Hello and I am so fucking back. Today we’re going over the INTJ. I know that according to how I had the table of contents set up and how I discussed writing, it sounded like I was going to do ENFP next. However, I instead decided switch things up and do ENTP’s shadow opposite the INTJ to show how the two intuitive functions differ. Also an interesting number of INTJs follow this account, so here’s to you all.
Note: I tried to find a character that fit the INTJ type, but all of the ones I knew were either oddly unhealthy, didn’t make sense, or were controversial. So there is no example of an INTJ character. My apologies. However I did make too many references to “The Wall” (yes the Pink Floyd movie) in here, so feel free to check that out.
Without further-ado, here’s your beloved INTJ. Readers keep your simp shit out of my comments.
You know how last post when I said intuitive functions are, in simple terms, the ability to connect dots and understand what things mean? Also that the difference between Ne and Ni is more from what perspective the two are looking from? Yeah I meant that with introverted intuition too.
Introverted intuition is like extraverted intuition, except it pulls connections from a smaller “range,” focuses on how the specific situation they choose works, and how it presents. Ni is a function that takes two factors, sees how they connect/contrast/are similar, and then combines its findings to come to a conclusion. Think of the work of tarot. When reading tarot cards, the card reader takes the known meanings of the cards and what feelings they see on the person they’re reading, then combine the two to come to conclusion about the person’s situation. The tarot reader doesn’t really “know” what the situation is, but can understand what the situation is because of two different factors that they combined to come to a conclusion. The way it was explained to me is that Ni dominants have a way of thinking that is like “A = C because A is B and B is C. So therefore, A = C.”
Ni, for the INTJ especially, is also a function that has a tendency to focus on meanings. This works alongside Fi as it allows the INTJ to ask “what does this mean/where will it lead in reference to what I think/feel about it?” In a more simply put way, Ni-Fi allows the INTJ to take an idea and then filter the idea through a sense of morality. However, it is also good to note that this is a “loop” for INTJs, meaning that when too much emphasis is placed on Ni and Fi, they can become too caught up in what things mean in their mind. This can cause them to spiral into an unnatural place of emotional sensitivity, feeling rejected, and needing to prove themselves to themselves (and ultimately to others which is where a part of their shadow Fe comes in to play). I’ll explain more in depth once we get to Fi.
The thing about Ni is that it is a perceiving function, so it “works behind the scenes.” What this means is that Ni is not necessarily conscious. Ni dominants probably don’t really know that they’re connecting dots, they just do it. This can make Ni dominants come to a conclusion and not quite understand how they came to the conclusion. They may also feel like their thinking is common sense, and have a harder time explaining themselves.
Take, for example, someone who is observing a person who shows all of the signs of a certain mental illness. A person who has Ni as their dominant function may come to the conclusion that that person has a mental illness because as they were watching the person act (which is where their Se comes in) their brain connected the dots in the background and came to the conclusion that the person was mentally ill. The Ni dominant wasn’t “asking” to think about the person, the Ni dominant just did. This is why Ni dominants can be seen as being future oriented or even sometimes mystical.
Ni is also where INTJs can create a form of bias (with help of Te and Fi). Ni allows the INTJs to zoom in or out of perspectives like a camera. When the INTJ “zooms into” an idea, thing, way of thinking, possibility, etc, it can allow them to create a form of tunnel vision. This means that they may only see this idea, thing, way of thinking, or possibility and what it means.
INTJs use Extraverted Thinking as a way to sort through ideas or information. This is like the part of the postal system that sorts through what mail can and cannot be sent out. If something just doesn’t look right? PUT ‘EM AGAINST THE WALL! In all seriousness, this is how Te works. It sorts through what information the Ni has absorbed.
Te makes sure that information is objective, is easy to access, and makes sense. This is where INTJs can get caught up in over-analyzing and become frustrated with other people. Te acts as like a mother who checks on her child at night to make sure the kid is asleep. When the other functions get out of hand, Te is the voice that says “I don’t know what you all are on, but the information we have right out here in front of us doesn’t correspond to anything you all are saying. Stick to the facts.” However, this can sometimes contradict itself as when information or their own ideas aren’t so bluntly phrased, the INTJ may try to make the information/ideas fit into a category to make it more understandable. Sometimes, the INTJ may simply just need time to process through and “chew” the information before they send it off to be digested. If the ideas or information “can’t” be understood, however, then that can cause problems, which I will explain in a second.
When interacting with outside factors (other people, jobs, etc), Te requires objective and direct information. If the information isn’t direct and organized then the INTJ will try to analyze it, end up becoming way too confused for their own good, and ultimately end up frustrated. Unfortunately this is how a lot of INTJs view the world around them. If it doesn’t make sense, and the INTJ can’t find a way to fit it into their “frame,” then the INTJ will typically reject the information they are given altogether. This is where and why a lot of people may view INTJs as cold. While we won’t be discussing the shadow functions in this series, it is important to note that the INTJ’s shadow Fe can make it to where the INTJ sees emotions and other’s emotions as something that doesn’t make sense. This can cause the INTJ to reject other’s emotions, or society as a whole, as the INTJ sees it all as something that can’t be understood or simply takes too much effort and time.
This is also why their Te and Fi have the tendency to conflict. Their Fi wants to be seen and heard; Te sees their Fi as irrational, emotional and tries to suppress the Fi as it doesn’t see it as valuable to having time spent on it.
Te is where insecure INTJs can, in a way, “wear their heart on their sleeve.” I mean this as in once one can begin to understand that most characteristics I’m about to list are reactions to fear/insecurity, one will find that INTJs can be quite easy to read if you are close to them:
When insecure INTJs feel rejected, unheard, or threatened as a whole, they can become like a brick wall (haha The Wall… Pink Floyd… Roger Waters… known INTJ… get it? That was really bad I’m sorry I’m not). By this I mean that they can become stubborn, defiant, suspicious, and reject anything that doesn’t fit their vision under the guise of “it’s not objective.” They’ll also purposefully find faults in an opposing argument in order to make themselves feel more stable. This is their way of leaning back onto their own “logic” and “objectivity.” With that being said, this is most evident to others when the INTJ feels threatened. Normal INTJs may present this more as trying to educate themselves on topics. This is because feeling uneducated can make the INTJ feel insecure or fearful. However, it is also good to note that a lot of this can be fueled by the enneagram type, so take the “knowledge as power” with a grain of salt. INTJs test mostly as an enneagram 5, which reinforces the idea of using knowledge as “gauze for a bullet hole wound.”
Te can also be a place of control for the INTJ. INTJs, when stressed, can learn to depend on the detachment that is provided by Te. This is not inherently bad, as Te keeps Ni grounded in what is true. However, if an INTJ depends too much on Te, they can forget their human side. With this, it is really no surprise that INTJs may have issues with getting lost in thought, feel as though they’re living in a dream, or think that time itself is not real.
Introverted Feeling is a function that focuses on finding moral guidance from within oneself. For INTJs this is a place for both guidance and struggle.
As stated before, Te and Fi have tension as Te sees Fi as being irrational and subjective. Fi wants the INTJ to recognize what is important to them, set boundaries, and understand who they really are. Contradictory to popular belief, this is not something that is 100% natural for the INTJ. The INTJ will “intuitively” feel when something conflicts against their morals, but may not understand what that feeling is or what those morals are until later on in their life.
Interestingly enough, INTJs can also struggle a bit with self-identity because of their tertiary Fi. What I mean by this is that INTJs may be stubborn, for lack of better terms, in who they are, but not consciously know what that actually is. Fi is intuitive and innate- not conscious! Fi is also a function that places value on what one thinks of themself. So until the INTJ can learn to take the pressure off of their Fi, connect with themselves, and understand what they actually want, the INTJ may struggle with their own identity forever.
More balanced or healthy INTJs understand the value in giving themselves the space to simply exist. The INTJ has to attend a large party because they’re playing the piano that night? It’ll be bothersome, but they’ll make more time for themselves before or after the party (probably both) to recuperate. The INTJ feels a pit in their stomach when a specific person attempts to hug them? They probably don’t like being touched by that person, so now the balanced INTJ will try to find a way to make that known while still being respectful.
The second part of this is that Fi is the function that Ni immediately goes to when the INTJ is in a loop. In case you didn’t read my last post about ENTPs, loops are when information gathered by the dominant function is sent to the tertiary function, completely skipping over the auxiliary. For INTJs, this may look like:
Imagine an INTJ giving a presentation on something they’re deeply interested in
Ni: Fi, I just stumbled over a big word and I am now going to take a sip of water to make it appear as though I am dehydrated so that it doesn’t look like I don’t know what I’m saying.
Fi: WHAT? But now I look stupid and I can’t stand feeling stupid because my sense of self-worth is based off of how much I know about this really niche topic and how well I pronounce words and now everyone is going to think that I’m uneducated and now I feel rejected. Oh my god I am such a loser. I hate myself. Nothing ever goes to plan. Why can’t I just make this work? The one good thing I have going on in my life and I didn’t think about using a big word I don’t know in my presentation! I mean what am I? Stupid? God!
Ni: You know what, Fi? In order to protect ourselves we should shut down and act cold, huddle back inside of ourselves, and then act nonchalant and mysterious so that we don’t feel the pain of rejection if someone brings up that we stumbled over a word
Fi: oh my god Ni you are a GENIUS
End scene. Yeah, I know, that was such a good movie.
While this example was humorous (if you didn’t feel called out ofc), loops can be a lot more intense than this. They can span over a series of time frames. Ni takes the information it has gathered and sends it to Fi. Fi brings up the faults in the INTJ’s form of identity (that’s relevant to the information presented by Ni) and Ni builds off of that. This is a reason why a good number of INTJs can be rejecting of others and security oriented. As you can probably assume, this can where many INTJs can create bias. This is especially true if the cause of rejection stems from unprocessed trauma or immaturity.
Fi is also where the INTJ can place a lot of value on being understood. As I mentioned earlier, Fe is a place of insecurity for the INTJ as it is a shadow function. They feel rejected by society or other people because they don’t quite know exactly what to say, how to respond to others, and ultimately feel misunderstood. Fi swoops in, takes this insecurity, and turns it into the INTJ valuing feeling understood by those they deem worthy. This is why INTJs may find it hard to become involved with people they feel don’t understand them. If an INTJ is close with someone, they’ll feel understood by that person and want that person to feel understood by them. Now, of course, this is ignoring the walls built up by Te.
Te suppresses this feeling, unfortunately, which can lead to the Fi bringing this desire of being understood in an emotionally tense way. What adds into this is that this position in the stack is also called “the child,” which means that the INTJ may not necessarily see this function as too serious. This doesn’t mean that their Fi doesn’t have influence, but that the INTJ may view their Fi as “hogwash” or simply just not worth thinking about.
Extraverted Sensing for the INTJ is the last and most suppressed function. Se is the part of the INTJ that keeps them in tune with the world around them and focused on real time. Se is not about physical activity, or predominantly about physical activity as I should say. Se is what keeps a person grounded mentally. To contradict what I just said, this is also partially why INTJs can be quite clumsy.
Because Se is the last function for the INTJ, it is the part of the type that they’re not that in-tune with. INTJs may experience a disconnection between them and the world around them, physically and emotionally. While I do mean this socially as well, because Se is more focused on physical connection I’m placing emphasis on the lack of physical awareness.
So what does this look like for INTJs? Well it can look like clumsiness and what some might describe as dissociative-like behavior, like constant day-dreaming, spacing out, feeling disconnected from one’s body, etc. Because of this, a many INTJs may say things like “time isn’t real” or have a level of an existential crisis that happens nearly constantly.
Se is also where the INTJ can experience a grip. Grips are when the dominant function (and essentially all of the functions below it except for the inferior) are overwhelmed so they burn out. The inferior function emerges as the “leader” of the type. It is good to note that dipping into your inferior function from time to time is not the same as a grip and that grips typically happen because of life altering circumstances, like trauma. A Se grip predominantly manifests as becoming more impulsive than what is normal for the specific person. For the INTJ this can look like going on random shopping sprees, indulging in sensory pleasures like sex, experimenting with drugs, renting out a hotel on a whim without thinking of if you have enough money, drinking more. Actions like that.
The length of grips are debated. Some people who are in the “MBTI community” believe some people can spend their whole lives in grips, especially if there is major trauma involved. Some believe they are states we dip into periodically throughout our lives. Some don’t believe in them at all. In my opinion they are states we dip into and some are longer than others. With that, as I preach on this blog, please don’t go off of what I say and take that as your opinion without asking questions/getting more info. Educated people are hard to fool.
If you want a good case-study for this, I suggest reading about Brian Jones from the band The Rolling Stones. Maynard James Keenan and his alcoholism would be another good read to understand Se grips better.
However, Se is not inherently bad. When not in a grip, Se also helps the INTJ to adapt. Se allows the INTJ to see perceived threats in their current environment, then use Ni to decide how that situation will play out. Te will decide on a solution in reaction to the perceived threat and then will send it down the chain of command.
While Se for the INTJ will never be as developed as a Se dominant (ESFP and ESTP), it can still be useful. INTJs can reinforce their Se by practicing their Te, if that is something they wish to do.
That was it for the third part of the “Why Are You So…” series. I hope this part was as good as the other two. I was watching “The Wall” last night while thinking about this post and the two made each other make so much more sense lol. I’m not going to recommend you all watch “The Wall” because I understand that Roger Waters is controversial, however I recommend you watch it because it makes this post more understandable. That movie is also where the header came from 😛 I think next post will be over a Ti dominant.
Anyways, as usual, feel free to ask questions and comment. ¡Adíos!
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