All About INTJ Personality Type

In this advice series, we're exploring each of the sixteen personality types identified by two remarkable women, Katherine Briggs and her daughter, Isabel Myers. In the 1940s, Briggs and Myers developed the MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator), a personality self-test relying heavily on Carl Jung's theory of different personality types.

INTJ stands for Introverted, Intuitive, Thinking, Judging, and it’s one of the sixteen MBTI personality types. This article delves into the INTJ personality type. We’ll examine what’s said to be the distinctive traits, strengths, and typical behaviors of people who identify with INTJ. 

Should I take a personality test?

You can take a free MBTI personality test and identify your personality type to unlock your potential and maintain healthy relationships. When you have a deep understanding of what makes you your unique yourself, you can enhance your strengths and identify areas for your personal growth.

It's not always easy to be objective about ourselves, and we also often make better progress on our journey of self-discovery if we talk through our emotions and personal challenges with a nonjudgmental professional. Contact BetterHelp for a match with one of our trained therapists to help you understand what it means to be an INTJ personality type.

What are the 16 personality types?

Myers and Briggs asserted that every person:

• Is either an extrovert (E) or an introvert (I)

• Primarily uses either intuition (N) or sensing (S) to experience the world around them

• Tends to make decisions relying on their feeling (F) or thinking (T) capacities

• Utilizes mostly perception (P) or judging (J) to reach their goals

The different combinations of these four opposites make up the 16 personality types, which can be categorized into the following groups

• Analysts: architect (INTJ), logician (INTP), commander (ENTJ), debater (ENTP)

• Diplomats: advocate (INFJ), mediator (INFP), protagonist (ENFJ), campaigner (ENFP)

• Sentinels: logistician (ISTJ), defender (ISFJ), executive (ESTJ), consul (ESFJ)

• Explorers: virtuoso (ISTP), adventurer (ISFP), entrepreneur (ESTP), entertainer (ESFP)

INTJ personality traits: The architect

INTJ is the abbreviation for introversion (I), intuition (N), thinking (T), and judgment (J). Let’s break these down further:

• Introversion: INTJs are generally quiet, reserved people. Social interactions tend to drain – versus fuel -- their energy, and they prefer to have a few close friends than a wide circle of acquaintances.

• Intuition: INTJ personality types focus on the big picture and future possibilities, rather than details and the here and now. They tend to think in more abstract than concrete terms.

• Thinking: INTJs generally value facts above personal preferences or sentiment. They tend to base their decisions on logic rather than on social considerations.

• Judgment: INTJ personality types thrive under structure, planning and organizing the world around them to achieve their goals.

INTJs are brilliant strategists, regarded for their competency and intelligence. INTJ personality types are stable, reliable, committed, and fiercely independent. The opinions of others do not easily sway them. INTJs use reason and logic to choose partners and friends. The INTJ personality type is almost always 100% confident that any decision they make is the right one and isn't easily persuaded otherwise, although they can be surprisingly flexible if proved wrong by someone who has used reason and logic to come to a different conclusion. 

INTJ personality types find it difficult to talk about their emotions and feelings and are uncomfortable with people who express their emotions in an unrestrained or sentimental way. The INTJ personality type considers social rituals like small talk to be a waste of time; this tendency to dismiss social rituals may make INTJs seem cold and rude to others. 

INTJs have a deep understanding of their abilities and limitations; they're willing to acknowledge what they know as well as what they don't know, and this often makes them confident leaders. However, they're also willing to take a back seat to leaders who, like them, base their decisions on reason and logic. Generally, the INTJ personality type prefers to work alone.

INTJs are chess players

INTJs may view the world as a thrilling game of chess. INTJ personality types are strategic thinkers; they're able to see things from many different perspectives and plan for all possible situations and outcomes. INTJs continually increase their knowledge; they're curious, intellectual, imaginative, and use their knowledge creatively.

INTJs are independent

INTJ personality types have near-complete confidence in themselves. Their rational minds make rational decisions, and it may be challenging to convince them that a different conclusion is possible. INTJ personality types seldom waste time discussing their decisions with those who disagree; instead, they tend to be aloof and disengaged. Only those in agreement with them can expect to be heard. The INTJ personality type is ogten indifferent to authority figures, traditions, and social rituals; only the rational and logical have meaning. Their lack of self-doubt makes INTJ personality types fiercely independent.

INTJs are industrious

The INTJ personality type is admirably hard-working. If something interests them, INTJs will work long, intense hours to complete the task. INTJs are super-efficient and, provided they agree that the process to reach a goal is rational and logical, they will dedicate themselves to follow through. If INTJ personality types don't see a logical or rational reason to include a particular process or task to reach a goal, they will ignore it; this sometimes works but often causes problems for the rest of the team, who needs to double-check whatever the INTJ does to ensure the goal is reached.

INTJs are open-minded

An INTJ’s aversion to tradition and social norms makes INTJ personality types receptive to new ideas and lifestyles, and they're often social liberals. INTJs will even reconsider their own decisions if someone comes along with a better solution, provided it's based on logic and is rational.

INTJs and career options

INTJ personality types do well as military strategists; their ability to see all possible outcomes and courses of action is the perfect combination to bring people, resources, and equipment together to achieve victory. That said, INTJs can be successful in any career where their astounding ability to find elegant, simple solutions to complex problems is appreciated and needed. 

INTJ personality types also make excellent lawyers and judges, computer programmers, and scientists. INTJs prefer to work on their own; they're impatient with disorganization and those who disagree with them. INTJ personality types tend to be detached from the emotions and sensitivities of others, so they're less likely than their more extroverted counterparts to be successful in careers that require people skills, like human resources or public relations.

INTJs and relationships

INTJ personality types tend to be unromantic; candle-lit dinners and weekends away on exotic islands leave them unimpressed. INTJs do not fall head-over-heels in love. INTJ personality types approach long-term relationships in the same way that they approach any other complex problem; relationships are to be analyzed, strategized, and followed through via the only correct solution. 

This tendency to ignore human nature, and to be out of tune with those around them, makes it difficult for the INTJ personality type to find a compatible partner. However, INTJ personality types will form strong relationships when they do have compatible partners and will work diligently to ensure that their partner is satisfied intellectually and physically. INTJs believe that every grievance has a rational and logical solution, and they tend to walk away from partners who need to express their emotions just for the sake of it.

The INTJ parent gives their children space to grow and encourages them to be independent. INTJ personality types challenge their children to think for themselves and make their own decisions but will give them guidance at crucial milestones in their lives. INTJs are unlikely to be excessively supportive and loving parents; they don't need expressions of love and approval themselves and assume their children don't, either. Sensitive children who need emotional support may feel distant and unloved by their INTJ parent.

INTJ strengths

INTJs are supremely self-confident. INTJ personality types are rational, logical, and seldom doubt themselves. INTJs take conflict and criticism in their stride. INTJs take their relationships and commitments seriously; the INTJ personality type is diligent in following through to reach a goal, whether it be personal or professional. INTJs are extremely intelligent, capable, and are brilliant strategists. They grasp complex theories and plan courses of action to reach their goal successfully.

INTJ weaknesses

INTJs can be insensitive. The INTJ personality type tends not to be sensitive to those around them, and their tendency to be brutally honest can be hurtful to other people. INTJs don't buy into the notion that emotional support is needed in some situations, rather than logic and reason. INTJ personality types are often not in tune with those around them. INTJs tend not to express their feelings, and others may find INTJ personality types challenging to understand and relate to.

INTJs can be arrogant. INTJ personality types believe that they're always right and that their way is the only way. Also, when they do make a mistake, they find it extraordinarily difficult to accept blame and tend to put it on others. INTJs are impatient with social rituals, and they can be uncomfortable to be around in social situations.

Support for INTJs

While the Myers-Briggs can be a highly illuminating assessment, the results are not fixed, nor are they 100% accurate. Our personalities may evolve throughout our development, and as we learn from different relationships and experiences, we may adapt our behaviors and thought processes.

If the description of weaknesses resonates with you, as an INTJ, it is totally possible to devote time to improving traits or habits that may be holding you or others back from happiness and achievement. After all, no one is born into a certain personality type. While genetics and biology play a large role in our nature, the nurture aspect that occurs via social learning plays an equally impactful part in determining who we become.

INTJs may benefit from consulting a mental health professional via face-to-face or in-person therapy. Online therapy may be more advantageous, as it affords INTJs the autonomy to determine times and locations conducive for making appointments. The great thing about using an online therapy platform like BetterHelp is that it uses a questionnaire to match participants with a qualified therapist best suited to support them in reaching their goals. For the INTJ, such goals might include improving collaboration skills, showing more vulnerability in relationships, or experimenting with different routines.

No doubt, an INTJ will want to trust in the effectiveness of online therapy before investing time and energy into the process. One popular treatment approach for supporting clients managing numerous mental health challenges – cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) – has been proven to be just as efficacious online as it is in person. The goal of CBT is to help people understand how their thoughts impact their actions, and INTJ personality types, in particular, may value this logical approach to treatment.