If you’re an INTP personality type, you’re a highly rational and fiercely independent person. You may feel different from others because your personality type is actually quite rare—INTPs make up only 3 percent of the population (female INTPs are even rarer than males). Like the famous physicist Albert Einstein, who is thought to be an INTP, you’re drawn to the discovery of subjective truths and universal law. It was Einstein who said, “Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.”

Are you an INTP personality type? Here are 12 signs that you are. (Keep in mind that typology describes general personality characteristics. Your background and experiences make you an individual, so you may not relate to every point but nevertheless be an INTP. Try our quick, free test to learn more about your personality type.)

1. You’re a seeker of truth. You wish to uncover the underlying universal law behind everything you encounter. To you, life is a complex puzzle to be solved. You’re especially fascinated by what motivates others and makes them tick.

2. You take intellectual matters seriously. You devour books, articles, and podcasts on the subjects of philosophy, religion, psychology, evolutionary theory, and anything else that interests you. Isabel Briggs Myers, who helped create the Myers-Briggs personality system, wrote in her book, Gifts Differing, ”INTPs are perhaps the most intellectually profound of all the types.” But the cultivation of knowledge is not all a solemn matter for you—you’re intellectually playful, quirky, and open-minded. You have an almost child-like awe and wonder of the world.

3. You make decisions by asking, “What makes analytical sense?” You value logical thinking more than emotion. For example, you’re more persuaded by an argument that is based on research rather than one that uses emotional or inspirational appeals.

4. But it’s not that you don’t have emotions. It’s just that you place them at a lower priority than rational thought. You’re actually quite genuine and personable when you feel comfortable with others. Sometimes you worry about how others will take something, so you don’t share your true thoughts and observations out of fear of hurting their feelings. You’re flexible and open-minded, so you rarely get angry, but when you do, others should watch out—you can be a powder keg of an explosion.

5. You can quickly locate any logical inconsistencies in a belief system or argument. You’re always noticing when information doesn’t add up. You can easily poke holes in others’ arguments or beliefs. When you express what you see, others may think you’re criticizing them, but to you, it’s not personal because you’re simply trying to get at the truth. You want accurate information yourself, so you figure others do, too.

6. As an introvert, you don’t let everyone in. You may conceal part of your personality—your highly rational and cerebral side—and only a few people are granted full access to your private inner world. You tend to vet others before letting them see the real you. However, once you sense that someone is no real danger, you can develop intimacy at a surprising speed.

7. You’re indifferent to the particulars of everyday life. You don’t care for small talk or discussing the everyday matters of people’s lives. Gossip doesn’t interest you. Sometimes you struggle to connect with others because you have no desire to play social games. Yet when someone gets you talking about a topic that interests you, you can become quite loquacious.

8. You may struggle to find a career that fits. You dislike corporate culture and the organizational life. If you keep your highly cerebral side private, you may feel that others don’t recognize your true competence and knowledge. Many INTPs find satisfying work as freelancers or entrepreneurs because they prefer to work outside the system.

9. You’re so independent that sometimes you wonder if you actually need other people in your life. But you do. Your independent projects only take you so far, and you may eventually realize that you feel empty without a few close connections. You value partners and friends who are intelligent, creative, and open-minded. Ideally, your closest intimates are people who share your specialized interests, so you can co-explore truth together.

10. You like simple living arrangements. You prefer living on less rather than more. You may shy away from serious financial obligations, like buying an expensive home or taking out loans, because you fear these will diminish your sense of freedom.

11. You’re suspicious of conventions and you’re far from traditional. Highly individualized and independent, you’d rather reason out your own way than go with the crowd. In fact, you relish breaking apart conventional ideas that others take for granted. You don’t understand how anyone can hold onto theories or ideology that have been proven illogical.

12. At your best, you change the way reality is perceived. Along with Einstein, the famous philosopher Socrates was probably an INTP. With their ideas, these men have changed the way whole societies see reality, showing that mature INTPs can be powerful thinkers.

Discover Your Personal Genius

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42 comments

  • Tessa
    • Tessa
    • January 2, 2021 at 10:09 am

    This site is golden. I’m glad I’ve found it and I read in a different article about how INTs feel lonely everyday. I’m an Intp, and this is so perfect. Also, I’ve grown up with feelers so it can get disorienting but luckily my parents have always supported my curiosity and quirks. They still push me to socialize more even when I tell them I’m doing fine by myself. They don’t believe me, probably because I seem too much inside my own head for it. And I honestly cannot get my head around certain emotions. Even my own. Especially my own. Would you say noticing patterns is a good start? (As contrasted with a sign of immaturity, which I read in a comment above)

  • Heli
    • Heli
    • January 2, 2021 at 9:57 am

    I really relate to you. I grew up in a family of feelers and most of their arguments make zero sense to me. I always think if they’d just ask me because I can almost always see what the exact problem was, even if it doesn’t make sense to me. But like you, even I’ve adapted to it now. And yeah, I fake emotions too. I’m not very good at it but they don’t like it if you don’t atleast try.

  • That's classified
    • That's classified
    • September 8, 2020 at 12:34 pm

    So you think it’s easier to play God than to prove God and you believe in Evolutionary science well i have news for you don’t try to play God because he’s a supernatural entity that always watches over the world and its people and evolution is flawed because how do you know what evolution is because evolution isn’t fact its opinion of somebody else you only see one side of one thing and not two kinda like a coin God is real because if it wasn’t for him humans wouldn’t exist and earth wouldn’t either the book of genesis in one of the chapters says “God created man from a pile of dust and breathed life into it and than man was born” so your entire explanation or opinion is irrelevant

  • Diana
    • Diana
    • July 12, 2020 at 11:39 am

    I was an INTP-T but I couldn’t accept that so I worked on myself to be an INTP-A. Almost there now.

  • Diana
    • Diana
    • July 12, 2020 at 11:36 am

    So true. Sometimes, I feel like these websites underates the feelings of INTPs. I think of myself as an almost matured INTP female and because of the environment I grew up in, I have learned and analyzed, understood and accepted that most people around me are not really the thinking types. So instead of me feeling depressed and left out and all the other downs, I have rather adapted to the people around me so much that sometimes I actually have feelings towards them and events that occur. I mean, the feelings usually do not last long, but I experience them. But then my thinking will come in and tell me this feeling is not needed and it kinda just disappears.

    What I don’t like though is sometimes I have to act the opposite of what I feel or think in order not to make situations awkward or anything worse than that, for example, sometimes I find it really hard to be empathetic towards something everyone around me is empathetic to, so I have to fake it so the attention does not shift towards me. Kinda blending in to avoid attention but soooooo not me ??‍♀️

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