[INTJ] INTJ subtypes?

[Litvyak]

Are you able to differentiate multiple INTJ subtypes?
What "kinds" of INTJs have you already met?

How do you imagine a totally healthy and a totally unhealthy INTJ?

 

[Provoker]

How do you imagine a totally healthy and a totally unhealthy INTJ?

According to many other MBTI aficionados, I am the prototype of an unhealthy INTJ. I suppose the most recent news involves a class (in graduate school) where I briefly summarized a women's argument and then told her that she sounded like she was on George Bush's payroll. This prompted attacks from all angles, and gave others who had pent up resent a pretext to abandon reason in favor of trying to destroy me. However, I never say anything that cannot be defended (if not with sources and evidence then with sheer logic) so as to stand the counterargument of others on their heads. This, combined with the maxim I established when I was six years old which is that no human word would ever reach me, has made the opinions of others inpenetrable. The only thing I respond to is logic and reason. A professor can blabber on all day, while a 5 year old can say something quite sensible and logical that makes me listen. This is because I value logic and reason more than people and titles. I have not quite found a good substitute for Fi. I find that it is good to watch a few comedies one or twice a year to learn some jokes and socially attractive behavior that can be useful in diplomacy. However, the approach I take to diplomacy is the same chess-like approach I take to everything else. Every so often I meet a special women and my Fi comes out, which is probably quite remarkable from the point of view of an earthbound person.

 

[stillwater]

I like to think that there are the "Te-bound" and "Ni-Fi-free" subtypes. I find the Te-bound types rather intolerable because they almost seem to fear their greatest potential strength which is Ni. Everything has to be so logical that it drains from any human element, which is great and all for certain applications, but if they embraced their Ni-Fi they'd see Te has limited application to social matters. The Ni-Fi types give the vibe of being an intuitive first and foremost with the ability to apply thinking or feeling where pertinent. I'd say they present a more engaging and intriguing vibe to others rather than a domineering or intimidating one. People might mistakenly type them as something else because the stereotype of INTJ is one of an uptight, logical jerk, but I think that's ill-founded and only propagated because the sample from which the notion is extrapolated seems to have very undeveloped Fi.

I think a well-developed INTJ displays strong Fi: a strong sense of self, the ability to judge the worthiness of ideas, and the ability to actually empathize with others.

Unhealthy ones don't do that last part quite as well which is a shame because it really detracts from this goal of utility and pragmatism that drives them.

 

[Sniffles]

I agree with the Ni-Fi subtype, up close you often can't tell they're an NT. In fact one I knew of this type I first mistook as INFP-ish.

 

[Kra]

I am a "Ni-Fi" subtype, and a mellow one at that.

As for other sub-types, I'd venture a guess that you'll run into:

Balanced Ni-Te, Ni-Fi, Te-heavy, and the unhealthy Se variants.

 

[poppy]

I like to think that there are the "Te-bound" and "Ni-Fi-free" subtypes.

I agree with these subtypes. The Te-bound variety certainly has it's advantages, they've got a very rigorously developed logic, but they tend to be a little uptight.

The Ni-Fi INTJs are a little softer and floatier and not quite as unflappable.

Could probably correlate with Enneagram types, with 6-leaning INTJs tending to be more Te and 4-leaning (or possibly 1) types being more Ni-Fi.

 

[BlackCat]

I loooove me some Ni-Fi INTJs.

 

[simulatedworld]

The Ni-Fi INTJs tend to be very difficult to communicate with because they're so utterly perplexed by the problem of how to deal with the outside world.

 

[Kambro]

Very interesting becuase I know an INTJ who is evry diffferent from me. Seems like a harsher version of me. People find him unapproachable whislt I am seen as approachable.

Gotta run but will post tonight - last day of work

 

[Usehername]

I feel like the same subtype of INTJ that Night is--he and I have discussed a similar way of behaving and appearing to others in the same atypical-for-an-INTJ way IRL.

Of the two aforementioned types, I would be more Ni-Fi.

 

[Haphazard]

What about healthy Fi-Se INTJs?

Oh wait. Those are ISFPs.

 

[entropie]

If you only abbreviate the subtypes in Ni-Fi, or whatever, it wont really help us

 

[poppy]

What about healthy Fi-Se INTJs?

Oh wait. Those are ISFPs.

 

[Sniffles]

The Ni-Fi INTJs tend to be very difficult to communicate with because they're so utterly perplexed by the problem of how to deal with the outside world.

Yes that's often the problem with interacting with them. Unfortunate, cause they can be quite cuddly on the inside.

 

[Two Point Two]

If you map MBTI onto big five, you allegedly get E/I = S/R, N/S = I/N, T/F = E/A, and J/P = O/U respectively. That leaves open the possibility of L and C (limbic and calm) subtypes of any given MBTI type.

So, presumably there are INTJs who have strong emotional reactions to situations, moodiness, and who may be more prone to stress/anxiety, while others are better able to relax, take things in stride, and not get worked up.

I also find the Te-bound and Ni-Fi subtypes interesting. Could be why I sometimes think I might be an INFP, though I do rely on Te a fair bit too.

 

[Kra]

The Ni-Fi INTJs tend to be very difficult to communicate with because they're so utterly perplexed by the problem of how to deal with the outside world.

Tell me about it...

Fascinated by possibilities, and oblivious to everything else.

 

[Kambro]

I an INTJ with a Type 5 wing 6 ito enneagram. Dunno what it really means as I am not knowledgeable regarding Enneagram theory.

 

[Matthew_Z]

I always imagined Provoker to be the exemplification of a healthy INTJ, not an unhealthy one. He doesn't show much fear, if any, regarding the outside world and uses "INTJ ambition" to get what he desires. He understands the world around him and understands himself, using both of these facts to hone his skills. He seems more than capable of not falling for the Ni(or Ne) stereotype of following conspiracy theories. He's a rational person who can think through his situation. I'd argue that that is a prime example of using INTJ natural preferences in a healthy manner.

 

[Haphazard]

Apparently you can get away with calling an INTJ far too "Te" but if you call someone out for being far too "Fe," you're automatically considered an aspie. I sense discrimination.

 

[stillwater]

I agree with the Te discrimination. Just tell them Fe is an abbreviation for fickle (only half-joking).

The Ni-Fi INTJs tend to be very difficult to communicate with because they're so utterly perplexed by the problem of how to deal with the outside world.

I remember reading a thread about who has it worse in communicating with the outside world, INFJs or INFPs, worded as if they were the only ones with such problems. I was like seriously? No offense, but they both have dominant/auxiliary function pairs that work in tandem to relate externally to people in meaningful ways. For example, INFPs are dominant Fi but they have auxiliary Ne which helps them make Fi more tangible (I think this is why they are acknowledged as such good writers). INFJs can focus Ni with Fe towards people. Being an Ni-Fi INTJ does jack to help making any emotional feeling external. Consider Te useless (no one wants a line chart about how emotions are rising and falling with mathematical analysis) and inferior Se is more often destructive than constructive, pushing towards addiction and self-destruction. I would consider being stuck in an Ni-Fi loop one of the most difficult experiences to relate to anyone else. When it spirals towards depression, there's little to ground it in reality. It's like taking the #1 most nebulous function (Ni) and multiplying it by the #2 most nebulous function (Fi). Try that one on for size.