Holistic introverted Thinking (Ti-H) aka The Systemist in Relationships
Introverted Thinking is the dominant function for INTP and ISTP types. According to recent research by Dr. Dario Nardi, it can show up in two flavors. This post outlines the holistic introverted Thinking flavor.
In addition to my own experiences and interpretations, these are the resources I quote and/or reference:
Barger, N. and Kirby, L. (date unknown) INTP Women Across Cultures http://www.cobal.org/sigilkitty/Crossculture-INTP.pdf
Berens, L. V. and Nardi, D. (2004) Understanding Yourself and Others, An Introduction to the Personality Type Code, p.11 https://amzn.to/3Glt53J
Jones, J. H. and Sherman, R. G. (2011) Intimacy and Type, p. 33 https://amzn.to/47NHe5k
Jung, C. G. (1976 edition) Psychological Types (The Collected Works), p.368ff https://amzn.to/46CJGuy
Nardi, D. (2023) Decode Your Personality - Go Beyond Myers-Briggs With 64 Brain-Based Subtypes, p. 349ff https://amzn.to/3GoU6mL
Thomson, L. (1998) Personality Type, An Owners Manual, p. 39ff https://amzn.to/4a3mxEy
In this post, we’ll go from the broad to the specific, starting with the function, Thinking, and then the function attitude introverted Thinking, then the flavor, holistic introverted Thinking, and finally how it shows up in relationships.
This is post #12 in a series of 16. If you’re following the series, you will note there’s some repetition, but in case this is the one and only post you follow, I want you to have all the information. So feel free to jump ahead.
My main references for this post are Carl Gustav Jung and Dr. Dario Nardi. Jung was a Swiss Psychiatrist who published his theory of psychological types in 1921, and Dario is a prolific researcher and author. He found evidence of psychological types in the neuroscience data captured by EEG assessments he’s been doing with people from all walks of life since 2006.
And in case we haven’t met, I’m Doris Füllgrabe, a certified coach with a masters in applied psychology, and I help people create happier, healthier relationships.
A few caveats before we begin, just to manage expectations and again in case this is the only post you follow:
1, these posts describe the functions in their purest state. Functions rarely show up in their purest state, as they interact with other functions and your brain is really active doing multiple things at any given time, like it’s regulating your body temperature and heart rate right now. So, you may not resonate with 100% of the description of this function 100% of the time, and that is normal.
2, these posts describe the function for this function type. You may not be this particular function type, which means this function may not be at the top or dominant in your consciousness. That’s ok, too, because it’s still in your system, you still have access to it, and paying attention to this function may help you recognize when it pops up out of your subconscious, so you can practice integrating it consciously.
The Thinking function is one of the two rational judging functions.
Rational, because it involves reasoning i.e. a process of reflection, and judging because it’s about making decisions.
The Thinking function helps us be logical, analytical, effective, and efficient.
It gives us the ability to plan ahead, and a curiosity about how things work.
It is committed to justice and equality, fairness and intellectual freedom, but also step-by-step rules that lead to a result.
Dr. Linda Berens describes it this way:
“Thinking is a process of evaluating and making judgments based on objective criteria and principles or logic. Using this process, we detach ourselves from our values and seek to make decisions based on principles alone. Activities like discrimination according to a set of criteria or objectively defined standards, analysis according to a set of principles, logic, and cause-effect reasoning are all examples of making Thinking judgments.”
Moving on to the function attitude, introverted Thinking, which is the dominant function for INTP and ISTP types.
What follows are Jung’s words, and his language from 100 years ago is a little different from how we speak today. He’s quite male-centric, so uses he/him when describing all functions that aren’t Feeling types. He also uses the word “object” to describe anything and anyone outside of you, and “subject” to describe yourself, you, the person.
“Introverted Thinking is primarily oriented by the subjective factor. External facts are not the aim and origin of this thinking, though the introvert would often like to make his thinking appear so. New views rather than knowledge of new facts are its main concern. It formulates questions and creates theories, it opens up new prospects and insights, but with regard to facts its attitude is one of reserve. They are all very well as illustrative examples, but they must not be allowed to predominate. Facts are collected as evidence for a theory, never for their own sake. The creative power of introverted thinking shows itself when it actually creates an idea which, though not inherent in the concrete fact, is yet the most suitable abstract expression of it.”
In other words, introverted thinking types believe themselves to be most realistic and evidence-based, but a lot of their evidence is actually run through a subjective internal filter, to the point where they might ignore facts that don’t fit their theory. It reminded me of that saying, you mustn’t let truth get in the way of a good story. But the introverted thinking type would be horrified to be accused of this very thing. Or as Jung put it,
“the subjective power of conviction exerted by an idea is usually very great, and it is all the greater the less it comes into contact with external facts.”
Jung describes the introverted thinking type as someone who follows his ideas inwards, with a goal of intensity, not extensity, so depth, not breadth. To do that, the introvert removes himself from the external object, and if this object is a person, “this person has a distinct feeling that he matters only in a negative way.”
Jung says it’s this distancing that makes the introverted thinking type exceedingly difficult to know, because
“everything about him tends to disappear and get concealed. His judgment appears cold, inflexible, arbitrary, and ruthless, (and it) always bypasses the object and leaves one with a feeling of the subject’s superiority. He may be polite, amiable, and kind, but one is constantly aware of a certain uneasiness betraying an ulterior motive - the disarming of an opponent.”
In other words, these types are easily misunderstood as aloof or proud, when their brains are wired to solve problems applying universal principles and withdrawing from the world and everyone in it.
Jung also describes introverted thinking types as socially awkward and painfully anxious, uninterested in anyone liking them or their ideas, and yet completely vulnerable to being exploited by others.
“Ambitious women have only to know how to take advantage of his cluelessness in practical matters to make an easy prey of him”.
His ideas also make sense in his head, but are a lot harder to explain or translate into actual products or objects. Generally speaking, people of these types are slow burners:
“casual acquaintances think him inconsiderate and domineering, but the better one knows him, the more favorable ones judgment becomes, and his closest friends value his intimacy very highly.”
The more one-sided this type is, the more rigid his thinking, and the greater his touchiness. He’ll try to protect himself by isolating, which tends to spiral him deeper, so it’s important to keep one foot grounded in the external world, and that this type surrounds himself with trustworthy friends.
So much for the function and the function attitude, now we’re moving into the flavor.
Dr. Nardi analyzed EEG data from his participants and found two distinct brain wirings. The one we’re looking at here is the holistic style, or flavor, which is focused on getting input and going with the flow. It’s more open ended, and looks like patience and relaxation.
That’s not to say it’s flaky, it considers all aspects at once, which allows it to connect ideas in fresh and new ways.
Its approach is bottom-up, open to discovery and synergy, wherever the data might lead.
People of this style like to find new tools and solutions, and are so aware of their biases they might lack the confidence to make a change.
The style is often more auditory.
It pays attention to how things are said, but also ethics, intentions, and emotions.
Thinking is often figurative and might focus on identity and values, and they often describe using metaphors.
In business, it’s more comfortable with an egalitarian and collaborative approach.
Likely careers for those with a holistic style include creative arts, social services, humanistic pursuits, soft sciences, and multiculturalism.
Dario calls the holistic introverted thinking type the “systemist”.
These types take multiple points of view and are more flexible in their perspectives.
They find patterns in the chaos and are familiar with and able to use multiple models when solving problems. As an aside, this is something I also probably should have mentioned in all the other posts, but for this type it becomes really clear to me, is that as we age, ideally we balance analytic and holistic versions of both our dominant and auxiliary or supportive functions to help us become more well-rounded adults. Again, Dario’s research suggests that our brain wires itself to the jobs we have and the things we do regularly, so for this and all other functions as well, the flavor with which you use them may depend on your career or hobbies at any given time.
And so, systemists notice how systems scale, how they interact, and instead of clinging to one definitive framework they broadly apply several principles in a fluid way.
They see people, art, nature, and technology as all inter-related, and are happy to discuss different opinions, which makes them appear more open and approachable than their analytic siblings.
If holistic introverted Thinking is less developed, their brains might feel quite scattered. But with time and maturity, they understand and find leverage in the messiness of life.
Caveats for the relationship information:
I want to preface this and the following posts by saying that all types can and do have relationships with all other types. Just like you wouldn’t hire an employee based on their type, you shouldn’t choose a partner solely based on their type either, because yes, it explains a lot, but people are much more complex than that. Still, type is the best framework I know to understand, and then bridge our differences, no matter who you’re with.
Also, to my knowledge, there is no reliable statistical research into people’s types and sexual preferences as yet, so what I suggest may or may not resonate. However, if you’d like to take part in such research, please email me.
in dating
You’re probably attracted to their intellect, and find their quirkiness charming. I think introductions from friends are a great way to get together and once you know each other a bit, then you might venture out alone, go for a walk, and talk all night about the life, the universe, and everything.
Again, Jung described this type as having “a vague fear of the feminine sex” so you might have to be the one making the first move, but this could also refer to their general discomfort with emotional displays. Remember Jung wrote his insights 100 years ago when society was much more clearly delineated by gender.
If you’re an introverted thinking type and were raised as a woman, you’ve also been battling against societal expectations. If men of this type are misunderstood, women are even more so, and there’s a short research paper that discusses INTP women across cultures, which you can find in the resources list.
in mating
Introverted thinking types are really comfortable in their heads, and with many ideas or problems, it’s enough for them to tinker and think it through, without then having to go out and actually produce or make something.
All that to say, the sexual act itself may not hold much interest, if they can feel the loving relationship connection through conversation or time spent together in non-sexual ways. On the other hand, they can also understand sex as a meaningful part of the system that is your relationship, in which case they’ll make it a point to develop competence and might be open to exploring different pleasure avenues.
Where Sensation and intuition are about experiencing and fantasizing, this is at its core a rational judging function, so in a way, sex has to make sense. And if you’re not also a dominant introverted thinking type, discussing the merits of physical intercourse can seem unusual, but that’s why we have this type framework to give us the language to do so while appreciating one another’s differences.
in relating
as partners, holistic introverted thinking types are unlikely to be the life of a party, but 1:1 they’ll likely focus a lot of their attention on you and regale you with all the interesting tidbits they read or learned or experienced that day.
Since they're pretty detached observers, they’ll help you sort through any friend and family drama you relay to them with a good sense of humor, and also tell you straight up where you should be more logical and less emotional.
I’ll also repeat what I mentioned yesterday, that these types may often feel misunderstood. In part, because they genuinely don’t realize that they didn’t actually have all their conversations with you out loud but maybe only in their heads.
Again, this information is meant as an overview of the function and its flavor, it cannot describe all the nuances and individual idiosyncrasies - but I hope you now have a better idea.
If you think you are a holistic introverted thinking type, or have a partner who is, I’d love to hear from you!
PS: Interested in something more tailored to you and your relationship, but not ready for coaching? I'd still love to support you! Here are some resources you might find helpful:
🎥 Your Core Type -> Self-Discovery Video ($47)
