Your Brain

[Elwood]

So me and an INTJ friend of mine were having a discussion after we finished smoking dubious amounts of pot. We got to talking about psychology, (a favorite topic of mine) and we started to discuss how our minds functioned. Neither of us are visual thinkers, which kinda pisses us both off because we both wish we could draw and I personally enjoy art. I'm good at mental math but not at memorizing equations and concepts. He's the exact opposite in that regard. We both use to play a lot of video games, we talked about that and sort of came to an agreement about how it does disconnect you from reality to a certain degree if you play too many video games. I myself am a recovering Doom 3 addict, apparently I get off on fear. We both have that sort abstract yet logical mind set that is common to INTJs (but then again this kid was put on a shit ton of A.D.D. medications when he was little and now smokes pot on a daily basis, and I on the other hand was raised between the households of divorced former jehovah's witnesses, mother being an ESFJ and father being an ISFP, in an extremely dysfunctional environment) The main thing that I wanted to bring up here is directed toward all INTJs, in what terms do you think? My friend thinks in the terms of an internal monologue, I on the other hand don't think in either visual or verbal terms. I tried to explain this to my friend but I don't think he understands and I don't know if I can accurately explain it here either. I think in terms of concepts and ideas, I think this is because when I was little, I learned to talk just fine but I didn't understand the concept of talking being about how you said it as well as body language. Because of this, I took to reading at a very rapid pace at an early age. When reading, everything you need to know is right there in the text and you can read it again and again if necessary, you don't have to ask "what?" if you don't understand what is being said. It is a very literal form of speaking that I understand far better than verbal communication. When I watch movies I usually turn on subtitles because I tend to understand everything that's going on in a much clearer and more organized manner. I guess the best way to describe verbal communication for me is that I have to translate everything that goes back and forth. I have to figure out what this person is saying and then figure out how to get my thoughts across to this person so that they understand what I'm trying to say, which I find to be a very tedious task, even with my INTJ friend sometimes. So yeah, INTJs if you please...or actually anybody else for that matter.

[Elro]

I took to reading at a very rapid pace at an early age. When reading, everything you need to know is right there in the text and you can read it again and again if necessary, you don't have to ask "what?" if you don't understand what is being said. It is a very literal form of speaking that I understand far better than verbal communication. When I watch movies I usually turn on subtitles because I tend to understand everything that's going on in a much clearer and more organized manner. I guess the best way to describe verbal communication for me is that I have to translate everything that goes back and forth. I have to figure out what this person is saying and then figure out how to get my thoughts across to this person so that they understand what I'm trying to say, which I find to be a very tedious task, even with my INTJ friend sometimes.

I know exactly what you mean, and was just thinking about this the other day. I definitely like text better for those reasons - I'm much more quick at gathering what people are saying over IM, for instance, than in person. (I tend to be much more quick-witted, too, because I spend less time trying to understand what you just said and thus have more time to consider my answer.) Also, in person I hate asking "What?" repeatedly, so if I can't figure out what you're saying after the third time I'll usually give up and live in ignorance.

My hearing isn't the best for various reasons. I think part of it is lately I've been communicating by text more than by speech, so I might have gotten a lazy ear so to speak. Maybe part of it is the sheer amounts of music I listen to, but I feel like if I practiced I could get good at verbal conversation, too. Not sure.

I also don't like how verbal conversation doesn't have a backspace key - sometimes I start saying something one way and realize another way would illustrate my point better, but my tongue is still flapping and I end up spewing some gobbledy**** that is a combination of both ways to word it, so no one understands.

[Elwood]

I'm good at mental math but not at memorizing equations and concepts. He's the exact opposite in that regard.

Heh, I'm like your friend. Can memorize numbers, equations and concepts. But prefer to write down sums and do them on paper rather than in my head. Can you remember names of people? I'm so crap at that. And it's really embarrassing, because five seconds after someone has introduced me to someone, I have to ask for their name again. And then ten minutes later ... same thing. Once I had spent a whole semester doing group work with this girl, and then she came up to me with her mum during the vacation and said "Hi Carla!" and I knew I was in trouble.

I'm fairly poor with names too. Unless that particular individual leaves a strong impression on me, I probably won't remember their name. I've gotten a little bit better though, after realizing that this is sort of a problem because of situations like the one you've just mentioned I've made an effort to better myself in that regard

I took to reading at a very rapid pace at an early age. When reading, everything you need to know is right there in the text and you can read it again and again if necessary, you don't have to ask "what?" if you don't understand what is being said. It is a very literal form of speaking that I understand far better than verbal communication. When I watch movies I usually turn on subtitles because I tend to understand everything that's going on in a much clearer and more organized manner. I guess the best way to describe verbal communication for me is that I have to translate everything that goes back and forth. I have to figure out what this person is saying and then figure out how to get my thoughts across to this person so that they understand what I'm trying to say, which I find to be a very tedious task, even with my INTJ friend sometimes.

I know exactly what you mean, and was just thinking about this the other day. I definitely like text better for those reasons - I'm much more quick at gathering what people are saying over IM, for instance, than in person. (I tend to be much more quick-witted, too, because I spend less time trying to understand what you just said and thus have more time to consider my answer.) Also, in person I hate asking "What?" repeatedly, so if I can't figure out what you're saying after the third time I'll usually give up and live in ignorance.

My hearing isn't the best for various reasons. I think part of it is lately I've been communicating by text more than by speech, so I might have gotten a lazy ear so to speak. Maybe part of it is the sheer amounts of music I listen to, but I feel like if I practiced I could get good at verbal conversation, too. Not sure.

I also don't like how verbal conversation doesn't have a backspace key - sometimes I start saying something one way and realize another way would illustrate my point better, but my tongue is still flapping and I end up spewing some gobbledy**** that is a combination of both ways to word it, so no one understands.

I find myself constantly getting tongue-tied in conversations as well. I usually use improper grammer or I'll be mixing the syllables of words to form new ones...after saying something like that my brain just kind of goes "OH Shit!!! Did you really just say that? Now everybody is going to think your mentally disabled or something!!!" or to be more accurate it's that feeling of the regret of doing something very stupid.

[UnadulteratedAwesome]

I'm good at mental math but not at memorizing equations and concepts. He's the exact opposite in that regard.

Heh, I'm like your friend. Can memorize numbers, equations and concepts. But prefer to write down sums and do them on paper rather than in my head. Can you remember names of people? I'm so crap at that. And it's really embarrassing, because five seconds after someone has introduced me to someone, I have to ask for their name again. And then ten minutes later ... same thing. Once I had spent a whole semester doing group work with this girl, and then she came up to me with her mum during the vacation and said "Hi Carla!" and I knew I was in trouble.

I do that too, but I just wait to ask them their name until the next time I see them so they think I forgot it since I last saw them, rather than 5 seconds after they said it the first time.

Usually I learn their name if I see them frequently enough, but there have been people whose names I forgot MANY times... Yes... embarassing... I think it stems from the fact that we are thinking what to say next while they're talking, because we don't actually listen when they say their name, and because we care more about ideas than people. Interestingly enough, I typically never forget the name of a girl I find attractive.

As far as how I function, I am HIGHLY visual, which probably relates to the strength of my N preference. I am diagnosed with ADD, but on no medications, thank goodness. I'm all for medication when something is completely ruining your life, but I don't need some medication stifling my creativity. It's interesting that your friend can't draw... I thought all INTJs would be natural artists due to their ability to analyze things. I just look at forms, and proportion, and fill in the rest. My art isn't museum-worthy, but it's a heck of a lot better than your average joe.

I am very internal in my thoughts, and have trouble expressing myself in extroverted thinking. If I do use my extroverted thinking function, it is all I can do. I cannot multitask. I can only focus on my dialogue, and even then, I am distractable and often lose my train of thought. Internally, however, I process things very rapidly. Sometimes my ideas are nebulous and very difficult to translate into words, so I end up fumbling to explain the very complex thought processes with not just language, but language that I know my audience will actually understand (taking into account my perception of their intelligence).

...and seriously... lay off the pot. The carcinogens should be enough to make it unattractive to you.

[Elwood]

I think I'm done with pot for the time being, last night we were hanging out again and I smoked too much. I started laughing and then I couldn't stop. It was like my mind was trapped in an infinite irony loop, I was laughing at how not funny it was that I couldn't stop laughing and then as a result I would laugh more. Despite the fact that I was laughing uncontrollably it was extremely unpleasant.