What is the practical application of Socionics?

[discojoe]

No, of course there is not. Socionics is a theory. Some people use it to fool themselves. Other people use it to define themselves.

Blah blah blah.

Theory can still have practical implications. Socionics seems to. The problem is not Socionics, but rather how people attempt to implement it into their lives.

Socionics requires that you a) keep your distance from it so you don't become ensnared, b) keep it light and keep it intuitive, because it breaks under close scrutiny, just as a TV image loses clarity when you stick your face right up to the screen, c) that people who talk about it without using Ne or Ni be shunned and then ignored. Ne seems more suited to Socionics though, as Ni combined with Te tends to try and define things which can't be defined, which is like watching little kids trying to build the Tower of Babel.

[snowyc]

As with all knowledge, the only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing (Socrates).

For all intents and purposes I'm an INTj. Socionics is useful as a "knowledge base" though it needs to be balanced with human compassion and raw understanding of a person.

I'm in the process of learning to sacrifice what i know, or at least, think i know about people when actually getting to know them at face value. The same has to be said about intertype relations. Any "i told you so" awe moments of realisation should come later. All in all, it's all about getting the right balance between prior knowledge and raw understanding.

[Gilly]

Snowyc is absolutely right. You can't communicate with someone using JUST socionics, but it has its uses. Everything in moderation.

[Angel von Himmel]

I know a few people who use socionics to conquer women.

I find that hard to believe.

I don't ... I think they try, but it does not mean they are successful (though, I am not going to say that it can not help)

[indigoroom]

Ass-rape anyone that comes near you. Razz
Not really, actually. I guess that if you think that someone is manipulating you, don't be afraid to say, "No, I won't do that for you."

Yeah. It's just that it's like Gilligan said. Even if someone is blunt about it and if you know he is doing it right now it still causes "damage" not as much as if you don't know he is doing the trick on purpose just to make you feel bad. =) I don't know about pleasing someone to make him do something for you playing on the suggestive function or something. Anyway i'm pretty good at noticing people trying to get something from me and i think actually if someone is trying to use socionics knowledge it would be even more obvious to me because it will appear way more "fake".
back on topic.

[Cone]

Socionics is a nice theory and all...but do any of you actually find that it has practical applications?

Socionics never leaves my mind. The way I think and the way I live are two totally different things.

And actually, I personally am highly against the use of Socionics in any social way. Socionics for me is exactly how Rick explained it in his first point. Pure observation, a useless theory, although somehow highly addictive.

[MysticSonic]

I just find it fairly disturbing and perturbing that people attempt to apply it to social situations in a casual manner when their ability to effectively type others is sub-par. A bit dangerous, don't you think?

[Gilly]

Dangerous? No. Risky for me? Perhaps; I might make a fool out of myself. But other than that, I don't see any potential consequences.

[snowyc]

Pure observation, a useless theory, although somehow highly addictive.

Indeed. In a typical night club, I can't see how it's gonna make me any more confident. In fact it's already been detrimental twice. Rather then interact with someone for the first time purely at face value, in the back of the mind, Socionics theory is creeping in dictating whether I should act or not rather then just 'go with the flow' which is all that is really expected in a club.

Maybe it's an INTj thing but i find myself in a night club asking profound inner questions: what do women want, though more importantly, what do i want? Getting totally caught up with "mental masturbation" i.e. thinking too much about possible theoretical relationships without even experiencing them because I fail to acknowledge that maybe I'm just shy, weird INTj watching the movie of life and seldom living it.

Socionics is like Astrology. It is something fun to think about after a day's event and any awe moments of idenfication with a daily horoscope is, well, in my mind, useless coincidence.

[indigoroom]

In a typical night club, I can't see how it's gonna make me any more confident.

?!?! scan for activity partners, beneficiaries. but the thing is that you have to actually talk with them. socionics its not going to get you laid by itself.

Pure observation, a useless theory, although somehow highly addictive.

Hold on

anyway this whole thread is really shocking for me. it's almost 2 years and one of the brighters people around havent had even ONE IDEA how to make a practical use of socionics? intellectual masturbation FTW? you guys put me in despair i'm going to cut myself.

why dont you just look at MBTI and steal some ideas for practical use from there? yes MBTI is flawed but it can be a good source of ideas if you can't come up with your own.

[MysticSonic]

I know the possible practical applications, I'm just wary as to whether it should be used in relation to such things.

I especially dislike the idea of Socionics entering the realm of marriage counseling and the like. That's a truly disturbing prospect.

[snowyc]

Just think Socrates: true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.

I don't think it matters if you are social scientist or not. I believe everyone notices trends in people and stores this data into a personal knowledge base for future reference. It's like the old analogy: if you went to one bad restaurant, got food poisoned, spent time being treated for it, would you stop going to restaurants in general? I think Socionics attempts to give us some template for probable bad restuarants before committing to them which in itself is a paradox since the golden rule is feel, don't think.

Socionics perhaps, gives us more of a pun when we say "your not my Type for reason X, Y and Z".

[tcaudilllg]

I just find it fairly disturbing and perturbing that people attempt to apply it to social situations in a casual manner when their ability to effectively type others is sub-par. A bit dangerous, don't you think?

That depends. If you take crosstypes into account, then you usually don't screw up once you've typed them. It takes a lot more effort to determine whether someone is one of 81 possibilities as opposed to 16, but the reward is absolute insulation against any plausible form of charisma, "good looks", etc.

[Rick]

I'm surprised at all the negative answers to this question. I think it's from 1) not having an environment better than the Internet where you can actually talk about socionics, correct errors in understanding, and study it in real life with other people, and 2) having incomplete knowledge of socionics as a result of point #1, and 3) not being sure enough of your own and/or other people's types to the point where you'd be able to study how socionics works in practice.

To me it seems much better to know that someone is your dual than to not know, or to know that someone is your conflicter than to not know. You no longer have that feeling of not knowing what people are about or what might happen between you. You already know this to a great degree (though you never can know the details) and can create the distance you want faster than someone who is groping around in the dark trying to find "good people" who will like him.

As for potential socionics-based bigotry, I don't see that in intelligent people at all. Also, socionics already is used in marriage therapy in the former Soviet Union, and I haven't heard any negative feedback.

I think that for socionics to really bear fruit in someone's life, you'd need to take several steps:
1. discover your type and figure out how as much as you can about yourself through your type (gain and apply new self-knowledge)
2. discover your dual type and allow them to change you and help resolve the problems that led you to socionics in the first place. This may require a lot of concentrated effort on your part to become "useful" and interesting to your duals in the first place.
3. learn about and study your interaction with the other types and come to understand and use the potential of each intertype relation

This is just my opinion. Some people would scoff at these ideas, but I would answer simply by rephrasing them without the socionics terminology:

1. Find out as much as possible about your psychological mechanisms. Try to figure out how they work and why you are the way you are and do things the way you do.
2. Find people who complement you as much as possible and need you to be the way you are, and who have a suggestive effect on you. Let these people into your life so that they can help cause positive changes, resolve personal problems and complexes, and further your self-discovery.
3. Once you have gained self-confidence and a stable self-awareness, make forays into other kinds of relationships and study their potential.

In my opinion, nothing is better than socionics for giving you an idea of how to do these things. So, if these goals are what you want, why not use socionics to achieve them? No one will make you do it, and actually, hardly anyone cares how we feel in life anyways, so it's completely up to the individual.

[Rick]

I forgot something. Often people go through a stage of fanaticism. That's when socionics looks a bit scary and you hear things like, "you're not my type because I'm looking for J, not P." You just have to live through this, and it will usually go away by itself. Eventually the need to make other people learn your new vocabulary will go away and you'll resume speaking normal language and doing normal things again.

I can see how socionics can actually create additional problems for people who have never had relationships with the opposite sex, though. Usually these people need to relax their requirements for the opposite sex, not tighten them even further by adding additional type restrictions (especially when you aren't sure you're typing correctly!). In this scenario socionics just becomes an additional defense mechanism and a new way to justify one's overpickiness. It'd be best to get some experience first -- any experience! -- and then start thinking about socionics after you've got some experience in different relationships.

[tcaudilllg]

From my perspective, socionics--hell, typing in general--is best used not to resolve conflicts with other people, but rather to resolve conflicts in yourself. Disagreements with friendly people cause neuroses. Socionics lets you penetrate to the source of a neurosis by breaking down the divergent views of your friend into precise points of dissonance between your stronger and weaker functions. By allowing yourself to experience the views of the weaker functions, you can eliminate the neurosis in yourself and feel more confident.

But socionics will never turn an enemy into a friend. One's enemies are a natural consequence of having identity.

[snowyc]

Time for a quote:

"Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves." -- C. G. Jung

Absolutely agree about Neuroses. With Socionics we can self-diagnose how we are, in essence, ruining our own mental health with the way we act with certain people. In other words, taking on self-responsibility that it's not other people or society at large causing our problems, we are. Not all relationships are ideal thus we have to learn to live with each other peacefully at reasonable psychologically distances and not blame their existence for our own irritations with them.

[CuriousSoul]

Re: Socionics is a nice theory and all......but do any of you actually find that it has practical applications?

Stay away from your Benefactors. It is never going to work. That pretty much sums up the practical benefits for me...

[snowyc]

Tell me about it. I dislike asymmetrical relationships (benefit/supervision) for specific reasons.

My INFp benefactor is like someone i'm magically drawn to who undermines my independence. For example, i have details for a social evening, tell my benefactor and he then takes on full responsability as a social leader and i relinquish myself to his authority since by default i have the "short end of the stick" in this asymmetrical relationship.

[Functianalyst]

...but do any of you actually find that it has practical applications?

Best inquiry that I have seen in a long time. I think that reasons for wanting to learn about type tells you more about your best fit type than anything. I would have never looked into the subject, had my life continued to run smoothly or had I not found myself becoming stuck in a dead end job. I am clueless to anyone studying the subject without some form of practical application.