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Type five is the most mentally intense, and fives make maximum use of their intellectual capacities. Fives almost always think before they act, whereas many other types think only in the aftermath. The scientific method comes naturally to fives, in that they like to generate hypotheses which are then tested with intensity and focus. At best, thinkers are excellent investigators, sharp observers, and have good foresight, defusing problems before others even notice them.
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Fives are also highly independent, and can work for years on their own interests without encouragement or recognition - this need for privacy can be so strong that others have no idea what the five is really working on until it is finished and unveiled. Some of the greatest minds in history were fives whose ideas were decades, even centuries ahead of their contemporaries.Unfortunately, this independence means that fives tend to become socially isolated.
Unhealthy fives do not like communicating, put off others to preserve their mental independence, and to avoid giving away for free their hard-earned insights. Unhealthy fives also develop a cynical worldview, which only intensifies their isolation and bitterness. Their independence makes their thinking very idiosyncratic, which can either lead to brilliance or weirdness, or both.
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As with all the types, fives can make the effort to transcend this pitfall of their personality. Thinkers that do make this effort can become as brilliant socially as they are in anything else, but in a mentally sharp way that distinguishes them from more naturally social types, like 2 or 3.As with any other types, different fives come across in many different ways - some are intellectually arrogant, while others are very kind and thoughtful.
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The thinking of type five is unusually free from the expectations of others, and from the traditions of the past - hence fives are unusually able to reach historical greatness in mental arenas, much as type eight (the Leader) is able to reach historical greatness in action-oriented activities.
Famous examples: Newton, Charles Darwin, Frederich Nietsche, Karl Marx, Wolfgang von Goethe. Many people think Einstein is a 5, but I think he was a 9w8, because of his easy-going nature, which contrasts with the more provocative mind of the 5. See the article I wrote about Einstein.
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