What is the connection between Ni and intelligence? | Page 2 | INFJ Forum

What is the connection between Ni and intelligence?

Alright back to Ni and intellegence, if we haven't stifled our ability to accept and take in new and contriditory information (contradictory to what we already know, that is), then Ni can make us seem way smarter than we actually are, overall. It's [simplified] just because we become better and better at guessing. However, it is a trait in the underdeveloped Ni to refuse any information past what we absorbed a long time ago, and they will constantly be guessing wrong, making them look dumber than they are, overall.

I would agree with this. It's maturity, sometimes, that can determine how one uses his or her dominant functions, and how well they use them. Sometimes maturity can be a measure of "intelligence" as well.
 
I wouldn't link Ni to a particular type of intelligence because that's limiting it's scope and application. You can use Ni with any type of intelligence i suspect, because it is an approach to information, not just a field of study. Someone who plays music by air seems to be using Ni - knowing what notes to play without previous training or reading music, etc. The person with strong naturalist intelligence may have a strong connection to nature which makes them able to intuit things about natural environment that others may not.
 
Last edited:
I wouldn't link Ni to a particular type of intelligence because that's limiting it's scope and application. You can use Ni with any type of intelligence i suspect, because it is an approach to information, not just a field of study. Someone who plays music by air seems to be using Ni - knowing what notes to play without previous training or reading music, etc. The person with strong naturalist intelligence may have a strong connection to nature which makes them able to intuit things about natural environment that others may not.

Yeah I would agree. There can certainly be any way in which Ni could learn something. There will be patterns in which it will tend to be better at then others, but you can use that in novel ways. Why else does there seem to be such a diverse set of interests and strengths here. We got writers, engineers, programers, artists, counslers, scientisits. Everything under the sun. It really doesn't matter as much as how you think, but just how hard you try and where your baseline intelligence (IQ) is. Even then though, I tend to not put much stock into IQ.
 
It really doesn't matter as much as how you think, but just how hard you try and where your baseline intelligence (IQ) is. Even then though, I tend to not put much stock into IQ.

Exactly. Which is why i wouldn't want to use the IQ as primary guide for assessing "intelligence" as it limits our understanding of "intelligence" as a concept. I mean we know that someone with supposedly low levels of intelligence can have high levels of competency and affinity in other areas.
 
My mind is blown. Could you please talk about shiny things so I can keep up?
 
  • Like
Reactions: enfp can be shy
My mind is blown. Could you please talk about shiny things so I can keep up?


CategoryLargeImage.jpg


NI3-Logo-empty.23131405_std.gif
 
Last edited:
I don't want to limit the discussion. Please feel free to post about whatever connections you see between Ni and intelligence. Thx to those who've posted.
 
Interesting way of looking at it. So, you're saying that Ni is constantly taking information from the past along with new information learned in the present - meaning, it's a continuing and unending process integration and interpretation, in order to come up with its "truth"?
Yup, exactly :).

I didn't come up with the last thing I said about it being a trait of Ni doms to refuse new information when underdeveloped, I pulled it from the personality page site on INFJ personality growth, Here. In an underdeveloped INFJ, for example, they use the other functions to guard its already establish set of "truths" refusing to let any new information in, if it in any way makes the information they have now look "wrong". Its less that they fear being wrong, more so that they believe that they are already perfectly right and infallible, and thus use their Fe to violently oppose any information which isn't part of what they think is true.
So naturally, in someone who's severely underdeveloped, they can be seen as a tantrum throwing child, refusing anything new or unfamiliar and therefore exactly as Arbygil said, immature. Part of growing is not being afraid of new information, or being wrong. Never growing stunts you and thus limits your experiences, and in a way, intelligence.
 
Yup, exactly :).

I didn't come up with the last thing I said about it being a trait of Ni doms to refuse new information when underdeveloped, I pulled it from the personality page site on INFJ personality growth, Here. In an underdeveloped INFJ, for example, they use the other functions to guard its already establish set of "truths" refusing to let any new information in, if it in any way makes the information they have now look "wrong". Its less that they fear being wrong, more so that they believe that they are already perfectly right and infallible, and thus use their Fe to violently oppose any information which isn't part of what they think is true.
So naturally, in someone who's severely underdeveloped, they can be seen as a tantrum throwing child, refusing anything new or unfamiliar and therefore exactly as Arbygil said, immature. Part of growing is not being afraid of new information, or being wrong. Never growing stunts you and thus limits your experiences, and in a way, intelligence.

Great post. When i was younger, i was always so adamant that there was one way to look at a situation, person, or idea. And ideas must be either accepted or rejected as good or bad. Going to college kinda helped me to develop my Ni, help me realize that this wasn't the case. That there are other ways to understand ideas, especially in terms of how we can interpret the value, significance, or importance of an experience.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DoveAlexa
Above all I'd vote for visual pattern recognition - which leads to (probably unmatched) reading speed. The flip-side is that Ni may not order things in the "right" order, because it just sees them all at once. (if you need the "right" order go Ti and Te) But real-life people have other functions, Ni brings some Se, which leads to other capabilities, including physical. Among INxJs I've seen people applying their functions in very different areas, which shows Ni can be developed into various intelligences.
 
Above all I'd vote for visual pattern recognition - which leads to (probably unmatched) reading speed. The flip-side is that Ni may not order things in the "right" order, because it just sees them all at once. (if you need the "right" order go Ti and Te) But real-life people have other functions, Ni brings some Se, which leads to other capabilities, including physical. Among INxJs I've seen people applying their functions in very different areas, which shows Ni can be developed into various intelligences.

Yeah, agree. I think one of the most interesting things about Ni is that it's connections are not uniformed or "tidy." It makes links in a very disorderly but very interesting manner. So, we can perceive with Ni, but then try to order it or define what it is with Ti, and then explain it so that someone else can understand it using Te.
 
Last edited:
correlation does not imply causation. Simply any given function set can have the capability to become proficient in any given area. one could argue that certain jobs have higher affinity for certain personalities (Si in the sciences) but this is not hard rule. Also in certain areas one answer isn't always right and rather there are more than one way to the given goal which allows for different thought processes to accomplish the same goal.
 
So, do you think Ni abstracts the most meaningful piece of information automatically from all the wall of information available, or does it quickly (at a subconscious level) calculate the "truth" by processing all this information at warp speed?

Honestly I don't know. For me, the way I relate to and understand it is that it is a bit of a warp speed thing in that it occurs instantly, but it often feels like I am plucking it from somewhere in the recesses of my mind. I'm not always right but I don't know if that is because my subconcious just sucks at calculating or if I have incorrect information in there somewhere. The latter seems more likely to me.

Somebody who knows more in depth about the functions could probably argue how it really works.
 
It's a very slippery slope to make relations of any functions to intelligence. Both concepts are not very clearly defined, and there are multiple different interpretations.
The testing methods for both are not exactly very reliable either.

For what it's worth, some statistics claim that the highest scoring types in regards to IQ are INTJ, INTP, INFJ, INFP in that order.

http://libertycorner.blogspot.com/2004/03/iq-and-personality.html

With how shitty MBTI testing is, I wouldn't be surprised if none of that held any ground in relation to types.

That link is just someone's blog and he states he can't remember his source.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Wyote
That link is just someone's blog and he states he can't remember his source.

He states he got them from Mensa, but can't find them online anymore. Either way, as I said, the accuracy is doubtful.
 
He states he got them from Mensa, but can't find them online anymore. Either way, as I said, the accuracy is doubtful.

Think about that, then think of all those people out there who chatter mindlessly on their cell phones, watch TV incessantly (especially daytime TV and "reality" shows), "hang out", and just can't seem to "get it together". It's frightening to be surrounded by all those stupid people -- and most of them are liberals.**

Clearly unbiased.
 
I didn't say that. I provide information, people decide how credible it is.

Call me a traditionalist but it used to be when someone provides information they attest to the credibility themselves.
 
People who use Ni often seem intelligent.

Whether they actually are or not is another story. They capacity to think deeply doesn't necessarily make one more intelligent unless that is how you are defining intelligence.
 
People who use Ni often seem intelligent.

Whether they actually are or not is another story. They capacity to think deeply doesn't necessarily make one more intelligent unless that is how you are defining intelligence.

Wouldn't thinking deeply be Ti?

I think Ni is about being able to rearrange reality by looking at from different perspectives, see deep and hidden patterns. That's a different kind of intelligence than Ti.
 
Last edited: