I

N’singener alar
epeopl ewhoar ei
ntui
ti
veandintr
overted.I
ntr
oversioni
slargelybiochemi cal-
peopl
ewhoar eintr
ov ertedtypi
call
yhaveaver
yl owthreshol
datwhi chneuronsf i
re,whichi n
tur
ntranslatesbothintoat endencytobecomeeasilyoverst
imulat
edandat endencytocr eate
newneur alconfi
gurationsmor equickl
y.

Recentwor kinunder standi

ngbrainstructur
eshowsthatneural
cir
cuitscreat
ewhatamountt o
fr
actalpatternsofvar y
ingdegreesofcompl exit
y.Att
heupperend,thi
scanbet houghtofas
bei
ng“ 11-dimensional”thoughthat’
spr i
maril
yawayofdiffer
entty
pesofnet wor kstr
uctur
es-it
i
sstil
lthreedi mensional,buti
texhibit
slevel
sofabstr
acti
onthatyou’dexpecttoseei n
somethingl i
keoneoft hoseMandel br
otscreensaver
sthatweresopopularaf ewy earsback.

Thesear econsi st
entlychangi ngandr econfiguri
ngaswet hi
nk,atar oundt hir
tyt i
mesasecond.
I
fy ouhav eahi ghersensiti
v it
y,itmeanst haty ouendupcr eati
ngmor ecompl ex,higher
dimensi onalstructuresatar ateofthir
tyHer z,whichcorrel
atesdirectl
ywi ththeabi li
tytoform
abstractions-whatcanbet houghtofascast l
esi nthemind’ssky.Howev er,thisal sotendsto
meant hatmor eoft hatper son’sphysicalener gyisgoingtowardskeepi ngt hoseabst ract
ions
from crashingdown, andt hatint ur
ndr awsener gyawayf rom externalsti
mul ae.Inef f
ect,an
I
NXXt unesoutt hingsliketime-keeping,awar enessofwhat ’
sinfrontoft hem, eatingandso
fort
h.Thi sincludest hatpar tofthebrainthati sresponsi
bleforawar enessofsel f.Theyar e
mor eeffectiveatwhat evertheyar edoing,butar eusuall
ythelasttoknowt hatt hehousei son
fi
re.

Anot herwayoft hi
nkingaboutt hisist hatmostpeopl ehav easingledomi nantpersonali
ty(thei
r
conci ousness).Theint ui
ti
ve,ont heot herhand, oftenhasasui t
eofper sonali
ti
es,andcant ail
or
thoseper sonalit
iesdy namicall
y.Thi sespeci al
lycomesi ntoplaywithINFPsandJs, whot endto
becomewr i
tersandmet hodact orsdispr oporti
onately.TheINFxper sonalit
yislooki
ngfor
patternsinpeopl e,andt heyoftenv eryobser vantinbei ngabletothen“ getinotherpeople’s
heads”t hroughmi mi cryandmi rrori
ngf unct i
ons,thought hemor eintui
tiveonesarealsol i
kely
tospendagr eatdeal ofti
me“ wor l
d-building”.

I
NTsar ealsogener all
ysyst em thi
nkers,whocankeepanumberofcompl exsystemswor kingi
n
thei
rheadsi multaneously.Thesepeopl eare“ smar t
”inthatt
heycanl ookatproblemsf rom
manydi f
ferentangles,andcanusual l
yseepat t
ernsbecauset heythi
nkbot habstractlyand
metaphoricall
y.I
NTJsof t
ent endtobei nvolvedwi thcodeofv ari
oussorts,andusual l
yhav ever
y
goodmemor yandabi astowar dsreducti
onism -r educi
ngacompl exsystem t
oitspi eces.
I
NTPs, ont heotherhand, mayhav e“ t
erri
ble”memor y,l
argel
ybecauset heirworl
dv iewismuch
moresynthet
icandrel
ati
onal
,butt
hat“
poormemor y
”actual
lydi
sguisesthefactthatt
heyknow
aprodi
giousamountaboutdamnnearever
ythi
ng,
andtheyhavetodev el
optheirownindexi
ng
mechani
smst ofindi
t.I
NTJsli
keworki
ngwithi
nsyst
ems, I
NTPslikebuil
dingsystems.

Thisisact uall
yapr ett
ygoodi ndicat ionoft hedi sti
nctionbet weenJandPat tri
butes.Jsar ev er
y
goodatsor ti
ngthingsintocat egor iesqui ckly-gi venasetofr ulesforsor t
ingthi
ngs, Jscan
organizebyneed, requirement s, funct ions,costoranyot hersetofcr i
teri
a.Theyof t
enhav ean
excell
entmemor yf orfaces, andl ovepuzzl est hatr equirethem t odevelopsoluti
ons.P’ sont he
otherhandar eoft
enmor ef ascinatedbyt her ulest hemsel ves,andar emuchmor eincli
nedto
play“whati f”
.Theyar eattractedt ol anguage, met aphor,andt henat ureofpatterns.Thear e
mor elikelytobeanal y
sts,mat hemat icians, ontologist
s, sci
entistsandsof ort
h,peopl ewhoask
“why”r atherthan“how”-andal loft hisi sver ymuchaf unctionofthef ractalf
oami nessoft heir
brai
ns.

Sogi venthis,i
talsogivesanindicat
ionofwhyext rovert
sareprobablyl
essl i
kelytoappear
“smar t”
.Again,thisgoesbacktohowof tenneuronsfir
e(andactual
lyisaffect
edbyt hi
ngssuch
ast hemy eli
nsheat hi
ngaroundner v
es, whicht
endstobet hi
ckerinextrovert
s).Dopamineisa
particul
arneurotransmitt
erthati
spar tofthebiochemistr
yofthebrain,andisrelat
edto
epinephrine,al
soknownasadr enali
ne.

Extrovertsneedmor eofeitherdopami neoradr enali

netostimul ateneur
alacti
v at
ion,which
resultsinsomewhatl owerdimensi onalneur alstruct
uresformi ngorbreaki
ngapar t.Thismeans
thatthebr ai
ni susinglessener gy,butthisalsomeanst hatther eismoreenergyav ai
lablefor
sensor yactivi
ty-observing,f
eel i
ngtextures,increasedkinesthet i
csandsoforth.Theirsenseof
externalawar enessismuchhi gher,andt heyaremor eli
kel
yt oseekoutactivi
tiesthatwi l
lpump
endor phinesli
keadr enali
neanddopami neintot hei
rsystem -aswel lasmorel i
kelytofocuson
sexandsoci alint
eracti
on.Theyhav eagr eatersenseofegot ism aswel l
.Takent oextremes,
extroversioncanmani f
estasnar cissi
sm andpoorsel f-r
efl
ection.

Theext r
over
tper sonali
tyi
susuallymuchmor eawareofsocialr
ulesandconst ruct
s,and
especial
lywit
ht heJcomponent ,canbecomedogmat ic,
butalsocanexcel i
nar easwher e
ort
hodoxy-clearr ul
esorcategorizati
ons,tendt oappl
y.JustasINper sonal
it
iestendtoclust
er,
sodoESones( anI Sisusual
lyanESwhosuf fersfr
om anxiet
y,whil
eanENi susuall
yanI Nwho
conqueredthesomet i
mescrippl
inginsecur i
tythatmostyoungINsf aceearl
y).Indeed,cer
tai
n
vari
antsoftheMBTInowi ncl
udeanot herassetcall
edasserti
venessthatprovidesagaugeof
howl i
kelyapersoni stobeproactiveinagr oup.Thishastheadditi
onalbenefitofmovingthe
MBTImodel t
othesamenumberofat
tri
but
esastheBigFiv
eusedbymostmodern
psy
chologi
stsandpsy
chot
her
apist
s,t
houghther
eisst
il
lsomeminordi
sagr
eementaboutwhat
i
sbeingmeasured.

Thei r
onyofal lt
hisi
sthatthemostf i
nancial
l
ysuccessfulofthecat egorizat
ionsclust
erint
he
ESr ange.Whent herul
esar eknown, confi
dencecanbemor ecompel li
ngt hanactual
compet ence.Extr
overt
edsensor saremor eli
kelytogowiththeirgutr atherthanslow,
thoughtfulanal
ysis,
butthisusuallyalsomeanst hatwhi
letheintr
ov ertedanalystwil
loft
en
maket hebet t
erdecisi
on,theextrovertwil
lmaket hr
eeorfourinthesamet i
met hatserv
e
pri
mar il
ytoreduceuncertaint
y,eveniftheyareulti
matel
ypoordeci sions.

Putanot herway ,
eachper sonalit
yhasitsstr
engt
hsandi tsweaknesses, opti
mizi
ngoncer t
ain
facetsatt heexpenseofot hers.TheMBTIhassomel imitat
ions.Ithi
nkthatintui
ti
venessand
i
ntroversionarefair
lytightlycoupled,asanexample,whichisabadt hinginapsy chol
ogical
model .Yetforallofthat,Ithinktheupshotofthi
sisthatifyouthinkofintel
li
genceasbei ng
howy ourpersonali
tyisopt imizedrat
herthanasasinglestati
cnumber ,itcangiveyouamuch
betterdefini
ti
onoft rueintell
igencethananyoneparti
cularfacet.