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What is it like to think like an N?

KarenParker

New member
Joined
Mar 3, 2009
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319
MBTI Type
ESFP
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7
I am interested to know what it would be like to live a day in the life of an intuitive brain. It's very difficult for me to see from that perspective like you can imagine it would be difficult to think like someone else.
 

Thursday

Earth Exalted
Joined
Mar 14, 2008
Messages
3,960
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ENTJ
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8w9
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sp/sx
oops........
To think and constantly go from A - Z - DLJDI - [insert spacing out]
 

Athenian200

Protocol Droid
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Jul 1, 2007
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8,828
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I am interested to know what it would be like to live a day in the life of an intuitive brain. It's very difficult for me to see from that perspective like you can imagine it would be difficult to think like someone else.

:)

Look carefully at what you said here.

Notice how you're trying to imagine what it would be like to see things from another perspective, in this case an Intuitive one?

That's Ni. You're trying to imagine what it would be like to see the world differently than you do. Asking what it's like to think like an N, is itself a very N question. ;)

But I'll try to give you another example. Let's see... N is about connections, context, and metaphor. While you would look at the world and just see the world as it is, an N might see things in the world as symbolic of something else. For instance, an N might see a sunrise as symbolic of birth, and a sunset as symbolic of death.

I'm not sure I explained it well, but hopefully that was enough to help you figure out what aspect of the Intuitive mindset you're most interested in figuring out so that we can try to explain it.
 

nightning

ish red no longer *sad*
Joined
Apr 23, 2007
Messages
3,741
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INfj
You might not want to Karen... it's messy inside the N dominant mind.

But an exercise for you.

Pick two unrelated words from somewhere. (e.g. Crunch and Carp). Now try to relate the two together any way you can. Remember this isn't limited to the object or word themselves... you can modify things say Crunch = captain crunch or Carp sounds like crap. Anything goes. The connection process is Ni in action.
 

durentu

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Mar 18, 2008
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411
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INTP
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5w4
I am interested to know what it would be like to live a day in the life of an intuitive brain. It's very difficult for me to see from that perspective like you can imagine it would be difficult to think like someone else.

Surprise! you already have thought intuitively. The question is if you can recognize it. Every type has every cognitive function.

You might find this helpful.

specifically for Introverted Intuition
As you come across any sign (e.g. an advertisement, a sentence, a logo, a choice of color for a restaurant's decor, even a non-man-made sign like a cloud), say to yourself, "So I'm supposed to think ______ but really this is just ______" and fill in the blanks. This creates conscious awareness of the assumed interpretations of things, and distances you from them. For example, if you see a restaurant sign with very ornate, curly characters in thin white strokes on a black background, say, "So I'm supposed to think this is a posh place for high-class people, but what I really see is just a slab of plastic with black paint on it, minus some curlicues where the white shows through." If you see a sign on a door inside the restaurant, that says "MEN", say, "So I'm supposed to think there's a bathroom behind that door, and it's only socially appropriate for men to use it, but really it's just a piece of wood with some marks on it." You must name the thing you're supposed to think in words, and describe the object in words; no mere pointing or saying "like that" is allowed. A feeling of smugness may set in at first. Keep going, until it becomes a feeling of freedom.

specifically for Extroverted Intuition
"The Caption Game." Get a pile of drawings, but not intentionally funny cartoons. A large deck of Tarot cards is ideal. Put the pile face down and turn up one drawing. Think of a caption for the drawing by imagining something outside the picture, which changes the meaning of what's inside. Say the caption aloud, and move on to the next drawing. For example, if it's really a picture of a Scotty dog sniffing at a suitcase, your caption might be "Sorry, ma'am, I'll have to open the suitcase before I can let you on the plane." See how many completely different captions for each cartoon you can come up with. Try to think of at least three. "Pack your bags, Laika, you're going to test new satellite!" (in Russian accent). "Toto, we're going back to Kansas!" Some of your captions might be funny, but don't try to be funny. Non-funny captions are just fine.

"The Drawing Game." For this, you need at least two people. One person draws something small on a large piece of paper--something quick, which you can draw in a few seconds. The next person draws something in the remaining space, which somehow relates to it, so both objects make sense as a picture. You can add lines to what's already there, but you can never erase a line once it's drawn. Back and forth you go, filling in more and more of the picture, letting it develop into something that neither of you envisioned when you started. At some point, you give the picture an appropriate title, and you're done. If you can't draw well, it's OK to say out loud what you intended your drawing to depict. For example, person A draws the face of a clock. Person B draws a grandfather clock shape around it. A draws an old-fashioned teller cage nearby. B draws a man with a bandanna over his face, holding a gun. It's a bank robbery!

You can goto the fitting room and try on the different functions. I suggest that you have candies around (glucose sugars) while you do it. It'll be brain intensive.
 

wren

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Jul 3, 2009
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384
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infj
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4
I suppose you have no intuition? Tell me about your intuition then I will measure my opinion against yours and we can have a discussion. We can inform each other. How's that for an answer?

In the realm of temperament, Ni could be confused with introverted sensing perhaps. Ne might be confused with extraversion in scope.
 

teleforce

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May 7, 2009
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INTP
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sp/sx
I suppose you have no intuition? Tell me about your intuition then I will measure my opinion against yours and we can have a discussion. We can inform each other. How's that for an answer?

In the realm of temperament, Ni could be confused with introverted sensing perhaps. Ne might be confused with extraversion in scope.

how does that work?

i don't associate either Ni or Ne with introversion/extroversion. i usually think of Ni as having a strong vision and Ne as having clever wit, but of course this is a pretty simplistic view.
 

Valuable_Money

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Jun 19, 2009
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ENTP
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5w6
Ok, count every word in your thoughts, every 70th word stop thinking and then google that word, then roll a dice and then cllick on the (dice roll)th result, then think about that and repeat the same process on the 60th word, then repeat again at the 50th word. Once youve reached the point where your doing it every 10th word you have a general Idea of what its like.
 

nightning

ish red no longer *sad*
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Apr 23, 2007
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3,741
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INfj
In the realm of temperament, Ni could be confused with introverted sensing perhaps.
In what way? I don't see it at all...

Ne might be confused with extraversion in scope.
Can you explain what you mean by extraversion in scope? I'm a tad confused here... :huh:
 

BlahBlahNounBlah

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ENTP
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Pick a thing. Pick another thing. What do they have in common? How does this thing they have in common alter the way you see the two things?

Pick a thing and turn it inside out. And take it apart. Or attach it to something else. Morph it with something else. Imagine what it would be like to live in that new thing. Imagine if the world you live in actually was the world you just created. What would stop you from noticing this? Imagine what else could possibly be going unnoticed.


Continue. :D
 

Jeffster

veteran attention whore
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You might not want to Karen... it's messy inside the N dominant mind.

She's right, Karen. I have had close encounters with these N minds. In my best Dana Carvey impersonating George Bush voice: "It's scary. It's scary!" ;)
 

Fluffywolf

Nips away your dignity
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So you're walking down the street of a small but booming little town. There are cute shops here and there, all good business. Lots of people all around. And suddenly you're starting to see sky scrapers appear out of nowhere, big buildings, fancy roads with lots of traffic. A bus is driving through you, you look inside and see an old woman hanging on tight to a pole, and an alternative type teenager with his hair in front of his eyes and dyed black, lots of chain stuff going on, sitting in the seat next to hear. The driver is yelling at a little girl who didn't get off in time and has to pay for a new ticket. And you see a 30 year older version of yourself sitting on that same bus, earplugs in, staring out of the window.

And you're thinking. "Damn. This place is pretty nice.".



I imagine as an S it goes like this.

So you're walking down the street of a small but booming little town. There are cute shops here and there, all good business. Lots of people all around.

And you're thinking. "Damn. This place is pretty nice.".
 

Amargith

Hotel California
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sx/so
Look at a banana. And go: huh...I wonder what it would look like, smell like, taste like if grown on Mars instead of here. Could it be having purple dots and taste like a peach instead? And would the lesser gravity of Mars make it possible for those things to grow towards the sky instead of down? And wouldn't they be intently refrigerated since Mars is further away from the sun? Handy for transport! From there on you can create your whole breed of martians taht would work the marsian bananafields which would grow on big cliffs which would make it harvesting a job for trained mountain climbers. That would mean that job had to pay well since it requires a lot of skill, but maybe the martians are naturals at this or even slaves so that the fruit would still be affordable on Earth. I mean..Go nuts as you go along, it doesn't *have* to make sense. And 'see' the new fruit you've created in your head.

Enjoy ;)
 

ajblaise

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7,914
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This is your brain on S: Sees the trees instead of the forest.

This is your brain on N: Sees the forest instead of the trees.

This is your brain on drugs: Sees the trees staring back at them.


So you're walking down the street of a small but booming little town. There are cute shops here and there, all good business. Lots of people all around. And suddenly you're starting to see sky scrapers appear out of nowhere, big buildings, fancy roads with lots of traffic. A bus is driving through you, you look inside and see an old woman hanging on tight to a pole, and an alternative type teenager with his hair in front of his eyes and dyed black, lots of chain stuff going on, sitting in the seat next to hear. The driver is yelling at a little girl who didn't get off in time and has to pay for a new ticket. And you see a 30 year older version of yourself sitting on that same bus, earplugs in, staring out of the window.

And you're thinking. "Damn. This place is pretty nice.".

These are all details and facts that are experienced through the 5 senses, so I don't think this is an example of intuitive thinking.
 

Fluffywolf

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These are all details and facts that are experienced through the 5 senses, so I don't think this is an example of intuitive thinking.

Yeah, I didn;t mean it as literal. It's just that N seems to catch on to certain patterns that S's are oblivious too. But S's in turn are much more keen at spotting details in the present and now.

N's are floaty, S's are stationary!
 

niki

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Sep 16, 2007
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INFP
how about this:

when an S watches movies like The Matrix, Transformers, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter,
and someone asked them: "so how's the movie?"
the likely answer would be: "oh it's a good movie. cool"

when an N watches movies like The Matrix, Transformers, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter,
and someone asked them: "so how's the movie?"
the likely answer would probably be (depending on what're the missing letters of xNxx) either of, or combinations of:
- "wait a minute.. that doesn't make sense, how come Neo couldn't foresee the destruction of Zion? I thought the Architect was blah blah blah....(continue debating for 15 minutes or more)"
- "hell, I could make a better magic than Gandalf's flashlight stick! try this: from his stick, it would suddenly emits a vortex that would absorb everything in spiral sky, darkened the sky, blah blah blah....(continue talking for 15 minutes or more)"
- 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!)"
and last but not least:
- "do you think there's a possibility that another dimension, or alternative universe would be like one in Hogwart Castle? let's see,..how can we enter such kind of realms..ah, look at the empty train station right there! and look at that wall, I think there could be an entrance to go to the Harry Potter's world, blah blah blah... (continue rambling for 15 minutes or more)"


see the difference? :D
 

NewEra

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Dec 21, 2008
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I
I imagine - note key word: imagine :newwink: - that it's the same as thinking like an S, except more abstract, big picture, imaginative, and random.
 

sculpting

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imagine not being able to see the things right in front of you. Instead you live inside of your mind. Close your eyes and try not to notice external stimuli-just imagine a place where you are sitting quietly and watch the thoughts as they bubble up-watch the connections being forged between the thoughts. Try and connect two random thoughts that really have nothing to do with one another. My brain does this crap endlessly.

I dunno if that is helpful at all.

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.
 

Kra

Black Magic Buzzard
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Jun 24, 2009
Messages
912
MBTI Type
INTJ
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4w5
Sensing sees the present for what it is at the moment.

Intuiting constructs/sees possible futures for the present.

Sensing takes data at face value.

Intuiting takes data and runs with it.
 
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