INTP - only 1% of the population
Architects need not be thought of as only interested in drawing blueprints for buildings or roads or bridges. They are the master designers of all
kinds of theoretical systems, including school curricula, corporate strategies, and new technologies. For Architects, the world exists primarily to be
analyzed, understood, explained - and re-designed. External reality in itself is unimportant, little more than raw material to be organized into
structural models. What is important for Architects is that they grasp fundamental principles and natural laws, and that their designs are elegant,
that is, efficient and coherent.
Architects are rare - maybe one percent of the population - and show the greatest precision in thought and speech of all the types. They tend to see
distinctions and inconsistencies instantaneously, and can detect contradictions no matter when or where they were made. It is difficult for an
Architect to listen to nonsense, even in a casual conversation, without pointing out the speaker's error. And in any serious discussion or debate
Architects are devastating, their skill in framing arguments giving them an enormous advantage. Architects regard all discussions as a search for
understanding, and believe their function is to eliminate inconsistencies, which can make communication with them an uncomfortable experience for
many.
Ruthless pragmatists about ideas, and insatiably curious, Architects are driven to find the most efficient means to their ends, and they will learn
in any manner and degree they can. They will listen to amateurs if their ideas are useful, and will ignore the experts if theirs are not. Authority
derived from office, credential, or celebrity does not impress them. Architects are interested only in what make sense, and thus only statements that
are consistent and coherent carry any weight with them.
Architects often seem difficult to know. They are inclined to be shy except with close friends, and their reserve is difficult to penetrate. Able to
concentrate better than any other type, they prefer to work quietly at their computers or drafting tables, and often alone. Architects also become
obsessed with analysis, and this can seem to shut others out. Once caught up in a thought process, Architects close off and persevere until they
comprehend the issue in all its complexity. Architects prize intelligence, and with their grand desire to grasp the structure of the universe, they
can seem arrogant and may show impatience with others who have less ability, or who are less driven.
Famous INTPs: Socrates, Rene Descartes, Blaise Pascal, Sir Isaac Newton, C. G. Jung, William James, Albert Einstein, Charles Darwin, Thomas
Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln. [3, 6, 9]