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My dad might be one of you guys, but--

[ISTP] 
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955 views 2 replies 2 participants last post by  alionsroar 
#1 · (Edited)
Is my dad an ISTP?

Hi guys!

I've been on an ongoing journey of figuring out my dad's type. I am sure he's IxTx, and it's just about figuring out all the other nuances. At first, I kept relating him to IxTJ's. This is because most of my close friends are IxTJs (and one INTP) so I keep drawing on my experiences; for example, if I spotted him doing something my INTJ friend would do, I would relate this to an INTJ trait, although it may not even be related to type at all! however, as of late, i've been able to be see things more objectively, or at least to see things without relating him to solely my IxTx friends.

Right now, I have been down for INTP or ISTP and I'm almost really sure about this. I'll be sure to write down some more of his traits later, but three things struck out to me from today's random interaction

1) he says "miss" or "mister" to everyone, despite English not being his first language (so it's not something he learned growing up). For example, to our waitress, he would say "Miss, could you please...?" And of course, people react very positively to my dad. He's also in a very authoritative position, but treats his subordinates very generously, courteously and politely. Everyone would always tell me "your dad's a very nice man."

2) he likes to tinker with things, although he really sucks at it. I don't know how to explain... the thing is, my dad's not a mechanic or in the science/engineering field. He was a social science major and he's in his 50s now, but he's always curious? intrigued? by things. When we get our car fixed or someone fixes our fax machine, I always step back and let them handle it. (I usually do tons of research ahead of time, so by the time I find someone specific to fix something, i'm sure they're the right person - i carefully find out what exactly needs to be fixed, then i find an expert who could do it now that I understand, then i find an expert that has good reviews, and after that point... i let them take charge of everything). But my dad will always be interested in seeing how specific things are taken apart or fixed. He'll engage in conversation with the person and try to learn about how the darn machine works (on the other hand, i could care less. I just care about the specific problem and what needs to be done...). He's always interested in how things work/can get fixed (but he's really bad at it lol. it's okay, though, it's not his line of work anyway). This is an INFJ thing, but sometimes I sort of "know" what's wrong; and I just need to do the research to find out all the factual/logistical way of explaining what I know. so sometimes this amazes my dad "how'd you know..?"

If I download a program on the computer or have some kind of new gadget, he's always immensely interested and asks me 'well how does that work..? if i were to do that, what would...?" whereas for me I'm not too focused on the small details of how things work but seem to intuitively get how to use it when i first pick it up.

3) he's a strategist. he could sense the opponent's plays and predict what someone would say or do. (sometimes he's wrong though, lol. at least i have the ability to go around his logical confines hehehe. i'm sure my intuitively illogical actions baffle him sometime). on the other hand, i don't know if i'd say he's an intuitive person? sometimes, i point out things from my intuitive perspective. he pauses and considers them and gives me a look of acknowledgment for seeing something he hadn't noticed (we'd work really good as a team if we were commanders/generals in war. He would be the strategist, and I would be the one pointing out the other possibilities of how something could develop. Basically -- he would be the one that creates the logical system/strategy, and I would be the one that sees that it is really good, but adapts the various plans to show the different possibilities. on my own, i wouldn't be able to come up with my own strategy. And on his own, he'd have a really great logical strategy, but it'd be just that. I sort of think we function like this in real life, too .). Hmm..

Based on that, would you say those were ISTP tendencies? I'll post some more potential INTP/ISTP traits later , but for now I have those three.
 
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#2 ·
and he heavily relies on his planner. Most of the "J"s I know (including myself) tend to keep everything in our head and just remember it, but most of the "P"s I know write everything (I mean EVERYTHING) down "just in case they forget." Not saying one is exclusive to another, because I know I like to have a calendar with just the major dates (to see the big picture) and I'm sure other types also vary somewhat.

With small tasks, I tend to put them on a list of things to do, but my dad just does it on the spot because 1) it's a small task and he wants to get it over with/not let things build up; 2) saving it to do "later" just does not seem within my dad's line of thinking. He's more like "why not now?" (This may be a N vs S thing...?) He does all the little tasks first. I do all the major big task first and pile up all the small ones.
 
#3 · (Edited)
1) I try to be polite to people, even though I often don't succeed so much but maybe because I'm not old enough and haven't used my Se enough to find out the proper way to do stuff:p Or maybe if I had Ne I'd be able to see the importance of it more.

2) I really like finding out about things and how things work to a certain point such as when I lose interest in it..and I'm bad at things I have no knowledge about.

3) I'm sometimes awed at things my ISTJ dad says because of his Ne, like how do you think of that? While things my Ni using sisters point out that I have missed, I'm more like, oh yeah, that makes sense, duh, I could have seen that if I had looked properly. Ne stuff I usually don't see coming.

4) I haven't organised myself yet to have a planner but I tend to write things down if I want to remember them. My dad also writes things everything down but he does it because he wants to make sure he does things, but maybe that's more a Te thing.

5) I tend to do what you do with my Se enjoy the moment thing:p Actually I only do things if I really have to. My dad would act more like your dad but maybe mine is just fulfilling his duties:).

It could be ISTP tendencies.. but it also could be more INTP tendencies by 1%:laughing:
 
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