# Introverted Intuition (Ni): the stereotype



## fanaticalmusings (Oct 3, 2015)

I've always had gut feelings that told me how a person is like but they're not very focused on the future. For example, instead of suspecting what a certain person would do, it's more that I can guess how they're like, their general responses to things that might happen and why. I don't know, I feel like some websites over exaggerate Ni's ability to predict things. It's not like we're clairvoyant. There's also this other thing where I just don't really focus on other people. What they do is none of my business, so ultimately, I just don't think that thinking about it is that interesting. I'd rather dwell on a more interesting idea. 

So INTJs, what do you think?


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## Aladdin Sane (May 10, 2016)

hearmeroar101 said:


> I've always had gut feelings that told me how a person is like but they're not very focused on the future. For example, instead of suspecting what a certain person would do, it's more that I can guess how they're like, their general responses to things that might happen and why. I don't know, I feel like some websites over exaggerate Ni's ability to predict things. It's not like we're clairvoyant. There's also this other thing where I just don't really focus on other people. What they do is none of my business, so ultimately, I just don't think that thinking about it is that interesting. I'd rather dwell on a more interesting idea.
> 
> So INTJs, what do you think?


Yes, I always know what people are generally like and how they will respond to things just by first impression. I can spot a mile off if someone is acting phony and I have come to realize that most people can't. When I talk to someone for the first time, I immediately get this sense of who they are as a person and envision how they will act in certain situations and they always turn out to be exactly like what I have imagined.


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## ninjahitsawall (Feb 1, 2013)

Yeah I don't "predict" behaviors, but I can pick up on character traits pretty quickly. So people will do things that might shock others, but in retrospect for me, it was to be expected. Kinda like they "fit" into a mental framework I have of them, like "yeah, they would do something like that". But it's not like I can start with a blank sheet of paper and go "this person will do X, Y, and Z" in the near future. More like, "they have traits that are indicative or reckless behavior" or something like that and then something they do falls under the definition of recklessness.

I find it's a double-edged sword because it saves me from involvement in interpersonal conflict, but it is also why I avoid a large number of people because my "bad character trait" detector goes off so much and often outweighs the positives, lol. So why would I knowingly engage with them if I've spotted such qualities :crazy:.


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## Maybe (Sep 10, 2016)

I'm not an INTJ but I can definitely relate with both of you, I've always had a gut instinct about people. I can't spot a lie specifically but I will definitely notice a change of behavior (If I know you exist and have known you for a bit.)
As far as I know I've only been wrong once with my pre-judging when I was 7.


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## There4GoEye (Feb 13, 2015)

Aladdin Sane said:


> Yes, I always know what people are generally like and how they will respond to things just by first impression. I can spot a mile off if someone is acting phony and I have come to realize that most people can't. When I talk to someone for the first time, I immediately get this sense of who they are as a person and envision how they will act in certain situations and they always turn out to be exactly like what I have imagined.


Yup.

For example, Bob and Sue leave the office together. A few minutes later you walk to the corner store and buy lunch, sit in the store and eat that lunch. When you get back, Sue returns a moment later. You notice Sue is wearing a different sweater than when she left the building. 
She tells everyone in the office "Did I miss anything? I just returned from going to the corner store with Bob". 
Your first reaction is to wonder why she felt the need to announce this. People don't normally announce things without reason. The second observation is that Bob entered the building via a different entrance. You don't see him outside. And also, you didn't see either of them at the store. So she didn't just announce where she went, Sue actually announced a deception. Why? You look over and she is staring at her desk intently, lost in thought. Odd, because she's usually so extroverted.

What does this tell you? It tells me a GREAT DEAL. But strangely, no one else seems to notice. NO ONE SEEMS TO NOTICE lol. HOW??


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## g_w (Apr 16, 2013)

There4GoEye said:


> Yup.
> 
> For example, Bob and Sue leave the office together. A few minutes later you walk to the corner store and buy lunch, sit in the store and eat that lunch. When you get back, Sue returns a moment later. You notice Sue is wearing a different sweater than when she left the building.
> She tells everyone in the office "Did I miss anything? I just returned from going to the corner store with Bob".
> ...


If you can find a copy of Dave Barry's Book called "Dave Barry's Guide to Marriage And/Or Sex" he has a screamingly funny writeup on this kind of thing:

...let's consider two people, Ellen and Chuck, who have worked together in a large corporate office for years, and have recently started having an affair.
Up to this point, Ellen and Chuck have probably been behaving the way men and women always behave in offices, which is to say, constantly winking and leering and engaging in loud and fun suggestive sexual banter.
[snip]
But like like so many couples, Chuck and Ellen, now that they are engaging in real, as opposed to pretend, sexual activity, suddenly decide that they have to be discreet. They never banter. They never eat lunch together anymore. They walk past each other without even looking at each other. When they are forced, by circumstances, to be together, they display the kind of warmth and closeness toward each other as the Vice-president of the United States displays toward deceased heads of state. They are formal and cool.
They are also morons. The other employees, who, if they have been in the working world more than six weeks, have already witnessed hundreds of other major office affairs, will immediately recognize the cause of this sudden change in behavior. Ellen and Chuck might just as well go around wearing convention style name tags that say:

Hi! My Name is  ELLEN. I'm having an affair with CHUCK!  

Within days, everybody in the office will know what's going on. The affair will be discussed extensively in staff meetings. It could well appear in the annual report to the stockholders.


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## Maybe (Sep 10, 2016)

There4GoEye said:


> Yup.
> 
> For example, Bob and Sue leave the office together. A few minutes later you walk to the corner store and buy lunch, sit in the store and eat that lunch. When you get back, Sue returns a moment later. You notice Sue is wearing a different sweater than when she left the building.
> She tells everyone in the office "Did I miss anything? I just returned from going to the corner store with Bob".
> ...


If I were working or thinking I would never notice them leaving together or arriving in different spots. I might notice the clothing change when she announced "Did I miss anything? I just returned from going to the corner store with Bob," but I would think that I just noticed her clothing for the first time and not that she changed.

*TLDR * I wouldn't notice 'cause 1. I don't care and/or 2. I'm not paying attention


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## There4GoEye (Feb 13, 2015)

SheriffLaw said:


> If I were working or thinking I would never notice them leaving together or arriving in different spots. I might notice the clothing change when she announced "Did I miss anything? I just returned from going to the corner store with Bob," but I would think that I just noticed her clothing for the first time and not that she changed.
> 
> *TLDR * I wouldn't notice 'cause 1. I don't care and/or 2. I'm not paying attention


INTPs can almost visualize their ideas and thoughts hanging in the air, but fail to notice something right beside them. I'm not disrespecting INTP here, I just find it amusing.

Personally I just file away images and mental pictures somehow, all the time, without attaching any relevance to them whatsoever. To stop, I'd have to put my head down on the desk. ...And then I'd probably start categorizing the pattern or grain on the desktop. :laughing:


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## Nephilibata (Jan 21, 2015)

sorry to butt in, I just find the topic interesting and wanted to ask, since my question seems to fit in here - can you explain where your 'gut feelings' come from? Like, 'providing evidence'?


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## Marvin the Dendroid (Sep 10, 2015)

I definitely predict. I'll far too often know where a movie, a TV serie or a book is going, even to the point of correctly predicting exact lines. I'm a linguist and this has given me a massive learning advantage as languages are predictable - even when the actual rules may look very complicated. I'll often just know how you're supposed to say something without knowing why, much like native speakers would. 

I also get gut feelings about people.

I tend not to investigate how come I know. Knowing is enough. I do fact check though as I like to be right.


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## Maybe (Sep 10, 2016)

There4GoEye said:


> INTPs can almost visualize their ideas and thoughts hanging in the air, I'm not disrespecting INTP here, I just find it amusing.


You have NO IDEA! When I read a book I don't just see words, I don't even register I'm reading words, I'm right there in action seeing, hearing, feeling, it's all there (except smell for some reason) just like a movie.




There4GoEye said:


> but fail to notice something right beside them.


I once didn't notice someone was in 3 of my classes until the year was almost over.
Another time a fight broke out right in front of me while I was thinking and I didn't know there was a fight until someone brought it up.




There4GoEye said:


> I'm not disrespecting INTP here, I just find it amusing.


You can only disrespect me by not treating me fairly or not having a valid point.


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