The Misanthropic INTJ

[Jgib5328]

Do you believe that misanthropy is prevalent (relatively) in INTJs? I've always had a strong hatred for society and people in general, and I usually think and say bad things about them. Is this common? or is it just me?

I've also always had the 'me vs. the world' dichotomy too, I think it kinda goes with that as well.

[TheUngoverned]

Hey,
This is my first post in this forum but I decided to join it to get answers to questions just like this. I, for one, do not have an answer to whether or not misanthropy is prevalent within INTJs, but I can speak for myself.

All of my closest friends consider me a cynical misanthrope when I tell them what I consider to be the obvious truth about the world. I, on the other hand, consider myself to be one of the few truely object and rational thinkers that I know of. From what I understand about INTJs (admittedly very little), this would be a logical consequence of our most prominent thought process. This appears to be logical analysis of the world and its intuitive application without the faintest hint of emotion or feelings (due to the fact that these would invalidate any gathered data on a subject). This is considered cold by the rest of society, whether or not it is actually scientifically correct.

In short, you (most likely) and I think differently from the average person, we will be less likely to come to the same conclusions as them and conflict is bound to arise in certain situations. From this conflict, we can either turn our backs on them or try to find a workable solution. I just try to moderate it best I can and to understand what others think (even if it seems blatantly wrong) because Im wrong sometimes, too.

Misanthropic, no.
Misunderstood, yes.

[Zilal]

I consider myself pretty kindly and harmonious for an INTJ, and I'm still slightly misanthropic. I used to find myself having the recurring fantasy that I'd wake up one morning and everyone else on earth would be gone, and I could just explore alone for the rest of my life.

[Zunite]

I consider myself pretty kindly and harmonious for an INTJ, and I'm still slightly misanthropic. I used to find myself having the recurring fantasy that I'd wake up one morning and everyone else on earth would be gone, and I could just explore alone for the rest of my life.

Yup, I have that same fantasy sometimes.

[Doppelbock]

I have a bit of a misanthropic streak in me, and I too have had the same "last person on earth" fantasy. In fact I posed the "last person on earth" situation as a thought experiment on my blog a few weeks back:

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DB

[the natural]

There's this movie out, "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" about someone who could only communicate by blinking one eye (wrote a book amazingly, with the help of a program that allowed him to scroll through and select letters, organized by most commonly used). Everyone was saying, wow, wouldn't that be awful. I thought, it wouldn't be so bad. At least you could have some peace and quiet and not be expected to engage in small talk with idiots all day long.

[Jgib5328]

There's this movie out, "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" about someone who could only communicate by blinking one eye (wrote a book amazingly, with the help of a program that allowed him to scroll through and select letters, organized by most commonly used). Everyone was saying, wow, wouldn't that be awful. I thought, it wouldn't be so bad. At least you could have some peace and quiet and not be expected to engage in small talk with idiots all day long.

I'd rather die than be in that situation. Like I do like people sometimes and I like hanging out, it's just people in general that bother me. I don't have any specific hatred.

[quixotic]

I would say that most people would see some aspects to being the last person on earth as being positive. People like me who just graduated from college might appreciate the release from financial burden or obligation, others might enjoy the serene sounds of silence, etc. I think it's more appropriate to figure out what it is about being the last person on earth that is so appealing rather than using the broad label of 'misanthropic'.

[RoqueBear]

Misanthropic can describe me pretty well some times. Its isn't atypical to hear me say "God I hate people" when I get frustrated. I normally don't get frustrated with ideas, concepts or things. They're like puzzles which will eventually fall into place given the time.

People on the other hand can be so random, counter productive and just anti logic in general. When I get that way, I'm quick to judge and have total apathy for leaving someone behind...

[pletharoe]

I'm not overtly misanthropic. Although more often than not, I find myself dispairing at the short sighted, illogical, selfish and "emotion based" decision making of the masses.

My explanation:
Since INTJs constitute only about 1% of the population and we have such revolutionary / innovative / abstract ways of decision making as well as a particularly stubborn streak. It's inevitable that we are going to clash with 99% of the people we meet.

How should we deal with this?
If the whole world were INTJ, then there wouldn't be a need for us to solve any problems... someone else would have done it for us already! We need to accept that sometimes (OK, a lot of the time) people are stupid. But that's them being human and us being robots! We need to find ways of coping with their stupidity and relish the challenge of improving them!

[pavman]

Yes. Although I tend to think this stems from the fact that we don't tend to like large groups of people/friends (that IN part of us), coupled with this idea that we tend to be much more thoughtful about situations (NT), and finally tied to our judgemental (J) nature and our ability to stand outside of the situation and observe it objectively. I notice I have a very high rate of contingency planning, which maybe explains why I come off as misanthropic.

I also notice that a great many people think I'm arrogant, when the truth is that I'm pretty dam humble (IMHO). :o)

I will say this... I'm usually optimistic and open-minded about almost everything, and give people a number of "benefits of the doubt;" however, I've gotten more forgiving over time with the apparent weaknesses in others.

Think this site kind of sums up this aspect of our personality:
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Personal relationships, particularly romantic ones, can be the INTJ's Achilles heel. While they are capable of caring deeply for others (usually a select few), and are willing to spend a great deal of time and effort on a relationship, the knowledge and self-confidence that make them so successful in other areas can suddenly abandon or mislead them in interpersonal situations.

This happens in part because many INTJs do not readily grasp the social rituals; for instance, they tend to have little patience and less understanding of such things as small talk and flirtation (which most types consider half the fun of a relationship). To complicate matters, INTJs are usually extremely private people, and can often be naturally impassive as well, which makes them easy to misread and misunderstand. Perhaps the most fundamental problem, however, is that INTJs really want people to make sense. :-) This sometimes results in a peculiar naivete', paralleling that of many Fs -- only instead of expecting inexhaustible affection and empathy from a romantic relationship, the INTJ will expect inexhaustible reasonability and directness.

[AgentofGaming]

I'm not really misanthropic.
I like what humankind has created.
I just think it could have been done better and that there are inherent flaws in human nature.

Also my encounters with most people tend to be positive.
Systems of bureaucracy not so much.