The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

[Carebear]

Though to be perfectly fair, he writes marvelously well and is no stranger than, say, Paul Erdos.

Doesn't he only write lists?

 

[CzeCze]

I'm gonna have to agree with Edel Weiss and (gasp) MacGuffin, but I don't think you can really "type" personality when autism or mental disorders are involved. The existence of these in a person overrides/trumps traditional personality type theory. And trying to type people with neurological disoriders and citing the symptoms of their disorder for 'personality traits' is really kind missing some basic principles of personality theory -- namely, that's not really your 'personality', it's a symptom.

 

[The Grey Badger]

Doesn't he only write lists?

Read it again. The entire book is supposed to be his journal, complete with theological statements (he's an atheist) and all.

 

[Carebear]

Read it again. The entire book is supposed to be his journal, complete with theological statements (he's an atheist) and all.

Ah, sorry, you're right. There have been several thousand pages of other books since then so I'd forgotten.

 

[MerkW]

His thought processes seem very Ti dominant. Open, yet confused by Fe. Doesn't seem to have much Fi going on at all. Little input from Ne. Some more from Se, but not much. Shows signs of things that could be caused by Te and Ni, but the way they work seem more like byproducts of Ti.

Eh, well he certainly is very adept at Ti and Si, relatively good at Te and dreadful at Fe.

Nothing in the book is particularly indicative of whether his Fi and Ni are strong or weak.

However, I disagree with your statements regarding his Se vs. Ne. His Ne, for example, I would imagine to be stronger than his Se: he spends a large fraction of the book talking about theoretical problems in mathematics, physics, etc. And, his inability to process sensory data without going into sensory overload would suggest weak Se.

The finalized MBTi type, however, is still hazy.
This is something I have noticed of high-functioning autists--they seem to be a strange combination of ISxJ and INTP--yet neither one nor the other.

 

[LucrativeSid]

Everybody's talking about how you can't type an autistic person. Okay, but he's also a fictional character who doesn't exist... Who cares? LOL. This is just for fun, right? Nobody is trying to make a documentary about it or anything...

 

[Carebear]

Eh, well he certainly is very adept at Ti and Si, relatively good at Te and dreadful at Fe.

Nothing in the book is particularly indicative of whether his Fi and Ni are strong or weak.

Ah, yes, I forgot about Si. There's definitely Si going on. Things like thinking his mother is dead, but having no reaction to it made me think he's low on Fi. Still, there is a subtle theme of Fi running behind the scenes, unseen by him, which is typical of that pesky function, so yes, we can't really tell if it's weak or not.

However, I disagree with your statements regarding his Se vs. Ne. His Ne, for example, I would imagine to be stronger than his Se: he spends a large fraction of the book talking about theoretical problems in mathematics, physics, etc. And, his inability to process sensory data without going into sensory overload would suggest weak Se.

True. I ascribed the love for theoretical problems to his love of Ti-ing through stuff, but I realize you need a certain level of Ne to connect the dots. It's probably more correct to say that he has a relatively potent Ne going on, but it has a very limited field of interest. Could also be that his Ni and Te comes into this. I see that I was probably wrong on the Se.

The finalized MBTi type, however, is still hazy.
This is something I have noticed of high-functioning autists--they seem to be a strange combination of ISxJ and INTP--yet neither one nor the other.

I would like to add INTJ to the mix, but I agree. Neither one nor the other.

 

[mooky]

I read it the other week, Interesting............haven't decided if i like it or not yet, but seeing as a read it in 24 hours, as i just couldn't seam to put it down i'd say its a good book.

As for his type, im not good enough at these things to say.

 

[The Grey Badger]

As an INTP myself, I can say that Si is does kick in somewhere in midlife and manifests itself as almost as SJ secondary personality. I called it "channeling my mother" when it happened to me. So a combination of INTP with ISxJ sounds dead on to me.

 

[MacGuffin]

I'm gonna have to agree with Edel Weiss and (gasp) MacGuffin

Did your brain twitch a bit when you wrote that?

 

[Littlelostnf]

I came looking for another thread in this section and came across this one. As a teacher of autistic children (specifically ones with AS) I interact with these students on a regular basis. When I read The Curious Incident some years ago I remember really loving it because I was able to hear Chris' thoughts. I typed him as an INTX. I have worked with many AS children and three specifically come to mind. One is most definately an INTP and another an INXP, and the third an ISFX. I most definately think that while it is definately difficult to type an Autistic person it is not impossible if they are functioning highly enough.