TrekWars: The Furry Conflict - Character Personality Types: INTP

Administrative Note: It should be noted that the Myers-Briggs and Kiersey ratings do not measure a definite or concrete limit on personality characteristics, but rather existing tendencies. An individual's personality rating can change over time or be changed by conscious personal decisions.

INTPs are pensive, analytical folks. They may venture so deeply into thought as to seem detached, and often actually are oblivious to the world around them. Precise about their descriptions, INTPs will often correct others (or be sorely tempted to) if the shade of meaning is a bit off. While annoying to the less concise, this fine discrimination ability gives INTPs so inclined a natural advantage as, for example, grammarians and linguists.

INTPs are relatively easy-going and amenable to most anything until their principles are violated, about which they may become outspoken and inflexible. They prefer to return, however, to a reserved albeit benign ambiance, not wishing to make spectacles of themselves.

A major concern for INTPs is the haunting sense of impending failure. They spend considerable time second-guessing themselves. The open-endedness (from Perceiving) conjoined with the need for competence (NT) is expressed in a sense that one's conclusion may well be met by an equally plausible alternative solution, and that, after all, one may very well have overlooked some critical bit of data. An INTP arguing a point may very well be trying to convince himself as much as his opposition. In this way INTPs are markedly different from INTJs, who are much more confident in their competence and willing to act on their convictions.

Mathematics is a system where many INTPs love to play, similarly languages, computer systems--potentially any complex system. INTPs thrive on systems. Understanding, exploring, mastering, and manipulating systems can overtake the INTP's conscious thought. This fascination for logical wholes and their inner workings is often expressed in a detachment from the environment, a concentration where time is forgotten and extraneous stimuli are held at bay. Accomplishing a task or goal with this knowledge is secondary. One of the tipoffs that a person is an INTP is her obsession with logical correctness. Errors are not often due to poor logic -- apparent faux pas in reasoning are usually a result of overlooking details or of incorrect context.

Famous INTP's Fictional INTP's

Socrates
Rene Descartes
Blaise Pascal
Sir Isaac Newton
William Harvey (pioneer in human physiology)
C. G. Jung, (Freudian defector, author of Psychological Types, etc.)
William James
Albert Einstein
Tom Foley (Speaker of the House--U.S. House of Representatives)
Henri Mancini
Bob Newhart
Jeff Bingaman, U.S. Senator (D.--NM)
Rick Moranis (Honey, I Shrunk The Kids)
Meryl Streep
Brent Spiner (Commander Data, Star Trek -- The Next Generation)
Midori Ito (ice skater, Olympic silver medalist)
Ashley and Mary Kate Olsen (The Full House twins)

U.S. Presidents:

James Madison

John Quincy Adams

John Tyler

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Gerald Ford

Tom and Fiona (Four Weddings and a Funeral)
Dr. Susan Lewis (ER)
Filbert (Rocko's Modern Life)