Oskar, the INTP

My obsession with reaching self knowledge through questionnaires has culminated in me doing the Myers-Briggs test, reportedly the best and most accurate personality test available. The result: I am an INTP. This is the one personality type (out of sixteen) associated with Introversion, Intuition, Thinking and Perceiving. The other sixteen are combinations of these four qualities and their opposite components; Extroversion, Sensing, Feeling and Judging. A general description of INTP's is included below:

INTPs are pensive, analytical folks. They may venture so deeply into thought as to seem detached, and often actually are oblivious to the world around them.

Precise about their descriptions, INTPs will often correct others (or be sorely tempted to) if the shade of meaning is a bit off. While annoying to the less concise, this fine discrimination ability gives INTPs so inclined a natural advantage as, for example, grammarians and linguists.

INTPs are relatively easy-going and amenable to most anything until their principles are violated, about which they may become outspoken and inflexible. They prefer to return, however, to a reserved albeit benign ambiance, not wishing to make spectacles of themselves.

A major concern for INTPs is the haunting sense of impending failure. They spend considerable time second-guessing themselves. The open-endedness (from Perceiving) conjoined with the need for competence (NT) is expressed in a sense that one's conclusion may well be met by an equally plausible alternative solution, and that, after all, one may very well have overlooked some critical bit of data. An INTP arguing a point may very well be trying to convince himself as much as his opposition. In this way INTPs are markedly different from INTJs, who are much more confident in their competence and willing to act on their convictions.

Mathematics is a system where many INTPs love to play, similarly languages, computer systems--potentially any complex system. INTPs thrive on systems. Understanding, exploring, mastering, and manipulating systems can overtake the INTP's conscious thought. This fascination for logical wholes and their inner workings is often expressed in a detachment from the environment, a concentration where time is forgotten and extraneous stimuli are held at bay. Accomplishing a task or goal with this knowledge is secondary.

INTPs and Logic -- One of the tipoffs that a person is an INTP is his/her obsession with logical correctness. Errors are not often due to poor logic -- apparent faux pas in reasoning are usually a result of overlooking details or of incorrect context.

I think that is a pretty good description of me (and I'd know, wouldn't I?). So have you done the Myers-Briggs test before? What was the result? Was your result better then mine? Why? Am I beeing too pushy whith these questions?

If you would like to try a free online version of the test, then this one is pretty accurate, though some of the links its website are very dubious. These explanations of the types are also quite good.