When we try to analyze someone’s personality, we often try to find the weaknesses first (at least when it is our own). We will discuss Logician Personality here. This is a characteristic of how we see other people that tend to cloud our understanding of them. That is why we will take a journey to the weaknesses, and for most of this article, we are going to profile a logician according to their strengths first.
Logician Personality (INTP)
Before that, we have to define what the logician personality even is. According to the test, a person with a logician personality has Introverted, Intuitive, Thinking, and Prospective characteristics. This union describes them as a creative thinker that is always looking for innovative solutions to complex problems; who is always thinking ahead about how to better the processes by which systems work; trying to find shortcuts everywhere it is possible for them to find one and to dedicate themselves to the finding of knowledge that helps them better their reasoning.
Today, we are going to talk about Pablo. Pablo is someone that fits right into the logician personality type, and even though he does not exist by the strict definition of the verb, there is going to be a lot of discussions here about how Pablo deals with life in all its forms, be that work, love, friendships, parenting or career-wise.
Pablo is, at heart, just an investigator. He has studied nearly all of his life to become a scientist because that is the only work he sees himself going into without losing happiness. For him, he is just going to be paid for doing something he already loves doing, and that is to think. When his bank requests him to pick a security question and hence asks for his favorite hobby, the only answer he knows how to say is that, “think.” Studying physics or philosophy were the only options he accepted even to consider when he graduated from school.
Pablo wanted to dedicate himself to the study of the paths other thinkers like him went into to reach great ideas, and that could go either way; the pure study of ideas attracted him because of how romantically he thought of people like Socrates or Aristotle, walking through the streets of Greece confronting people with their ideas. Like anyone passionate about learning, he loved sinking deep within every aspect of that idea. Nevertheless, he also liked to eat great food, and he needed money for that. Reconciling these two facts about himself took a bit of time, but he did it nonetheless.
When thinking about physics, though, everything flared up. He knew he could do it; he loved studying how everything worked, how the universe worked. He wanted to know everything about where he lived, and the study of physics offered him a certainty he liked very much. Logicians are known for their proclivity to the sciences, having none other than Albert Einstein in their ranks, and Pablo knew that physics was a safe enough path for him to take. However, he was also prone to expensive food and using his deduction skills, as it is common among logicians, he decided he needed an alternative. He opted for electrical engineering.
Pablo’s case occurs to logicians from around the world at many points in their lives. Their liking of academic environments puts them in the wire of deciding where to put their time. The humanities have a charm that attracts them because logic and complex reasoning are required to understand others and push the standard above what is commonly understood. Relaxing the status quo’s grip is something that many logicians find life-affirming, as it provides them with a sense of liberty that allows them to think outside the box in scenarios that other people consider everyday occurrences. Nothing could endanger more a logician’s attention than to be put in a job without options. Repetitive tasks bore them to an existential level, and this kind of work puts into question all of the things they think they learned throughout their lives. This is especially prevalent among turbulent logicians, whose characters change their attitude about life to be pessimistic and dark.
When looking for deeper answers, logicians turn to certifiable sources of information, people they can trust not because of a gut feeling, against which they often direct disapproving eyes, but because there is a certain system that assures them that the information can be trusted and that they are not being messed with.
They hate liars, as do all of us, with certain anger. They base their understanding of the world on the information they receive and the treatment they give it through extended rounds of reasoning. They go to every possible answer before deciding what they feel comfortable saying is their opinion. If you then go and throw everything into question by saying that the initial information was a lie, they have more than enough reason not to be very happy about it.
Logicians are very good at reading complex novels. They try to be ahead of the author by picking up clues in the text that lead to the next revelation and can come to love the work even more if they successfully predict plotlines because they feel they are not being treated like kids. On the other hand, when the challenge of figuring out a mystery feels very easy, they can get incredibly frustrated because they feel their time was wasted by following a story that did not even put enough effort to surprise them in the first place.
They like to have a framework of reference for the correct way of doing things. They are likely to have a mentor in their pasts that made them reconsider how things work and the best way to understand the world. This can often be forgotten; one of the main things that make the logician such a distinct personality type is that they can feel condescending if they do not put enough care into their word selection. They tend to come out as overly confident and egotistical but only because of their own perspective. The way they reached their conclusion is often the only thing they can be 100% sure of; saying anything that signifies otherwise secludes them from the rest of the method. If they start doubting their own abilities to explain the world around them, things can get ugly.
They are, however, surprisingly earnest with their emotions. Although emotional expression may not be their best front, they nonetheless try to make themselves clear to the world around them, and in doing so, they reveal what their true motivations are. Because they believe that the world can be sorted out, if you put enough work into it, they can have strong beliefs and morals that guide them through life. They do not usually remember who gave them those morals. Still, they tend to be a parental figure that is now very proud of them, even if they cannot easily explain how the seemingly mundane things they thought them ended up forming a person like them.
Logicians can get embarrassed by saying things that they feel if they do not also sense an explanation they can give if someone asks them for it. Their worst fear is to be made fun of for not knowing something everyone else does, and the mere thought of it haunts them, being, in fact, the thing that makes them investigate long after everyone else would have felt that they have done enough.
They form great pairs with mediators (INFP). The mediator’s idealism can help the logician put things into perspective and understand that there are things in life that cannot be controlled no matter how much effort they put into it. We call this an enduring friendship because even though they both share the Introverted component of their personality types, they have very distinct ways of showing this and dealing with the emotions caused by it. Logicians have their feet touching the ground and approach social situations in ways that do not make them vulnerable, making contact in logical ways where their particular skills can show up and maybe charm the people around them. Mediators are much less methodical about this and prefer to strike profound but trivial conversations about whatever the subject is, understand people, and grasp what the other person thinks of something and what that says about them in the end. This process is crucial when forming a friendship. When a mediator and a logician encounter each other, they can start going at it with each other, showing the best trait of the distinct personality trait they represent and creating a friendly environment that can easily end up in a lengthy friendship.
When we approach a logician, we understand that they do not mean any harm when they use their logic against us. It is just the way they are, and even though we may think they can go too far sometimes, or it seems as if there is no balance between what they are saying and the language they are using to say it, there is always a deeper reason behind everything. Moreover, in doing so, we might have gotten ourselves an acquaintance whose ideas can save us from any number of complicated situations, and it is only through patience that we will ever get to it.
Remember Pablo. Pablo decided based on what seemed like a logical train of thought, but once you look deep into it, it may just be a rationalization used by Pablo to create an excuse for doing something he already wanted to do. Even when it seems tempting to say that Pablo is a purely rational being, and you can bet, he would like you to think that at his core, Pablo is still a man with impulses as every person in the world. His ways of expressing that are no more valid than anyone else’s.
When we look at the life of a logician, we may find a sense of progression. They tend to create paths that lead to better destinations, and if nothing comes in their way, or if they are strong enough to surpass them, they can achieve great things. They thrive not in leadership positions, but as a strategist who analyzes conduct patterns in other people and tries to locate the best ways to engage with them and gain an advantage. When you encounter a logician doing business, you have to be prepared to counter everything he does because it is certain that he has a plan for whatever you are going to do.
As we promised, we will conclude by talking about logician’s weaknesses. Practical skills like cleaning, cooking, doing everyday chores, and keeping up with themselves are not their specialty. Even when they understand the value of dedicating themselves to such activities, it is an impediment in their thinking and a routine that they prefer to avoid by mere nature. This can be easily understood and corroborated by anyone who has ever lived in the same home as a logician. They keep order in their head, but that does not always translate into their lives.
Now that we have reached the end of the article, we have to think about what we have learned. Logicians are people that we have to respect, as many of humanity’s greatest achievements and ideas come from people who had time to think long and hard about serious issues. They may come across as aloof, but we have to keep in mind that above all, empathy is the thing we need to use to get in touch with other people, and any other way is just going to lead to division and pain, and there is no logical way for us to want that.
Also read INFJ Careers: Best Jobs for INFJ personality
