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Deconstructing my beliefs about my type

576 views 8 replies 4 participants last post by  vel 
#1 ·
I need some assistance. A funny thought came to mind (Gregory House style :tongue: ) and has caused me to doubt my belief that I am an INTP. What are some good questions I should be asking myself to determine whether I am an INTP or an INTJ? I'd like to avoid the simpleton questions which rely on stereotypes if at all possible. I need to know because the INTJ descriptions and cognitive functions seem to fit me better than those of the INTP.

I don't know where to start, otherwise I would provide a lot more information. I apologize ahead of time for that.
 
#3 ·
Do you like putting pieces together to form one model, or do you like thinking of a model then pulling it apart into pieces and exploring how they relate?
Do you find yourself slipping into devil's advocate role in debates or does arguing a point of view that is not real, isn't grounded in reality somehow seem distasteful to you?
Do you feel like you have to form some kind of an opinion on whatever topic you get exposed to or are you more prone to feeling like it would take you a lot of time to really get into it anyways and move it aside on the ground that it is not meaningful to you at this point?
Do you use TiFe or TeFi in making judgements?
 
#4 · (Edited)
Do you like putting pieces together to form one model, or do you like thinking of a model then pulling it apart into pieces and exploring how they relate?
Putting pieces together.

Do you find yourself slipping into devil's advocate role in debates or does arguing a point of view that is not real, isn't grounded in reality somehow seem distasteful to you?
I have, on occasion, played devil's advocate. I only do this if I think that both side have some merit.

Do you feel like you have to form some kind of an opinion on whatever topic you get exposed to or are you more prone to feeling like it would take you a lot of time to really get into it anyways and move it aside on the ground that it is not meaningful to you at this point?
I form opinions for most things but I do occasionally dismiss certain topics as unimportant.

Do you use TiFe or TeFi in making judgements?
TeFi
 
#5 ·
When most of us came to this forum, our types were determined usually by online MBTI tests. Doubting about our types is a natural consequence of the inaccuracy of the tests. But after learning about cognitive functions most of us were capable of answering the question.

Despite of this, sometimes doubts still emerge. I think the cause of this problem is functions not being well understood (which I also have). It is very difficult undertanding the opposite function to our dom (and sometimes aux). And as the same result (behavior, conclusion) could came from different sources (ways of thinking, cognitive functions), confusion is possible.

I am quite sure I'm an INTP and not an INTJ because I'm quite sure I'm a Ti dom. I understand it, I "feel" identified with it, my F function despite of being very low is much more Fe-like than Fi like when emerges, but I still have problems trying to understand how Ni works.

If there is a problem that could be answered by Ti or Ni and I'm not sure how Ni works, or I have a wrong idea about it, how can I be completely sure that I use Ti and Ni? That's the question. In my case, despite of my problems with Ni, all points to Ti and fits with the rest of my functions (Ne, Si, Fe). And I am absolutely sure I have no Te; the clash with my psyche is very strong (I have Ne, the function most annoyed by Te; not an INTJ).

But in people with more "hybrid" behavior, I understand the problems. So the difficulty for this question is understanding completely Ti and Ni from Ti point of view (so an INTP could be sure) and Ni point of view (so an INTJ could be sure)...


Coming back to the main issue, your doubts. Good suggestion have been made previously in the thread. Try to decide if you use Ti as dom or Ni as dom. If not, look at the rest of your functions, and consider the needed balance (Ti with Fe; Te with Fi; if you have Te you cannot have Ne and vice-versa...). A really good point habe been made by @Vel: Ti is "deductive", it works from top to the bottom; whereas Ni is "inductive", it works from the bottom to the top. Maybe if you write what concrete thoughts make you doubting about your type we could help you properly, instead using generalizations.

Don'f forget an option: I remember having read in some thread a post where you said you previously thought you were an ISTP. It you have strong doubts, this could be the solution, because ISTP (Ti>Se>Ni>Fe) uses intuition in the form of Ni (like INTJ's). If you have developed strong intuition, this could be the source of your doubts, you would have both Ti (like INTP's) and Ni (like INTJ's). The solution would came then from your moral system: Fe for INTP and ISTP and Fi for INTJ.
 
#7 ·
Not bad, but a bit "generalist". The usual problem here, a lot of description of the behavior consequence of the function, but not the fine details about the thinking process. Some of the properties described could be associated to Ti also.

For a complete understanding of a concrete function, a good idea could be having a complete, step by step, description of a function resoning while it's solving a concrete problem. So an opposite function could then "visualize" how it works, instead of reading a description of a function made by its users (the meaning is misunderstood by the particular point of view of the opposite function) or made by the opposite users (the idea they have could be wrong despite of seeming not).

For example, I totally lack one Ni property @Simulatedworld described in a thread: it's able to solve some problems by a simple "change of meanings" (a particular version of changing points of views). It's really difficult for me. This kind of information, functions while working, is what could be really useful, but it's barely available. Ti can't do that so easily because it's deductive, so it starts with a complete vision, point of view, meaning, and goes breaking down into smaller pieces (deductive, from top to bottom). The meaning is a property of the whole, so changing it is "a big change". As Ni works in the "opposite" direction, the meaning is "the sum of the meanings of the subelements", you can change only a few of them, or add few more, a get an "opposite" meaning. Much easier for this task.
 
#8 · (Edited)
Based on simulatedworld's post on functions I'd say Ni>Ne, Te~=Ti, Fi>Fe, Si>Se.

It's clear that I never fully considered all the functions until now. I knew exactly what Ne, Ti, Fi, Se and Si were but my understanding of the others was insufficient. Nonetheless, I still need to reflect some more.

Edit: This is futile! I will have to suspend judgment for a while. Anyway, thanks to those who answered.
 
#9 ·
Your shadow mode would be ENTP or ENFP something along those lines. So yes you'd be most familiar with Ni over Ne but also at times make use of your Ne. At least that's what I know of myself and what I read in some articles. It did explain to me why I feel like I can use Ne more so than Se even though some sources claimed that my shadow mode is ESTP. So as INTJ you'd probably be familiar most with Ni, Te, Ne, and Ti over other functions.
 
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