Dec 21, 2006

Real-life Phrases of ILIs and IEIs

In a previous post I tried to compose statements of my own that reflect a introverted intuition semantic emphasis. I'm not sure how successful they were because they were contrived, not spontaneous. Here I'm going to gather some examples of introverted intuition phrases from the16types forum. Since this forum is focused on theoretical discussion of socionics, most of its members do not wax particularly poetic or reflective in a way that might bring introverted intuition to the forefront. Nonetheless, there are clear differences in the lexical emphasis of different types within the common topic of discussion.

Similarities and differences between introverted intuition and extraverted intuition will be discussed in a later post.

1. The following set was gathered from this thread (my commentary in red):

  • I suppose...
  • in the spirit of...
  • in general...
  • it's like I...
  • I tend to feel most held back by...
  • it sounds as if...
  • I guess it's a matter of interpretation...
  • but then again...
  • the thing I still find mysterious is...
  • it would appear that...
  • but somehow...
  • understand how you perceive the issue...
  • so it sounds as if you're saying...
  • perhaps you might associate X as being...
  • I'd like to be able to see if...
  • X is inclined to...
  • it seems perhaps that...

Dominant introverted intuition themes: uncertainty, perceiving an image, interconnectedness, associations

Comments: These phrases reflect the process of generating an image. This image is never complete, but ever remains in a state of uncertainty, with hints of more connections and possible implications always arising. Categorical and unambiguous statements are absent, as these would reflect a state of certainty and finality that is foreign to introverted intuition. Instead, phenomena are described as likelihoods ("inclined to," "tend," "perhaps," etc.). The statements here reflect the ability to deal with contradictions easily and bring these contradictions out into the open without passing judgment - or making a final choice between them.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

neat article. i use phrases like "perhaps it would be better if you could...", "it seems to me that...", "maybe...", "i could well be wrong", etc, all the time! i know it could sound annoying but i just can't help it cause i'm not sure!

Chrystal said...

As an IEI I definitely relate to the desire to keep ideas open to more information and analysis. I often say, 'as far as I understand it,' or 'it appears, 'it seems.' This was a fun post to find.