[INTP] Too soft for T; too hard for F?

I have always found the T/F dichotomy the toughest to decipher when trying to guess another person's type. I suppose this is due to the fact that every person has both rational thought processes and emotional responses that play a part in their decision making and interactions with others. The functions also bear this out. Plus, function use isn't a perfect stack, it's a blend of cognitive usages that can vary from situation to situation.

The more I learn about MBTI and examine function dynamics in myself and others, the more I realize that everyone is BOTH a T/F (and S/N), that no two people of the same "type" manifest the functions in exactly the same ways, and that people can always surprise you (you can even surprise yourself sometimes!).
 
Elis said:
I feel ya.
Too emphatic for T, yet too intelligent for F.
Click to expand...

Um, what? How does intelligence have anything to do with T or F? Because it doesn't.

Also, some of the "softest" people I've met have been Ts, they're just typically the last people to realize it/come to terms with it.
 
hush said:
Um, what? How does intelligence have anything to do with T or F? Because it doesn't.

Also, some of the "softest" people I've met have been Ts, they're just typically the last people to realize it/come to terms with it.
Click to expand...
So very true! They can be so blissfully and ignorantly unaware of their soft squishyness. :laughing:
 
infinite dreams said:
I have always found the T/F dichotomy the toughest to decipher when trying to guess another person's type. I suppose this is due to the fact that every person has both rational thought processes and emotional responses that play a part in their decision making and interactions with others. The functions also bear this out. Plus, function use isn't a perfect stack, it's a blend of cognitive usages that can vary from situation to situation.
Click to expand...

Yes! I've argued along those lines for a long time, but my points never gained traction. I think healthy people probably let feelings and thoughts guide their decisions, because f/t bleed into each other. And I think most of us have let our feelings guide our actions occasionally -- which is logical to secure goodwill in our community. Actually, instrumental kindness doesn't fit here. At all. I'm sleepy.

Cold tests are the ones I prefer to reference -- irl, there are people who don't define themselves by a "type." Their function preference scores hover around the middle, which is normal. I think it's likely that testing as an extreme T, I, N, P and so on indicates mental illness.

And I want to see the MBTI validated by neuroscientists. *still waiting*

The more I learn about MBTI and examine function dynamics in myself and others, the more I realize that everyone is BOTH a T/F (and S/N), that no two people of the same "type" manifest the functions in exactly the same ways, and that people can always surprise you (you can even surprise yourself sometimes!).
Click to expand...

MBTI functions are not binary! They exist on a damn continuum. :rage::grinning:
 
Elis said:
I feel ya.
Too emphatic for T, yet too intelligent for F.
Click to expand...
That's kind, and I appreciate what you're saying.
But it is completely untrue that Fs are less intelligent than Ts. Many INTPs and INTJs act like the cocks of the walk -- and berate Fs as if they are incapable of reason -- precisely because of the type of comment you made above. Maybe it's the extreme Ts that stick around, but what I've seen turns my stomach.

I remember Hustler's strictly spatial-reasoning IQ test...a new ENFP poster scored higher than anyone else on INTPc. :sunglasses:.........................a joke? Thank God....typing and typing it's over

Actually, I just thought of something. First, intelligence isn't brilliance. Brilliance is Shakespeare -- an extremely intelligent man whose feelings and thoughts melded (which is what I believe happens in general), while his intuition worked as a guide and muse.

A processor can't do that.
 
Last edited:
Lurk said:
I remember Hustler's strictly spatial-reasoning IQ test...a new ENFP poster scored higher than anyone else on INTPc. :sunglasses:
Click to expand...

Spatial reasoning is for suckers.

At any rate I'm sure a certain Egyptian demigod summarily ruled the test results invalid. :tonguewink:

Actually, I just thought of something. First, intelligence isn't brilliance. Brilliance is Shakespeare -- an extremely intelligent man whose feelings and thoughts melded (which is what I believe happens in general), while his intuition worked as a guide and muse.

A processor can't do that.
Click to expand...

Strongly agreed. I've been called "smart" or whatever basically my whole life, but wtf have I done with it? What have I created? What have I produced? Meanwhile (brilliant) high school/college dropouts paradigm-shift the entire human race.

And that's not even getting into all the different kinds of intelligence. I will maintain until the day I die that a person capable of repairing a complex mechanical system is "smarter" than someone who can easily learn a lot of shit out of books.
 
Lurk said:
Yes, I started one of those threads.
Click to expand...

I could have started it. I relate to this about a million percent.

I'm a very logical feeler, which can be tough to bear. I create "conflict" (i.e. heated arguments) by pointing out fallacies in reasoning but then I realise I can't handle the conflict. :tearsofjoy:
 
Icedream said:
I think it's more about being highly developed than it is about being "in the middle"
Click to expand...

You have a point, for sure! Which brings to mind a nerdy comparison. I'll spoil it because it sounds kind of pretentious.

Sometimes I feel like my Ti is a bit like Kakashi's sharingan in Naruto: pretty decent to help me hold my own for a while but then it knocks me out and I have to go sleep for three weeks :sweatsmile:
 
iu
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top