[INTJ] your imagination

[Derpravity]

This thought just occurred to me and I'm wondering how much it resonates with other INTJs, or if it's an NT thing, or an N thing, or a weak Se or Si thing, or just a thing.

I've been kind of dreamy and creative ever since I was a kid, always making up stories and characters and worlds. I think it's part of how I dealt with my emotions, which were often intense, and all sorts of vague impressions which I experienced a lot, processing them into a kind of logical and ordered format. If that makes any sense at all.

The most relevant part to my inquiry is that much to my frustration, I never developed a very visual imagination. I could never hold onto the idea of an imaginary friend, and to be able to visualise something in my head, I had to really concentrate, and even then only get the most nebulous impressions. I've been in some way or other artistically inclined since I was old enough to hold a pencil (regardless of technical ability), but I've never been able to see on the page what I wanted to create, and then realise it. I could only discover what shapes I made, and then try to adjust them until I liked what I saw.

I can barely visualise the faces of people I know, or any objects, it's all these indefinite semblances and shadows of meaning and association. My artistic and creative endeavours have always been a clumsy but determined process of grasping at these mental shadows. Thinking about it, that probably has to do with the Jungian functions that I use best, although I wonder if really strenuously applying myself would help me.


The short and sweet:

Answer the poll, and discuss: What's your imagination like? Can you follow vivid but vaguely formed narratives, or is it nigh-photorealistic? Is it static or constantly in motion? Is it overactive or rarely/never used? Do you have sudden mental images occur to you out of the blue? Or sudden vague impressions? Can you direct long mental fantasies at will or do you tend to lose concentration, or your imagination takes its own path?

 

[Ene]

I am not INTJ per se but I am Ni dominant, so I thought that perhaps my answer "might" be of some benefit to you.

I have a very vivid imagination. I can remember people's faces, the clothes they wear, the sound of their voices, etc. in great detail. I notice the "little" things about people, like the way a certain person's eyes crease when he or she smiles or a smell that they always seem to have or the way that some people wear their shoes more on one side than the other. I can look at a person's hands and tell something about his/her line of work or life style, those kinds of things.

I have a huge and active imagination. I was literally 9 years old before I could distinguish what happened in the dream world and imaginary world from what was happening around me. I lived in an Ni haze of sorts. But once I did start noticing the physical world, I really started noticing it. I could pick up a pencil at that age and draw, very realistically, anything I could physically see or imagine and I seemed to do both quite well.

I am a writer/artist. I can create a world out of seemingly thin air. If I can think of it, I can draw it or paint it or write it. My work is usually realistic and detailed. Although, occasionally, I will do something abstract or impressionistic just for the fun of it.

 

[Derpravity]

I am not INTJ per se but I am Ni dominant, so I thought that perhaps my answer "might" be of some benefit to you.

I have a very vivid imagination. I can remember people's faces, the clothes they wear, the sound of their voices, etc. in great detail. I notice the "little" things about people, like the way a certain person's eyes crease when he or she smiles or a smell that they always seem to have or the way that some people wear their shoes more on one side than the other. I can look at a person's hands and tell something about his/her line of work or life style, those kinds of things.

I have a huge and active imagination. I was literally 9 years old before I could distinguish what happened in the dream world and imaginary world from what was happening around me. I lived in an Ni haze of sorts. But once I did start noticing the physical world, I really started noticing it. I could pick up a pencil at that age and draw, very realistically, anything I could physically see or imagine and I seemed to do both quite well.

I am a writer/artist. I can create a world out of seemingly thin air. If I can think of it, I can draw it or paint it or write it. My work is usually realistic and detailed. Although, occasionally, I will do something abstract or impressionistic just for the fun of it.

I should have specified, I'm very much curious to hear answers from anyone and everyone. Thank you for sharing, I'm pretty envious! I'm inclined to figure that INFJs tend to be quite visual that way, but hey, data before theory.


I wonder if I'm so drawn to cartoons/animation/anime in part because the simplified stylisation is easier to hold onto in my head, and creates a more vivid impression/recollection. I guess that's part of the point, although what I've read about cartooning is that the intended effect is more to generalise a character's features so that more people can see themselves in them. I s'pose being iconic has both effects.

 

[chubber]

[MENTION=17727]Derpravity[/MENTION]

Pretty much the same, I do imagine things, but I don't see it in detail, it's not vivid and it's sort of just a concept, I take the concept and refine it, keep adding to it, remove from it. I stay focussed on that concept. There is no 3D vivid nature images inside my head. There are no gears turning or some other BS. The problem I see with intelligence is, every body has a different definition for it. One person might be bad at language, but think the other person who speaks 9 languages are a genius, while that person who speaks so many languages can't even drive a car or figure out how to operate an unusual can opener. So I think this emphasising on specialness for Ni, is really clouding and creating misconceptions of what it really is.

When I was young, I did have an imaginary friend, but it wasn't really a friend, it was more like a place holder for the missing friend that never showed up, so I would just answer for that "person" to get things to move on. For me, it just exists. I was never good at paintings. I could read technical drawings well, replicate them easy because of the technical side of me. For some people that's a difficult thing to do apparently. I'm suddenly a genius. Then they ask something that is "a quick question" easy thing for them and I fumble nafc.

I am most definitely visual spatial, but I think visual spatial isn't the same thing as imagination. So I'm not sure if that is what your question is related to, because there is a huge distinction.

Upside-Down Brilliance: The Visual-Spatial Learner: Linda Kreger Silverman: 9781932186000: Amazon.com: Books

Elon Musk (they say he is INTJ) created a visual spatial school for his kids, and I know why because we (or at least me as another visual spatial learner) learn things upside down. Or rather, inside out. There is a video of Elon Musk describing the school for his kids.

I'll have to dig around to find my addition to visual spatial posts.

 

[Derpravity]

I am most definitely visual spatial, but I think visual spatial isn't the same thing as imagination. So I'm not sure if that is what your question is related to, because there is a huge distinction.

I s'pose I want to learn more about how different people experience being visual and/or imaginative, since clearly they're not 100% correlated. I wanna know what it's like in other people's heads. But particularly I'm interested in finding out how many other people have a visual inclination without having strong mental images, and if/how much this correlates with types and functions.

Thanks you for the response, and that school sounds really interesting. Especially since I'm studying to teach. I'll have to check it out.

 

[Jaguar]

Years ago, I was over at INTJf and a thread like this was active. Many, if not most, of the so-called INTJs did not have a visual imagination. (I say "so-called," since I think many INTJs are possibly ISTJs.) As for me, it's so natural I never even think about it until people like you bring it up. Or when someone like my brother tells me he can't "walk through a house and design it" in his head like I can. I just assumed anyone could do it. It's like breathing. Having said all that, there's a thread somewhere in this forum where it becomes perfectly clear visual/imaginative thinkers are not limited to a particular type.

Go here:

http://www.typologycentral.com/forums/general-psychology/27567-vivid-imagination.html

 

[Virtual ghost]

I vote highly visual. In me this can be so strong that I can walk around the streets on auto pilot and ignore the whole reality since I am focused on my inner processes. Lately I am pushing my self to be more into real world but none they less this trait is still quite active in me. I can always imagine a object and then add or remove parts from it, what allows me to build towards my goal(s). Also I have quite a bit of ideas just just come to me just like this. The other day I was showering and I got interesting idea how to structure an enneagram test.


However most of concepts that I am imagining are maps or graphs. As a kid I have played too many strategy games and this style of thinking remained in my unconsciousness from what I see. Therefore I imagine various graphs and maps and out of that I get a sense where various trends and objects will meet and what are relations between them. What then makes it easy to determine a course of action.

 

[1010830]

From what I understand of your description of visual imagination, I'd say I have a strong one.
I can, according to my own desire and will, see a hot woman just in front of me, or imagine a perfect map in front of my eyes, or a memory, or anything. That requires a lot of focus and energy, though, I think.

 

[Froody Blue Gem]

I went with the "I am not an INTJ" option but with the highly vivid imagination. Though I do have ni so I thought i would be qualified to give my two cents. I mean, I guess my imagination isn't 100% visual, I do get spurts of visualness. Sort of in snapshots but thinking about dialogue/whatifs/perhaps some data that doesn't always fall into a visual/photographic category. It's a mishmash of all of those things. But I do have a very vivid, crazy imagination full of random ideas. Ideas that I need to get out on paper. I use it as a form of escapism from the real world and I guess being a strange child helps.