Building Blocks of Personality Type: INTROVERTED THINKING (Ti)
by Leona Hass & Mark Hunziker
Dominant for ISTP and INTP
Auxiliary for ESTP and ENTP
In this chapter, we seek to present a picture of the “pure” Introverted Thinking that we would see if we could carefully remove it from its natural state where it is influenced and colored by all the other elements of personality. Though no process actually exists separated from the rest of the personality, the portrait that follows reflects core characteristics that are in play whenever Introverted Thinking is engaged at a conscious level.
Introverted Thinking most clearly resembles the descriptions in the following pages when it is in the dominant (first) position. In fact, these descriptions are based on input from people for whom the process is dominant (ISTP and INTP). But even with Introverted Thinking in the first position, what you observe will vary noticeably depending on other factors – particularly whether it is paired up with Extraverted Sensing or Extraverted Intuiting in the auxiliary (second) position.
In order to draw a complete picture of the “essence” of Introverted Thinking, one must use bits and pieces that cannot individually demonstrate “pure” Ti. Like the splashes of color in an impressionist painting, however, the bullets in this chapter, when taken all together, reveal a vivid portrait that will enable you to recognize Introverted Thinking when you see it. Knowing what the process would look like if it could be separated from other influences is the foundation of process watching, the practice that will quickly take you as far as you want to go in understanding personality.
Introverted Thinking is a decision-making process. It focuses on the subjective, internal world of underlying principles and truths by creating original systems and categories and assigning all information to a place within the appropriate framework, based upon logical analysis. Ti wants to attain internal precision through logical evaluation and decision making.
It has an inner focus on logical analysis.
Wants to make decisions based on an inner framework of principles and truths.
Creates a precise and refined grid-like system of categorization for sorting information in order to make decisions.
Builds a subjective internal framework to structure and guide its analysis.
Focuses upon how tasks get accomplished.
Seeks internal precision.
Is driven to understand systems in terms of logical relationships: if A, then B.
Builds a logical framework that contains precise categories.
Uses categories that are created by and are unique to the individual.
Uses principles that contain logical relationships. Unlike values, they can be debated and defended logically and revised as necessary.
Depends upon principles as the foundation for analytical decision making in the same way that beliefs are the foundation for values-based decision making.
Employs systems and categories to attain internal order and precision.
Lends itself well to understanding work processes.
When people are using their preferred Introverted Thinking
They trust and rely upon their unique framework of internally synthesized concepts, principles, and knowledge.
Expanding upon basic principles guides them in creating their original classification systems and categories.
They work within a framework that is created and used internally. Precise internal categories are used to classify information from the environment in order to deal with current or future external events.
They use external ideas in unique, subjective ways. The ideas found in the environment are rarely adopted in their original form. They are more often used as raw material for designing and building unique internal systems.
They will revise an internal framework to integrate new information. For example, they may have to deal with a new computer system that works very differently from their old one. It may not fit with their existing internal logic. In this case, their entire internal framework must be recreated to incorporate the new information and new procedures.
Determining the place of everything in the system and its position in relation to everything else is how they make sense of the world.
They find creating, refining, and re-refining organizing systems to be
An energizing outlet for their creativity and originality.
They usually focus on the process of group interaction more than on the group’s goal.
If new information does not fit within the existing system of classification, they must create a new category for it. Sometimes the entire framework must be reconstructed.
They use a cyclical, zeroing-in thought process. They go through successive cycles of thinking about something, with the thinking becoming more and more refined with each cycle.
They must categorize people, objects, and events in order to identify them. Categorization involves identifying properties and characteristics of a person, object, or event, and then sorting through ever-more precise categories until a place in the system is found where only that one item fits.
Their logic is objective, but the framework within which it works is
Very subjective. Thus, their decision-making process is one of subjective logic.
They relate to people through guiding principles like fairness and truth.
They want to know exactly how everything works.
FROM THE OUTSIDE, LOOKING IN
When we experience people who are engaging their preferred Introverted Thinking, they:
Can sometimes be very slow in coming to a decision. If no appropriate Internal category exists to accommodate new information or events, they need to first revise, or sometimes reinvent, the entire internal framework before making the decision.
Sometimes seem as if they are devaluing people but they are not actually making a value judgment at all.
Can become confused when their internal thought process does not match what is going on in the external world.
May show tension and frustration with people who have reached conclusions that are different from their own. This is not unusual because their internal thinking process is unique and usually not shared with or understood by others.
Will defend their principles over all else.
May sound unemotional and uninterested when discussing anything that does not fit into their internal framework.
Show their passion when attempting to explain their original thoughts. They may even display a sense of urgency if others are not being patient with their detailed explanation.
Tend to say either too much or too little. Often their level and style of communication is determined primarily by how much time they have spent carefully working out the details.
Tend to say “I think.” They are aware of their personal thought process and want others to appreciate that a lot of careful analysis lies behind their conclusions.
Will often simply state their decision or lay out their conclusion without any explanation. The expectation seems to be that the precision of the logic that brought them to that conclusion will be obvious and unchallengeable.
May need someone to prompt them to explain how they reached their conclusion or decision.
Stubbornly resist changing their position.
Tend to say “my,” not “our,” when explaining the processor results of a decision-making task. Even if it was a group process, for them it was personal and internal.
Tend to use carefully formulated, precise language.
Seek precision from others.
Frequently rephrase statements back to a speaker in order to refine their understanding. Others may misinterpret this as trying to outdo the speaker or as showing off their intelligence. In fact, they are just trying to make sure that they understand precisely what was said.
Treat other people’s opinions respectfully though certain that their own are correct. Everyone has a right to an opinion.
May have already made a decision but not tell anyone.
May ask a lot of questions to try to understand someone else’s decision.
Are usually not very interested in attempts to persuade them, nor are they threatened by the attempts.
Seem to compete with themselves. They usually reanalyze their decisions, for example, to see how they can be improved.
May overlook the importance of their relationships with other people. This is especially true if the relationship does not fit into any category in their framework.
Are hesitant to explain their thinking. Going through their thoughts aloud must be done with precision, so it can be tedious and may be doomed to fail if they are not given the opportunity to fully explain their analysis.
Often are not aware that their framework for decision making is not universally shared.
Usually assume that their conclusion or decision is right since they have been so thorough and precise in their logic.
Are prone to get impatient with people they see as not thinking through the consequences of their own actions.
Can be confusing to others since they can play the devil’s advocate so well. They can switch sides in midsentence and defend another position, causing other people to think that they cannot make up their minds.
Are generally seen by others as being very intelligent.
Tend to hide stress. They often show a poker face to others, and people are not sure what is really going on with them.
Usually their main interests are intellectual and may not be ver helpful in social situations. This is likely to be particularly true early in life, when Introverted Thinking is the focus of their type development.
Are not usually outwardly emotional
Special perspectives and approaches of Introverted Thinking
Binomial classification (the system under which all living organisms are named based on categories defined by the shared characteristics of the organisms in that category, and each category is further divided into increasingly specific subcategories)
A knack for playing the devil’s advocate
Incorporating all the logically connected data into decisions
Incorporating all the logically connected data into decisions
Unified theories, such as relativity, the big bang, and quantum theory
Finding new ways to analyze or organize
“Fairness” as a guiding principle
“Truth” as a guiding principle
Paraphrased descriptions of what it is like to make decisions through one’s preferred Introverted Thinking
As a teacher, it is hard for me to facilitate group interactions because I want to get into the discussions and debates.
It’s difficult admitting when I’m wrong because I have invested a lot of time and energy into making a decision. I have really thought it out carefully.
I always want to know how to do things and to know how things work.
I have been called “stubborn as a mule” when others have tried to force me to think differently.
My mind is like a grid with labels at all the grid coordinates. If you looked through a magnifying glass, you might see that each of those intersections is actually made up of a finer grid, which in turn is made up of finer ones, and so on, with correspondingly ever-more refined and more precise category labels.
I have a mental picture of myself always sifting through dirt with a screen to separate the worthless particles. I’m trying to figure out what is important and where to pile it for later use. Under stress, I seem to increase the sifting aspect of my activities and find myself unable to make decisions about what to do with the data I collect.
All my life I have thought that I might have some kind of learning disability. Almost everything in school seemed to come much slower to me than it came to others. Elementary school, in particular, rewards the kids who raise their hands or callout the answers first. Now realize that I just needed time to let my internal logic do its thing.
The answer was clear to me but hard to explain with the precision that it had in my mind.
I like to work alone and figure things out in my own way. Don’t try to micromanage me.
Laws are important, but I’m selective about which ones I respect or will follow.
I can easily debate an issue from any position.
I need my job to allow for flexible scheduling and to let me be creative and independent.
I’m a control freak toward myself
Thinking about something is like using a series of filters; each filter sort information into a more refined category until I find the unique subcategory where only that one piece belongs.
Once a framework has been constructed, I can deal quickly and easily with new information as long as the new information can be placed in the proper context within the framework.
I feel tremendous satisfaction in being able to make order in my mind from chaotic data.
I’m very independent. It’s hard for me to compromise in order to reach a consensus with others. I would much rather continue to disagree than be forced to agree.
My independent logic often leads me to conclusions that could be very unpopular. I rarely say them aloud to anyone except my most trusted friends.
Though I’m not a combative person, if I verbalize my thinking, people often think I’m attacking them because it’s usually so contradictory to theirs.
In “type-alike” group exercises, our group usually does a lot of thinking before we start recording anything on the flipchart.
Scenes from the world of Introverted Thinking
In reporting after an exercise, the individual members of this “type-alike” group usually elaborate on what was written on the flip chart. They want to ensure that their own unique perspective is understood. They do not feel a need to come to consensus about what is presented on the flip chart; just to ensure that all the different ideas insights are presented.
My wife gets upset with me because of my need to categorize before I act. We live in a rural area that has a lot of bugs. When she sees a bug, on the wall or ceiling, she tells me to get up and kill it. I first need to determine how it got inside, what kind of bug it is, how to kill it, whether it will make a mess on the wall, and how I will dispose of it. She expects me to immediately react, but I can’t until I have completed, my analysis.
A man who had always questioned his abilities as a writer finally learned that his internal, very precise style of writing just takes longer and uses a different process than the approach he was taught in college. Once he decided to just do it his own way, he turned out to be a very competent writer.
In an exercise in group decision making, the time constraints were very challenging for our “type-alike” group. The short time frame did not allow for our internal logic process and the group interaction that was required. Anticipating this, we chose to give up on the task and turned the assignment into a game in which we advocated several different positions.
The search for precision can lead to confusion for others. In a workshop, a participant provided the phase “maximize the take away” as his conclusion at the end of an exercise. He had worked long and hard in his mind to come up with this perfect expression of the thought, but I see no one else knew what he meant. In fact, some participants thought he was trying to show off his intelligence by phrasing his conclusion in a way that they could not understand. The more precisely crafted the wording, the better it may express a unique idea that will not be completely understood by anyone else. It may need to be “translated” into more general, shared terminology for others to understand
Unique strengths of Introverted Thinking
Seeing the underlying framework of assumptions and the logical consequences
Evaluation and planning of organizational process flow
A knack for thinking outside the box: unconventional perspectives and insights
Detecting the illogic in conventional wisdom and the dysfunction in commonly accepted behavior
A capacity for presenting new explanations or conclusions without ego involvement
The reassuring aura of stability that comes from always having a principle anchoring decisions and actions
