love your blog. recently i've been wondering on the key differences between intjs and intps. any ideas?
Hi, thank you so much! Okay, so, when you look at just the four letters, INTPs and INTJs don’t seem like they should be too different, right? But when you look at their cognitive functions, you realize they’re totally different beasts… well, more like totally different introverted nerds, but you get the idea. We do share several similarities, but the differences run deep.
The INTJ’s functions are Ni/Te/Fi/Se, and the INTP’s are Ti/Ne/Si/Fe. (The possible cognitive functions are Introverted Thinking, Extroverted Thinking, Introverted Feeling, Extroverted Feeling, Introverted iNtuition, Extroverted iNtuition, Introverted Sensing, and Extroverted Sensing. How these functions stack determine, basically, how you perceive, analyze, approach, and remember the world. They can be placed first as dominant, second as auxiliary, third as tertiary, and last as inferior.)
We’re both intuitive rationals, but unique ways. NiTe (INTJ) and TiNe (INTP) approach logic and problems through totally separate paths. Introverted iNtuition allows INTJs to sort of survey all possible approaches and answers to a problem, and then Extroverted Thinking enables them to choose the most likely or most practical outcome. This is done all at once so that INTJs are often said to possess mystical problem solving abilities. They don’t; that’s just how their brain functions. They take the short route.
TiNe takes the long route. Ti acts as a sort of computer, analyzing problems, situations, pretty much everything to its core. An INTP won’t be satisfied, once their curiosity is peaked, until they’ve discovered the why of something. Ne allows them so see all sorts of patterns in the world and connect things, most often in a sporadic, excitable way. NiTe operates more quickly and practically, whereas TiNe is prone to be more thorough (maybe to an unnecessary degree) and imaginative. Neither is necessarily better, and the two contrast nicely.
INTJ’s last two functions are Fi/Se, INTP’s Si/Fe. Because of the inferior or altogether absent Se, both types can be highly oblivious to their surroundings, INTP more so. In general, INTJs are more equipped to process and be involved in the external world, despite how much they may dislike it. Se is often described as living in the moment, and Si is reflection on how a certain thing made you feel.
Fi vs. Fe is another huge ballpark in which the types differ. These functions are set in different places in the stacks, the third (tertiary) and the last (inferior), as were Si and Se, so a direct comparison is tricky. Fi is concerned with morals and principles; it’s internal judgement based on personal values and beliefs. Fe is also concerned with values, but in an externalized sense, so that they project it outwards. Fi allows INTJs to, again, make internal judgments, but in an entirely new sense and taking much more time. Fe and Fi are both often ignored in analyses of the two types, Fe because it is the inferior function, and Fi because it is internalized and contradicts the stereotype of emotionless INTJs. However, both types “feel” deeply, both in the cognitive sense of the term and otherwise, and because few notice this, they internalize and suppress it further.
If you were looking at two individuals, one INTJ and the other INTP, the INTJ would seem much more practical and a bit colder, and the INTP would conversely be theoretical and a bit more open. INTJs can be more focused on the “real world,” and the INTP more often lost in their own head. These are generalizations, of course, and every person within the type will show their functions differently, though along the same lines.
I hope this is what you were looking for. I think I got very a little carried away in my analysis. Can I blame it on being an INTP? The INTJs I know definitely could have explained that in fewer words and a much more direct way, lol. I hope this makes sense though! Thanks for the ask!
