8 ways to spot an intp

The INTP (also known as the engineer) is the personality type which is most often associated with scientific success. Their Introverted thinking hero is often preoccupied breaking down logical processes, which causes them to innovate scientific fields in ways which most people could not comprehend. Here are 8 things to help you identify INTPs.

1. They appear to be the cliché of introversion.

Among all the introverted types, INTPs are perhaps the most introverted because they have introverted sensing (Si) as their child function. This means they are extremely sensitive to new experiences, and bad experiences will hurt them much harder than most other people. This vulnerability can cause them to focus on their comfort zone, harnessing their introverted thinking (Ti) hero and solving problems with it, religiously.

2. Nobody can convince them they’re wrong, except themselves.

They’re intelligent, they know it, everyone else knows it. This can lead them to believe they can never be wrong. INTPs that can’t accept when they’re wrong will vehemently reject ideas they disagree with. Most of the time, they <em>are</em> right, but when they’ve made an error on a logical process, it’s usually because they spotted a mistake. This is because they have Ti-Hero, and the only way to remedy this, is to have people with strong extroverted thinking (Te), asking the right questions to make them reassess their logical process.

3. They are constantly trying to  warn people about their possible futures

Whenever they use their intelligence to produce something of their own will, they are always thinking about how it may impact the future of those for whom they are building it.  This is because their extroverted intuition (Ne) parent is pessimistic towards the futures of the people around them, and they are motivated to use their Ti-Hero to solve problems for those they care about.

4. Credentials mean nothing to them, being right is all that matters.

To an INTP, credentials only refer to someone’s ability to pass a test. In highly technical fields, a passing grade can be as low as 30%. Since INTPs are highly focused on being right with their introverted thinking, the fact that someone with a degree can be wrong 70% of the time causes them to hold contempt for credentials.

5. They Become Bored Easily.

Should they gather enough data points on people’s behavior (through their introverted sensing child), they will then have the ability (through their extroverted intuition) to begin predicting the future behavior of people around them. If people become predictable, they become incredibly boring to an INTP. If an INTP cannot find a circle of friends which is constantly growing (and therefore expanding beyond predictability) they will often find themselves seeking to overcome this boredom through entertainment. This is why INTPs get the reputation of people being “addicted” to games such as World of Warcraft, they just are trying to overcome their boredom from dealing with predictable people.

6. They like receiving the same favorite experiences over and over.

While INTPs love new good experiences, they absolutely love receiving a good experience they have received many times in the past. This can be seen through an INTP having a favorite TV show or movie which they have seen multiple times. Other examples of this would include multiple play-throughs of a video game, or eating their favorite meals routinely. This is also why INTPs tell the same stories over and over, because they can relive those past experiences through remembering them. This is because they have introverted sensing as their child function, which is analogous to a child at an amusement park saying, “I want to go on that ride again!”.

7. They struggle at initiating, especially at romantic relationships.

INTPs will often struggle at initiating in social situations, but it can get particularly brutal when a male INTP initiates for a romantic relationship. This is because they have extroverted sensing (Se) trickster, which means they are unaware when they give someone a bad experience. This usually involves approaching at the wrong time (such as asking a girl to go out with them 30 minutes after breaking up with her previous boyfriend), or being informative to the point of not properly communicating their intentions, causing them to find themselves on the highway to the friend zone.

8. They are the master of “I told you so”.

Between introverted thinking hero and extroverted intuition parent, they can constantly see the future of people around them. Their extroverted feeling inferior function, however, motivates them to warn their friends of the bad things that will happen as a result of their bad decisions. They’re usually right about these things, which makes them known for telling their friends “I told you so”, and can cause people to think they’re arrogant and alienate them. But to be honest, they would rather that they listened to the first time so they never had to say “I told you so”.