NT or NF? You might be an artist!

dodartt said:

I think being a N has a big affect on creativity, because N's like new ideas, new approach on things. There's definitely a correlation.

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You are totally right, the N is a huge factor. I think my surprise was generated by reading all the career suggestions that said Rationals were supposed to be in the sciences and engineering, and here they all are in the visual arts.

I'm not into art professionally, so I can't speak for population distributions in other programs, but this doesn't surprise me in the least. Not only does N have a big effect on creativity, it virtually embodies creativity, not to mention symbolism (something fairly integral to many of the arts). They aren't all in the visual arts, there are certainly plenty in the "expected" fields. In fact, I'd guess that we've effectively monopolized our expected fields. It's just that arts are simply another way to get what's in our heads out into a wider audience. It is, to some extent, the choice between application and communication.

antahon said:

So no ISFPs? The dudes are called "the artists".

Anyway, I think there is a difference between those who study art and artists themselves.

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I'm surprised, too. And I always wonder how many ISFPs are in my art school. I know one INFP, one INFJ (both identified). I think the N is definitely a creative element, especially Ne. But there are people who say the Ns are less creative (some say artistically but I can't remember) than the Ss, idk

Maybe there are less ISFP in a MFA than a BFA program? There is simply no practical need to pursue a master's degree if you are not to teach in universities. I imagine a lot of ISFP would see a MFA unnecessary when they are already able to feed themselves and graduate education is just one of the many ways to learn and live an artist life. Of course it has nothing to do with interest here. If you are interested in further education, then.

I think it also has something to do with the kind of school and program.

My father is an ENTJ and he played violin when he was younger, still does today but much less often. He is not a professional musician but very good at it.

Colonel said:

I'm not into art professionally, so I can't speak for population distributions in other programs, but this doesn't surprise me in the least. Not only does N have a big effect on creativity, it virtually embodies creativity, not to mention symbolism (something fairly integral to many of the arts). They aren't all in the visual arts, there are certainly plenty in the "expected" fields. In fact, I'd guess that we've effectively monopolized our expected fields. It's just that arts are simply another way to get what's in our heads out into a wider audience. It is, to some extent, the choice between application and communication.

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I agree that N has a big influence on creativity and the idea behind, but the S is the determining factor in the success of a piece of art, which requires sophisticated utilization of the visual language.

SP, with their dom/ aux Se, is the best candidate to attend to detail and to visually realize them. And I think they are better at picking up visual language than other types.

Since these are just skills that one can acquire through learning. the idea will become the key if the S artist and the N artist have the same skill level. But again, the idea doesn't have to be big, idk.

antahon said:

Anyway, I think there is a difference between those who study art and artists themselves.

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Very true!

From anecdotal experience, NF are the most likely to fancy themselves as artists and/or to be delusional about their supposed artistic talent.

EssieMc said:

Surprising results from a poll given to graduates students in my MFA(Masters of Fine Arts) program. As it is related to my work, I was able to convince my fellow graduate students to all take the KTS-II, the results were really interesting to me.

Students were asked casually to take the test, if interested, and let me know their results and the extent to which they felt their profile was accurate. Over about a 3 month period all students in my immediate program had taken the test.


Results for MFA Graduate students
1 ENTP
2 ENTJ
3 INFJ
4 INTJ
5 ESFJ
6 INFP
7 ENFJ

As you can see there are a surprising abundance of Rationals and Idealists, certainly not your statistical population distribution.

I'm curious if this in common in other MFA programs or is just the way my particular school selects their grad students? I have yet to convince my professors to take the test, but I feel that this would also be revealing.

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This is interesting because I'm going to graduate school next semester for an MFA. I'm INTP.

How many people in your program took this test? I wish there was a way to compare different graduate programs and the same programs but different schools with one another.

I wonder if it has anything to do with environment. Intuitives seem to expose their children to this aspect of life. Both of my parents are Ns. My children are both Ns even though I'm married to a sensor. My dad is ENTJ and quite creative. I was exposed to arts through my dad and my grandmother. My children are surrounded by it (I'm a Humanities major) so it's no surprise that they are both involved in some form. I encouraged them to explore different mediums as they grew and when they found the ones they enjoyed I fully supported them. Both are highly involved in music theory, but in different ways. One composes for high school band (ENFP) and the other is in choir (ENTJ).

I think that there is a natural curiosity that comes with some personality structures, but if it's not nurtured and supported, it doesn't expand into something lifelong. I can't imagine a world without art. Not from the larger perspective or my own personal world. There is nothing I love more than seeing someone explore creative expression. Except perhaps, co-creating.

I went to a vocational school for music technology, and there certainly seemed to be an abundance of sensors among people studying to be musicians. Granted, it was a vocational school, which I suppose makes it a little bit different, since it's focused on the more practical stuff. The certain intuitives I knew at school weren't exactly the best students around - e.g. my classmate who was pretty certainly an INTP quit school, which is very rare there - but I feel the people I'd type as intuitives did the most interesting stuff, like my classmate who was into audio on Linux, mashups and is now coding weird shit with Pure Data. The most skilled musicians in technique etc. certainly seemed to be sensors though, mostly extroverted and I also think that most of them were feelers, but I could obviously be wrong.

I certainly was one of the bad students too, but I'm not going to claim I did any interesting stuff; that's for others to decide.

I'm now applying to university for music technology to study it further, and it'll be interesting to see if it's any different on such a higher level if I get accepted.

I think this is very discutable. I've always thought sensors would be better in visual arts, because they can see the detial which is so much important in good painting, or sculputure, than Ns, they can't see the detial that good, or have more troubles seeing it. In general they are described as people who like working with their hands so aslo arts like sculpturing, painting, fashion, hand made biju...I think Ns would be much better as theorists in art, art critics especially NTs, also in arts where they can use language and words like poetry, writteing, lyricists...