What do the Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Einstein, Edward Snowden, Stephen King and Mona Lisa have in common? They are all male and INTP. INTPs are the most fabled of the 16 types of the Myers-Briggs type indicator. They are the heroes of the science and tech world. They can come in the form of famous comedians like Louis de Funès, or an actress like Maryl Streep, and whenever you meet a hobo, chances are high it is an INTP.
In whatever form they come, they are easy to spot. They all have long rectangular heads, like a shoebox (a true INTP won’t take offence here), often accompanied by long noses and big ears.
Hobo (stock photo)
In fact, whenever someone on the web refers to themselves as “Mr Cowhead”, I am pretty sure that there is an INTP person behind this nickname.
So, why do INTPs have those elongated heads, whereas most people have round or oval heads? I have noticed that modern hunter-gatherers also tend to have elongated heads.
San hunter (South Africa)
This is one of the reasons why I prefer to think of INTPs as hunter-gatherer minds. The MBTI is considered not scientific, but INTPs are easily spotted by their Big 5, or OCEAN profile, which looks something like this:
Openness
|
0.8
|
Conscientiousness
|
0.1
|
Agreeableness
|
0.1
|
Extraversion
|
0.3
|
Neuroticism:
|
varying, but high more often than low
|
Now, who in their right mind would hire a person so low in conscientiousness? What the Big 5 doesn’t capture: people who are low in conscientiousness (or serotonin) are extremely high in creativity and have a high exploration drive. Here is a table from a recent database that describes typical jobs for INTPs:
here is the link to the database: behavioral-ds/VocationMap
It is interesting to note that many employers would probably avoid employing people with such a low conscientiousness level as INTPs have. And this is definitely one shortcoming of the OCEAN model, low levels are usually considered negative traits (at least true for low conscientiousness, emotional stability, agreeability). The MBTI on the other hand, also highlights the positive sides of the P (perceiving) trait, i.e. flexibility and versatility. Paired with big-picture thinking these are great qualities in software developers.
Why doesn’t everybody employ INTPs then? INTPs are low in agreeableness, but not because they are selfish and nasty people (on the contrary, they can be very altruistic), it’s because they have difficulties understanding social conventions. Social conventions like excessive politeness are really inventions of early farmers, INTPs have inherited hunter-gatherer minds. Having low-serotonin (low conscientiousness) INTPs also have extreme difficulties getting through a 9-5 routine job. As INTPs are non-materialistic and non-status seeking many of them would rather opt for a job like running a comic book store than a well-paying office job.
Google is a great hunter-gatherer workplace. Even though INTPs only make up about 3% of the population, they make up an estimated 30% of the highly skilled workforce at Google. Google provides ample possibilities for hunter-gatherer types to de-stress and develop their creativity with fringe benefits such as floating working hours, lots of possibilities to relax or exercise during the workday, 20% creativity time plus plenty of free healthy foods.
What did INTPs do before Google? Well, they were philosophers and scientists, few other types have their drive and cognitive skills to seek the meaning of life and the deep truth behind the obvious. But mostly they struggled in keeping up with life in a farmer society.
Even though INTPs have the highest rates of gifted people
They are one of the types with the lowes income:
In the past they probably often became crazy and the village idiot:
If male INTPs have if rough in this world, female INTPs are even worse off. They are turned off by macho behaviour and are absolutely clueless when it comes to dating conventions. They are the type that least corresponds to social norms of “femaleness”. In the past, they might have been easily burned as witches, living outside social conventions and knowing stuff nobody else knew.
This, in brief, is the curious case of the INTP. It is a sad story because INTPs are good people. They have highly egalitarian, altruistic (if they can afford to be), idealistic beautiful hunter-gatherer minds.
In memory of my grandfather Heinrich and my uncle Erwin, two INTPs who struggled with alcohol addiction
Read more about hunter-gatherer minds in my book: The hunter-gatherer neurotribe: gifted, geeks, aspies and other aliens in this world
I am indebted to Jim Black for pointing out the facial features of INTPs to me.
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