My Babbling Thoughts on Identity

Mostly MBTI ponderings - I’d love to type you! ENFP :))

[mbti-ramblings]

“If a man so thinks, feels, and acts, in a word so lives, as to correspond directly with objective conditions and their claims, whether in a good sense or ill, he is extraverted.”

- Carl Jung // The Psychological Types

Although this quote is referring to extraversion in general, if we apply it specifically to the functions (which Jung does in later chapters), we start to see the deeper meaning behind the tumblr stereotypes of the mbti types. I think it’s so interesting to go to the roots of MBTI and look at what these stigmas were based on; the “oh look there’s a butterfly !” of Ne, the “i am robot” of Te. When you look at the reasoning behind these typical representations of the types, you get to understand them on a whole other level. Also it’s kinda funny to see Jung describe these exact same stereotypes but in 1920’s speak (“He seizes hold of new objects and new ways with eager intensity, sometimes with extraordinary enthusiasm, only to abandon them cold- bloodedly, without regard and apparently without remembrance.”) Can you guess which function that’s referring to haha, clue: it’s probs what’s gonna happen to this blog eventually... Sorry this was long lol, i ramble when i’m excited.

PS. I’m thinking in my next few posts I might take some quotes from Carl’s book about the specific functions and show how they link to the stereotypes for each function in depth. If my Ne doesn’t stop me eek :)))

[mbti-ramblings]

Crash Course in Cognitive Functions Pt. 2

right, let’s pick up where we left off: the importance of function stack order

the functions are arranged in order of preference and strength, so as Ne is my strongest function it’s in the dominant (first) position of the stack. it is the one that leads, the other functions are said to "serve" this main function. it is the one im “best at,” the one im most skilled at accessing and using.

on the other end of the stack we have my inferior function: Si. this is my weakest function, it will take me many years into adulthood until i have fully developed it. many of my personality flaws stem from it and i find it difficult to access and use.

Fi is my auxiliary, my “second in command”and then Te is my tertiary (third). So altogether my stack is: Ne Fi Te Si.

this means that my preferred perceiving function is intuition and my preferred judging function is feeling. Because intuition is higher than sensing in the stack and feeling is higher than thinking. This is what defines the NF of the ENFP

What makes the E of the ENFP is the fact that my dominant function is an extroverted one: Ne. If my dominant function was Fi and the rest of my functions stayed the same then I would be an INFP because my dominant function would be introverted.

ok the final letter, the P of the ENFP. to explain this i need to introduce a couple of rules:

Of the first two functions of your stack (dominant and auxiliary), one will be perceiving and one will be judging. There’s no specific way round but they won't both be judging or both perceiving. There’ll be one of each. the same goes for the last two functions (tertiary and inferior), one will be judging and one will be perceiving. My stack is Ne (Perceiving) Fi (Judging) Te (Judging) Si (Perceiving)

in a similar fashion to the first rule: of your dominant and auxiliary, one is introverted and one is extroverted. similarly, of your tertiary and inferior, one is introverted and one is extroverted. My dominant is extroverted (ne) so my auxiliary is introverted (fi). my tertiary is extroverted (te) so my inferior is introverted (si).

Of the auxiliary and dominant functions, the one that is extroverted is the one that determines the final letter. As one is a judging function and one is a perceiving function, the one that is extroverted determines whether your final letter is J or P. if it's your perceiving then your final letter is P. if it's your judging then your final letter is J. My extroverted function (Ne) is perceiving which forms the P of ENFP.

Whew ok! So that was a whistlestop tour of the functions. Once again i’m super sorry if it didn’t make any sense haha. Please let me know and I’ll see if I can explain/correct myself :))

[mbti-ramblings]

Crash Course in Cognitive Functions Pt. 1

the way i understand mbti is as follows (based on the research of psychologist carl jung)

there are four functions and these functions are split into two pairs: perceiving functions (intuition and sensing) and judging functions (thinking and feeling). so four functions: intuition & sensing, thinking & feeling.

each of these four functions is further split into an introverted and extroverted subtype. so Fi is shorthand for introverted feeling and Fe is shorthand for extroverted feeling and so on. (Ni and Ne for intuition to avoid double vowels tho)

the introversion or extroversion of a cognitive function determines its focus (input and/or output). every type has one of these four functions and has either the extroverted OR introverted subtype. so no type has both Fe and Fi, they have either Fe OR Fi

Remember I mentioned that these functions come in pairs? The judging pair: thinking and feeling The perceiving pair: sensing and intuition. well when one half of the pair is introverted, the other half is extroverted. So someone who has Fi will always have Te, not Ti.

So each type has a combination of these lil function pairs, 2 extroverted and 2 introverted. As an example, I have Ne Fi Te Si. My intuition is extroverted so my sensing is introverted, my feeling is introverted so my thinking is extroverted. These combinations of functions are known as function stacks.

Now if you do the maths, you might realise that according to this system, there can only be four combinations and therefore four types. so how come there are 16 mbti types you may ask? Well this is because the order of the function stack is just as important as the content of the function stack. I’ll cover this in part 2.

Sorry if this was super confusing!! Please let me know if you spot a mistake or if there’s something you don’t understand and I’ll do my best to fix it/explain.