, he was really rather unfocused. Even in college, his professors were so disappointed, because he was so intelligent, he had so much potential, and they just had to look on as he, in their opinion, wasted it. It wasn’t until that boy heard from the doctors that he had ALS that he realised he had to get his act together - nowadays, he’s one of the world’s leading cosmologists and theoretical physicists, despite his unmotivated past. We’re talking, of course, about Stephen Hawking.

I hope everyone who’s reading this will take this post to heart.

(Source: theintjway.co.uk)

Many accuse Myers-Briggs of confining people to four letters and that for this reason it’s bullshit, when really they are the ones who are confined by ignorance.

beinginfp:

Open your brain. Do a little research. Educate yourself. You shouldn’t talk about things that you don’t understand.

Actually, I am against Myers-Briggs as well. Because it’s more than four letters. It’s about functions. Myers-Briggs is the cause of loads of confusion, they tried to simplify Jung’s theory, but that theory is already as simple as can be without being incredibly inaccurate, like Myers-Briggs is.

Myers-Briggs states that if you’re an INTJ, you’re an Introverted, Intuitive, Thinking Judger. You know how wrong that actually is? Everyone’s an introvert. Everyone’s an extravert, an intuitive, a sensor, a judger, and a perceiver. In reality, personality theory is all about preference, dimensions, brain structure, and variables. Myers-Briggs and its dichotomies make it this… slide-game, where if you’re an intuitive, you can’t be a sensor. Wrong - you prefer intuiting, but that doesn’t mean you don’t use a sensing function.

So to counter your argument - open your brain and do a little research, because you shouldn’t talk about things that you don’t understand. Cheers.

thelithiumcat sent: What you said about Si in that post... Do you really not rely on past experience at all? I find it so hard to imagine. It feels as though it must be integral somehow, because we all have memory and learn from our mistakes, but of course that's not exactly what Si is. It's.. really referencing past experiences as experiential information; as opposed to theoretical. It's about the atmosphere of the memory, nostalgia, what worked well and what didn't before, etc. Do you really not have any of that?

I don’t know how it is for Nikki, but no, I don’t have it at all. I’m not invested in the past at all, it’s simple something that happened and is now over, and I barely even think about it; my past - while I realise it made me who I am - is not at all much part of my present life, and it certainly won’t be any part of my future.

It’s because INTJs are especially invested in the future, we sometimes even forget or dissociate from the past. It simply doesn’t matter all that much. I mean, Ni is a function that looks to the future, and Si is a function that looks to the past. So essentially, we think opposite of someone with dominant Si.

INTJ Archetypes

INTJ archetypes ought to be quite informative

I saw this as an interesting read.

Sent in INTJ question;

by ellenpagesfedora

A question for the other INTJs out there: do people ever comment that you don’t know how to back down from an argument or that you always have to have the last word?