Tcaudilllg, the very same terminological mess that we have here exists in Russian socionics, with surprisingly few people distinguishing between
in the psyche (i.e. the psychic function) and
in reality (i.e. the information aspect). The term "information element" is used by some, but "aspect" is more prevalent. I decided back then that the English word "aspect" doesn't quite have the same breadth of meaning, and so chose "element."
Last year I talked to the heads of the socionics institute in Kiev about this, and they said they just made an administrative decision early on that their journal would use a certain terminology, and have been enforcing it since. They encouraged me to do the same. If I were a
type, perhaps I would have an easier time of getting everyone to use the "right" terminology!
Funny thing is, I approached a couple other socionists about this issue as well, to try to find out their terminology for "
as a mental module in the psyche" versus "
as a component of information". They couldn't quite grasp the question and started telling me about something else! Mironov told me that he refers to both as "aspects of information" -- which really is a terrible term for describing a mental process! Only the socionics institute understood what I was getting at. They use "information aspect" or "aspect of information" to describe components of information (e.g. "
in the world") and "function" to describe the mental module (function was Jung's original term, and it makes the most sense linguistically).
But, now there's an issue with two different uses of the word "function," because there's also the use of "leading function," "creative function," etc. I think this is less of a problem. It makes complete sense to say, for instance, "the function of
is my leading function."
JRiddy, yes, in your first paragraph I think you understand correctly. At least that's the assumption Augusta made; she wanted to distinguish the psyche from the information it was processing. She didn't use specifically this metaphor, but she essentially viewed reality as a huge feast consisting of different kinds of information and stimuli, which the psyche could selectively pick and choose from to satisfy its needs. Someone else could come by and pick different dishes of the feast, not paying attention to the parts you favored.