People often think that INFJs and INTJs are the same because they have similar characteristics. The reason why they think so is that both personality types have the same dominant function- introverted Intuition.
Every personality type has intuition. It may not be their dominant or auxiliary function, and it may be introverted or extroverted. Some personality types, like ENFJ and ENTJ, have introverted intuition (Ni) as a tertiary or auxiliary function, so it may not look very prominent, but it’s present.
It can come up when you’re facing certain situations.
What does it mean to have introverted intuition (Ni)?
Introverted intuition (Ni) is the ability to notice patterns forming in the present and form conclusions and predict future events based on them. When you have introverted intuition, you can recognize certain things or see certain signs and have a factual conclusion.
People often see those with introverted intuition as prophets, psychics, visionaries, or futurists.
Introverted intuition is powerful because it’s a combination of introversion and sharp intuition. This is why INTJs and INFJs analyze things and observe patterns in things that people ordinarily don’t notice. They enjoy doing research, finding hidden facts, and recognizing things that people miss.
Read: Top 20 Signs You’re an INFJ
Now note that introverted intuition doesn’t involve future planning. If you’re someone that loves planning their future and outlining what they think they will be in the next five years based on their current gifts and talents, it doesn’t mean that you’re an introverted intuitive.
How Does Ni Look in A Person?
If you’ve ever wanted to know if you or someone else is an introverted intuitive, here are some signs to look out for.
You enjoy abstract conversations.
A lot of people don’t enjoy abstract conversations because they’re not relatable. Things that are not conventional, popular, or personalized don’t get their attention.
That is not the same for you. You enjoy talking about abstract concepts and ideas. You can absorb information from different stimuli and try to make sense of them. You love working on complex ideas and talking about abstract philosophies.
To you, they are not abstract. You’re simply relating real concepts and ideas to things that are not related to physical objects or experiences.
You love daydreaming.
Your mind is in a world of its own. You love to daydream and explore new thoughts and ideas that cross your mind. You have 10 different personalities and characters playing in your head, and you love to imagine how those will fit into your current situation.
When you do something, you often go home and daydream about how you could have possibly done it better or moved the situation to your advantage. You can be having a conversation with someone about something and randomly share an insight that just crossed your mind.
Most of your knowledge and insights are random, so you love spending time alone so that your mind can freely wander.
You love to find the meaning of things.
While most people are busy admiring the aesthetics, or the outward appearance of things, you’re consumed by what they represent. Why are things done this way? What would have happened if it was done another way?
For instance, if you go to an art exhibition, you’re most likely to find out what the colors in the painting represent or the story behind the painter’s expression, instead of simply admiring how beautiful it looks.
Everything is symbolic to you. You love to find out why things are the way they are, so you get lost in complex concepts like mysticism, stoicism, philosophy, and science.
It’s hard to explain your perception.
If you struggle to explain how you feel and why you feel the way you feel, you most likely have introverted intuition.
Introverted intuitives struggle to explain their perceptions and conclusions of things to other people because they’re often gotten from their subconscious minds.
Explaining them means they have to take them through their entire thought process and imagination, and it can be quite exhausting and frustrating. You might start rambling or explaining things in metaphors that people will not understand.
Your thought process only makes sense to you, except the person you’re explaining to is also an introverted intuitive.
You don’t easily trust things or people.
You’re highly suspicious of other people. You always feel like there is something behind the facade or public appearance. If you meet someone for the first time, you don’t trust them wholeheartedly or accept them with open arms. You try to see if they have something up their sleeve.
Also, if you see someone trying to perform a magic trick, you will be trying to figure out how it was done instead of being enthralled by the magic like everyone else.
To you, everything is deeper than it seems. There is always a layer of hidden information behind the meaning of everything, which you’re set to discover.
You love planning and strategizing.
As mentioned earlier, people with introverted intuition find patterns, identify their usage, and try to make conclusions based on their findings. When they draw these conclusions, they believe in it and try planning toward it.
Once they realize that this path is right, they will tailor all their plans, goals, and dreams toward that direction. They think about the future a lot, and in most cases, their predictions are correct.
Also, introverted intuitives enjoy strategizing to solve problems. When they’re faced with a difficult challenge, they don’t run away or delegate the problem to someone else. They face it head-on.
You act independently.
Introverted intuitives don’t follow the crowd or popular opinion. They don’t follow trends or agree to do things just because everyone else is doing them. They always want to try out something new or try things in a way that hasn’t been done before.
Also, you act independently. You hate bending down to authority, even though you may not openly disregard them. You decide whether or not to follow certain rules, and you highly dislike routines, restrictions, and repetition.
Any job or career that restricts you either creatively or geographically is a no-no for you.
You question everything.
People with introverted intuition never accept that things are the way they are. They always want to find out why they’re that way. When they start a job and they do something that doesn’t work for them, they try to question it, even if it’s been the norm for years.
Introverted intuitives love asking why.
They ask very deep and soul-piercing questions that people find uncomfortable. But it’s just who they are. Complex, uncomfortable, and abstract questions attract their attention.
This is why they’re often very intelligent and well-versed people because questioning everything helps to strengthen the learning process and enhance critical thinking.
Your unconscious mind is a world to you.
You trust your unconscious mind more than your conscious mind. You tend to have very strong intuitions, gut feelings, or hunches. When you feel like something is wrong, it usually is in most cases. This not only applies to scenarios but also to people. This is also part of the reason why you find it hard to trust.
You value your unconscious mind because it receives stimuli from your five senses fast, which gives you more insight than your conscious mind ever will.
Your driving force is inspiration.
People with introverted intuition get more bouts of inspiration than any other personality type. They get random ideas at the weirdest times of the day and about the most inconsequential concepts.
They can be talking to you and quickly be inspired to go check a concept on Google or write something that breezed into their minds.
When they venture into something, they go at it with all their strength because they believe that’s the right thing to do, based on the patterns they’ve observed. They find it hard to explain to others why they’re passionate about what they do.
How does Introverted Intuition work for the INFJ and INTJ personalities?
Both personalities behave alike because their dominant cognitive function is introverted intuition. This is the major component of their behavioral design. They have the same way of thinking about life, perceiving things, and analyzing issues.
Introverted intuition is quite difficult to spot because it occurs independently of the user. It’s almost automatic. INFJs or INTJs never bother about why they arrive at the conclusion until the entire picture is unveiled. They’re good at relating facts with patterns and emotions and arriving at a concrete conclusion.
It’s hard to find out how they arrived at these conclusions or what their thought process is like. But somehow they tend to predict things accurately or arrive at great conclusions.
Which is better- Ni or Ne?
Introverted intuition (Ni) or extroverted intuition (Ne) are known as perceiving functions. Perceiving functions help us to understand or make sense of the information around us. This doesn’t help us make decisions, though. Judging functions do that.
Ni and Ne functions can be quite difficult to explain and understand. But in simple terms, introverted intuition is a subconscious process that helps us to take in and absorb the information around us, recognize underlying patterns, and make logical conclusions.
Extroverted intuition, on the other hand, sees a particular conclusion or outcome and tries to make out different possibilities of why that is so.
In essence, introverted intuition is seeing the world inside out, while extroverted intuition is seeing the world outside in.
Why is introverted intuition rare?
Introverted intuition is rare because most people respond so much based on their external environment that they don’t look inward and try to identify patterns.
Plus, personality types with this as a dominant cognitive function are rare. INFJ is the rarest personality type in the world, covering only about 1-3% of the global population. INTJs are also quite rare, covering only about 1-4% of the global population.
Conclusion
Introverted intuition is a very spectacular cognitive function that helps you predict things even before they happen. If you want to develop yours, read this article.
