The MBTI® Test INTP Personality Type and Emotional Intelligence

Knowing how your Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI®) personality type deals with and mentally processes emotions can help you alter your current emotional inclinations and augment your emotional intelligence. For example, this week we’ll learn how the Introverted Thinking with Extraverted Intuition MBTI test types handle emotions, and how they can improve their methods.

Learning about your MBTI type’s degrees of emotional intelligence, defined as “a complex ability to regulate your impulses, empathize with others, and persist and be resilient in the face of obstacles,” can really aid you in becoming a more open or understanding person, and can provide you with insight on how to change the way you mentally process your emotions. (Pearman, 2002, CPP)

INTP Personality types, as the first letter of their MBTI type indicates, are fairly introverted when it comes to their emotions, preferring a more intrapersonal form of emotional intelligence. They are self-confident in their self-analysis, and measure their strengths and weaknesses based on reasonable parameters. Much of their mental processes are tied up in logic and learning, and they feel their best when working on some sort of academic or scholarly problem. Because of their pride in themselves and their abilities, they often prefer to work alone, relying on themselves for results. (Pearman, 2002, CPP)

Myers-Briggs® INTP types are what could be considered “emotionally closed off,” choosing to ignore his or her own feelings (along with the feelings of others) in favor of a logical analysis of a situation. When they do recognize their emotions or understand that something emotionally important has happened, it is usually further in the future, after they could have done something about it. Because they are so apprehensive about sharing their feelings (or even acknowledging their existence), INTP types often are very picky about who they choose to associate with on a deeper level than merely acquaintances. (Pearman, 2002, CPP)

Although they aren’t close-minded to others’ opinions or thoughts, it behooves INTP types to work on how they are perceived when others are explaining how they are feeling or what they are thinking. INTP types would greatly benefit from being more receptive toward the mental and emotional processes of their peers, allowing themselves to open up in response to this. (Pearman, 2002, CPP)

Another issue that INTP personality types may run into is that they can often become agitated if others are not mentally operating on the same logic-driven course that they are—that is, if others are of an opposite type and relying more on his or her thoughts and feelings to find a solution for problems. The best way for INTP types to work on this is to remain open-minded to others’ inclinations and strategies for dealing with their own emotions, even if the INTP type finds it illogical or ineffective. (Pearman, 2002, CPP)

Overall, although it may seem unnatural for MBTI test INTP types, the only real way to increase their level of emotional intelligence is to engage more with their emotions and with the emotions of others, and through more exposure and experience dealing with emotions, they will learn how to more accurately navigate them.

Discover how your personality best manages conflict, how the different parts of your personality work together to make decisions or gather information, how your personality type best communicates with others, and how you best deal with change in your life.

Learn to communicate more efficiently by understanding how your personality type best interacts with others with the MBTI test below:

References

Introduction To Type® and Emotional Intelligence. (Pearman, R. CPP, 2002)

Learn More About the MBTI INTP Personality Type

• Explore our MBTI INTP Personality Type Page

Explore Our Other INTP Blog Pages:

• Myers-Briggs test INTP Personality Type and Leadership Styles Blog
• Myers-Briggs test INTP Personality Type and Project Management Blog
• Myers-Briggs test INTP Personality Type and Innovation Blog
• Myers-Briggs test INTP Personality Type and Communication Blog
• Myers-Briggs test INTP Personality Type and Learning Styles Blog
• Myers-Briggs test INTP Personality Type and Decision-Making Blog

INTP Careers

Click on one of these corresponding popular INTP Careers for detailed information including Career Stats, Income Stats, Daily Tasks and Required Education: Actuary/Risk Professional, Arbitrators, Mediators, and Conciliators, Architectural Drafters, Archivists, Art Directors, Food Science Technician, Geographer, Geoscientist, Librarian, Network and Computer Systems Administrators

Click On Your Personality Type & Read About Your Emotional Intelligence:

ISTJ	ISFJ	ESTP	ESFP
ISTP	ISFP	ESTJ	ESFJ
INFJ	INTJ	ENFP	ENTP
INFP	INTP	ENFJ	ENTJ