#function stack

How Do I Know If I’m an INTJ or an INTP?

The way these cognitive functions work together makes INTPs and INTJs similar in some ways and very different in others. They might seem near-identical times but their underlying thought patters and motivations don’t look nearly as much alike as you might think.

J/P is a little odd for introverted types

The J/P preference describes how people relate to the outer world. J-types extrovert their judging function (T or F), while P types extrovert their perceiving function (S or N). Since INTJs and INTPs are both introverted, they lead with a function oriented toward the inner world. This means INTJs are actually a dominant perceiving type and INTPs are a dominant judging type.

If you’re an INTJ, you’ll typically find your Intuitive side is the one that feels most comfortable. Pattern-recognition, big-picture thinking, and seeing things from multiple perspectives come naturally to you. You probably place a higher value on experiencing and understanding life than on controlling it. However, others may see you as being more organized and disciplined due to your extroverted judging function.

If you’re an INTP, you’ll typically find that your Thinking side is the one that is most comfortable. Making sense of things for yourself, typically using impersonal criteria, comes naturally to you. You probably like having things and ideas settled and decided even more than you like experiencing life as it happens. However, others may see you as more unpredictable and/or spontaneous due to your extroverted perceiving function.

Your co-pilot’s influence

INTJs and INTPs both have an Intuitive function and a Thinking function as the first two in their function stack. However, each type uses those functions differently and relies on them in a different order. We’ve already looked at their dominant functions, so now it’s time for the co-pilot.

If you’re an INTJ, you support your Intuition with a Thinking side that helps you relate to the outer world and made decisions. You probably notice it most when weighing impersonal criteria for decision-making, working with facts and data, or finding ways to explain your thought processes to other people. It’s not your most comfortable process, but you can get really good at using Extroverted Thinking if you take the time to grow and develop it.

If you’re an INTP, you support your Thinking with an Intuitive side that helps you understand the outer world. You probably notice it most when you’re learning and processing information because it helps you experiment and explore to discover how things connect and what is possible. It’s not your most comfortable process, but you can get really good at using Extroverted Intuition if you take the time to grow and develop it.

You use Thinking and Intuition differently

We talked about this point already when discussing the primary and co-pilot process. It’s worth spending more time on, though, because it’s one of the most important things to understand if you want to tell INTJs and INTPs apart.

In terms of Thinking, if you’re an INTJ then your Extroverted Thinking thrives when using objective data. Collecting facts, taking measurements, and solving practical problems are second-nature to you. For INTPs, the Introverted Thinking process is more subjective (i.e. “What makes sense to me?”). You tend to ask questions and formulate theories more readily than you focus on effective real-world implementations of ideas. This doesn’t mean INTJs never theorize or INTPs are never practical. It’s more about where your primary focus lies and how you most naturally think.

In terms of Intuition, INTJs use it so naturally they may not even realize how good they are at noticing patterns, switching perspectives, and figuring out what’s “behind the curtain.” Since Intuition is your primary function it’s the one you’re most comfortable with. For INTPs, Intuition is the co-pilot process and it’s outward focused. It makes you good at coming up with new ideas and brainstorming possibilities. The way INTPs experience Intuition tends to be more exploratory, while INTJs will be more like observers.

What happens in the loop

Our co-pilot process is not oriented the same way as our primary process (i.e. it’s extroverted for introverts and introverted for extroverts). Because we tend to be more comfortable with processes that work in our preferred world we often bypass our co-pilot process and try to use our tertiary process instead. This is called a “loop.” Here’s what it looks like for INTJs and INTPs:

If you’re an INTJ, you have Introverted Intuition as your primary function and Introverted Feeling as your tertiary. When you get into a “loop,” you become more preoccupied with your personal values system. You might even find yourself making decisions based on your emotions. If you spend too much time in this loop you may loose touch with your more logical side. This can lead to becoming withdrawn, self-righteous, and hypercritical of other’s values and beliefs.

If you’re an INTP, you have Introverted Thinking as your primary function and Introverted Sensing as your tertiary. When you get into a “loop,”you may get stuck focusing on past experiences and become hyper-attentive to real-world details. You may also want verifiable, sensory facts but struggle to process them. Spending too much time in the loop can get you caught-up in the past. This can lead to trouble processing past mistakes and moving forward into the future.

How you are under stress

When people are trying to find their best-fit personality type, they often focus on figuring out which cognitive function they’re most comfortable with. But the functions that you don’t use well can also provide clues as to what personality type you are. The inferior function (the lowest on a four-function stack) typically shows up when we’re stressed. You might also use it to take a break and relax, and it often shows up in our favorite hobbies.

If you’re an INTJ, stress can bring out your inferior Extroverted Sensing. When stressed-out, you can become obsessively focused on external data, overindulge in sensory pleasures (food, drink, shopping, etc), and develop a suspicious, hostile attitude toward the outer world. You can also use this function in a healthy way, and you might find that you enjoy activities that require sensory engagement (like cooking, hiking, or painting).

Overview

Leading Function:

most used, i.e. overused

determines if the type is extraverted E, or introverted I

determines if the type is feeling F, or thinking T, or, if it is a perceiving function, if the type is sensing S, or intuiting N

Auxiliary Function:

in support, i.e. under control of the leading function

different direction ( i, e ) than leading

different nature ( perceiving, judging) than leading

Tertiary Function:

further supports leading

diametral to auxiliary, yet in a supportive manner

same direction as leading

same nature as auxiliary

Repressed, Inferior Function:

diametral to leading

contradicts, inhibits leading function

same direction as auxiliary

same nature as leading

Interpretation

To understand any type, it should be enough to know its function stack and what each function in it represents. As every MBTI type consists of two specific function axes in a particular order, it is most useful to know how to interpret these axes.

One axis always connects the types leading and auxiliary function. With these two functions, the one being on the one side, what you might call the strongest function, while on the other, the weakest function of the type, the interaction of these poles is a key-part to understand the inner processes of a specific type.

The leading is actually not the most used function because we like it the most. It is the other way around: We like it the most, because we use it the most. There is no real consensus in the MBTI-community, why most human beings tend to prioritize one cognitive function over all others, but the most common answer here is: because we tend to stick with what has worked.

So in fact, one could imagine, that we all got used to our leading function over the course of our lives, in a need for inner stability, as well as simply pragmatism paired with human laziness. Most likely there may have been not even any talent: We just got better at interacting with the world through a continuing experience.

However, once a certain gap in skill was reached between the most used leading function and it’s opponents, it sounds just natural one unconsciously avoids risking his/her inner stability, by using a function that is not trained as well as the lead. This behavior isn’t something unique to cognitive functions; a decent proportion of psychological problems start with the overuse of one certain area forcing the avoidance of others.

C.G. Jung, the psychologist who originally came up with the idea of psychological types, and who’s work made the base for Myers and Briggs typology model, had certain assumptions about the interaction of the consciousness with the subconscious. Simplifying: As we only have certain control over conscious things, the subconscious is the place where all things get equalled — whether we like it or not.

So, as one overuses the leading function on and on, one also gets into a state of dependence on this cognitive process. From this point on, everything that seems to hinder the leading function is unconsciously suppressed. However, the power of the repressed function grows ever so slightly in the subconscious, while the dependence on the leading function intensifies.

This dynamic is vastly important to understand the repressed function. It might be even lower than the tertiary function, but this does represent neither it’s value nor it’s power. The way how any type reacts with the world is characterized by this tension between the first and the fourth function. The leading function indeed leads — most of the time! If the tension gets too big, the individual experiences a breakdown, colored by fears, doubts or even impulses, that might seem to directly contradict the nature of a given type.

Life actually seems to be, for each and anybody, after all, nothing but a dance on a tightrope, where left and right could be imagined as one’s type leading and inferior function. These specific characteristics might be hard to detect at times, however, they exist as a core part of our personality.

(I think I’ll write an extra chapter on C.G. Jung’s work Psychological Types, as I can see it assisting to get behind the nature of each cognitive function, as well as in what way they were intended originally.)

This is very different for the auxiliary and tertiary function, which also represent two poles on one function axis. There is no power left to force this pair into an unhealthy overuse-compensation dynamic. They simply coexist next to each other in the grip of the leading function.

While the auxiliary is still above the tertiary, there is almost a notion of balance between these two and their kinds of uses. As their natures still contradict each other, there aren’t even that much scenarios, where both had the ability to contribute the same amount to the situation.

(for myself haha)

Yesterday I made a post about my musing over P and J and how it relates to the function stack. A comment for that post prompted me to do some research (that’s for another post!) and I realized I had been reinventing the wheel a little bit. However, according to general MBTI theory I was spot on! Or at least according to Wikipedia article I read. I just find that when I theorize first and then confirm it with research, it makes me feel more confident about the validity of the theory. But here’s the wiki paragraph:

“Lifestyle preferences: judging/perception

Myers and Briggs added another dimension to Jung's typological model by identifying that people also have a preference for using either the judging function (thinking or feeling) or their perceiving function (sensing or intuition) when relating to the outside world (extraversion).

Myers and Briggs held that types with a preference for judging show the world their preferred judging function (thinking or feeling). So, TJ types tend to appear to the world as logical and FJ types as empathetic. According to Myers,[1]:75 judging types like to "have matters settled".

Those types who prefer perception show the world their preferred perceiving function (sensing or intuition). So, SP types tend to appear to the world as concrete and NP types as abstract. According to Myers,[1]:75 perceptive types prefer to "keep decisions open".

For extraverts, the J or P indicates their dominant function; for introverts, the J or P indicates their auxiliary function[citation needed]. Introverts tend to show their dominant function outwardly only in matters "important to their inner worlds".[1]:13 For example:

Because the ENTJ type is extraverted, the J indicates that the dominant function is the preferred judging function (extraverted thinking). The ENTJ type introverts the auxiliary perceiving function (introverted intuition). The tertiary function is sensing and the inferior function is introverted feeling.

Since behavior does not indicate type, I will briefly describe each cognitive function by it’s core characteristics without including behavioral indicators.

Fe: collecting value information from without, using external value data to make judgements, based not on facts but on objective observance of what is valuable and not valuable, believes in collective right way of making feeling judgements, gathers information from varying external sources, distrust of personal value analysis

Fi: makes subjective value judgements based on personal analysis of what is valuable and not valuable, judges external value data subjectively to see if it lines up with what is valuable in their eyes

Te: gathers facts and data from without and judges logical information based on them, sees logic as objective and is distrusting of subjective logical analysis, logical data sources vary, believes there is a collective right way to make logical judgements

Ti: internal, subjective logical analysis, distrusts agreed upon logic if it contradicts what makes sense to them logically, collects information from without, but comes to judgements on logical data within

Ne: perceives meaning and ideas in the external environment, sees possibilities, sees connections and patterns between things in the external environment, seeks change and novelty, sees different ways of looking at things, looks at sensory data as a starting point and sees beyond it

Ni: perceives and generates subjective ideas and meaning, uses external perception as a starting point, but derives personal meaning and ideas that are less connected to the object than Ne, notices connections and patterns, has a sense of what will happen that arises from rapid pattern and connection analysis, pays attention to abstract concepts and symbolism

Se: perceives the external sensory environment objectively, takes in sensory data in it’s pure form without bias, seeks sensory experiences and novelty, focused on what’s going on around them

ALRIGHT I’VE GOT THIS

Your MBTI type is an indicator of which cognitive functions you prefer/don’t prefer/are strong/are weak. Your order of preference is called your function stack.

The 8 cognitive functions are Fi, Fe, Ti, Te, Ni, Ne, Si, and Se. You’ll notice that each function is two letters, with a function type(F, T, N, S) and direction(i, e)

The first letter is either F for feeling, T for thinking, N for intuition, or S for sensing. 

Feeling and thinking are both judging functions. They are used to help you figure out how you feel/what you think about something and what you should do in response. Feeling functions advocate for morals and thinking functions advocate for logic. 

Intuition and sensing are both perceiving functions. They are used to help you take in and store information. Intuition functions focus on abstract possibilities and inferences, and sensing functions focus on the here and now (although I prefer to say deductive reasoning and linear thinking).

Each function also has a direction, either i for introverted or e for extraverted. 

Introverted functions pertain to your internal world. (These are gross oversimplified explanations)

Fi - Valuing your own morals

Ti - Valuing logical consistency

Ni - Making inferences based on gut feelings

Si - Using what you know and observe to draw the most logical conclusions

Extraverted functions pertain to the external world. 

Fe - Valuing others and social graces

Te - Values being productive and efficient

Ne - Seeing possibilities and options

Se - Living in the present/ wanting stimulation and excitement

People with different types have a different level of natural preference and strength of these functions. This is where “all the high ne and low ne and all that” comes into play.

Patterns/steps to figuring out a type’s function stack:

Whether they have an I or an E determines if their first function is introverted or extraverted. 

Whether they have a J or a P determines whether their first extraverted function is a judging or perceiving function.

Whether they have an F or a T determines whether their first judging function is feeling or thinking.

Whether they have an N or an S determines whether their first perceiving function is intuition or sensing.

Functions in your stack alternate between introverted and extraverted

Here is the link to my image source

Your first function is called your dominant function, your second is called your auxiliary function, your third is called your tertiary function, and your fourth is called your inferior function.

According to a theory called socionics, we use all 8 functions. The last 5-8 functions are your 1-4 functions with opposite direction. For example, ESFP’s is Se>Fi>Te>Ni>Si>Fe>Ti>Ne

Your function stack is your order of preference of using functions, but not all of them are very strong. Your first 2 functions in your stack are very strong. When we say high [insert function here] we usually mean those. Your 4th and 7th functions (The 7th is sometimes called your PoLR function. It’s your weakest one.) are very weak in comparison. When we say low [insert function here] we usually mean those.

This was a fairly long explanation, and I kind of dipped a bit too much into socionics(sorry), but here you go.

*Your brain is a web of context and patterns, and it’s too easy to get tangled. All it takes is one weird thought, and the next thing you know, you’ve been staring into space contemplating the inevitable heat death of the universe for the past 45 minutes

*Speaking of context, you can only view things in relation to other things, including yourself. Who are you when you’re removed from your hobbies and loved ones? Who knows!

*You’re really good at remembering general concepts, and can recall vaguely how to do just about anything. This would be super useful, except you can’t remember the details to save your fucking life, so good luck applying it in any remotely practical way.

*“Wow you’re really smart you know a lot about this thing” “Thanks I’ve never studied it a day in my life I literally pulled everything I just said out of my ass based on general knowledge about similar subjects”

*When left to your own devices, you generally retreat inside yourself and start using the information you’ve gathered to predict how events will unfold next. In other words, hello naughty children welcome to o v e r t h i n k i n g H E L L t i m e

*You see an interesting connection between two unrelated things. You point it out to your friends, and everybody laughs at how weird and unexpected it is. You laugh along with them, but you’re crying inside because it wasn’t supposed to be funny, you just thought it was neat.

*Somebody asks you to explain your reasoning. Half an hour later, you’re halfway through your train of thought, and all you’ve managed to do is confuse both the other person and yourself.