Are INTJs Narcissists?

Hey, everyone.

So, I've got a story for you. For about the past week, almost every time I open Pinterest, there's almost always a pin about narcissism or pins titled things like "How to Tell if You're Dating a Narcissist." The first time I saw one, I didn't think anything of it because occasionally something random will pop into my Pinterest feed, like home decorating tips. But I kept seeing these narcissism pins. When I think about it now, it could be because I save a lot of psychology-related pins, but if that was the reason, then I should also be seeing pins about other mental disorders. So, the only thing I can connect these pins to are all the pins I save on MBTI and being an INTJ which would make sense since INTJs are sometimes called narcissists, but are they really?

I'll be the first to admit that we INTJs have superiority complexes and we often look down on others for being mundane, predictable, boring, or stupid, but I have a hard time convincing myself we're narcissists. I mean, think about this for a second: where does the word "narcissist" come from? It comes from the ancient Greek myth of Narcissus, a man who fell in love with himself after seeing his reflection. But here's the problem; while INTJs do think themselves better than others, that doesn't mean we're in love with ourselves. In fact, I'm willing to bet most INTJs don't think themselves narcissists.

But, there's a problem to that: the common, modern, slangy usage of narcissism is in reference to an arrogant person, which is disappointing because I'm quite fond of the word "pretentious" and the phrase "pompous ass." But, there is an easy answer to all this and that's to just take a narcissism test and be done with it, which is what I did. Do you want to see my results?

Results:

These are my actual results. I screen captured them so you know I'm not lying.

 

That's right, ladies and germs, I scored an 11. Now, I don't know what that's out of, but considering I scored, not just lower than average, but lower than the average range, that's pretty telling. I mean, I only scored a little more than halfway to narcissistic. However, this image only tells you my total result. See, the test results are broken down into several values: Authority, Self-Sufficiency, Superiority, Exhibitionism, Exploitativeness, Vanity, and Entitlement. So, how did I do in each category?

 

Well, look at that. I scored quite low in Authority and Superiority, Self-Sufficiency is about average, and in Exhibitionism, Exploitativeness, and Vanity, I didn't score squat. But as indicated by the red bar, I scored quite high in Entitlement. But, what do these values mean? Well, I thought ahead, and copied and pasted them below.

 

Authority
Authority refers to a person's leadership skills and power. People who score higher on authority like to be in charge and gain power, often for power's sake alone.

Self-Sufficiency
This trait refers to how self-sufficient a person is, that is, how much you rely on others versus your own abilities to meet your needs in life.

Superiority
This trait refers to whether a person feels they are more superior than those around them.

Exhibitionism
This trait refers to a person's need to be the center of attention, and willingness to ensure they are the center of attention (even at the expense of others' needs).

Exploitativeness
This trait refers to how willing you are to exploit others in order to meet your own needs or goals.

Vanity
This trait refers to a person's vanity, or their belief in one's own superior abilities and attractiveness compared to others.

Entitlement
This trait refers to the expectation and amount of entitlement a person has in their lives, that is, unreasonable expectations of especially favorable treatment or automatic compliance with one's expectations.

 

So, let's break these down and analyze them to see how likely an INTJ is to have these traits.

Authority: While it is mentioned quite often how well INTJs lead, it is well-known that they don't want to lead. They're the sort of people who like to either stay out of the way or go do their own thing. So, it's not too surprising that INTJs would score low here, but we'd still expect to see a bit of a score due to their natural leadership abilities. What probably keeps INTJs from being narcissistic here is the condition of having or being in power for the sake of power. No INTJ wants power for the sake of it. What the hell is the point of that? There's no meaning in power for the sake of power. INTJs believe that if you have power, you should have it for a purpose.

Self-Sufficiency: Well, that's a big 10-4. Yep, INTJs definitely have this; screw relying on other people. But why then is Self-Sufficiency not through the roof here? Well, for the right INTJ, it definitely could be. For me it isn't because I still live with my parents and I am well aware of how dependent I am on them. Not to mention, although INTJs don't like depending on others, that's not to say that we don't--it could just mean that we don't like talking about it. Remember, acknowledging to people how important they are to us doesn't come easy to us, but we have no problem admitting it to others (like I just did).

Superiority: Another that's quite self-explanatory. But again, why wouldn't this be higher? Well, for the right INTJ, he will know that he doesn't have all the answers or all the best ideas. Once in a while, someone comes up with something better. Not to mention, just because we think ourselves smarter, more moral, better thinkers, etc. that doesn't mean that we think we're better human beings than you. Everyone has their own unique talents and gifts; I may be smarter than you, but you might be a better worker. You might be more generous, kinder, more loving, and these qualities just might mean you're a better person overall whereas an INTJ is better than you in one specific way.

Exhibitionism: Yeah, it's no surprise that INTJs would score low here. One of the reasons why we don't want power is because of how central we'd become to everyone and how they'd all look to us. You tend to get a lot of attention when you're in charge, even if you don't deserve it, like Obama. And even if we do become the center of attention, it doesn't take long for the novelty of it to wear off.

Exploitativeness: INTJs tend to be tit-for-tat, turnabout-is-fair-play sort of people, and we know that we don't want to be exploited, so we're not likely to exploit others. The other problem is that we don't tend to know a lot of people, and you can't exploit someone you don't have access to. Plus, being exploitive gets in the way of self-sufficiency. If you're constantly exploiting someone else for what you need and want, how can you call yourself self-sufficient? Alas, INTJs are not exploitive.

Vanity: Ah, this goes back to what I was saying about superiority. True, we do think ourselves superior, but that doesn't mean we believe in our superiority. I know that sounds contradictory, but it's one thing to know you're smart, but it's quite another to think you're smarter than everyone else. Plus, physical vanity doesn't fit the INTJ's MO either. We may put effort into our appearances, but we don't tend to think highly of our physical attractiveness.

Entitlement: So, I scored highest in entitlement. But does this mean that I'm entitled or that INTJs are entitled? Looking at INTJs first, while we don't like being the center of attention, to an extent, we do feel like people should be heeding our advice and wisdom. We also think we should be recognized for our abilities and accomplishments which covers the point on "unreasonable expectations of especially favorable treatment," but what about "automatic compliance with one's expectations?"

Well, you could twist that around to mean that INTJs have exceptionally high standards of people, and most people don't meet those expectations. However, the simpler explanation would be when INTJs tell someone to do something and instead of just blindly following orders, they start asking questions which irritates the hell out of us (even though we'd totally do the same). But, what about me?

Well, I definitely think I should be recognized for my abilities and achievements, most especially my writing which I feel has been largely ignored. It wouldn't bother me so much if my friends and family had at least bought my books, but they haven't. The other thing about me is that when I took the test, I was going through a hard, dark time. At the time, I felt abandoned by God because it felt like all my prayers had fallen on deaf ears, and it was especially stressful for me because while I know nothing is impossible for God, there were two times recently where he could've easily fixed my problems and didn't. So, it's possible my entitlement was high at the time due to my emotional stress, but it's also possible because I'm a writer, but it could be because I'm an INTJ. I don't know. I'd have to take the test again, once when my money problems are non-existent, and a second time when I feel like I'm being recognized for my literary opera.

 

 

So, what does that mean for INTJs and narcissism? Well, I think it's pretty obvious--INTJs are not narcissists. Sure, we think ourselves superior, but it takes more than a superiority complex to make a narcissist. And I don't believe myself to be one even if I scored high on entitlement. Hell, I have a lot of issues on the whole "loving myself" front, so I'm definitely not a narcissist. And I don't keep this blog to show you all how special I am, I do it to market myself, which is exploitation, and boy, does it suck. But, I don't think INTJs are narcissists, however a larger data sample is required before an accurate conclusion that can be drawn.

Anyway, that's it for today. Hopefully, I'll have something else out this week INTJ side. I'm actually sitting on a lot of response posts, but not many of them are written. So, until then...



Keep writing, my friends.

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