Introverted Intuition in Action - Garrison Keillor

"Introverted intuition in action" is sort of an oxymoron, but there are plenty of situations where it can come to the forefront and display its unique point of view.

Garrison Keillor is a radio show host and writer whom I have typed as IEI (bottom of page). During part of his weekly show, "A Prairie Home Companion," he does a monologue called "Lake Wobegon" where he lets his completely loose. Here is a beautiful sample (sound only):

Part one (8.5 minutes)
Part two (4.5 minutes)

To get an idea of how Garrison Keillor looks and acts and what his show is like, view his interview with Charlie Rose (starting at 35:00).

In his monologue, Garrison Keillor covers literally all the semantic fields of covered below (link). There are the themes of bygone years and memory, of death and renewal, of legends, rites, and symbols, of the soul and one's inner experiences, words denoting states and mood, uncertainty, recollection...

Keillor's slow, drawn-out speaking style serves to induce a state of relaxed reflection in his audience. Images are convened that carry emotional weight and a sense of meaningfulness. His monologues effectively distract listeners from all their worldly cares and carry them elsewhere, creating a cleansing effect.

Practice with Introverted Intuition

This post is a place to practice making comments in the spirit of as described in the post below. Please participate by adding comments with statements of your own. They don't have to be perfect; we'll work on them. Here we go...

First, genuine phrases I have recorded from people with strong :

• Do you feel nourished? (a question about the state of a person's soul)
• Another week has vanished into the netherness of "history".
• Everything is a blur.
• isolated memories ... sporadic memories
• It feels like an eternity.

- - - - - - - - - -

Now, my own attempts. Some of these seem a little contrived, but I'm trying...

• It had to happen sometime. I had long awaited this fateful day.
• Somehow your description just doesn't resonate with me.
• Once that sank into my mind, the rest was a cinch.
• I have a very hazy understanding of X, but for some unexplicable reason I'm drawn to it more and more.
• Why she says that is a mystery to me.
• I guess I'm not in the right frame of mind right now.
• I've got a hunch that the answer to this riddle is somewhere nearby...
• I'll wait till this whole thing dies down.
• Let's try to get a sense of the background of this problem.
• I'm trying to see how one line of reasoning flows into the other.

Introverted Intuition Semantics

This is the first of a series of lists of the words and language associated with different information aspects. For the methodology behind the research of Kochubeeva, Mironov, and Stoyalova behind this, read my article at Socionics.us.

To try your hand at practicing , look at the following post (directly above this one).

Lexical themes of , with samples.

Time, processes, speed

a long time
all shall pass
background
be in the air
change, changes (smooth, rapid, slow)
changeability
come from
come to a head
develop
development
dynamics
endlessly
eternal
eternity
everything
flows/changes
frequency
gradually
happen
haste
hasty, unhurried
historical
history (of a topic, thing, idea)
hurry, not hurry
in the future/past
initially
landmark
last (vb.)
over (several years, etc.)
periodicity
processes
prospects (future of any process)
rapidly
ripen, mature (fig.)
slow down, decelerate
slowly
smoothly
soon
speed
speed up, accelerate
stage
tendencies
time must pass
time, all the time
times ("in our times")

Sub-theme: crisis
The theme of death as a metaphor or a mysterious process.

Sub-theme: sense of time

compress
drag out
feel time pass
flow by
in its time
lost time
prematureness
sense of closure/lack of closure
sense of the flow of time: haste, unhurriedness, timeliness,
sense of upcoming events
slows down
someone else's time
spirit of the times
stretch out
time passes, flies, drags on

Sub-theme: the individual's influence on time and time's influence on the individual

devote time
drag out time
hasten events
hurry, be in a hurry
live at
one's pace
manage time
old age
save time
shorten time
speed up
events
wait
win time
youth

Theme: interconnectedness and interdependency of objects, events, and processes

all-encompassing
context, in the context of
contradiction
cosmic
destined
destiny, destined
doom, doomed
entirety
fate, fated, fateful
flow ("one flows into the other")
foretell
generally
global
harbinger, herald
holistic
in general
inevitably, inevitable
influence
karma
legends
mystical
myths
omen
on the whole
prophetic
reflect on
rite
rituals
saying
sign ("it is a sign")
symbol, symbolize
tale
traditions
universal
"everything is connected"
"it's destiny/fate"
"nothing is a coincidence"
"it had to happen that way"

Theme: foresight (through a sense of processes)

anticipate/expect that something will happen
foreboding
foresee, foresight
foretell
hunch, have a hunch
imagine
predict, prediction
premonition
sense
vision

Theme: the non-material world within us

deep down (feel something)
envision
higher meaning
idea
image ("form an image," etc.)
imagination
imagine
inner, inner searching
mystery
sink deep (in one's mind)
soul (in various expressions)
spirit, spiritual
whim

Sub-theme: internal processes

believe in
contemplate, self-contemplation
daydream, daydreaming
delusion
doubt, question, wonder
doubts, hesitation
dream, vision
dreams, dream of
drift (thoughts drift to the future or past)
faith, belief
frame or state of mind (working, lyrical, romantic, melancholic, mystical)
inner contradictions
inner searching
inner world (state of mind)
inspiration, inspire, be inspired
longing, long for
magic
meditate, meditation
melancholy
mood (fleeting, romantic, changes; be in the mood,
not in the mood)
nostalgia
see things
state (as a long-term phenomenon)
trance
waver

Sub-theme: words denoting state or mood (often used with the word "feel")

calm, peaceful, serene, still
dreary, wistful
empty, hollow
gloomy, dismal, morose
light-hearted
restless, uneasy, anxious

Theme: memory

fade, erase (from memory)
forget, forgotten
memorable
recall, recollect, remember
recollections, memories
register, sink in, etch into, imprint in (memory)
remind of, bring up images of
stream of recollections
surface (in one's memory)

Sub-theme: associations and connotations

call forth, evoke
connotations
reflect, reflection (hazy, vague, cloudy)
remind of
trigger images of
"something tells me"

Theme: the "music" of the inner world (of a person or any object, figuratively)

accordant, consonant
dissonant, dissonance
echo
find one's rhythm, beat
harmonic, disharmonic
harmony, disharmony
hear, be heard
inner rhythm
inner voice
key, in key
listen to oneself
melody
quiet, still
resonate, resonance
rhythms
sound, resound
to one's beat
tune, motif
vibrations

Theme: uncertainty

can't express in words
elusive, subtle, intangible
for some reason, somehow
inexpressible
mysterious, cryptic, weird, unearthly
mystery, enigma
relatively
roughly, approximately
somewhere, somehow, some kind of, a sort of
substance, essence, phenomenon
uncertain
unfathomable, inconceivable
unknown, unknowable
vague, fuzzy, blurry

Sub-theme: perception of an image

ambiguous, obscure, confusing
foggy, hazy
hidden, concealed, latent
implied, implicit, unobvious
manifest, reveal itself
mirage
nuances
shaky, vague
sketch, sketchy

Semantics of the Information Aspects

At Socionics.us I wrote a brief sketch of the key points of the book The Semantics of the Information Aspects* (published in Russian). One of the authors, Vladimir Mironov, took a look and said he liked the result. However, there is not enough information in my summary to really get a grasp of the information aspects. Another project of mine will be to provide an in-depth discussion of the material in the book. As soon as I have the chance, I will take a look at one of the information aspects, and eventually I will get to all of them.

*Note: I have been making some minor terminology changes. Instead of "information element" I now use "information aspect," which is identical to the original Russian term. I am also debating whether to use the terms "extratim" and "introtim" in type names or the more usual "extravert" and "introvert."

How I Look for Extraverted Intuition

This topic goes back to the post on tacit knowledge in socionics. I wrote that I would try to explain the things that usually go unsaid when I am typing people. Up till now the only thing I had written on the subject was a short chart called "Overall Type Moods."

Here is what I expect to see in people with base :
(theoretical backing provided below each point in red)

Relaxed, nonjudgmental, non-aggressive look and demeanor. Person is easily intrigued, starts new things very easily, and always has energy for new beginnings. Relaxed posture and open and easy-going look most of the time. Very often enthusiastic, but rarely physically robust or vigorous. Occasionally "drop out" of situations and look spaced out because they have been distracted by some thought that is unrelated to the situation at hand. Like to have photos reflect spontaneous moments rather than posed situations or "proper" behavior.
Base implies a rejection of in one's behavior. Therefore, base types try to interest others with thoughts, insights, and a particular vision of things rather than through material means or by exerting a direct physical or visual impact on others. types "drop out" of situations (and their eyes glaze over and stop "seeing") because they generally are abstracted from physical stimuli and are thinking about intangible characteristics of the situations they are in. The eyes remain open, but the visual stimuli is not reaching the conscious mind. implies an ability to recognize and develop high-potential situations, people, and ideas - hence the innate enthusiasm and openness and the ability to become intrigued and intrigue others. implies attentiveness to the unseen essence of things, and types want to have their essence come through to others; spontaneous behavior and the absence of social masks serves to convey one's "true" self to others. A concern with "proper" behavior only serves to mask the true self.

ILE: Tend to smile the same way most of the time, and don't use all the muscles of their face. This shows that they are little concerned with being agreeable or emotionally involving others. Have a more distant and detached look than IEEs.
With weak ethics, ILEs give less attention to people's feelings and are less able to discern and understand their own sentiments than IEEs. They are more focused on thinking about things that require logic to understand, not the ability to understand other people's sentiments.

IEE: Tend to have a wide, "sincere," likeable smile and to show a wide range of facial expressions. IEEs have softer expressions than ILEs, often tilt their head a bit to the side to show their interest in people. Reflect their mood on their face more than ILEs. At the same time, they are usually somewhat emotionally subdued and do not show powerful passions in their face or movements.
With strong ethics (particularly ), IEEs are attuned to other people's feelings and sentiments and are generally aware of people's emotional response to them. They feel responsibility for the emotional climate of situations they are in and soften these situations by being emotionally open and showing their feelings on their face.

Bodies and Fields

One of the tantalizing concepts introduced by Aushra Augusta is the metaphor of "bodies" and "fields" in perception. She wrote that reality consists of aspects that can be broadly compared to bodies in physics and aspects that can be called "fields." Fields are the space between bodies (or objects) where interaction takes place.

Extraverted functions perceive aspects of bodies that can be discerned in and of themselves: shape, color, strength, processes within the object, the object's external activity, direction of movement, potential for change and development, etc.

Introverted functions perceive fields between bodies, or - as Augusta might say - "the reflection of one body within another." When these functions are at work, the individual has a certain attitude towards an object or objects. This attitude is what Augusta is comparing to a "field" in physics. These "attitudes" include: feelings of attraction/repulsion, like/dislike, logicalness/illogicalness, comfort/discomfort, serenity/worry, etc.

Extraverted perception focuses the individual's attention on external objects. Introverted perception focuses attention on the individual's perception of objects.

As I write at Socionics.us,

Objects (bodies): things that can be observed, studied, and discussed apart from the subject (observer)

Fields: things that are perceived through the subject by means of attitudes and cannot be studied apart from the subject

Three Kinds of Knowledge Interchange in Socionics

These general models of sharing knowledge apply to any field of knowledge or skill.

1. "Forum": Each person does his own study and shares his personal views and findings with others.
Pros: Free interchange of ideas. Free discussion of possible routes of inquiry. Generation of ideas.
Cons: Problems of semantics and accurately conveying personal experience to others. Difficult to judge quality or validity of individuals' research. Very difficult to unify individuals' experience into a single system.

2. "Tutelage": Someone temporarily suspends his independent study to absorb the experience and thinking of another.
Pros: Most effective for learning quickly and thoroughly. Key non-verbal information can be conveyed.
Cons: Difficult to judge the quality of the teacher's system beforehand. Requires faith in teacher (initially).

3. "Research Teams": People form task-oriented teams to work on a problem or area together. Group results and methodology are shared with others.
Pros: Semantic problems are overcome (within team, at least). Greatest chance of obtaining results that can be formulated objectively.
Cons: Material interest usually required to motivate team.

Tacit Knowledge in Socionics

Tacit knowledge - or poorly verbalizable, experience-based knowledge - is an essential part of socionics and other fields that do not fully qualify as "sciences." For better or for worse, this is the way things are, and it does not look like they are going to change any time soon.

Often in my typings of famous people I make what appears to be an unexplained leap from direct observations to type identification. Why, for example, is a "cold, logical stare" related to being a Logical Intuitive Introtim (LII)?

I am well aware that I have not laid out all the links in the logical chain of thought that leads me from observation to type identification. Some links in the chain may be difficult at first to substantiate, yet it is the job of the conscientious socionist to explain himself as much as possible. I plan to attempt to do this in upcoming posts.

The importance of experience and proper perspective is one of the inherent limitations of socionics and contrasts sharply with the exact sciences, where a much higher percentage of information can be conveyed using the exact, unambiguous language of numbers, quantities, and mathematics. However, if we limited ourselves to the language of exact science when studying human phenomena, today we would know extremely little about people, relationships, and society.

Discerning the Obvious

For me socionics typing is about discovering the obvious - giving a name to traits that lie on the surface of a person's life and overall behavior style. I am not a proponent of the "crystal ball" typing approach where people analyze some small-scale, often insignificant aspect of a person's behavior, functioning, or appearance and then make a deduction about the whole - without looking at the whole!

Who knows - maybe there is some bizarre correlation between palm shape and socionic type. However, even if this were the case, it's not enough to look at the palm alone and not examine the much more obvious aspects of a person's life and behavior.

Traits of any nature can potentially serve as clues for recognizing types, but that is all they are: clues. Valid arguments for or against a certain socionic type must be framed in socionic terms.

If you look at the "Types of Famous People" section on my website, you will see that I often do not provide valid arguments for my typings as I define above. That is not because they do not exist, but because I usually don't have the patience to write them. I usually wait till a discussion arises to produce arguments other than just a few basic observations and notes about what the person is like.

Unfortunately, my site - with its often nonexistent argumentation - has the most informative celebrity section of any socionics site, whether in English or Russian.

A Peculiar Trait of the Base Function

Recently I have been able to recognize a common thread in base function-determined behavior among literally all the people I know. This characteristic seems to be a fundamental source of conflicts with one's conflicters and supervisors. In these relations, the weak and limited fourth function of one partner interacts with the strong and absolute base function of the other.

The trait is that the base function processes information very rapidly and efficiently and jumps to conclusions without the individual realizing it. The base function synthesizes stored-up experience and new bits of information along its path and produces a conclusion quickly and confidently. The individual likes to share the resulting thoughts and opinions with others, not necessarily because he is sure he is right, but as a way of "flexing" his mental muscles.

A conflicter or supervisee (see chart at top right column) can be highly irritated by this if 1)these conclusions touch upon his vital interests and 2) if he doesn't agree with the person's conclusions (when people are not connected by a common vital interest, they usually just wave people like this off and go their own way).

When explaining how they reached conclusions related to their base function, people inevitably leave out some stages in their mental process. Some of the stages one finds too "obvious" to expound on; others one is not aware of. To their conflicters and supervisees, this makes it look as if the conclusion is arbitrary or based on an irrational "belief," when in fact it is based on a long string of deductions and a large body of experience that the individual is not inclined or able to elucidate.

Since the person's vital interests are at stake if the conflicter's or supervisor's conclusions are correct, he fights back by criticizing the latter's viewpoint, trying to uncover the errors and incorrect assumptions of the other (assumptions is really the key word in this type of conflict). This causes strain on the plodding fourth function. What's worse, the "offender's" views almost never budge at all, because they are based on a vast system of observations and experience.

Characteristics of the Creative Function

The creative (or 2nd) function is comparatively less important to the individual than the base function. It is also something that comes naturally to the individual and is an area of strength and confidence like the base function, but it is not the individual's first priority or the "main point" of his statements of personal conviction.

The individual displays ease and competency in the area described by the 2nd function, but tends to apply this strength and perception within the context of the base function, which is perceived as having absolute importance. People use their creative function with ease as a situational tool, but can be easily distracted by signals that trigger their more sensitive base function. Compared to the base function, which is usually "on," the creative function turns on and off depending on the demands of the situation.

To illustrate the above, I'll describe as a creative function:

The individual is sensitive to issues of health, well-being, rest and relaxation, physical comfort, and aesthetic tastes and has an arsenal of tools to influence these areas of life in positive ways when there is a need for his help. At the same time, the individual does not focus specifically on these areas in his personal life, but usually focuses on his active external activities. He generally applies his assistance in the areas listed on an individual basis after recognizing someone's need.

Do Socionists Diagnose Type Using Photos Alone?

Recently a newcomer to socionics posted at the16types forum asking for "VI help" (i.e. visual identification):

Hi, I'm new here. Can you guys help me identify the type of my classmates at my university? Because if she is what I think she is, then it's very good for both of us. Her picture is my avatar.

The avatar was small, black and white, and had a nondescript picture of a girl smiling playfully. Forum members quickly responded by saying that it didn't provide enough information:

It really is not easy to know or even have a good guess at a person's type without actually meeting them in person. You should actually know or have a better [idea] than we could about her type.

V.I. is helpful, but that alone is not enough. Maybe if you give us a little bit of information about her choice of words, physical gestures, or other habits.

After other forum members also asked for additional information, the poster replied:

Please excuse my ignorance, but why must you need more information? Shouldn't the photograph alone be sufficient? After all, isn't VI "the fastest and most reliable method of Type identification of today"? What about the "brick in the sack" analogy on Socionics.com?

I'm not writing this to make fun of the poster's ignorance, but rather to address the common misconceptions about socionics typing that come from Socionics.com and a number of other sources on the Internet. At these sites you get the impression that facial features are decisive factors in identifying socionic type, and that a few photos are enough to accurately diagnose type. Naturally, many readers scoff at the idea and write elsewhere that socionics is "crackpot typology," "a bunch of baloney," "phrenology resurrected," etc.

The sites speak authoritatively, as if they are speaking for the entire field of socionics. In fact, they are on the periphery of socionics and have little interaction with the world of mainstream socionics (follow link to understand what I mean by this term). Mainstream socionists reject exclusively appearance-based approaches to typing, and, while many if not most do look for physical and external clues, this is only part of their typing process. Let me provide a few anecdotes.

1. When I attended Viktor Gulenko's socionics classes in 2001/02, sometimes class members would bring pictures of friends and family members and showed them to Gulenko to get his opinion. He would look at them rather superficially and say "maybe," "could be," or "probably not" when they asked if the person might be a certain type. Photo typing was clearly not his specialty, and while Gulenko clearly had a mental data base of different types, he did not make photo typing a priority. During his course he never spoke on the subject explicitly, but talked extensively about determining type through his interviewing method or through other indirect means (e.g. how different types respond to different tasks).

2. Aleksandr Bukalov and his wife Olga Karpenko, who head the International Institute of Socionics, show more interest in photos than Gulenko. I have seen them privately make guesses about people's types based on a photo alone. However, in their professional activities they use an interview and observation method and do not rely on photographs.

3. A friend of mine in Kiev once approached a number of well-known socionists by e-mail asking them to type him based on photos. These socionists included Ekaterina Filatova, whose popular books on socionics have included numerous portraits of people of each type that she had met personally in her teaching career and elsewhere. All these socionists declined to type my friend based on photos alone, explaining that this method could not produce authoritative results.

4. All the people I am aware of who claim to be able to type accurately using photos alone are marginal socionists. None of these (that I am aware of, at least) have published articles in recognized socionics publications or spoken at socionics conferences in Kiev, Moscow, or elsewhere.

Further resources:
Socionics and Visual Identification of Types
My Typing Process (of Famous People)

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.

Type Identification in Socionics

In socionics, results of written tests are not considered an authoritative assessment of type. In fact, since the field is decentralized and do-it-yourself, there is no single recognized instrument for determining socionic type. In contrast, in Myers-Briggs typology the MBTI test enjoys a relative monopoly and thus has, at least, the "feeling" of authority.

By turning the typing process into a dichotomy-based written test, test authors have eliminated subjective factors. However, at the same time, test accuracy is based on the assumption that test-takers 1) understand what exactly is meant by each question, and 2) have accurate self-knowledge. If this is not the case, there is no one around to help address the situation.

The problem of self-knowledge

The question of accurate self-knowledge is a complex one that involves philosophy, linguistics, and physiology. The words and formulates we use only contain shreds of the truth and are always subject to incorrect interpretation. What do we mean when we say, for example, "I am an outgoing person"? At best this is a generalization based on a comparison to a specific set of people in specific situations that the listener has no knowledge of. In saying "I am an outgoing person," the person may actually mean something slightly different:

• I am a sufficiently outgoing person
• I am proud of being more outgoing than I used to be
• I am more outgoing than most of my friends
• Many people in different situations have told me I was outgoing
• I am always so obviously outgoing that there is no question of my outgoingness

The same problems exist for nearly every other question.

Self-typing and professional typing assistance

In socionics, self-identification is the responsibility of each individual. Since socionics assumes the existence of functions of the psyche, and these functions have not been proven scientifically to be a physical reality, there is always a bit of uncertainty regarding type diagnostics. There is always the chance of misinterpretation. This is the case for other branches of Jungian typology as well - not just socionics.

Socionics' advantage is that it postulates the existence of stable interaction patterns between types that potentially serve as tests of accurate type diagnosis. However, this requires some knowledge about the person's interaction with others, as well as the probable types of these people.

There are quite a few socionists (mainly in the Russian-speaking world) who can offer qualified typing services and substantiate their conclusions. In addition, some "hobbyists" are sufficiently experienced to offer real help. I would suggest a couple criteria for deciding to listen to someone's type diagnosis or turn to a professional's services:

• the person is able to make accurate observations about you as a person without using socionics terminology
• the person can substantiate their opinion using an understanding of the socionic functions, aspects, and model that seems to be consistent with classic socionic theory

The only potential disadvantage in relying on professional socionists is that some people begin to accept their chosen socionist's typings without personal mental effort and questioning. This spoils both the socionist as well as his followers; if he is not careful, the socionist begins to believe in his own infallibility since those around him accept his typings unequivocally. To avoid these sect-like phenomena, do your own thinking and try to learn from experienced socionists rather than to simply align your own thinking with theirs.

Myers-Briggs Function Mix-up?

I am referring to the Wikipedia article on "cognitive functions."

I found the charts interesting for two reasons. One, some Jungian authors apparently have begun to speak of "shadow functions" - in other words, functions No. 5-8 that mirror functions 1-4 but have the opposite "vertness," as they say in socionics. This probably reflects a tendency to make the Myers-Briggs system more logically consistent; or, it could have been influenced by a superficial acquaintance with socionics.

Secondly, I am surprised by the ordering of the functions in the chart "The cognitive functions according to Isabel Myers." Here, all the introverted types have dominant functions that do not correspond to the judging-perceiving dichotomy. In other words, the dominant function of the ISTJ is introverted sensing, which is a perceiving function according to Jung, yet the "J" in the type name means "judging." This looks like simply a logical oversight by Myers and Briggs that was continued by their associates (the charts below all have the same "mistake").

I would like to know the reasons for this inconsistency. Perhaps the appearance of socionics on the western typology scene will pressure the Myers-Briggs typologists to reform their theory?

Which Are Better - Functions or Dichotomies?

When newcomers to Jungian psychological types take the MBTI - the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator - they are given a "type" that consists of one of the poles of four different dichotomies: (extraversion vs. introversion, sensing vs. intuition, thinking vs. feeling, and judging vs. perceiving). Each of the four letters in the type name reflects a pole of each dichotomy - for example, the type "ISTJ" or "ENFP."

Often the test-taker is also shown his location on a scale of each dichotomy, e.g.
"extraversion 56%, introversion 44%"
The greater the difference between the two poles of the dichotomy, the higher the probability that the dichotomy in question was accurately diagnosed.

The result of this approach is that people get used to thinking that they are "a little bit of both," that they "used to be more sensing than they are now," that they are "sometimes one, sometimes the other," etc.

All of this is foreign to the concept of psychological types introduced by Carl Jung.

Jung spoke not of dichotomies but of functions. He described four functions, each of which comes in an extraverted and an introverted variety. Each person has a dominant function that dominates his or her personality and being. In addition, he postulated the existence of the auxiliary, tertiary, and inferior functions.

Jung did not think of the individual as moving left or right along the scale of a dichotomy during their lives; instead, he talked about the possibility of developing functions' strength, while maintaining that their natural order did not change.

Myers' and Briggs' switch in emphasis from functions to dichotomies made testing more straightforward (more easily quantifiable), but significantly diluted the strength of Jung's original ideas. Dichotomies are easier to measure, but they effectually ignore the main concepts of the typology (which is fine, of course, but it freezes the development of typology theory itself).

Extraverted Intuition in Action - David Deutsch

In this video, well-known physicist David Deutsch gives a lecture on the nature of the universe and gives a concentrated display of . Deutsch's speaking style is actually quite easy to understand. He uses the simplest possible means (comparisons, metaphors) to produce insight in the audience - in this case, an awareness of new possibilities in the outside world. I have typed David Deutsch as an ILE.

In his presentation, Deutsch conveys signals through all sorts of techniques that serve to intrigue and intellectually involve the listener:

1. using rising intonation on phrases like "in fact," "if," and many others in order to emphasize critical points and unexpected possibilities
2. using phrases like, "now let's imagine..." "let's say that..." that help the listener generate a mental image
3. the habit of constantly showing the bigger picture and emphasizing "the main thing"

Extraverted Sensing in Action - Mike Tyson

Here's another great example of a concentrated information signal, in this case . Here (video) Mike Tyson is interviewed after a fight and makes threatening comments towards future foe Lennox Louis.

The signals in this case are conveyed by the use of jerky, aggressive bursts of air for emphasis, along with similarly timed jerky head movements forward. The vigorous head movements from side to side along with a sneering facial expression also convey . All of this serves to convey a sense of readiness for confrontation, unpredictability of behavior (after this display of anger he abrubtly turns around and leaves the interview), and unbending desire.

(I have typed Mike Tyson as an SLE)

Extraverted Ethics in Action - Tom Cruise

Let's see if we can find concentrated expressions of the information aspects in situations that bring out these particular aspects. First, we'll start with .

Remember Tom Cruise's famous appearance on Oprah Winfrey's show? You can view it here.

The crowd's loud squealing is an expression of . Tom Cruise takes it in stride, as does Oprah Winfrey, who feeds on it herself. Tom's antics on stage (getting down on his knee, throwing his fist into the air, and jumping on the couch with glee) are all external expressions of an emotional state and are clear signals.

Note also how Cruise is comfortable making physical movements in front of everyone, how he grabs his fiancee confidently and leads her physically on stage, how he grabs Oprah and shakes her, etc. etc. This suggests confidence in sensing. Indeed, I have typed Cruise as an ESE.

Feel free to discuss this clip and your observations and insights.

The Information Aspects - Simplified Definitions

The 8 information aspects include four "introverted" and four "extraverted" elements. Extraverted aspects reflect characteristics of reality that exist outside the subject (observer), while introverted aspects reflect characteristics that exist in the mind (psyche) of the subject.

The difference is often subtle, but not impossible to learn. For example, if I see that someone's shirt is plastered in mud, that is a characteristic of external reality. If I feel repulsed at the shirt, that is a characteristic of my internal world. In this case the cause of the repulsion - the filthy shirt - is external and exists regardless of my - the observer's - presence. However, my feeling of repulsion is dependent, of course, on my own presence and participation, and on my perception of the situation.

Here are the 8 elements of information metabolism ("IM elements") with their associated symbols and the alternate names that I prefer (at right):

- Extraverted intuition / potentiality intuition
- Introverted intuition / temporal intuition
- Extraverted sensing / volitional sensing
- Introverted sensing / experiential sensing
- Extraverted logic / algorithmic logic
- Introverted logic / structural logic
- Extraverted ethics / emotive ethics
- Introverted ethics / relational ethics

(These also correspond to the 8 information aspects.)

Intuition and sensing are termed "irrational." These are aspects of reality that one registers on a sort of "gut" level. Sensing refers to perception using the five senses and physiological signals within the body. Intuition refers to perception of intangible things that cannot be seen with the senses.

Extraverted sensing reflects the tangible, external characteristics of things. Introverted sensing reflects internal, physiological sensations that arise when interacting with the tangible world. Extraverted intuition reflects the possibilities and unseen potential in external reality. Introverted intuition reflects the unseen characteristics of the psyche's internal reality.

Logic and ethics are termed "rational" aspects. These are aspects of reality that require rational thinking or an understanding of social expectations to perceive. Logic refers to perception of inanimate things - processes, operations, systems, and logic. Ethics refers to perception of animate things - emotions, external expression, and feelings of like and dislike.

Extraverted logic focuses on the external behavior and operations of objects. Introverted logic focuses on the logic of thought processes, views, and systems. Extraverted ethics focuses on the external emotional interplay of people and animate objects. Introverted ethics focuses on the individual's emotional responses to people, things, and events.

These descriptions are intended only to give a brief glimpse of the information aspects. Understanding comes as a result of relating abstract definitions to real situations.