[Giggly]

Originally Posted by Athenian200

Well... they're not as smart as you, and they know it (tertiary Ti). They're worried that people will be impressed by your intelligence, and then you'll be ahead of them in the social hierarchy, and thus they'll have to defer to you. They don't want that, so they start showing other people how they're better than you, because they interpret your showing off your intelligence as an attempt to curry favor and get into people's good graces. So they want to stay one step ahead of you, so that they can feel like they're as good as you are even though they're not as intelligent. They think you looking down on them for being less intelligent, because they look down on people who are less intelligent (even though they don't say it).

They don't feel intimidated until you show intelligence, however, because they're probably more clever in the Ti sense than most people they encounter (other SJ's). So their moderate wit becomes their "added security" in maintaining their position even when unusual things start to happen, and they see you as a threat to it. They wouldn't admit to any of this, though, because it would make them look bad. Basically, underneath the kindness, there's an immature, competitive NT who can't stand that someone is smarter than them.

At least, that's what I picture when I try to see this from their perspective.

That was pretty negative, not to mention, untrue.