An in-depth followup to my former post Personality Type: an Introduction. This explains cognitive functions in their purest, Jungian form (courtesy of John Beebe's work.)
PART I: COGNITIVE FUNCTIONS, IN BRIEF
PART II: PERCEIVING FUNCTIONS, IN-DEPTH
PART III: JUDGING FUNCTIONS, IN-DEPTH
PART IV: COGNITIVE (FUNCTION) COMMUNICATION
COGNITIVE FUNCTIONS: IN BRIEF
Via Linda Beren's Best-Fit Type work,
PERCEIVING (IRRATIONAL) FUNCTIONS
Se: Extraverted Sensing:Â Experiencing the immediate context; taking action in the physical world; noticing changes and opportunities for action; accumulating experiences; scanning for visible reactions and relevant data; recognizing "what is." Noticing what was available, trying on different items, and seeing how they look.
Si: Introverted Sensing: Reviewing past experiences; "what is" evoking "what was"; seeking detailed information and links to what is known; recalling stored impressions; accumulating data; recognizing the way things have always been. Remembering the last time you wore a particular item or the last time you were at a similar event-maybe even remembering how you felt then.
Ne: Extraverted iNtuiting: Interpreting situations and relationships; picking up meanings and interconnections; being drawn to change "what is" for "what could possibly be"; noticing what is not said and threads of meaning emerging across multiple contexts. Noticing the possible meanings of what you might wear: "Wearing this might communicateâŚ"
Ni: Introverted iNtuiting:Â Foreseeing implications and likely effects without external data; realizing "what will be"; conceptualizing new ways of seeing things; envisioning transformations; getting an image of profound meaning or far-reaching symbols. Envisioning yourself in an outfit or maybe envisioning yourself being a certain way.
JUDGING (RATIONAL) FUNCTIONS
Te: Extraverted Thinking: Segmenting; organizing for efficiency; systematizing; applying logic; structuring; checking for consequences; monitoring for standards or specifications being met; setting boundaries, guidelines, and parameters; deciding if something is working or not. Sorting out different colors and styles; thinking about the consequences, as in "Since I have to stand all dayâŚ"
Ti: Introverted Thinking:Â Analyzing; categorizing; evaluating according to principles and whether something fits the framework or model; figuring out the principles on which something works; checking for inconsistencies; clarifying definitions to get more precision. Analyzing your options using principles like comfort or "Red is a power color."
Fe: Extraverted Thinking: Connecting; considering others and the group-organizing to meet their needs and honor their values and feelings; maintaining societal, organizational, or group values; adjusting to and accommodating others; deciding if something is appropriate or acceptable to others. Considering what would be appropriate for the situation: "One should or shouldnât wearâŚ" or "People will thinkâŚ"
Fi: Introverted Feeling:Â Valuing; considering importance and worth; reviewing for incongruity; evaluating something based on the truths on which it is based; clarifying values to achieve accord; deciding if something is of significance and worth standing up for. Evaluating whether you like an outfit or not: "This outfit suits me and feels right."
A Type code is created from one perceiving function and one judging function of opposing attitudes (i.e. one introverted, one extraverted.)
E.g. ESFP = E/Se + Fi/P and ESFJ = E/Si + Fe/J.
The 'E' or 'I' at the beginning of the type code denotes which cognitive function is dominant (ESFP = Se dominant; ISFP = Fi dominant), not whether one prefers company or solitude.
The 'P' or 'J' at the end of the type code denotes what extraversion/introversion the judging function is (post here.)
E.g. INTP = I/N/Ti/P and INTJ = I/N/Te/J.
COGNITIVE FUNCTIONS: EXPLANATION
Dr. John Beebe talks about psychological types:
If you look closely at someone you can see the various blocks that make up the mosaic work of the psyche, and of course, the typological theory has it that there are 8 basic blocks. We also, by definition, have to have 8 complexes carrying those types, or blocks, or associated with those types or blocks. We have â all of us â 8 basic intelligences that make up the totality of our potential for conscious functioning. The system of psychological types is simply an archetypal model that organizes those 8 basic units into some kind of structure. Now, there are a lot of arguments about what that basic structure is, but there is no argument that there are these 8 basic intelligences.
Jung said that we need a function to tell us what is, and that is sensation. We need a function to give it a name, and thatâs thinking. We need a function to tell us what it is worth, and thatâs feeling, and we need a function to tell us what its possibilities are, where it is headed, and thatâs intuition. He made it sound very simple. Actually, what is behind that is one of the most amazing intuitions in the history of science, that someone would have intuited that there is this apparently 4-fold cognitive structure. Now those of us who look very closely at type recognize that it is not really 4-fold, it is 8-fold because each of these basic functions, and these functions are, again, sensation, thinking, feeling and intuition, can be used, or as I like to say, deployed in either an extraverted or an introverted way, so that for all practical purposes we have not just sensation, thinking, feeling and intuition, but introverted sensation and extraverted sensation, and introverted thinking and extraverted thinking, and introverted feeling and extraverted feeling, and introverted intuition and extraverted intuition.Â
Human consciousness (or human individuation) can be likened to a flower: What I like to say is that if the human being flowers, if the human being gets consciousness, sensation, thinking, feeling and intuition are the petals of that flower.Â
Now we know that it is really an 8-fold flower, not a 4-fold flower, and that we really have to think of these 8 functions as 8 quite separate things because sure, there is sensation, but there in introverted sensation and extraverted sensation and if you hang around the type game long enough, you know that introverted sensation and extraverted sensation are so different that they might as well be called by entirely different names.
In other words:
A personality type takes in (perceiving functions) information and makes decisions (judging functions) with that information.
There are four main cognitive functions: Sensing and Intuiting ("irrational" or perceiving functions) and Thinking and Feeling
("rational" or judging functions.) These groups are further subdivided into extraverted and introverted binaries: Introverted and Extraverted Sensing, Introverted and Extraverted Intuition, Introverted and Extraverted Thinking, Introverted and Extraverted Feeling.
Fun fact: per Jung's theory, rational functions (F or T) can often become skeptical, suspicious, or even dismissive of irrational functions (S or N) because the former sees the latter as unstable or without a fixed stance. The same applies in reverse, with the irrational types perceiving the rational to be too restrictive.
Everyone uses all eight functions, but not all at once and not to the same strength. They are psychologically ordered by developmental strength: dominant, secondary, tertiary, auxiliary; and four in the Shadow (per John Beebe.) These orders create sixteen unique type codes:
ESTJ, ISTJ, ESTP, ISTP, ESFJ, ISFJ, ESFP, ISFP,
ENTJ, INTJ, ENTP, INTP, ENFJ, INFJ, ENFP, INFP
The dominant (Heroic) and auxiliary (Supporter) functions are represented in the type code (the two middle letters.) One must be a perceiving and the other must be a judging function; and both the perceiving and judging functions must be opposite externalizations (one introverted, the other extraverted.)
E.g. an ESFP has 'S' and 'F' in its type code (a perceiving Se +
a judging Fi.)
The 'E' or 'I' in front of a type code denotes which cognitive function of the pair is dominant (not one's preference for company or solitude.)
E.g. an ESFP has Se + Fi, but the 'E' at its beginning means this type code leads with 'Se' as its dominant. ISFP's dominant function, by contrast, would be 'Fi.'
The 'P' and 'J' at the end of the type code mean nothing in and of themselves (post here): it simply denotes whether the judging function ('F' or 'T') is extraverted or introverted.
E.g. ESFP = E/S/Fi/P; ESFJ = E/S/Fe/J.
CONCLUSION
Advance to the next part for Perceiving Cognitive Functions, In-Depth.
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trickster function is FULLY compatible with socionics' "vulnerable" aka polr function.
you protect what's "vulnerable" with tricks. you "fool" yourself and others. you "act" as if you are not vulnerable at all. trickster and vulnerable perfectly the same thing under the "super-ego" block.
fi trickster: extps will trick themselves and others that they are not sensitive like other humans, they donât feel, they donât care and everything is a joke with their edgy fe. after all, if you FIRST troll others and make fun of their feelings, they would be too busy protecting themselves against you⌠best defense is offense. you got tricked! one thing you have to remember that is VERY IMPORTANT is the fact this happens %95 subconsciously. they donât actually plan this but it happens like an instinct so they trick themselves too.
se trickster: inxps will trick themselves they donât care about se anyways, they donât want to directly and impactfully compete with you like a brute, like a gorilla anyways. itâs just they like their comfort and they want to do things in their own pace! thereâs no way se direct competition gives them se anxiety, itâs not that they doubt themselves when it comes to se âblastingâ. pffff⌠of course not.
fe trickster: ixtjs will trick themselves and others that they are not sensitive to social norms like other humans with their edgy fi. after all, if you FIRST judge others and call them attention whores or gossips or dumb shits who keep laughing to anything and everything, they would be too busy thinking you are elitistic and narcissistic and stuff like that instead of thinking you feel socially awkward.
te trickster: pragmatism is evil! we shouldnât worship facts! we should work toward our ideals or they will never come true! slavery was a fact once as well. like gandhi once said ââWhatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it.â it is important because even if your contribution gonna be insignifact, yours + mine + many other people contributing to the same ideal wonât be insignicant! like buddha once said "Drop by drop is the water pot filled. Likewise, the wise man, gathering it little by little, fills himself with good.â let me give you more deep mystical advices on the edge of the wishful thinking, let me paint you more theoretical utopias while suggesting no tangible mechanistic way of how to implement any of that. ommmmmm.
pics are there for those who like poetic symbolic vague stuff. my descriptions are there to show how this thing called trickster works in reality.
The inferior function is very much under the control of the unconcious, which limits what we can do with it . Nevertheless this much of the unconcius belongs in a sense to the ego - and even provides the bridge to the Self that the other differentiated functions cannot.
John Beebe, Energies and Patterns in Psychologicl Type
following is my super quick and rather chaotic picks from here i sometimes tampered with things and added my own little touch:
âJoy has to do with a lifting of ego boundaries, a relaxation of defenses, permission to be and to reveal oneself, an opening of the selfâ
Verena Kast
* * *
"Integrity is not a painfully upheld standard so much as a prolonged and focused delight"
(integrity) is not mere duty and performance.
Integrity from the standpoint of psychotherapy is not a matter of holding up a charade to the world, fooling others or oneself about who one really is.
(recipe to joy): By entering into a loving relation to with the self, we delight the self, and the selfâs delight passes through us as a pleasure we can feel and enjoy and even scatter.
Integrity balances and restores and steers us out of difficulty and reminds us that things are not as they should be.
anxiety is alienation from the self. you are afraid others won't like you, so you act as somebody else which cause stress.
What's a "foolproof" way to know if you are seeing someone's role function instead of their base?
I feel like it's my most common problem when trying to type people, especially cus they're "on and off" functions. I feel like the only way to really know for sure is to be close to them but I was wondering if there are other ways.
When people talk I hear the functions but sometimes its difficult to put it all together into a type and be certain about it, I'm always second guessing myself
hello. remember how i associated role function with jung's persona? (and persona was a sort of mask you wear to protect yourself?)
so then an infp working at goverment office or whatever will put that ti mask on and be serious and detached. why? because infp will think that's what expected from him by society. why? because role function is the core of superego block.
or as an entp when i was running an internet cafe, i was controlling kids with hard se intimidation. people who just knew me from there used to think i was very scary and that's exactly what i wanted them to think. (no cursing while playing counter-strike. we have girls here researching stuff online or checking their emails. watch your dumb mouth.)
that's socionics part of it. but then there's john beebe dimension of that function too which he names as "demon function"
if entp had to fight and this is happening all of a sudden, he would use se in such a chaotic way and exert himself. this is why people tend to type joker as an entp. you know how joker would stab you way too many times even though you are dead? this is because he brings se from the deepths of psychic repression ocean. and so he ends up using it in a non-refined way, it's too forced, too much energy than necessary spent in a turbulent / neurotic way.
in contrast a true se dom usually reports something called "flow state" in which they feel like time slow down and they can easily dodge punches and kicks and then they just one hit k.o. you using their psychic energy professionally, economically, refinedly, in a well measured way etc. (the way conor mcgregor finished jose aldo and the way jorge masvidal finished that funky wrestler is a good example too.)
and then an infp too, WHEN MAD can go into ti demon mode: you did this AND this AND THEN you promised x, y and z and you never keep your promise AND then you once even told me i was q and z and p SO you are an EVIL person i HATE you. *cries*
look at your nickname. it's very ti role, isn't it? there's no way you are a refrigerator but i know you enough to say that. but yeah, people are complex things and you can't type people from a far.
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once you accept the first two cogfxs make up the ego block a chain reaction occurs. no matter what system. third cogfx must be fifty fifty, hit and miss. fourth must be inferior / laziest.
fifth must be ignored because it's in the opposite attitude of dominant (but it is strong. for example you give good advice to other people in this area even if that's something you do very rarely. an ENTP understands ni and an INFP understands fe. they just don't value it, they think their dominant function is cooler and more precious.)
sixth as the shadow of auxiliary must be pretty strong too and since this doesn't contradict dominant, it should be more visible compared to fifth. for example ENTPs will give you te advices much more than ni advices. Â ENTPs will tell you how to do that one thing you are trying to do or solve that one problem you are struggling with "right now". ENTPs will give you "reality checks" even if they don't give themselves those. hence, socionics calls this demonstrative. and hence, this is called âcritical parentâ in john beebeâs system.
third function is unbalanced and childish due to being less conscious, so shadow of it will be even worse. call it blindspot, call it polr, call it trickster. ENTPs can be very brutal when it comes to fi because they simply use ti instead. they will sacrifice fe for ti so they will sacrifice fi much more easier and without even thinking of course.Â
finally, last function is the core of superego. why? WHY! because itâs the shadow of inferior. you can think this as the âsalty inferiorâ in a way. our normal inferior function is healthily weak, accepts its downfalls, turns to others for help. salty inferior doesnât, acts as if thereâs no problem. this is where psychological types feel pressure from society. they hate it but they value it. ENTPs think: fack! i shouldn't be a total nerd, i should be cooler! so they dress more edgily. so they say âimpactfulâ things. so they âplayâ an se role and usually they overdo it. john beebe calls this demon function for that reason.
introverted thinking in each slot according to beebeâs 8 function model
//click to zoom in.
while trying to find names to associate, i struggle with âestp teacher of truthâ. who else other than joe rogan fits there? but you can find many more entps who are playing exactly that parent role. i think estps being too direct will just do the logic as opposed to âteachâ it.
on the other hand, i found istjs fitting âwitch tiâ much better than intjs. i think the same reason applies here. istjs will actually show that in reality, since they are sensors. heraclitus though, is a great intj example imo.
beebe kind of looks at the shadow functions and describe them in the way we react to those in real world. for example, beebe calls fifth function opposing (thatâs entpâs ni or isfjâs se).
you might think hmmm. as an entp my ni opposes me? no. you are opposing to ni in real world. as an entp, whenever somebody tell you to tunnelvision focus on something, you say fuck off, you canât tell me what to focus on, i like it nice and wide and open.
the same way, 6th function is âcriticâ because entps criticize te. which is established but usually old information out there. they question it, they believe it can be refined, improved.
the same way, 7th function is âtricksterâ because entps act like loki out there. they poke poke poke âyourâ fi and ask: does that hurt? how about this? interesting. hurt so much huh?
and then 8th function is demon function because itâs the most unbalanced and defensive. entps hate se with passion. so they end up using se against se. they act like se so they can keep that se away? something like that.
socionics do not describe âshadowâ functions from this perspective. itâs more about how ni helps ne? how te helps ti? (if these are top two) then how third slot fe gets no help from fi. and then how baby si and role se is very disconnected too.
