#function loops

If you have lost your second function and it is not part of your decision-making process, then you are in a loop. If you are simply learning to use your tert-function and it is interacting with your dominant and second functions, you are growing into your third function. For example, at work I can switch over into Te, break down tasks and organize them for efficiency’s sake, to get things done, but I am still operating off a sense of what I most value and my work ethic (Fi) with an emphasis on the people involved in the situation. That’s a normal use of all three of my dominant functions (actually four, if you count the fact that at work I need to focus on and not forget to handle the details for my clients). If I had access to neither Fi nor Si, I would be in a loop. If you can switch between  your higher functions and even your lower ones, you’re not looping.

Usually all you can see is either one or two functions, or one function,with the assumption (if there’s no trauma) that the writers did not create awell-rounded character. The more poorly written the character, the harder theyare to type, because they are not fleshed out or are inconsistent. Worse iswhen the inconsistency is to create a conflict in the narrative, so you have acharacter acting out of character, just to generate a plot line. (I won’t namenames. :P) Well-written characters become consistent enough that you can guesswhat they will do in various situations, based on their baseline personality.And their choices should always be consistent with their baseline personality,unless an extreme circumstance forces them to panic.

If you’ve got a character you think is in a loop, look at them for evidenceof which function is more mature and which one is less mature. An INFP in aloop will have strong Fi and weak Si (bad with details and awareness ofreality, but adamant that NOTHING CHANGE in their life / environment). If youknow what Fi-dom looks like, opposed to Fi-tert, and you have enough evidenceto type them, go ahead and just mention that they seem to be a poorly developedcharacter or in a loop. Sometimes you also run into characters like ChristopherRobin (INFP) who are in the grip, but throughout the narrative, come back intoeasily accessing and using their higher functions properly.

Generally, run with the answer that requires the least amount of explaining.

Function loops are when the middle function is not influencing the looper at all, which means they’re imbalanced and either totally extroverted with no internal focus and/or considerations (an extroverted loop) or cut off from the outside world and lost in their head (introverted loop). Basically, a loop for an introvert gets nothing done; a loop for an extrovert involves reactive behaviors and manic results-oriented (impulsive) decisions.

So, an ENTJ in a loop suddenly becomes impulsive and wants everything to happen right now – Te is still doing its job, but Se is picking up the absent Ni slack, which means: misjudging situations, leaping on bad opportunities, or over-indulging sensory desires. If Ni were doing its job, the ENTJ would pursue nothing that does not enrich its life or push it toward its greater TeNi goals.

Functions should be regularly interacting all day long, each one stepping up to handle situations that require thinking, feeling, sensing, and intuition. They work in pairs / the axis, and you can only use ONE of an axis at a time. So, if you’re in Fi, Te is not present for the moment. Most of the time, when you’re not looping, your f/t and s/n axis are working together, flickering back and forth as necessary. So, f decides what has personal (or greater social) value and t decides how to go about it. N sees more, S focuses on the needs of the present.

So, continuing with the ENTJ example – on a daily basis, Te is organizing the external world and the people in it to achieve tangible goals, checking to see that it achieves what it sets out to achieve, and that it’s doing so in a factual, direct, and efficient manner. Ni is keeping its eye on the end result, absorbing information and pulling it in or pushing it away from its vision. Se is taking action and absorbing information that will help (or hinder) TeNi. Fi knows what it wants, and hums in the background, ensuring Te makes the right choices.

Yes, they could mistype. If a character is in a loop, I have to look for signs of inferior function problems and at how ‘stable’ the higher functions are.

The higher the function, the more stable it ought to be; if a character / person is not often dwelling on previous information but starts to all of a sudden or has an irrational or incorrect or hazy view of the past, placed in self-blame or self-doubt, Fi/Si is more likely due to a Fi-dom’s tendency to self-blame, and their shaky view of ‘what actually happened.’ Since NPs have less Si, their perceptions about events, situations, and people is less meticulous and constructed than a Si-dom’s careful gathering of information. When they look into the past, they chase ghosts – fragments of perceptions.

If the character or individual is refusing to or unable to move forward out of fear, inferior Ne is likely the motivator, with the result that what is ‘familiar’ and ‘stable’ dominates their decisions more than their emotions (looping ISTJ). The inferior Ne perception that the future is unknown and scary could be rooting them in place. Plus, since their feeling function is lower, it will be less stable than their Si, just as Si is with a Fi-dom. So, unstable lower emotions may seem like ‘unreasonable’ emotions – over-reacting to something normally they would take in stride, becoming fixed on a moral objective, etc.

I think one really excellent current example of an emotional ISTJ is the lead in ITV’s Victoria. She takes an emotional stand on issues that to me, are nothing to get upset about – because her lower Fi feels “threatened.” (I have to smile, because most of the time, my STJ mother is cheering her on and saying, “YOU TELL THEM, VICKI! DON’T LET THEM BOSS YOU LIKE THAT!”) Her husband is an ISFP instead of an INFP, but you’ll notice how much more ‘stable’ his ethics and emotional responses are, in contrast with her heightened feelings; where she becomes emotional, he doesn’t, and vice versa (all his over-reactions relate to his lower Te and his need to feel ‘useful’).

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