INTJ vs. INTP looks the same outwardly but they have some key differences with regard to their cognitive functioning and overall outlook towards life. INTJs and INTPs both are ingenious thinkers.
They love to create out of the box ideas and prefer to stay reserved in social situations. Both of them are interested to know future possibilities and set long term, challenging goals to achieve with grace.
Their fundamental contrast lies in the judging-perceiving function. INTJS are organized and prefer to do everything with prior planning. This is not the case for an INTP.
INTPs are curious and prefer to explore the unknown, for which they remain open-minded and do things in an unorganized manner. They may not plan perfectly but somehow reach their goal effortlessly by using a lot of wit and flexibility.
INTPs are flexible and considerate whereas INTJs are a little stubborn and headstrong.
In this article, we will discuss the similarities and differences between the INTJ and INTP personality types.
INTJ vs. INTP
In the mid-1900s, the American mother-daughter duo of Katharine Cook Briggs and Isabel Briggs Myers were working with human personalities. They developed a personality test called the Myers-Briggs Test Indicator (MBTI). Based on this test, we can classify human beings as having any one out of 16 personality types.
Individuals having different Myers-Briggs type of personalities behave in quite different ways. They like different things, and they dislike different things. Their thought process, behaviors, characteristics are quite different.
But these Myers-Briggs personality types depend on sixteen unique combinations of four dichotomies. These are:
- Energy: Extraversion or Introversion
- Information: Sensing or Intuition
- Decisions: Thinking or Feeling
- Lifestyle: Judging or Perceiving
Thus, one can see that if we select any two personality types out of the sixteen, they will have some differences and some similarities as well.
The acronym INTJ denotes an introverted, intuitive, thinking, and judging type of personality. INTP, on the other hand, refers to an introverted, intuitive, thinking, and feeling type of individual.
One can see that the three traits of introversion, intuitiveness, and thinking are common between the INTP and INTJ personality types. The difference lies in the last character trait. INTJs are more of a judging type while INTPs are perceiving by nature.
This means that INTJs prefer things to be neat and orderly. On the other hand, INTPs prefer things to be more flexible and open-ended.
But there is a deeper meaning than this.
In reality, all four cognitive functions of INTJs and INTPs are completely different. These cognitive functions impact how each person’s brain interacts with the outer world. They thus influence how a person reacts and behaves.
We will discuss in detail about these cognitive functions of INTJs and INTPs, in a later section.
The points of similarities between INTJ and INTP
We will first talk about the points of similarities between INTJ and INTP individuals.
As one can see, the letters “I”, “N”, and “T” are in common between both these personality types. But what does this mean? Let us take a deeper look at these similarities.
- Individuals with both these personality types are introverted. This means that they are mostly shy by nature and do not like social interactions.
- It follows from the previous point that individuals with both these personality types like spending time on their own. They prefer to use this time to either introspect or think about the future. But even if they do not do anything at all, they would rather prefer to read a book or do some other solo activity, rather than going out with friends.
- People from both of these personality types have a strong sense of intuition. This means that they have a tendency to trust their “gut feeling” or instincts when they have to make important decisions.
- Both INTJs and INTPs have an innovative mind. They love to explore unique ideas and solutions while facing any challenging scenario.
- People with the INTJ and INTP types of personalities have an ability to see the big picture. This means that they are farsighted and can see the long-term implications of any action.
- Individuals with both these personality types are analytical thinkers. They have a strong logical and rational mindset.
- They are good at problem solving.
- Most INTPs and INTJs do not care about other people’s opinions. They are strong-willed and stick to their own beliefs.
- Both INTJ and INTP people have their own sense of strong morals and ethics. They always tend to value these beliefs and will go to any lengths to maintain them.
- Both INTJ and INTP personality types struggle to display their emotions while interacting in social situations. But the reasons for this are quite different. INTJs ignore their emotions on purpose. This is because they do not consider emotions to be important. But INTPs cannot understand their own emotions.
INTJ vs. INTP – Points of differences
We will now talk about the important distinctions between the INTJ and INTP personality types. Let us look at the following table.
| INTJ | INTP |
| People of the INTJ type are usually very productive. They get things done based on the plan they have chalked out in their own mind. In short, we can say that they are efficient and calculated. | INTPs are concerned about idea generation and exploration. If they find something of interest, they consider it worth looking into. In short, we can conclude that they like playing around with new ideas. |
| INTJs are result oriented. They always focus on the end product, rather than on how something works. | INTPs are more concerned about having an in-depth understanding of a process or how things work. They are thus more process oriented. |
| INTJ people have a very clear-cut decision on what they want. They are very firm with their choices. | INTP people usually go with the flow and roll with the punches. They like to let things play out on their own and improvise according to that. |
| INTJs have difficulty in expressing their thoughts through words. They fail to give in-depth explanations and usually get straight to the point. As a result, they fail to provide enough context. | INTPs, on the contrary, usually over-explain or over-share. Hence, they often provide too much context. |
| People of the INTJ type are goal-oriented and achievement-focused. They work hard to meet their high expectations and focus on bringing an active change. | INTPs engage in brainstorming and think of various ways to solve any problem. We can say that they are “passive rebels” who follow their own paths to achieve success. |
| More often than not, INTJs are aware of their own inner feelings. Even if they choose to ignore these feelings, they are always aware of these feelings. | Individuals with the INTP personality type do not feel connected with their feelings. At times, they themselves do not know how they are feeling inside. For this reason, their emotional reaction to any situation becomes delayed. This may annoy the people around them but the INTP people themselves cannot help this situation. |
Apart from these character traits, INTJs and INTPs differ in another area – their cognitive functions. Let us take a look at the following table to understand these in detail.
| Cognitive function | INTJ | INTP |
| Dominant function | Introverted intuition (Ni): This means that these individuals strongly rely on their gut feeling while making important decisions in life. | Introverted thinking (Ti): This means that these people rely on their internal belief system to logically analyze every situation. |
| Auxiliary function | Extraverted thinking (Te): This allows INTJs to use their logic and reasoning in moments when they cannot trust their own instincts. | Extraverted intuition (Ne): This cognitive function allows INTPs to harness their creative side. |
| Tertiary function | Introverted feeling (Fi): This allows INTJ people to be empathetic. But because this is a tertiary function, this empathy is not a major observable character trait in these individuals. | Introverted sensing (Si): Because of this function, INTPs can sometimes relate to past experiences or memories while experiencing something at the present moment. |
| Inferior function | Extraverted sensing (Se): INTJs use this function to be sensorial of their surroundings. | Extraverted feeling (Fe): This function lets INTPs be empathic and sensible on rare occasions. |
We can thus see that these cognitive functions control every character trait of an individual. Because of the fact that all four cognitive functioning stacks are different in INTJs and INTPs, they are more different than it seems.
To Sum Up
In this article, we have seen the similarities and differences between the INTJ and INTP personality types. Being introverted, intuitive, and thinking, individuals with both these personality types have a lot in common.
While INTJs are judging, INTPs are perceiving types. INTJs prefer things to be well-organized and in an ordered manner. On the other hand, INTPs prefer things to be flexible and would rather go with the flow.
A deeper dive reveals that all four cognitive functions in INTJs and INTPs are completely different. Because of this, their characteristics and behaviors are more different than what may initially appear.
We should keep it in mind that every person is unique in their own right. For this reason, if we compare the similarities and dissimilarities between two different people, it may happen that they are unexpectedly similar or different for reasons not related to their personality type!
