View Poll Results: Do you believe your type changes during your life?

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  • Yes, it can change multiple times

    4 10.81%
  • Yes

    2 5.41%
  • Probably yes

    3 8.11%
  • I have no clue

    1 2.70%
  • Probably not

    10 27.03%
  • No

    17 45.95%
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Thread: Do you believe your type changes during your life?

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  1. #1
    Joy's Avatar
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    Allow me explain my musings a little...

    I haven't been around much for a while, but when I was, almost everyone was operating from the premise that each person has a type that he or she is born with, and that type never changes. Additional theories, such as subtype, are built on this premise. They further complicate types to explain variations beyond the basic 16 archetypes.

    Some other type theories suggest that brain chemistry is the basis of their types, specifically Enneagram if this article is any indication of that community's general consensus: http://www.enneagraminstitute.com/ar...p#.UmAilhDh7d4 However, as Scapegrace pointed out, our brain chemistry changes throughout our days and lives. Perhaps the brain chemistry issue isn't as simple as all of that as there are many more "brain chemicals" than just seratonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine, but in any case there seems to be more to one's type than that.

    What else is there to explain how our types are programmed into our psyche's before we're even born? Some line of genetic coding hidden in our DNA determining how our brains work? The same thing determines our eye color, shoe size, and sex. Yet eye color often changes during one's life, and there are people with two different eye colors. Some people have webbed toes, or six toes. There are people born with ambiguous genitalia. These are (with the exception of changing eye color) extreme examples of mutations, but they demonstrate that in the genetic coding that determines how a human will grow, there are many things that deviate from the standard variations.

    Socionics is a very tidy little hypothesis. It has a perfectly balanced models that fit snugly within perfectly balanced models. It's all very clever and symmetric and beautiful, like intricate geometric architecture. I propose that the human psyche is messier than all of that though. It's a natural thing. Socionics is a construct that attempts to explain common manifestations of information processing and their related outward characteristics, and perhaps most people fit well enough within these constructs and descriptions to make the theory seem pretty damn plausible. I think it's entirely plausible that there are plenty of natural deviations that don't fit cleanly into our pretty little system.

    Whether these things change over time or not is a bit of a different matter though I suppose. What I've said above speaks more to the heart of the matter I've been pondering though.

  2. #2
    escaping anndelise's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by William View Post
    I don't think types change. And I don't think the fact that our brains change through our lives means that our type changes.

    Is a 2-month carrot plant different than a 1-month carrot plant? Yes, definitely. It may be larger, may have grown stronger roots, etc. Is a 9-month carrot plant different than a 2-month carrot plant? What about a carrot plant that lives a year? Sure, it may have matured and grown seeds to reproduce and made a whole host of changes. But that carrot plant is definitely not broccoli. That carrot plant is definitely not corn. All of the changes it makes within its life are in concordance with its DNA as a carrot plant.

    The same is said with people. A 6-year old ENTp may change as he grows to 8, 10, 15, 22, 25, 31, 36, 45, 55, 61, 70, 75, etc. But just like the carrot plant, all the changes he undergoes will be within his DNA.

    I think Director Abbie summed it up best. 'Socionics is nature, not nurture.'

    I'm curious, Joy, about your motives for starting the thread, since it seems you haven't settled into a type. I believe it's possible for you to undergo a vast # of changes and be transformed into a completely different person. But I still think your core method of perceiving the world and perceiving information will be processed the same way, even if you train your brain to process things differently.
    This assumes that type is intimately related to dna,
    And ignores that environment will influence how some parts of dna express themselves.
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    escaping anndelise's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by William View Post




    Yes. That was my argument. Are you going to take a stance or just dance around the issue in an IEE fashion? Make the argument that it's not related if you want.



    No, it doesn't ignore this. You seemed to miss my point. My argument was how the DNA expresses itself DOES change, although the DNA itself is unchanged. Which... it seems you agree with... and it seems you just created a logical circle for no reason.
    Perhaps you didn't notice my post after the one you quoted.
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