difference from shyness, INTJ?

What is the difference between general shyness or social phobia and Asperger's? Also, how does it differ from an INTJ Myers-Briggs type?

Dang... pop quiz!
I am aspi but outgoing. I was considered shy growing up because they didn't know I was aspi. I would try to connect to people but was socially awkward and would mess up. Being a perfectionist and not liking to have people unhappy with me I just stopped trying to engage.
A lot of Dr.s have tried to put the social phobia label on me. However, I LOVE public speaking on a variety of topics I know well. I have presented nationally at major conferences to minor trainings and marketing. In my marketing job my favorite responsibility was when I got to go to the conference and be at our booth. If it is a topic of interest I LOVE to engage people in conversation (OK, more likely lecture) about it.
I forgot what I came up with on the myers briggs... wish I could remember. It was one of the less common combinations... However, each of my scores for the four domains was within two of the median score... So I didn't score strongly at any of the types. The MBTI also was not validated to aspis so the questions my influence our outcomes. We interpret language very literally and so many tests are not written in a way that produces accurate results. From a psychometrics perspective you have to be an exquisite writer to design statements that will be reliable and valid within the aspi population. However, having worked on a team that did this, we discovered that it increased reliability and validity for the nurotypical population as well. In the MBTI the way the questions are worded I do come out as an introvert but if the questions were worded differently there would be room to see that in many situations I am an extrovert.

I would be curious to see what other Aspis came out as on the MBTI.

I have found however, other, more complex ways of boxing people up that I prefer to the MBTI.

Due to my aspi I find that different means of "typing" people or putting them in boxes makes it easier to know how to interact with them. I use Satir and her people sculpting work, learning theory, language use analysis, Systems theory, analysis of behavior and others... this however creates more than the tidy 16 boxes of the MBTI.

I'm not an aspie, but I'm an INTJ & felt I should interject! From my understanding & to put it in the simplest way: Shyness/social phobia is a fear or embarassment of interacting with others, asperger's is an inability to understand social graces but does not always deter one from interacting, & interoversion is the lack of interest in sociability. Hope that helped. : )

Are there shy extroverts?

Is Forrest Gump Aspergic? I was told by a mental health professional that Forrest is the classic Asperger's.

Forrest Gump would not be the first person to come to mind as aspi. I would argue that he is actually a really bad example as he had cognitive deficits that are not often seen in aspis.
If you are in the US CBS Big Bang Theory... Sheldon Cooper is aspi. The young guy on Criminal minds is also likely aspi.

Is Asperger's heriditary or due to one's environment? I score slightly above average, but below Asperger's levels, on autism tests, although many armchair psychologists I know have labeled me Asperger's. If I answered the test questions as a child, my autism test scores would be average for the population. I was an outgoing child and really into make pretend with friends, but became isolated as a teen due to change in appearance and hostile environment including being bullied at school.

Aspergers is not a learned set of behaviors or something that can be "created" (like PTSD). Exact causes are unknown. I do believe that one of the diagnostic criteria is that it was evident in early childhood, usually before the age of 3.

Watching Sheldon on YouTube, he seems a combination of Star Trek's Data (not understanding human emotions or sarcasm), SNL's church lady (rigid and proper), and Odd Couple's Felix (organized). There's also the Rain Man, who's very interested in numbers, but he could be autistic versus Aspergers.

Being shy is generally thinking too much about what the others are thinking :-)

Social phobia is being too scared because one is thinking too much about what the others are thinking. Shy children can generally be coaxed to come forward and meet someone, if only while peeking from behind one's mother's back :-) Social phobics might have a panic attack if forced.

Asperger's is on the autism scale so is perhaps more the opposite almost, not thinking enough about other people but more interested in one's own internal world, one doesn't think to look at others and engage with them, being with one's own experiences is enough or they don't know how to engage with others and do better if others engage with them first and draw them out.

INTJ Myers-Briggs is just an "indicator"; someone prefers to do things alone versus with others, would rather read a book than go to a party, for example; but not necessarily because of the social aspect, the payoff just doesn't seem worth it.

Who wants to get dressed up and go all that way and talk to those people who will be drinking and I don't particularly know or care about, etc. (I'm INTJ :-) But if you have a family party, I'll go there without care; the shy person might be worried about meeting Aunt Jean again, she "looks" scary; the social phobic "knows" they all will be staring at her all the time and expecting her to say something; the one with asperger's is busy working on their collection and would rather keep working on it; Aunt Jean doesn't necessarily come into her thoughts, one way or the other.

It's possible to have more than one of these going on at once though; you could have a shy or social phobic INTJ but they wouldn't "overlap"; if you took away the shyness, the INTJ would still be INTJ (my husband is one and hasn't a "shy" bone in his body).

I'm not too shy, myself. With my small group of friends, I am tactless & I bear it all! I'm incredibly extroverted & charismatic. But... That is only with those friends. I don't really even so much as look at other people, let alone worry about what they think of me. They just exist on the same planet as I do, breathe the same oxygen, & that's the most we interact. : )
I've been told I have aspie features, but it's never presented a problem for me in daily functioning, therefore I have never felt the need to look into it.