I've had a fascination with psychology over the past two months, even though it's not my major. The field is just so applicable that I can't help but continue to study it and look into it on my own time! As such, I've recently retaken the personality test (which you can take here), and the results are clear: I'm an INTP at heart. Initially, this was a huge shock to me, as I used to be a staunch INTJ back in high school.

For those who don't know, INTP is one of the sixteen personality types designated by the Myers-Briggs personality test. The abbreviation stands for Introverted, iNtuitive, Thinking, and Perceiving/Prospecting. This designation serves as an imperfect guideline to the way that people function and behave. By understanding this personality designation, oftentimes, a person's behavior will be easier to understand, or easier to sympathize with. It's just a really helpful tool, that, while imperfect, helped me to better understand myself and others.

As I continued to do more research, I found that, like the INTJ, INTPs are often misunderstood by others. As such, I wanted to clear up a few things that should hopefully make it easier for you to understand this intriguing and mystifying personality type!

We're very disorganized

I can't speak for all INTPs on this one, but we're definitely one of the most disorganized of the personality types. This is not to say that we don't care, but rather, we're too busy conjuring new ideas and new solutions in our heads to worry about such petty things like organization. We're not well-known for our street smarts, but that's what friends are for, right?

We're going to be awkward the first time you talk to us

This is pretty standard for most introverted personalities, but this is even more true with INTPs. We're "not normal" people (although what is normal anyhow?), and we know that. We tend to be really bad with small talk, and we don't know how to introduce ourselves without overthinking it or coming off awkward/creepy/strange. What I will say, though, is that after this first interaction, it's very easy for us to be friendly with you. Once we know that you're not scared away by our oddities, we're like an open book of ideas, and you won't regret your decision to trust us.

We have "obsessions" and "phases"

You know how children go through "phases" when they're younger? It's similar to what happens with INTPs. Many of us have interests that we're really passionate about. We do all we can to learn about this interest, and these interests and obsessions with learning more are what make up our personality. If an INTP talks about the same subject over and over, it's just something that they're really passionate about. You don't have to like it, but that's not going to stop us from loving it.

We're very honest people

Don't come to us if you want an echo chamber, because it's not happening. Like INTJs, we offer fair, honest judgment, without much concern for social status or standing. If you ask for the truth, you're going to get it, whether it's convenient or not. Of course, a lot of people aren't ready for this honesty, so I often give them an option: "would you like the sugar coated answer or the honest answer?"

Yes, we have feelings too

A big misconception about introverted thinking types is that we don't feel any emotion since we never express it outwardly. This couldn't be farther from the truth. Deep down, INTPs are very caring people, particularly those that they are close to. We're very loyal people, but we just find our feelings very difficult to express (often resulting in further awkwardness).

We don't care about what's "cool"

Unlike extroverts, we don't really buy into social pressures to have the "coolest" of everything. You won't see most INTPs anywhere near anything fashion-related, as it simply doesn't appeal to us. If you see an INTP walking around in high heels or Ugg boots, treasure it, because you'll probably never see it happen again. We're very much our own people, and we've accepted that we're "not normal."

We appreciate constructive feedback on our ideas

This is where we really differentiate ourselves from our INTJ counterparts. We're constantly brewing with new, creative ideas that we often leave unfinished. We love to hear constructive feedback on ideas, as there's nothing more beneficial and encouraging for us than to see that someone else is interested in what we think. We'd hate to see such ideas be ignored, as we really do take others' feedback to heart!

Do you understand the INTP personality better after reading this? What did you get on the Myers-Briggs test? Leave your answers in the comments below!