Other Personality Theory

Lenore Thomson's Descriptions of Cognitive Functions

For descriptions of Socionics information elements see this link, for functions click here.
Lenore Thomson's type profiles.

Introduction and Short Descriptions

Conflicting ways of assigning meaning

Humans have four fundamental ways of giving consciously understood meaning to what they experience--which we will call "functions". Each of them can be used in a way that is independent of or grows out of socially accepted beliefs and morals--that is, in an Introverted or an Extraverted attitude. Each combination of function + attitude provides the vocabulary and ground rules for developing an epistemological and ethical perspective on life. No one of them, however, provides enough for a full life that incorporates all your potential, talents, and callings.

Each way of assigning meaning leads to very different conclusions in everyday life about what is trustworthy and what is important. It is not possible to develop a coherent, functioning self by holding all of the perspectives in a balanced manner. As people become adults, they usually develop their epistemological and ethical perspectives along one pattern of assigning meaning. This is a person's Dominant Function.

Eventually, they reach difficulties in their lives that cannot be resolved within the rules of the Dominant Function. At this time, they need to turn to an alternative way of making sense of things that modifies their dominant attitude without nullifying it. This natural alternative attitude is the person's Secondary Function. It's natural partly because we've been developing it all along. Extraverts have been using their secondary attitude to hold a piece of themselves in reserve--to cultivate a perspective that enables them to respond in ways not obviously dictated by their situation. Introverts have been using their secondary attitude to cultivate a definite place for themselves in the world.

Introverted Function Attitudes

The Introverted perspectives draw upon our innate, inherited potential to think and understand, without regard to present-day opportunities or social conventions.

Introverted Sensation (Si) tunes you in to the chaos, unpredictability, and unknowability of the concrete world, leading you to value whatever few signs you can find that have stable meaning. For example, the stripes of tabby cats might hold a particular meaning for you, and you might come to treasure that. As an epistemological perspective, Si leads you to view anything from outside a familiar context as dangerous and untrustworthy. You are in tune with the fact that nearly all possibilities lead to destruction. For example, if you're designing an airplane, nearly all combinations of the variables fail. Of the possible combinations of wingspan, wing placement, wing shape, fuselage shape, and so on, there is only a tiny subset that make an aerodynamically workable plane--and then only if you get a whole lot of other things just right, too. All of life is like that, only much more complicated. We live only in the small islands of the world that we've grown up with and are suited to us. And we can't possibly know why these small islands are relatively safe. As an ethical perspective, Si leads you to protect the integrity of the things and signs that we depend on. This usually takes the form of setting up barriers against the unpredictable. For example, saving for a rainy day (hardships come at unpredictable times) or inspecting buildings for fire safety (so people can trust that "being inside a building" is a sign of safety against the elements). Within these barriers, where all is trustworthy and familiar, we can survive and enjoy what is precious to us--for a while.

Introverted Intuition (Ni) focuses on what is inexpressible--the incommensurable and chaotic things that exist outside of any conceptual framework. For example, what do you hear in the theme-and-variations ...

Personality Types
ENFJ, INFP, ISTJ, ISFP - many know these are the short-hand designations for the 16 Personality Types popularized by Isabel Myers and her successors fascinated by the theory of personality originally postulated by psychologist Carl Jung. But less well known is that there is an order and organization to these letters code.

The middle two letters of the Personality Type Code refer to what Isabel Myers and Psychologist Carl Jung called the "mental functions" (Sensing, Intuition, Thinking, and Feeling). These functions or mental processes are divided into two categories: perceiving ...

Common mistakes people make when studying MBTI:

Cognitive functions are not tools, skillsets, or behaviors that can be improved or learned. They are passive perspectives through which one perceives information. Think of yourself as a "photographer" and your mind as a "camera". The functions could be seen as different "colored filters". People of each type combines several of these colored filters (functions) to achieve a unique shade in which the world appears to them.

There is no such thing as being borderline J/P, T/F, or S/N. These are not sliding scales though some tests misrepresent them as so. These letters that compose the 4-letter type code are representative of an underlying order of cognitive functions. It is these cognitive functions that define the type. For example, valued cognitive functions of type INFJ are Ni,Fe,Ti,Se while cognitive functions of type INTJ are Ni,Te,Fi,Se. If you take a look at the middle functions of these two types they are different: Fe,Ti vs Te,Fi. What this means is that INFJs extravert their feeling and introverted logic, while INTJs extraverted their logic and introvert their feeling. Thus one cannot be a "borderline" INxJ type.

'J' and 'P' letters do not represent any cognitive functions in themselves. They stand for "Judger" and "Perceiver" which is decided by type's highest order extraverted function. All types that extravert a Je function (Fe or Te) as their dominant or auxiliary are Judging or J-types. All types that extravert a Pe function (Ne or Se) as dominant or auxiliary are Perceiving or P-types.

J/P letters do not operate on a sliding scale, thus you cannot be "borderline J/P". Types that differ in their last letter are completely different in their cognitive functions. Changing the last letter changes all of the cognitive functions. For instance, INFJ's cognitive functional line-up is Ni,Fe,Ti,Se while for INFP's it is Fi,Ne,Si,Te. Even though their 4-letter codes differ only by the last letter, these two types share no functions in common and are very different. In studying types, it is better to conceptualize them in ...

Form of the Inferior Functions

Introduction:

Inferior function is an attitude that is pushed out of consciousness as one develops dominant function, however, it still exerts a powerful influence on the person. It leads one to try to fulfill neglected needs, but in ways that clash with the rest of the person's life, experiences, and self-understanding. It confronts you with strange goals that you don't know how to attain. It "floods" you with motives and emotions you may not understand because you cannot easily discern this mode of perception. Attempting to view the world through Inferior Function will conflict with your life investments, ego, and identity that you have built with your dominant function. In other words, by using your inferior function, you are stepping outside of the criteria you have previously defined for yourself. In its usual state, the inferior function is suppressed by the dominant function. Inferior function is thus expressed infrequently but typically in a forceful, all-or-nothing manner.

When you perceive through your inferior function, the dominant function is metaphorically speaking "tied up". The dominant function can work in tandem with the secondary function, or with the tertiary function, but not so easily with the inferior function. If you shift focus to your inferior function when your dominant function is 'on' full blast, your dominant function will usually re-take control through the Tertiary Temptation, unless your secondary function intercedes with a new perspective. There are other explanations of why the dominant function and the inferior function clash:

• People don't focus on information coming from their Inferior Function because they know that it isn't their strong point - they cannot discern information well in this area. It feels strange and unfamiliar. People may feel like they are being childish when trying to express themselves in grip of their inferior function, and no one will take them seriously. They feel like they are not going to make much of an impact.
• People don't rely on information coming from their Inferior Function directly because they don't want to compromise their world view and how they perceive and feel about themselves.

Notes: The following series of excerpts was taken from Naomi Quenk's book "Was That Really Me? How Everyday Stress Brings Out Our Hidden Personality". They describe possible manifestations of one's inferior function, which is the weakest valued function in the psyche that corresponds to the archetype of anima or animus in Jungian analysis. (In Socionics, inferior function most closely correlates to suggestive function.)

Related articles and topics:

MBTI Tests and Resources
Lenore Thomson's Descriptions of Cognitive Functions
Jung's Theory of Psychological Type: Lenore Thomson Interview
MBTI: Foundations and Personality Types
MBTI: Experiencing Different Function-Attitudes
MBTI: A Closer Examination of Feeling & Thinking
MBTI: Functional Descriptions by J. H. van der Hoop
Cognitive ...

Individuation and Differentiation of Functions

“The first half of life is devoted to forming a healthy ego, the second half is going inward and letting go of it.”
― C.G. Jung

An age-old question which most people have pondered at some point in their lives is "why are we the way we are"? Unfortunately, I can't clue you in on the answer to that question in a really authoritative way, but I can tell you about work that has been done to determine how people's Personality Types are developed.

The more recent studies done around Temperament suggest that ...