Guest Post by Occam’s Chainsaw, INTJ

Criminal Minds

Dominant Extroverted Thinking (Te): Derek has a rational approach to the world, preferring logic to feelings whenever he has to make a choice. When they get a call or they are provided new information about the case, he’s among the first ones to react, wanting to take decisive action to find a solution, not out of mere impulsiveness. He wants to cut to the core of things and solve things as fast as possible, no matter the cost. He gets impatient when they were misled or when the investigation is stuck, because it makes him feel ineffective, and there are not many things that could frustrate strong Te users more than inefficiency. Derek wants to find the quickest solution to get rid of the problem as soon as possible. He can be blunt when it comes to stating facts, but since his Fi has developed over the years, Derek knows when to shut up and keep his inspections to himself.

Auxiliary Introverted Intuition (Ni): On a crime scene, Derek is the one to start saying, “I am the killer. I want _____, and in order to do that, I have to ______”. This is the same what Will Graham does, but not to that insane extent, hence Derek won’t be driven crazy by this skill. He reanimates the scenario, walking around, feeling his way through it (Se) to get a holistic comprehension of what must have happened, all the while also seeing what he’s talking about in front of his mind’s eyes. He doesn’t care about exploring possibilities, rather his priority is shutting out every unlikely theory to reach the one ultimate truth. He never fails to catch on to Garcia’s jokes and come up with a witty response on his own. Derek always has a plan, but him acting on them is viewed as impulsiveness by his teammates at times.

Tertiary Extroverted Sensing (Se): Derek is a very strong Se user—he will notice every detail that doesn’t fit, anything that’s odd and is potential evidence to catch the murderer. He can handle weaponry very well, and has an eye to tell what bullet caused the wound. Derek loves sports—he was a star player back at high school, and he got admitted to tertiary education with a football scholarship. (He had to quit when his knee got injured.) He has great spatial vision, making it child’s play for him to find his way even in unknown areas, such as a forest. His primary focus (stemming from Te) can make him impulsive at times and thus, foil his Ni. After losing his father, Derek started exhibiting behavioural problems, earning himself a juvenile record—he fell into a loop.

Inferior Introverted Feeling (Fi): His career choice may have been based on his unconsciously operating inferior function, which makes him eager to help people. Derek hates to cry in front of his friends (even before those to whom he’s close), and he shows discomfort when the others dig into his past, ignoring Derek’s protests to leave his private life alone. He can always sympathize with the victims’ alive relatives/friends—Derek will do anything to comfort them in a way, e.g. staying for the funeral of a father. In this case, he had direct personal experience; he lost his father in early childhood, too (witnessing as he was shot to death), just like the little kid shown at the end of the episode.