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ENTP
Extraverted iNtuitive Thinking Perceiving
I took the test online in October 2000 (they've since started charging for it). The results surprised me, because through high school and for at least a few years following, I would reliably test as an "INFP" (Introverted iNtuitive Thinking Perceiving). Marriage and parenthood might have had a lot to do with the shift. Here's what a couple of experts have to say about my current type. Profile by Marina Margaret Heiss, University of Virginia "Clever" is the word that perhaps describes ENTPs best. The professor who juggles half a dozen ideas for research papers and grant proposals in his mind while giving a highly entertaining lecture on an abstruse subject is a classic example of the type. So is the stand-up comedian whose lampoons are not only funny, but incisively accurate. ENTPs are usually verbally as well as cerebrally quick, and generally love to argue — both for its own sake, and to show off their often-impressive skills. They tend to have a perverse sense of humor as well, and enjoy playing devil's advocate. They sometimes confuse, even inadvertently hurt, those who don't understand or accept the concept of argument as a sport. ENTPs are as innovative and ingenious at problem-solving as they are at verbal gymnastics; on occasion, however, they manage to outsmart themselves. This can take the form of getting found out at "sharp practice" — ENTPs have been known to cut corners without regard to the rules if it's expedient — or simply in the collapse of an over-ambitious juggling act. Both at work and at home, ENTPs are very fond of "toys" — physical or intellectual, the more sophisticated the better. They tend to tire of these quickly, however, and move on to new ones. ENTPs are basically optimists, but in spite of this (perhaps because of it?), they tend to become extremely petulant about small setbacks and inconveniences. (Major setbacks they tend to regard as challenges, and tackle with determination.) ENTPs have little patience with those they consider wrongheaded or unintelligent, and show little restraint in demonstrating this. However, they do tend to be extremely genial, if not charming, when not being harassed by life in general. In terms of their relationships with others, ENTPs are capable of bonding very closely and, initially, suddenly, with their loved ones. Some appear to be deceptively offhand with their nearest and dearest; others are so demonstrative that they succeed in shocking co-workers who've only seen their professional side. ENTPs are also good at acquiring friends who are as clever and entertaining as they are. Aside from those two areas, ENTPs tend to be oblivious of the rest of humanity, except as an audience — good, bad, or potential. Some Famous ENTPs: Alexander the Great, Alfred Hitchcock, George Carlin, Confederate General J.E.B. Stuart, Pres. James A. Garfield, Pres. John Adams, John Candy, John Sununu, Julia Child, Lewis Carrol, Marilyn Vos Savant, Pres. Rutherford B. Hayes, Pres. Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt, Thomas Edison, Tom Hanks, Sir Walter Raleigh, Suzanne Pleshette, Valerie Harper, Weird Al Yankovic Fictional: Bugs Bunny, Garfield (Jon Davis), Horace Rumpole (Rumpole of the Bailey/John Mortimer), Mercutio (Romeo and Juliet), Lord Peter Wimsey (Dorothy L. Sayers), "Q" (Star Trek: The Next Generation), Shirley Feeney (Laverne and Shirley), Wile E. Coyote A Functional Analysis by Joe Butt, Oak Ridge Educational Network (Tennessee): Extraverted iNtuition ENTPs are nothing if not unique. Brave new associations flow freely from the unconscious into the world of the living. Making, discovering and developing connections between and among two or more of anything is virtually automatic. The product of intuition is merely an icon of process; ENTPs are in the business of change, improvement, experimentation. The attraction Extraverted iNtuition has toward the real and physical amounts to a cosmic non sequitur: theory is drawn to practice. Such encounters are clearly puzzling. Both parties — the intuitor and the realist — are aware of a xenic quality in their meeting, with reactions ranging from recoil to reverie. Introverted Thinking Thinking is iNtuition's ready assistant, an embodiment of the sort of logic found in laws, boards and circuits. Thinking's job is to lend focus and direction to iNtuition's critical mass. The temporary habitations of changeling iNtuition are constructed of Boolean materials from Thinking's storehouse. Ultimately, Thinking is no match for iNtuition's prodigiousness. Systems lie in various states of disarray, fragmentary traces of Thinking's feverish attempts to shadow and undergird the leaps of the dominant function. One can only suppose that Thinking must continue to work during REM sleep pulling together iNtuition's brainchildren into integral wholes. Extraverted Feeling To the extent that Feeling is developed, ENTPs extravert Feeling judgment. As a result, it is not uncommon to find affability and bonhomie in members of this species. Tertiary functions are potentially utilitarian. Their limitations appear in their relative underdevelopment, diminished endurance, and vulnerability. ENTPs may harness Feeling's good will in areas such as sales, service, drama, humor and art. ENTP loyalty often runs high and can be hooked by those the ENTP counts as friends. Introverted Sensing Like a tail on the kite of iNtuition, Introverted Sensing counterweighs these beings drawn to nonconformity and anarchy. These shadowy sensory forms, so familiar to SJ types, serve as lodestones which many ENTPs employ Herculean measures to escape. "Question authority! (then do exactly what it tells you)" sums up the dilemma in which ENTPs may find themselves by attempting to best the tarbaby Sensing. Occasionally acknowledging awareness of norms and abnormality could, in theory, be potentially freeing. The above material remains copyright © 1996-1999 Marina Margaret Heiss/Joe Butt. Revised 7 December 1999. |
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