10 Things That Excite the INTP Personality Type
INTPs are the quintessential “Thinkers” of the Myers-Briggs® type community. Gifted with a strong sense of logic and a boundless imagination, INTPs bring innovative thinking to the forefront of their lives. Today we’re going to talk about 10 things that bring an INTP joy. Read on to find out what they are!
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10 Things That Excite the INTP Personality Type
#1 – Concepts and Theories
Abstract ideas, inventions, and possibilities bring life and wonder to the INTP spirit. These types would much rather explore a conceptual idea than something tangible or pre-existing. What “could be” will always be more fascinating than what “is”. Exploring ideas in the boundless world of the mind is a thrilling experience for INTPs.
#2 – Brain Teasers
INTPs aren’t afraid of doing some mental gymnastics when life gets predictable. Puzzles, conundrums, riddles, and complex mathematical problems can all provide a fascinating escape from mundane daily life.
#3 – Art
According to the MBTI® Manual INTPs are over-represented among types who enjoy “Appreciating Art” as a leisure-time activity! This coincides with what I’ve heard from many INTPs who enjoy creating art, going to art museums, or looking at art online.
#4 – Learning
INTPs tend to get bored if they aren’t mentally advancing and learning on a regular basis. Whether they’re developing their own video game or studying the nature of carnivorous plants, INTPs like to absorb all kinds of random and varied bits of information. In fact, according to the MBTI® Manual INTPs enjoy taking classes as a leisure-time activity!
#5 – Unstructured Time
Think an INTP with an empty calendar is going to be bored? Think again! These personality types enjoy the blissful freedom of unscheduled downtime. With no expectations or plans roping them in they can pursue ideas, theories, games, music, or whatever creative pursuit their hearts desire.
#6 – Gaming
INTPs don’t shy away from a challenge, and that certainly applies to their gaming skills. They love the world of video games and board games, and enjoy the strategic and creative challenges that present themselves along the way.
#7 – Music
Music provides a therapeutic backdrop to all the analysis and imagination going on inside the INTP mind. Many INTPs I spoke with enjoyed creating their own songs, while others just used it to provide atmosphere for their overactive minds.
#8 – Reading
INTPs are driven by their curiosity which makes them absolutely ravenous readers. INTPs absorb books. In fact, according to a study I conducted, the average INTP reads 48 books per year!
#9 – Cancelled Plans
Having an unexpected block of alone time is invigorating to an INTP. While they certainly care about their families and friends, they also feel revived and energized when they have time to themselves to think, experiment, play, or create.
#10 – Psychology
Many stereotypes of INTPs would imply that they are “robotic” or lack feelings for others. Contrary to popular opinion, many INTPs have a passion for understanding other people and why they think the way they do.
What Are Your Thoughts?
Did you agree or disagree with this article? Do you have any insight to share? Let us know in the comments!
Find out more about your personality type in our eBook, Discovering You: Unlocking the Power of Personality Type.
Other Articles You Might Enjoy:
Here’s Why INTPs and INFPs Get Misunderstood
Are You an INTP or an INTJ? 7 Ways to Find Out
3 Weird and Wonderful Secrets About the INTP
Here’s the Science Behind Your Myers-Briggs® Personality Type
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I am very glad that you included psychology, art and music in the list. There are so many people who think that we (INTPs) hate people and are only interested in stuff like mathematics, natural sciences or technology. This may be true for some of us but certainly not for most (and not for me as well).
But I really love psychology. I think there is nothing more interesting than understanding how others think and feel. Well, INTPs are probably the most introverted introverts and I often struggle in dealing with people. But I do not hate them at all. No, I find them incredibly fascinating.
Greetings from Germany 🙂
Lici
I feel the same way. I love Psychology I love reading and learning how others work and feel.
It’s to know there is someone else out there that feels the same way.
Andy
Agree with all of this. Being a great reader is not so much me though. Well, not 48 books a year anyway. I read articles for information rather than long imaginary stuff.
Cancelled plans!! Damn right!! Lol.
And what Lici said about art, music and psychology.
Well, I’m an INTP counseling psychologist, go figure.
#2 & #6 not so much. I find both activities to be a pointless waste of time. In fact, I get a sub-100 seconds on Solitaire (Klondike) because I use this game to waste time when I MUST wait for something. I do also use it to ‘wake up’ in the morning. If something is so hard to figure out, find a real problem and figure that out with your time and energy instead!
This list feels less like a personalized list, rather just a collection of things that interest and entice humans in general and then hoping it would translate over seamlessly. I am enamored moreso with observation and probabilities than with reading or finding down time. I haven’t read a book to completion in 5 years.
Yes! Anytime something is “cancelled” (by someone else…sometimes by me) I LOVE it!! Found free time is the ultimate!
this is 100 % accurate
This is spot on for me.
So great to finally be understood!!!
I’m so glad! Thank you!
Thank you for helping this INTP. We’re often alone, but rarely lonely. It’s hard for others to understand this trait.
I must be extreme – I read on average 500 books a year!
Just spot on. I was laughing with how accurate it is, especially about not being bored by an empty calendar. What a wonderful opportunity!
#9 YES!
Yes on it all!!! Even an empty calendar day doesn’t necessarily mean I’m free, LOL!!!
Great list! Absolutely don’t mind (sometimes prefer) being alone. Have been the loneliest in a committed relationship than outside of one. Love unstructured time and canceled plans. Am an avid reader and puzzle worker. Love learning/thinking/problem solving. Chronically curious. Love psychology, MBTI and discovering what makes people tick.
Hi Susan,
I always enjoy and gain useful information from your articles. You pick-up where Freud and Jung left off.
Thanks,
Tom
Thank you so much Tom! I really am so glad that you’re finding the information helpful!
I am an INTP and I completely agree with everything you wrote! Very inciteful, especially the part about psychology. I do love to read, but particularly regency romance novels. (Probably to try and understand emotions.) I often find myself thinking, ‘why don’t they just say they are in love and get on with it?!’
Yes!! It drives me nuts that characters in books and on TV don’t just say what needs to be said rather than dancing around the topic at hand.
As much as I understand that Myers Briggs is heavily dependent upon confirmation bias I can’t help but find myself agreeing with many of these points.
It’s always interesting to read things like this, even if they may be subject to one’s personal bias.
That being said, in terms of the brain teasers and puzzles, I have spent way too much money on puzzles thus far, I do not regret it as they are a great bit of fun.
Also, where psychology is concerned I 100% agree with your point there as I am currently studying a Bachelor in psychology and hope to get my masters as well, so whilst a lot of this may just be me liking how it sounds in relevance to what personality type I am, it also does somewhat feel true to an extent. At least to me. Keep writing articles, I like reading them.
Thanks.
Nailed it Susan on all counts! Once I had plans for what I knee was going to be a boring get-together and when those plans fell through, who-hoo, back to my pursuits. I enjoy watching sports because it is the best reality television ever. Watching competing strategies and mindsets is utterly fascinating. The blend of personalities working together for a common goal piques my interests. And yes, I am a ravenous reader.
As a car aficionado, people’s fascination with muscle cars is somewhat puzzling due to the advancement of technology.
And the point that gets made about how INTP”s nitpick for problems in ideas/ concepts has led to issues with workmates and sometimes friends, thus I’ve learned that sometimes you have to let things go for the sake of peace. You know what they say about the joy of being a pessimist- you’re either constantly being proved right or being pleasantly surprised. Wait, that sounds arrogant- lol
Pretty accurate! As a side note I’d say that ‘what is’ can be just as fascinating as ‘what could be’ once you realise how little we actually understand ‘what is’.
I must confess that I do love when some plans are cancelled. Even more so if I wasn’t the one who scheduled it. That unforeseen free time is so… wonderful.
I’d like to add that INTPs also seem to like puns. Such is that when I read Susan’s surname, I was tempted to comment that the text is Fantastic.
Each and every one of these applies to me! I was surprised when I read “Art” because I had just been looking at Norman Rockwell paintings the other day! I had know idea there were other people so much like me!
Most of these are spot-on but some leave me skeptical. I have never considered myself to be one who “gets” art, but I do enjoy certain works or artists over others. I also dabble in landscape photography and have been told I have an eye for composition so there may be something to this one. I don’t do a lot of gaming either, partly for lack of free time; but I have enjoyed King’s Quest and similar puzzle-oriented computer games. And music is “the one that got away” as it were, as I never followed particular artists but wouldn’t have minded learning the piano or violin. I could say “someday” but from what I’ve read NTP types are long on ideas and short on follow-through, which seems to hold true for me at least…
I was frequently canceling on my friends but endeavored to do better (part of that was learning to say no at the outset)
Found out that others cancelled as much as I did and it was usually a relief.