INTP
Private, intellectual, impersonal, analytical and reflective, the INTP appears to value ideas, principles and abstract thinking above all else. This logical type seeks to understand and explain the universe — not to control it!
Higher education often holds a particular appeal to this type who tends to acquire degrees and amass knowledge over the entire course of life. Abstract or theoretical subjects are usually the INTP's cup of tea, and academic or research careers may seem attractive to this type. From science and math to economics and philosophy: just name the discipline, and you'll find INTPs perched on the loftiest rungs of theory and analysis. In whatever field they choose, INTPs take on the role of visionary, scientist or architect, and they usually prefer to make their contributions in relative solitude. The mundane details of life may be the INTP's undoing, since this type lives in a world guided by intuitive thinking.
Often perceived to be arrogant and aloof, the quiet and sometimes reclusive INTP may have to struggle in the personal realm, as well, for feelings are not this type's natural forté.
Introverted iNtuitive Thinking Perceiving
- INTPs are pensive, analytical folks. They may venture so deeply into thought as to seem detached and often actually are oblivious to the world around them. Precise about their descriptions, INTPs will often correct others (or at least be sorely tempted to) if the shade of meaning is a bit off. This sometimes annoying habit is at once also a strength in grammarians, a perfect arena for the literal INTP. INTPs are relatively easy-going and amenable to almost anything until their principles are violated, about which they may become outspoken and inflexible. But they usually return to a reserved albeit benign ambiance, not wishing to make spectacles of themselves.
- A major concern for INTPs is the haunting sense of impending failure. They spend considerable time second-guessing themselves. The open-endedness (from Perceiving) conjoined with the need for competence (NT) is expressed in a sense that one's conclusion may well be met by an equally plausible alternative solution, and that, after all, one may very well have overlooked some critical bit of data. An INTP arguing a point may very well be trying to convince himself as much as his opposition. In this way INTPs are markedly different from INTJs, who are much more confident in their competence and willing to act on their convictions.
- Mathematics is a system where many INTPs love to play, similarly languages, computer systems — potentially any complex system. INTPs thrive on systems. Understanding, exploring, mastering, and manipulating systems can overtake the INTP's conscious thought. This fascination for logical wholes and their inner workings is often expressed in a detachment from the environment, a concentration where time is forgotten and extraneous stimuli are held at bay.
- INTPs and Logic: One of the tipoffs that a person is an INTP is his/her obsession with logical correctness. Errors are not often due to poor logic — apparent faux pas in reasoning are usually a result of overlooking details or of incorrect context.
- INTPs in the main are not clannish.
Famous INTPs:
Socrates, Rene Descartes, Blaise Pascal, Sir Isaac Newton, William James, Albert Einstein, U.S. Presidents: Abraham Lincoln, James Madison, John Quincy Adams, John Tyler, Dwight D. Eisenhower, other INTP types: William Harvey (pioneer in human physiology), C. G. Jung, (Freudian defector, author of Psychological Types), Meryl Streep, Brett Spiner and racer Dale Earnhardt.Dale Earnhartd 
