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What is it like to think like an N?

thisGuy

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Mar 14, 2009
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1,187
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entp
- this is what really happened in real-life: as 10 to 15 friends of mine were just finished watching Transformers ROTF, about 11 of them just walk out the theater, and discussing "that was good movie. ok, so now where should we head for? home? or find a place to eat?" , while the remaining 4 people (including me) were discussing "so wait a minute, is the Starscream the sub-ordinate of The Fallen? but in Transformers 1, I thought he appears like three times, while in this sequel, he only appears here, here,...blah blah blah (continue debating until almost an hour!)"

how can you even mention transformers without mentioning megan fox?!

also, i like how, through all the replies, Ns here first give the S opinion and then the N opinion...cuz yeah, Ns know exactly how Ss think


i cant really say much about S, because im pretty sure that my S is an adapted version of N...an adaptation that i somehow came up with to make the most of myself in the world that lives outside my head

N IS messy. things go 0 to 80 in less than a second. N is the definition of randomness. N is sort of what people call having your head in clouds. N is completing a jigsaw puzzle with half the pieces missing (because half the pieces are missing, you never know if N is right or not...till you find the pieces)

you can also think of Ni as thinking really really fast...so fast that instead of recalling stuff, it seems to pop out of nowhere. Ne...i have no handle on Ne...i think its the most randomest and most irrational function. there have been a few instances where i think to myself that my actions must be result of Ne but i can never be sure
 

ladyinspring

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May 7, 2009
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76
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INFP
Not seeing anything for what it is presenting itself to be. Image and appearance are not the end of the story. A big thing for me is filling in what is missing. Lenore Thompson gives a simple example; extraverted intuition, upon seeing this image, fills in the rest:
lettera.gif


Now anybody can do this because everybody uses all of the cognitive functions, but this a simple representation of one of the ways people perceive with intuition. Filling in missing information, seeing what isn't there but what is implied by context, seeing what something is supposed to be and contrasting with what it presents itself to be, placing something into a bigger picture, seeing all of the things something could be, etc.

I tend to connect different experiences and different things that I know with each other. My friends often ask me for relationship advice, not because I have ever experienced the type of relationship they are in, but because I tend to understand people very well. I usually base my understanding of people on all of the ways in which humans and the ways they interact with each other are the same. Another thing I do is fill in the missing pieces of a person: I assess what kind of person they really are (probably introverted feeling), and compare the kind of person they could be with how they are right now. Then I use that information to help people see and hopefully realize their potential.

Intuition makes me a pretty hopeful person overall. Everything could always be so much more than it is, which means things can always be better. However, I'm not usually focused so much on improving everything as I am on connecting the missing bits and making something or someone whole. I am a constant advocate and cheerleader for the people I love by telling them all the wonderful things they are that they might not be seeing. I'm also an idea-generator and help people get to where they want to be when they're stuck. A big thing for me is seeing how any idea has potential.
 
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BallentineChen

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Apr 3, 2008
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152
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INFJ
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3w4
I remembered the OP and somehow Licoln's second inaugural address sprang to mind.

Both read the same Bible, and pray to the same God; and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces; but let us judge not that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered; that of neither has been answered fully.

Just in case, Lincoln is talking about the Civil War here. What makes me think intuition was happening here was that Lincoln was able to rise above his present circumstance, as leader of the Union, to an understanding that rose above partisanship. He understood the paradox that each side believed they were in the favor of God. Therefore, despite leading the Union in the fight against the Confederacy, he understood that he was yet to be judged - he didn't know if he was actually doing the right thing and it would only be revealed in time.

This is an example of the Ni theme of being able to place yourself in someone shoes, the function of being able to identify the arbitrary nature of perception. If I stand on the Union side I see one angle, if I stand on the Confederate side I see another angle. The function of Ni tries to reconcile all angles and an example of the product is what we see in Lincoln's speech.

In a daily life scenario I interpret life systemically. From my contact with only certain facets of reality I will extrapolate a picture of the entire system, like models in my head. For example, yesterday I was speaking with a priceline.com operator. After he couldn't help me change a ticket I asked if calling the airline directly would help. He said yes, and my systemic thinking turned on. If priceline.com works directly with the airline they must have a common way of identifying reservations, so I asked him if there was any information I could gather from him that I could give to the airline. I stepped out of my shoes and into the airline operators and knew that she would have to have a way of identifying my reservation. That's my thought process in problem solving mode.
 

KarenParker

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Mar 3, 2009
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ESFP
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7
also BTW I really like reading the questions that you ask. There are so few esfps here so when you ask them it comes from a very different external perspective and makes me think about things differently. It's neat.

Aww! Thanks for melting my heart! I definitely feel like the black sheep around here but it hasn't really stopped me! Most of my friends are Ns surprisingly so I like to understand them better.
 

KarenParker

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When I was a kid I used to do this after school activity call Odyssey of the Mind which was this thing where kids get in teams of about 6 or so and they do creative exercises. For example, the parent or teacher or whatever would get a red ball and we had to sit in a circle and pass it to each other and each time the ball came to us we had to describe what else it could be. So maybe I would get the red ball and say, "It's a planet for ants." That's how we would start every meeting.

Every year we would make a creative skit and there was always a theme we had to incorporate. Then we would go to the regional competition and perform the skit. We would get judged and then if you were good you got to go on to state and so on.

So my whole point of saying this is that it's really weird I was good at that because that is SUCH an intuitive thing to do and that's my weakest skill. I wish I could tap into that again. Maybe I am just out of practice.
 

INTJ123

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Jun 20, 2009
Messages
777
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ESFP
Imagine what it would be like for me to switch to S! ISTJ hmmm boring... but I'd actually be considered normal!!!

I'm very suprised actually, my best friend is an esfp and I don't recall him ever wondering what it's like to be an intuitive, let alone care what an intuitive is, or mbti altogether, he's into music as much as I'm into psychology. But what made you interested in mbti Karen?


Oh wait I just looked at your percentages and it looks like you are fairly balanced in the sensing intuitive department, maybe you have been using your intuition more often than you know.
 

OrangeAppled

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4w5
Instinctual Variant
sp/sx
So my whole point of saying this is that it's really weird I was good at that because that is SUCH an intuitive thing to do and that's my weakest skill. I wish I could tap into that again. Maybe I am just out of practice.

I think this is because children are encouraged to be imaginative. For Ns, that imagination never really stops, but possibly grows and refines. For some of us, life was easier as children because it was more acceptable to be highly imaginative then. As an adult, "practical" things take precedence. You have to compromise your ideas with the real world confinements, and that often kills the idea a bit. I'm thinking of when my design work gets slaughtered by clients with no vision :D.
 

Jaguar

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I'm thinking of when my design work gets slaughtered by clients with no vision :D.

One of my favorite lines is from Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid.
Paul Newman said to Robert Redford:
" I've got vision, and the rest of the world wears bifocals."
 

Athenian200

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So my whole point of saying this is that it's really weird I was good at that because that is SUCH an intuitive thing to do and that's my weakest skill. I wish I could tap into that again. Maybe I am just out of practice.

Yeah. :)

I think that you can do it again. All it takes is the desire, and a willingness to open yourself to that process again, even if it seems pointless.

You won't necessarily use it the way an NJ does, but there's definitely a little niche for Ni in the life of an SFP, and pretty much every other type. Truth be told... we all need and use all the functions, whether we like them or not.
 

KarenParker

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I'm very suprised actually, my best friend is an esfp and I don't recall him ever wondering what it's like to be an intuitive, let alone care what an intuitive is, or mbti altogether, he's into music as much as I'm into psychology. But what made you interested in mbti Karen?


Oh wait I just looked at your percentages and it looks like you are fairly balanced in the sensing intuitive department, maybe you have been using your intuition more often than you know.

I loved MBTI because it was so accurate and backed up by real science. I've always been interested in psychology and what motivates people to do things. I like that it fits together like a puzzle. Also, I was breaking up with an INTJ and MBTI helped me figure out why we had so many of the perpetual problems we did. Of course, MBTI wasn't the reason we broke up. It was an unhealthy relationship, but it still opened my eyes and made me realize that all the times we were trying to change each other's personalities was wasted energy and we should have accepted each other's differences.

I was thinking about that intuition thing today. So my percentages are close and ESFP's weakest function is intuition but ENFPs strongest function is intuition. So where does that put me?
 

Athenian200

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I was thinking about that intuition thing today. So my percentages are close and ESFP's weakest function is intuition but ENFPs strongest function is intuition. So where does that put me?

Well, I think it puts you in the position of not quite being an ESFP or an ENFP. You show traits of both, honestly.

The thing about MBTI, is that no one is ever 100% their type. Our type is just the point on an imaginary grid that we happen to fall closest to.

Take me. I fall closest to INFJ, but I'm not too far away from INTJ, ISFJ, or INTP. Other INFJs might fall closer to ENFJ, INFP, and ENTP, for instance.

I wish it were simpler, but it's not. :(
 

KarenParker

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Well, I think it puts you in the position of not quite being an ESFP or an ENFP. You show traits of both, honestly.

The thing about MBTI, is that no one is ever 100% their type. Our type is just the point on an imaginary grid that we happen to fall closest to.

Take me. I fall closest to INFJ, but I'm not too far away from INTJ, ISFJ, or INTP. Other INFJs might fall closer to ENFJ, INFP, and ENTP, for instance.

I wish it were simpler, but it's not. :(

They should make a giant plot and plot people on the spectrum based on their answers for the test. Like they do with the Nolan chart.
 

Athenian200

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They should make a giant plot and plot people on the spectrum based on their answers for the test. Like they do with the Nolan chart.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. :yes:

Interesting. I NEVER would have pegged you as the party girl type from your conversations on here. Usually people who come off as smoothly and articulately as you do on the Internet are the ones who are geekish and awkward in real life. You're one of the few Extraverts I've seen whose poise and perception/expressiveness carries from the real world onto the Internet. There are seriously a lot of ENFPs who can't do this, and come across in a very messy way on here despite coming across well in real life. You have a very rare gift... a strong, clear presence and capacity for self-expression in both worlds.

I guess it really doesn't have much to do with type. Some people just "get it," and are "tuned in," and some people aren't.
 

entropie

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Interesting. I NEVER would have pegged you as the party girl type from your conversations on here. Usually people who come off as smoothly and articulately as you do on the Internet are the ones who are geekish and awkward in real life.

You really have to work on your stereotyping skills one day, if you want to get old and wise :)
 

Athenian200

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You really have to work on your stereotyping skills one day, if you want to get old and wise :)

Eww, I don't want to get old. :cry: Why would anyone WANT that?

And that particular stereotype wasn't from MBTI. I kind of had that one before I ever learned about it, and it usually panned out. There have been popular/social types who came across well online as well, don't get me wrong, it's just that they were the exception rather than the norm.
 

entropie

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Eww, I don't want to get old. :cry: Why would anyone WANT that?

I would like to say now: at least now you know what your problem is. But that doesnt make any real sense to me aswell.

Therefore, what about a beer ? :cheers: :D
 
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