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ENTJ and INTJ personality types: What’s the difference?

Even though there’s only one letter difference between ENTJ and INTJ, the differences in personality are rather drastic. Want to learn more about the difference between ENTJ vs INTJ?

Though there’s only one letter difference between the MBTI types ENTJ and INTJ, those two letters affect how the other letters interact and are shown to the outside world. How the letters interact with each other is what we call type dynamics. You can learn more about type dynamics by taking the official assessment at MBTIonline.com or if you’ve already taken the assessment, simply log in to MBTIonline.com and search the term type dynamics. We won’t cover everything here, just the basics for now.

You probably already know that someone with an MBTI type of ENTJ has a preference for Extraversion. They gain energy by being around people and interacting with others. They like to “bounce ideas off you” and “think outloud.”

Someone with the MBTI type of INTJ has a preference for Introversion. By contrast, they get their energy not from being around other people but by spending time alone thinking and processing things internally. But there’s more to it than that.

Each of the 16 personality types has a favorite function, also sometimes called a dominant function.

Think of this favorite function as your personality superpower. It’s the strongest part of your personality, and also the most developed. It’s your go-to when you need to solve a problem, and the most conscious of all the functions.

You extravert certain parts of your personality and introvert other parts of your personality

Here’s where the fun begins. Extraversion and Introversion are more than just a preference. When you start to understand more about personality type, you learn these preferences actually act like verbs instead of nouns. Depending on your personality, you extravert certain parts of your personality and introvert other parts of your personality. (We go into this more in depth in our eBook – The Ultimate (and official) Guide to Extraversion and Introversion). Your favorite function, for example, will either be extraverted (expressed outwardly for other people to see) or introverted (expressed inward, basically it happens in your mind, and others can’t see it happening).

For people who have a preference for ENTJ, their favorite function is extraverted Thinking. This means that when they’re making decisions, they’re discussing it with others and often directing the group decision making. Because extraverted Thinking is the strongest part of their personality and it’s extraverted, it’s the part people are most likely to notice and is probably considered a strength for that person with ENTJ preferences.

For people who have a preference for INTJ, their favorite function is introverted Intuition. This means that when they’re taking in information and learning new things by connecting the dots and seeing patterns, it’s all happening internally and they’re probably not sharing all these thoughts with the people around them. They rely on focused, complex inner maps of ideas of the present and future.

Ready for the kicker? The INTJ’s second favorite function is extraverted Thinking and the person with ENTJ preferences’ second favorite function (sometimes called the auxiliary function) is introverted Intuition.

Want to learn more about your four-letter MBTI type, your personality superpower, type dynamics and more? Take the official MBTI assessment now at MBTIonline.com.