Determining your personality type early in adolescence can contribute to setting goals, navigating social interactions, and sailing through life with a clear self-awareness. Knowing your psychological preferences will help you to understand your strengths better, preparing you for situational reactions. As a further bonus, having this early insight into your innate traits will assist you in making plans that play to your strengths. The rarest personality type is the ISTPs. They are also referred to as “The Logical Pragmatist,” comprising approximately two percent of the general population in the United States. There are subtle and distinct psychological preferences that mold your personality and contribute to your individuality. These preferences can be innate or developed over time as you journey through life. Herein listed are the reasons why people with the ISTP are classified as the rarest personality type.
The Unicorn of Personality Types | Rarest Personality Type
The ISTP personality is remarkable in its free-spirited nature. They enjoy exploring and working with their hands. They are the natural creators enjoying building something useful and moving on to the next project. Their decision-making is based on a practical-realist point of view.
They are adrenaline-junkies and enjoy outdoor activities that get their adrenaline surging. Tradition does not inspire the ISTPs. They prefer to communicate through action. Some might mislabel them with learning disabilities; however, this is not the case. The ISTP personality type is brilliant. They just prefer hands-on activities.
The ISTP personality means:
- Introverted: As introverted individuals, their focus is self-analyzing.
- Sensing: This personality trait comes forth in their worldview.
- Thinking: As thinkers, they can make objective and rational decisions.
- Perceiving: Their keep perception helps them to relate to the world in an open-minded, spontaneous manner.
With an array of unique personality traits that often puzzle the people in their lives. They can be spontaneous and enigmatic, then switch to a more reserved stance.
The Introverted, Sensing, Thinking, Perceiving Personality Examined
As with any personality, ISTPs are unique in their approach to situations and relationships. Read further for more information on their strengths and weaknesses.
ISTP Strengths
The ISTPs are renowned for not being able to stay in one place, they prefer to live limitless using their strengths to guide them. Some of their strengths include:
- Energized Optimism: They rarely get stressed about situations or outcomes. They prefer to flow with their projects and believe that everything will succeed.
- Practical Creativity: Through their love of hands-on projects, they can use their creative powers to innovate.
- Rational Spontaneity: They can change their mindset to adapt to a new situation without effort.
- Crisis Management: As they are hands-on spontaneous creatives, they are naturals at crisis management and resolution.
- Relaxed: Their ability to be present and take life as it comes keeps them relaxed and nimble.
ISTP Weaknesses
With great strengths come harsh weaknesses, the ISTP personality type is not perfect; after all. Here are some of their growth opportunities.
- Stubborn: The ISTP is innately stubborn, becoming upset if someone tries to change them.
- Insensitive: As practical people, they misunderstand emotions and battle to determine the mood. This is observed as rude or insensitive by those in their circle.
- Private: Being introverted also leads to them being extremely private, preferring to keep personal matters to themselves.
- Easily Bored: As their minds are constantly racing and moving from one idea to the next, they are bored easily and require constant stimulation.
- Commitment Issues: Being free-spirited leaves them with a great flaw. They do not like commitment. They do not like boundaries or being anchored.
- Risky Behavior: With their strengths and weaknesses combined, it makes a recipe for adrenaline-seeking activities to alleviate boredom. They might escalate situations to see how far the danger will expand.
They are always looking for the next interesting thing to work on, create or tinker with. The rare combination of their characteristics reflects why they are so unique.
Learning Habits of the ISTP
Being logical and practical, this personality type prefers to learn through observation or practical application. They cannot learn traditionally due to their stubbornness, non-conformity to rules, and ability to take notes. They are often mislabeled as having a developmental disorder. Despite being misunderstood, the ISTPs are visionaries and contribute critical skills to various careers tailored for them.
Career Interests of the ISTP
The independent ISTP prefers a work environment that is unconstrained with unnecessary rules and limitations. They are interested in things that keep them active and keep their hands occupied. They are one of the most versatile personalities in the professional world. The best-suited careers for them are identified as:
- Engineering: They will be able to apply their love for hands-on creation as:
- Civil Engineer
- Building Inspector
- Electrical Technician
- Mechanic
- Law Enforcement will enable them to apply their thirst for adventure as:
- Police Officer
- Military Personnel / Pilot
- Detective
- Firefighter
As introverted free-spirits, it is difficult for the ISTP type to decide on a career.
Relationships with the ISTP Personality Type
Being in a relationship with this personality type is challenging. Their fear of commitment, risk-seeking behavior, and difficulty understanding emotions make it complex to be their partner. On a day-to-day basis, the ISTPs’ feelings toward their partner can fluctuate from critical need to decisive detachment. By not forcing anything onto the ISTPs, they can get comfortable in a long-term relationship. Their spontaneity and live-in-the-moment outlook on life can make it a fun relationship to be in with constant adventure; if your heart can take it.
History of The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator®
The premise of the MBTI® was developed on Carl Jung’s (a Swiss psychologist) research into the original framework for human typology. This typology was not invented to label people but to rather understand the complexity of human typology.
Jung’s original typology stated that there are two personality types: introverted and extroverted. He further classified that each type consists of four functions: thinking, feeling, sensation and intuition; these functions were divided into the rational (judging) and irrational (feeling). It is important to note that the original framework has been adapted as new research became available.
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator®
According to the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI), there are 16 personality types. The MBTI® test measures your preference towards one or the other in the following groupings:
- Extroversion (E) vs. Introversion (I)
- Sensing (S) vs. Intuition (N)
- Thinking (T) vs. Feeling (F)
- Judging (J) vs. Perceiving (P)
Note: Intuition is represented with an “N” as Introversion was allocated with the “I” indicator.
The 16 personality types are categorized into four groupings:
- The Analysts
- INTJ – Introverted, Intuitive, Thinking, Judging
- INTP – Introverted, Intuitive, Thinking, Perceiving
- ENTJ – Extroverted, Intuitive, Thinking, Judging
- ENTP – Extroverted, Intuitive, Thinking, Perceiving
- Diplomats
- INFJ – Introverted, Intuitive, Feeling, Judging
- INFP – Introverted, Intuitive, Feeling, Perceiving
- ENFJ – Extroverted, Intuitive, Feeling, Judging
- ENFP – Extroverted, Intuitive, Feeling, Perceptive
- Sentinels
- Explorers
- ISTP – Introverted, Sensing, Thinking, Perceiving
- ISFP – Introverted, Sensing, Feeling, Perceiving
- ESTP – Extroverted, Sensing, Thinking, Perceiving
- ESFP – Extroverted, Sensing, Feeling, Perceiving
Each type has two distinct variants; the Assertive variant and the Turbulent variant. The variants add to the noteworthiness of the complexity of human typology. Curious to see whether you can be counted as part of the ISTP type or what your personality type might be; find out here.
Ranking of the Rarity of Personality Types
The rarity of a personality type can fluctuate over time as the world moves forward. With new inventions and influences, the dominant and rare personality types might change. The typology for human psychological preferences which characterize their personality type is complex. It is important to remember that every personality type and variant is unique, important, and plays an integral role in society. The MBTI® consists of 16 personality types with two variants in each type. Therefore, statistical analysis revealed that these variants play an important part in inaccuracy. The table below indicates the rarity of the MBTI® Personality Types per 2021.
All statistics are drawn from the 16-Personalities website in 2021.
Interestingly, the three rarest personality types differ with the slightest variation; the following two are similarly close. Out of the top five rare personality types, ISTP is closely followed by:
- ESTP as second rarest
- ENTJ as third rarest
- INTJ as fourth rarest
- ISTJ as fifth rarest
Here is a sneak peek into the personality traits of two additional rare personality types.
The Commander – ENTJ
The ENTJs categorized with the Extraverted, Intuitive, Thinking, Judging personality traits places second on the rarest personality type scale. This rare personality type forms approximately two percent of the population. Are you part of the strategic commanders?
They are considered to be the top-earning personality due to their decisive and strategic nature. The Commander is renowned for being strong-willed, assertive, and rational-minded. They make excellent negotiators as they love challenges and will not back down. Their preference for structured, efficient environments makes it easy for this objective personality type to plan every step toward their goal.
Their energetic charisma enables them to grab the attention of a room. They are thereby able to get people motivated to execute a task or to back their preferred idea. Although this personality type is the best suited for high-powered positions, they are often intolerant and impatient. These weaknesses might lead to them being insensitive by openly pointing out a flaw in others.
Due to their strong analytical and structured personality traits, they are also known as the Decisive Strategist. They do not enjoy failure or time-wasting activities and place great value on their accomplishments. This intellectually assertive leader is best suited in careers where they are the planners and can lead others to achieve goals. Which career best suits you, Decisive Strategist?
- The competitive realm of Business might lure this strategic mind to be a business analyst, a business manager, a corporate attorney, an economist, analyst, stockbroker, or a strategist.
- The structured environment of Medicine might entice the Decisive Strategist to pursue a career as a surgeon, medical scientist, geneticist, biochemical engineer, or psychologist.
- Other career options for this ambitious personality include venturing into politics, marketing, or information technology.
Decisive Strategists such as Steve Jobs and Franklin D. Roosevelt are examples of why this rare personality type is a force that carry change and innovation.
The Architect – INTJ
The Architect is often the most misunderstood personality type with key traits such as Introverted, Intuitive, Thinking, and Judging. They prefer quiet environments where they can think clearly. This rare personality type contributes to approximately two percent of the population. Are you a lone-wolf Architect?
They enjoy planning, precise planning and will not proceed with an idea if they do not have all the facts that it will work. The Architect base all their decisions on facts by removing emotions. They remain unbiased. Their thirst for knowledge leads them to question everything. They are often seen as cynical with their sharp wit and dark humor.
This complex and versatile personality type lives by high standards, and they expect others to meet these standards at all times. As the Architect’ self-esteem is rooted in knowledge, they have little regard for people who they deem as intellectually inferior. This weakness might lead others to view them as unemotional and negatively impact their ability to form relationships.
However, the Architect is extremely independent and casts little thought on the opinion of others, to their detriment at times. They rather focus their creative minds on ideas, patterns, concepts, and solutions, applying their vast knowledge to map out their next adventure. As introverted as they are, the Architect prefers solitude. Only a select few get to know them.
Their professional success is oftentimes placed above their social requirements. As curious loners, their thirst and passion for knowledge might drive them into a career where they can analyze, think and innovate. The ideal career for you, The Architect, might include:
- The Architect’s creativity and innovation could be an advantage in a career as an editor, art director, photographer, or writer.
- The Architect’s ability to critically analyze might be stimulated in a career as a philosopher controller, coordinator, logistician, critic, analyst, statistician, or curator.
- The Architect’s curiosity might be satisfied in a career as a mathematician, professor, researcher, historian, neurologist, or nuclear engineer.
Noteworthy Architects include Fredrich Nietzsche and Elon Musk these renowned Architects give a clear indication of the polarity of this rare personality.
Also read About Abrasive Personality – Things You Need To know
