[Rawrschach]

I skydive, and enjoy driving fast. I'm a network engineer, and always wanted to be an IT. I vastly prefer to formulate theories from facts rather than attempt to use theories to find facts (of course, theories are only useful if they can be applied!). I have no desire to be the keeper of anyone, or kept by anyone. I wholly endorse open relationships and am . . . at the very least "OK" at sex. I have to get my hands on something to fully understand it, but I may have to break it to understand it, as well. And if I'm very unlucky (or you're very unlucky), I may have to break it, fix it, break it, and then fix it again to understand it. I LOVE music. I don't listen to what's hippest or to songs with catchy lyrics, I'm looking for music with "structure". Harmonies, rhythms, chords. Bach is wonderful. So is Bear McCreary. Fact trumps emotion, and I will tell anyone this except when I fear for my arse or I really care about someone. It doesn't matter if the truth is uncomfortable, the truth is the only thing we can work with and make decisions based on. I'm . . . bad about schedules, and will sometimes get too caught up trying to fix things that are scrap because its a very entertaining game. I'm bad about commitments, and can feel panicked about them, since I fear I will fail in them. Sounds ISTP enough for me. However...

I think I spend way too much time "in my head" to be a sensor. I can snap to reality in an instant, but reality is usually the facts, with no level of abstraction. In fact, I won't comprehend what I'm seeing so much as just seeing it. This is fine for skydiving, driving, anything where the rules are simple (stay on the road obeying signs and avoiding collisions with traffic, when altimeter says 3000 pull ripcord). I could be getting chewed out by my boss (never happens, but for the sake of example...) and it would just roll off in this state of mind because the social level of reality, or rather MY part of the emotional reactions that are part and parcel to the social world, do not exist there. I can still say "Oh, he's pissed," but I won't be plugged into the social world and cannot react like he, or anyone would intend me to. I'm a network engineer and I can't do anything useful when I'm completely in-moment. The inner world of devices (logical topologies) becomes impossible to grasp.

I feel very N at work, and in life too. I thought I was INFJ for about three minutes one time, because I can be an idealist, have a passing interest in politics insofar as they influence my life, and imagine the future. I imagine a lot, really. My head is always in the clouds. I don't learn anything by having my head in the clouds, but it's a lot of fun to imagine surreal places. That's not to say I don't LOVE reality. Reality is where I've gotten most of my "surreal" imaginings. But I may spend more time imagining than sensing if I am in a familiar environment. Most of the time, when I'm in a familiar environment, I'm just behind an unthinking haze of mental abstraction. Thus, I prefer to find new places where I'll be very anchored in reality. I go driving and deliberately take roads I have never been on before, without knowing where they go, just to find out. Someone mentioned that is an N type thing to do, though I'm not particularly sure why. As to the future, my mind often muses on where we're headed as a species, but not me in particular. I hear that I'm supposed to be excellent in a crisis for problem solving, but plenty of times, I don't even understand the problem. And I miss details all the time, very unlike a sensor. Let's say, for example, I need to get to a nut behind an i-beam that's close to a wall -- I will struggle with an inappropriate ratchet, against the grain of reality, having missed that the proper tool is 4 feet behind me, sitting on a table. I won't even go looking for the proper tool if I think I can do without it, which will result in taking more time, cause me more strain, and half the time I needed the tool anyway. I'm clumsy: I can trip over myself and back into walls. My spatial awareness isn't exactly great. I'm really not sure I'mma sensor.

I'm worried I may be biased towards this type. It seems like the best type ever, the best way to live in my own opinion, though I value a lot of the INTP/INTJ qualities, and the idealism of the INFJ, but I don't try to avoid conflict (at least in the form of debate) and logic is a very prized tool to me. So what say you? Ask anything if you think it'll help!

 

[alionsroar]

Personality types are more about how the brain works in getting information and making decisions rather than how you behave.

Have you looked at function theory? Here is a nice page: http://personalitycafe.com/myers-briggs-forum/24032-intro-function-theory-more-detailed-descriptions-each-function-attitude.html

Or there may be some other info about the functions under the orange and red letters on these pages:
MBTI characteristics & 16 Personality Types
16 Personality Types MBTI Characteristics

It's not just a case of N vs S but more like Ne/Si vs Ni/Se, and Te/Fi vs Ti/Fe.
If I were to guess, I would think you were more a Te/Fi then a Ti/Fe user and also a Ne/Si instead of Se/Ni user which would make you not ISTP.
But I guess you need to decide which of the functions you think you relate to the most?

 

[Everyday Ghoul]

Actually, it seems like this is anything but uncommon. When you take a look at the function order for the ISTP, it goes Ti-Se-Ni-Fe. Most often, people associate Se usage, with an Se dom perspective (ESxP). They think of Se users as the life of the party, life's excessive hedonists. Se doms tend to be amazingly awesome, earthy, sensual, very fun people (my favorite crowd are SP's). However, in the ISTP, it would seem Se is often just an extension of Ti, a pure expression of it. Take extreme sports, for example. Sure, there's an element of pure adrenaline involved, but there's also a hell of a lot of technical skill and call for the depth of situational and subjective logic of Ti, maybe even following some gut hunches of Ni. Then again, in the social realm, the other functions might be engaged more, Ni and Fe, which are the functions of the NFJ type. The thinker perspective is always looming heavy, so you may easily come off as NTJ, in the work environment, and in fact INTJ's and ISTP's share the same interaction style, but with age, or in your most intimate relationships, you may come across with all the caring, warmth, concern, and fuzzy idealism of the NFJ.

In contrast, an ENTJ, for example, has the function order of Te-Ni-Se-Fi. Se and Fi are more likely to come into play, in relaxed social situations, in the traditional sense of an Se dom. When out with friends, the ENTJ may be the first one to hit the dance floor, grab the spotlight, be the comedian and show off, and the first guy with the lampshade on his head, passed out in the corner. I've had my nights, the difference was I was always the one who took it too far, indulging in excess and burning myself out on it, in one night. My Se dom friends indulged in moderation and were almost always ready to go again, the next day. The next day, all I wanted to do was nurse my hangover, figure out the logical consequences of my prior night of debauchery, and agonize over who I may have opened up and cried to, if I slipped into my ESFP mode.

The third and fourth functions are almost like an underdeveloped child mode of other temperaments/types. In this case, NJ for the STP and SP for the NTJ.