Characteristics of the Base Function

There are 8 possible "varieties" of the base function that correspond to the 8 information aspects discussed earlier. Jung and socionics maintain that the base function forms the core of personality. Here are some of its outstanding characteristics (in red are examples for base types to better illustrate the concept):

The base function describes the individual's most stable, consistent state of mind (especially in his or her adult years).
: A physically relaxed, resting state of mind where the individual is focused on his internal sensations of comfort and harmony.

It describes the individual's most central interests - the kinds of interests the person is most likely to keep up over the years.
: A concern with health and inner balance, correctly and harmoniously organizing one's everyday activities (eating, sleeping, living at home), and making sure one's everyday physical environment produces sensations of comfort and pleasure and is not harmful to one's health.

When the individual's life is not centered around the base function, he feels lost. At the same time, there is a tendency to overdo the activities and state of mind of the base function and then look for forms of compensation.
: Feels lost when circumstances do not allow him to carry out his favorite relaxing activities (taking walks, listen to relaxing music, painting or doing other relaxing things) or organize his immediate home environment according to his own tastes. When given the chance, there is a tendency to overdo somewhat these activities and then look for some external activities that will make him strain a bit.

It describes the areas the individual is most sure of and generally most vocal about.
: Questions of health - improving health, diagnosing health issues, treating health and diet problems; questions of proper living, including sleep and eating, activities around the home, sex, and other therapeutic activities that bring joy, pleasure, and balance.

In these areas the individual is extremely resistant to suggestion and insists on his own interpretation of things.
: See above.

In these areas the individual is constantly gathering new information and adding it on to his existing views.
: Tends to study and analyze carefully how people live their everyday lives, the sensations they experience from day to day, their diets, sleep, and exercise habits, their aesthetic tastes and styles, their immediate physical environment, their general state of health and vitality. Constantly uses these new impressions to modify his views on proper living and maintaining a balanced, harmonious inner world.

The individual's memory is generally sharpest (near absolute memory, actually) in areas where the base function has processed information (impressions) and structured them in its characteristic way.
: Sensations one experienced in different locations and situations, the cause of these sensations and how to reproduce them.