You must have heard of or seen the INTJ death stare if you are an INTJ or if any of your close friends or family members are.
The INTJ personality, otherwise known as the “Strategist” or “Architect”, is typically analytical, creative, and logical. They are always eager to put their innovative ideas to use and enjoy complex problem-solving. INTJs love spotting things that need a fix or upgrade.
Related: INTJ vs INFJ- Key Differences
They are very choosy about their relationships because they prefer to hang around people that intellectually stimulate them rather than those who engage in small talk. When they’re deep in their thoughts or just observing things, they have this intimidating facial expression that makes people very uncomfortable.
In this article, we’ll be looking closely at the INTJ death stare.
What is the INTJ death stare?
This is a cold, intimidating stare that is peculiar to the INTJ. They can focus intensely on one thing for a long period. People may feel scared when they see that stare, especially when they don’t understand how the INTJ personality works.
If you ask the typical INTJ why they are intensely staring at something, they may not have an answer. In most cases, they do this unconsciously. Those who don’t understand how the mind of an INTJ works might feel like they’re upset or facing some kind of psychological trauma.
But they’re perfectly fine.
What Causes the INTJ Death Stare?
The dominant function of the INTJ personality is introverted intuition. This function allows them to spot patterns, observe trends, and accurately predict future events.
INTJs have this stare on their faces when they’re lost in their thoughts. They can think about something so deeply that they have no idea of what’s going on around them. Their dominant function makes them super observant of even the tiniest things, and they try to connect the dots together.
INTJs are often surprised when people complain about their facial expressions because they see them as perfectly normal.
When Does the INTJ Death Stare Occur?
Several occasions can warrant the INTJ death stare. Here are some instances when it can happen:
They are thoroughly thinking about something
As mentioned earlier, INTJs have introverted intuition as a cognitive function. They are able to identify patterns in previous events to predict future happenings. Because of this, they’re always deeply thinking about things. They get lost in their heads trying to maneuver through their thoughts.
When they have that intense look on their face, it might mean three things- they’re either thinking about how best to solve a problem, pondering on a concept or idea they haven’t quite figured their way around, or planning their next course of action.
It’s quite hard to get their attention in this state. If you say anything, they probably can’t recall it even though they’re seated next to you.
If you’re close to an INTJ and you observe them closely, you’ll most likely catch them in this state. When you do, the best thing is not to interrupt them. If you do, you not only get half the attention, but you also disrupt their line of thought, which could be disturbing for them.
They’re forming a resistance
INTJs hate being controlled, no matter how small it feels. They hate being told what to do or how to live their lives, regardless of the scale. When they sense they’re being controlled or manipulated in any way, they’re ready to resist.
One way of resisting is to give you the death stare. That stare signifies that they’re not playing along with the control mechanism. They consciously give off that stare so that they can look intense and intimidating. In most cases, people tend to step back when they see it.
But for those that decide to push further, typical INFJs resort to physical fighting, word hurling, and abuse. Those who thought INTJs were quiet pushovers are often quite shocked when they respond this way.
When they are emotional
INTJs are typically non-emotional people. This doesn’t mean that they don’t have feelings or emotions. But they feel that showing emotions makes them look weak, and a good number of them don’t believe in vulnerability. They’d rather use logic to solve most of their problems and communicate with people.
If you’re an emotional person that is friends with an INTJ, they’ve probably teased and taunted you about how often you use emotions to decide things.
When they feel a surge of emotions at the same time, they try to hide it by responding with a death stare instead of expressing their emotions. This makes it look like they’re in control; meanwhile, they’re falling apart on the inside.
They need alone time
The world is noisy. We can’t deny that our society was designed for extroverts. There is always something or someplace that requires your physical attention. Introverts are forced to act extroverted every now and then, especially at work and social gatherings.
INTJs are typical introverts. When you see an INTJ, you will just know that they are an introvert. We all know that introverts need space and alone time to process their thoughts.
When an INTJ is socially exhausted and wants space, they tend to give the death stare to scare people off, so that they’re not disturbed.
When they’re paying deep attention to something
It’s easy to know when an INTJ is paying attention based on eye contact more than any other introverted personality type.
They’re very observant, intelligent, and highly intellectual people, so they hate spending their time on things that are not worth their time.
Sometimes, the INTJ death stare may mean that they’re paying close attention to something. INTJs pay close attention to things that really intrigue them or capture their attention. If you’re talking about an idea and they give you that stare, you can be certain that they’re paying attention to details.
When they’re neutral on an issue
INTJs use the death stare to maintain neutrality. When an INTJ doesn’t want to take a side, they may give you the death stare to indicate that they don’t have to.
Why do they do this?
INTJs hate conflicts or getting into arguments. They usually don’t agree to a lot of things, but they’d rather keep their reservations to themselves than fight with people over them. Once they don’t have the full story or enough information to make a logical conclusion, they will choose not to take sides.
In some cases, they may not want to take sides because the situation may not be worth deciding on.
They’re angry or upset
When you get an INTJ upset, they will most certainly give you the death stare. It will be so intense and glaring that you’ll wish the ground would open up and swallow you.
The INTJ is not good at pretending or hiding how they feel. If they feel any negative emotions, they will either let you know or walk away to avoid conflict.
When they’re angry, they will glare at you with high intensity, even if everyone else is pretending. They will not hide it. If they choose not to stare at you, they will glare at something else, but just know that they are mad at you.
