[MBTI General] NFs and Romanticized views of their intellingce...

[Venom]

1. It might make sense that NTs would base their worth on intelligence more than NFs... but at a second glance I have noticed there might be a fundamental difference: NTs maybe find worth in their value of intelligence, as it is, period. NFs maybe find worth in a romanticized view of their intelligence.

2. I will cite myself as an example. extroverted intuition has given me a mind that NEVER TURNS OFF! Because of this, I often confuse the depth and length of analysis as intelligence. Second, I have a profound interest in ideas and people who postulate interesting ideas. I once again, confuse interests in these areas, with actually having the intelligence required to excel in those areas. Thirdly, I am a good mimic and enjoy trying to mimic those are the great idea people. Fourthly, I'm extremely competitive. I refuse to ever doubt the ability of my Ne...which can get me into trouble. Fifthly, I have learned over the years that I do best in school when I go into Te mode; I literally have a split personality when it comes to me in class versus me not doing those things. Yes, MANY people claim this dichotomy of work/play personalities. However, I feel that my contrast is much much stronger than normal. The point is, this highlights my affinity for mimicking and gaining too much confidence in my Te abilities (which I associate with being smart...so it drives me to mimic Te even more)...

3. Beyond the deceptions I have mentioned in point 2, many NF stereotypical activities do require some form of skill and abstract thinking. Writing good poetry, fiction, and exercising tact in human relations all require a degree of skill. NTs can obviously be good at these things as well. however, for the sake of conversation I am working with the archetypal view of NT intelligence being more quantitative. The fundamental difference I see here then, is that most of these NF intelligences are not quantitative. This leaves a lot of wiggle room for believed intelligence to extrapolate its perceived weight into fields that it may not actually excel in.

4. I often experience the dangers of being an NF who feels smarter than they actually are based on incorrectly extrapolating intelligence in verbal and arts to areas that my intelligence really does not excel at.

5. I am curious if anyone else ever experiences this romanticized view of their intelligence? I wonder if its a NF thing or even just a N thing?







edit: my inspiration for this post was how my sister challenged me to beat her score on an IQ test... I couldn't really figure out why I would get so bothered about a score (I beat her but I still was very upset about my score)...then I realized that I must be romanticizing my intelligence to something far above what my actual IQ is.

 

[heart]

I know, admit and grieve my limitations.

 

[ajblaise]

Have you made an effort to be more succinct in your analysis, conversation, debate....?

I think being overly verbose might not be due to your romanticized view of intelligence, but by the fact that people who aren't able to intellectually express themselves efficiently will compensate with bloviating.

 

[Cypocalypse]

If we view the cognitive process as measures of intelligence, then that alone would already give us 8 perspectives of looking at it. Si, Se, Ni, Ne, Ti, Te, Fi, and Fe.

School, most of the time, only emphasizes Si and Te.

Now, are they more important forms of intellegince than the others? I don't think so, but they're pretty much the archetypal way of looking at intelligence.

 

[Mondo]

I can relate to this.
Simply for the reason that intelligence is one of my only positive qualities.
Without it, I'm not anything else.

 

[Mitzy]

idk..depends on your definition of what 'intelligent' means to you...

 

[placebo]

I can relate to this.
Simply for the reason that intelligence is one of my only positive qualities.
Without it, I'm not anything else.

Something like this.

You grow up being told you're 'smart' as if you have nothing else to offer, and that's kind of what you grasp on to in the end.

 

[nolla]

At the moment I think intelligence is fine, but nothing special. I don't value it as it is. I like what you are saying, though. But, to me the "wiggle room" seems more like intelligence combined with creativity. And this is something I appreciate a lot more than intelligence alone. Even if it means that the creative person is less intelligent than the pure intelligent person.

 

[ajblaise]

Even if it means that the creative person is less intelligent than the pure intelligent person.

I've read that the most creative people tend to have IQs around 110.

 

[Cypocalypse]

More like someone who has a jacked up Ne, in my opinion.

 

[animenagai]

eh i dunno. either way, i'm not gonna be convinced that i'm not smart . honestly, i think a longing to be intelligent does help with the pursuit of intelligence. there's a reason NF's are such jack of all traits. our confidence level be it from romaticised reasons or not, help us with the learning curve.

 

[placebo]

I've read that the most creative people tend to have IQs around 110.

I read the most creative people are IQ'd in their 120s-130s and it stops around there (the increasing level of creativity as IQ also increases). But creative doesn't just mean good at fine arts of course... basically anyone who can really think outside of the box.

 

[chris1207]

School, most of the time, only emphasizes Si and Te.

Eh, more like Ni and Te. School's all about finding the deeper meaning in subjects, not referencing your experience with them. The use of examples, associated with S, is secondary.

And as for this topic, I dunno what I value as being a measure of intelligence. It could be how others perceive me, my grades, my ability to be responsible (especially with money), or something else. I'll have to think about this and get back to you.

 

[Venom]

Eh, more like Ni and Te. School's all about finding the deeper meaning in subjects, not referencing your experience with them. The use of examples, associated with S, is secondary.

I really like this post...but Ill just add this clarifier of my own:

k-12...............................Si/Te "show your work"
college and beyond............Ni/Te "I dont care, just get it right"

I have no doubt that when Im doing well in school, its usually because im making better use of Te. I doubt that i'm pairing it with Si though, because i almost NEVER use rote memorization! I have definitely done better in college. Here, no body cares about Si. I can pull the answer out of my ass (Ni) and nobody calls me on it .

 

[nolla]

k-12...............................Si/Te "show your work"
college and beyond............Ni/Te "I dont care, just get it right"

It is ironical that when you get to do actual work, it goes back to Si/Te

 

[Ghost of the dead horse]

I approve of this tread. Incredibly insightful OP.

 

[Gish]

More like someone who has a jacked up Ne, in my opinion.

I jacked up my Ne playing sports.

 

[MrRandom]

I really like this post...but Ill just add this clarifier of my own:

k-12...............................Si/Te "show your work"
college and beyond............Ni/Te "I dont care, just get it right"

I have no doubt that when Im doing well in school, its usually because im making better use of Te. I doubt that i'm pairing it with Si though, because i almost NEVER use rote memorization! I have definitely done better in college. Here, no body cares about Si. I can pull the answer out of my ass (Ni) and nobody calls me on it .

This is kind of interesting, because as an INFJ Te and Si are my last functions (7th and 8th, respectively). Although being smart, a sort of bookworm, well-behaved and potentially a great student, I never did very good at school. I didn't find most of the stuff either interesting or meaningful (or the childish way of teaching). Then again, I got great grades in the subjects that I did find worthy.

Then I got into an art college, got great grades most of the time and graduated with a scholarship and top of my class. What a change in school experiences!

I'll tell you an experience from college. We were to read a handful of specified books and report objectively what they were about and then analyze them in a more subjective manner. Although the writers were professionals in their given field, I didn't kind of digest their wisdom. I felt they really didn't know what they were writing about. I wrote quite a long and insightful paper on that. I was afraid I would get failed. It was a huge risk, but it paid out... my teacher was absolutely thrilled. He said I was the only student who had ever questioned the content, and that my points were valid and showed that I really understood what's going on. I got the best mark for it.

That's where I got to put my Ni to use. And that's where I shined.
(Although getting my Ni onto paper was a lot of work)

 

[BerberElla]

I thought I was reasonably intelligent but then I joined INTPcentral and saw that there were people much much smarter than me out there. It was a "devestating to my ego" few months.

But then in my community and social circle I'm pretty much as smart as it gets.

 

[Haphazard]

I'm probably the opposite.

"If you're really a language arts person, why are you so good at math and science and history and suck so badly at reading comprehension and writing anything halfway coherent?"