[Capsicum]

Just thinking about the tortured path I took to discovering my ISTPness, and wondering what it was like for others...

When I first discovered mbti stuff, I only saw it as a four letter combo and paid no attention to functions. Took a couple of tests and came out as an INTJ. Great!

Went to the INTJ forum, saw INTJs in their glory, and realised I wasn't. :mellow:

I read about functions, and realised I fit the dominant Ti description best. As descriptions of sensors painted them as a bunch of idiots who can't think more than three seconds into the future, I went with INTP. Again, I couldn't figure them out.

So I figured I had the E/I thing messed up. Hey, I get energised around people! I must be an extrovert! So I became an ENTP... and again, it didn't fit.

So I forgot about mbti for a while. But it never left me, and so I took a couple of tests, and came up ISTP. Read through the descriptions... and it fit, mostly. Good enough for me.

After lurking here on PCafe for a while I realised the ISTPs here seemed pretty similar to me, so I figured I had it right.

What about the rest of you?

 

[madhatter]

Took several tests over the years, and scored as either ISTP or INTP.

I bought Type Talk, and ISTP fit...mostly. There was that thrill-seeker, risk-taker aspect to it, and I really don't see myself that way. INTP fit some other aspects of me as well, but not quite.

I bought Personality Type by Lenore Thomson. I hadn't heard about cognitive functions before this. I read Ti, and I really identified with it. Then, when it was Se-Ni vs. Ne-Si, INTP no longer fit as well, and ISTP fit better.

As my understanding of cognitive function deepens, it just confirms more and more that my type is ISTP.

 

[ThoughtProcess]

I had no idea what MBTI was but, I took a test for shits and giggles. I answered the questions honestly, knowing that nobody was going to read the responses, and reverted back to my childhood when in question. I then sent the description to my mom and she replied with "if that isn't you to a T".

 

[zynthaxx]

I first took an online test when I was maybe 16-17 years old and very socially immature. It came out as INTJ. It fit pretty well with me back then, but not entirely - anyway, it wasn't interesting enough, so I forgot completely about it for several years. I then took a similar test and got INTP as a result. Again, I saw similarities with my way of thinking and my behavior, but it still wasn't really close enough.
Finally, a few years ago, I found PersonalityPage and began to actually take an interest in what the different letters meant. Pretty soon I came to the conclusion that I must be an IxTP. So I read the "problems" section of the personal growth page for both types, and instantly recognized myself in the ISTP description.

To this day, when I'm trying to put my finger on the type of a person, I narrow down my selection by observation, and then I nail it by reading up on the type of problems the different types encounter when they're not mature and balanced.

 

[Darner]

When I first did the test, I didn't know about MBTI. I was into psychology and with all the adolescent identity crises I wanted to define myself. I love labels so I didn't like it when I got always something else as a result. The last three letters used to shuffle, only the first one was always "I", which I'm actually doubting recently ... OK, it is true that I hang out with people on average 12 hours per week (I counted them), but I am a pretty explosive person, always full of positive energy and ready to jump of the cliff with a parachute right now and I have no problem with singing loudly The Vagina Song in the middle of a crowded cafeteria (I love that song 0) or go and talk to a complete stranger (but it is true that the chat usually finishes after a minute or two because I don't know what to say). But it can also be that I was supershy when I was young, I was always staring in the floor and was closed in the house but in high school I finally grew self-confidence and I appear more extroverted because I know how I used to be.
But anyway - the most helpful sections for me were the "You know you're ..." in this forum. I read all the possibilities I used to be along my testing history and with all of them I said "definitely no" and when I read the ISTP one, I finally felt home

 

[Kadjunga]

During the winter session i had a quarter life crisis about having no personality at all and started doing various personality tests to figure out if i have one or not. First time i tried i popped up as an istp but i couldnt relate to anything said there, the intp one fitted me better back then. Spent a few weeks on their forums and noticed i am -nothing- at all like one. After that, gave this forum a look and in a few days, i could relate to almost anything said here.

Later on i retook the tests and kept bouncing between istp and intp. Only after i took some test (i dont remember where) did i notice that it was my Ni that was throwing up intp. All of the Xi functions were higher than the rest.

Now tho... i am quite sure i am an istp, even tho i am not "adventorous" or into extreme sports (or any sport actually)

 

[AEIOU]

I find it interesting how several of us have tested out, thought maybe we were INTPs before we finally realized or determined ourselves to be ISTPs.
I can't remember when exactly I took the first MBTI test, something online four or five years ago. Since then I've taken it several additional times at various different websites. I've come up as an INTP once and as an INTJ once too, but maybe six or seven times I've come up as an ISTP.

Here is the one I prefer.
http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp

 

[Striker]

I took a few tests back in college. I scored everything between an INTJ, INTP, INFJ and ISTJ. The descriptions always confused me because I could relate to a little but if them all. It wasn't until I read up on the functions in Lenore Thomson's book that I decided ISTP.

 

[jroo46]

i took a job with a rather large defense contractor and they made me take the MBTI test. i had never heard of it before that. i scored as an ISTP. the only one on the team. then they later fired me because i was shitty at mundane routine tasks, but handled the shit out of project emergencies. i was like, no shit, the test you made me take tells you that. anyway. ive been doing soul searching on this job thing and it made me come back to it. ive scored istp everytime but once when i got entp. some of those traits fit me, but not like istp.

 

[DJArendee]

I slipped on the toilet and saw a vision of the flux... ISTP

Actually I took a test on facebook multiple times, every time it was different. I got: ENTP, ISTJ, ESTJ, INFJ, ENFP, and INTJ.

So I decided to read all the profiles and read about ISTP and was like... naw that can't be me, WAY too awesome. Then I was jealous of myself for a little while. Then my INTP brother read all of them and told me I was ISTP.

 

[MissFixit]

My mom got that book "Please Understand Me" and was totally fascinated by it when I was a kid. (She's ENFJ, it figures i guess)

She tried to "type" all of us, and she got me almost right -- she thought I was an ISFP but when she got me to take the test it was pretty clear I am a T. I think she was confused because I am introverted and don't verbalize my thinking processes, plus I like creative hobbies.

I was a little too young to understand all the questions, but even back then the "N" questions on the test were so irritating to me. Now that I'm grown and read the cognitive functions descriptions I know that I'm def ISTP, but I think they should re-write those "N vs S" questions like this:

"Do you prefer CAKE, or what cake can become?"
"What is better -- to have actual CAKE, or to know that cake is possible?"

would make things easier i think.

 

[AEIOU]

My mom got that book "Please Understand Me" and was totally fascinated by it when I was a kid. (She's ENFJ, it figures i guess)

She tried to "type" all of us, and she got me almost right -- she thought I was an ISFP but when she got me to take the test it was pretty clear I am a T. I think she was confused because I am introverted and don't verbalize my thinking processes, plus I like creative hobbies.

I was a little too young to understand all the questions, but even back then the "N" questions on the test were so irritating to me. Now that I'm grown and read the cognitive functions descriptions I know that I'm def ISTP, but I think they should re-write those "N vs S" questions like this:

"Do you prefer CAKE, or what cake can become?"
"What is better -- to have actual CAKE, or to know that cake is possible?"

would make things easier i think.

"You can’t have your cake and eat it too.”
I just love cake, in fact I was dreaming about cake last night and then I started dreaming about finding some Gatorade to wash it down with. Funny thing, when I woke up I wasn't hungry or thirsty either.

 

[MissFixit]

When they came out with that new "Birthday cake" flavor of ice cream....it was like heaven had cracked open and spilled out a little in the frozen food aisle..

I really don't know why I'm not fat. I should be.

 

[ThoughtProcess]

Yellow cake ice cream... *drool*

 

[madhatter]

Mmmm, now I want some of my mom's homemade chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce.

 

[alionsroar]

Quizzes told me I was probably an INFP or INTP but I found the career suggestions for INFP displeasing.

Looking at personalitypage.com made me think I was ISTP or INTP. I thought I was INTP.

Got told off for focussing too much on the detail and not on the bigger picture.

Decided ISTP at personalitypage.com could be more me.

Looking at the descriptions at typelogic.com and by comparing the function descriptions and narrowing it down, decided I used Ti-Se-Ni-Fe.

Reading more about ISTP sold me.

 

[VroomVroom]

Tested as INTP for a long time. INTJ every now and then. ISTP seemed to make sense looking back on everything. At this time in my life (30) I relate most to ESFP, ESTP and ISTP.

 

[ThoughtProcess]

Mmmm, now I want some of my mom's homemade chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce.

That sounds grubbin'!

I made some peanut butter cookies this morning. 1c pb, 1c sugar, and 1 egg. Mix well, put 1tspn sized balls into a 350* over for 8-10 minutes. I use Adams peanut butter.

 

[madhatter]

Ooh...want a way into an ISTP's heart...give them cookies!

No flour? No baking soda?

 

[Packey]

I took the test a few years back, at college and it typed me as an INTJ, I checked the forums and soon realised that I wasn't one of them. Took it again and it said INTP so I joined an INTP forum. I got along pretty well with them but eventually got bored and just forgot about the MBTI.

I was given a book on personality profiles a while back and discovered that I was an ISTP and I've never looked back.

"ISTPism, for a brighter healthier happier you"