A Bit on Shadow Functions
Hello! Welcome back, or, well, I should be saying that to myself. I’ve been gone for a while, mostly due to family stress, end of the year school stress, and other personal factors. So what better way to jump back in than to talk about negative characteristics and stress? (Jazz hands i know you’re so excited)
Today we’re going to be talking about something that is related to cognitive functions (and therefore is still applicable to the “Why Are You So…” series), but that I haven’t talked about there. That is the concept of “shadow functions.” Someone a while back asked about shadow functions and I said I would make a post on it. This is that post. I cannot remember who that person was for the life of me, but if you are that person, here is that post.
Hopefully you enjoy :)
1. What are “Shadow Functions?”
I will not tell you to go back and read my other posts as that’s a pain in the ass and annoying. However, if you read the introduction to the “Why Are You So” series, you know that cognitive functions originated with Carl Jung. Carl Jung believed in what is called the “shadow self.” The “shadow self” is, in a nut-shell, a part of a person that they suppress. Because the “shadow self” is so suppressed, it ultimately only really shows itself when that person is unhealthy or under a lot of stress. Think of someone who stuffs their emotions away until they bubble over. Shadow functions are Jung’s way of applying that thinking to his cognitive function theory.
Every person uses all eight cognitive functions, however how people use them and experience them can differ. Contrary to popular belief, a person’s MBTI stack is not just four letters or four cognitive functions. People are not that simple, nor are people that clean. People are messy, egocentric, and emotional, even those who claim to not be. This is where shadow functions come into play.
The four most used functions are what we call our “conscious” functions. The four least used functions are what we call the “unconscious” functions or, as Jung put it, the “shadow.” When you put the eight functions together, you get an entire stack and ultimately an entire system of thought.
For example, ESTPs:
Conscious functions: Se-Ti-Fe-Ni
Shadow functions: Si-Te-Fi-Ne
ESTP whole stack: Se-Ti-Fe-Ni-Si-Te-Fi-Ne
Shadow functions are a part of everyone, just like how everyone has a negative character trait. Shadow functions are a part of us. Without our shadow functions we would not be a whole person and we would lack a defense system. Our shadow functions help defend us. They’re like that one messy family member at a family gathering that always manages to get drunk off their ass, but you know that they would throw down for their family if they had to. Think of the concept of yin and yang.
This is where the idea of “opposite types” comes in as well and why “golden pairings” are often a hit or a miss. Think of ISFPs and ESFJs. The only reason why certain types are a “golden pairing” is because, most of the time, they are each other’s shadow opposite. For example, as you can see above in our example, the shadow stack for the ESTP is the main stack for ISTJ and vice-versa. They are said to be a “golden pair.” Think of INTJs and ENTPs. It’s the same concept. The reason why these supposed “golden pairs” often don’t work is because the purpose of the shadow.
Shadow functions provide a defensiveness, but also show what that person is insecure about. They represent parts of ourselves that we don’t like, don’t acknowledge, and see as negative. For example, INTJs have Fe in their shadow stack, so they tend to secretly feel rejected by society. Because of this, INTJs might find themselves rejecting social norms or being judgmental of others out of fear or resentment. ENTPs use Fe as their third function and tend to seek out people for the sake of new ideas. If you put an unhealthy INTJ and an unhealthy ENTP together, that’s going to cause some issues.
***Edit remark #1: As I am editing this, I want to put emphasis on that the example I provided above with INTJ and ENTP is mostly to point out how unhealthy examples of those types might work in a situation. This is not to say that golden pairings are not “good,” or that they will never work. Rather I merely meant to explain how they can also have negative side effects or a negative ending.
In some ways, acknowledging a person’s shadow can be beneficial. To acknowledge one’s shadow is to acknowledge what one has to work on. However one must also acknowledge that when one begins to work on their shadow self, they’re tuning into what is “unhealthy,” leading into an entire shit-show. Shadow functions can give you a much needed reality check or they can break you down into the smallest fragment of a person that you can possibly be. Shadow functions, because of this, are not recommended to work on.
***Edit remark #2: People who have experienced trauma tend to score higher on their shadow functions/traits. For example, every time I take the sakinorva test I test as either INTJ/INFJ and ENTP as a second. It never fails. Going along with that, I am not a mental health professional. If you are someone who has experienced trauma I highly recommend you seek professional mental health guidance. To help stabilize the functions, however, it is said that you can try to reinforce your dominant functions through activities specific to that function.
5th Function: Opposite
Honestly, the name speaks for itself. The “opposite” function is opposite to the dominant function. It is essentially the voice in the back of your head that says “Listen, I know we said this, but what if this is actually the case and we’re completely wrong?” The role of this function is to argue against what the dominant function decides. You could probably think of it like the stereotypical ENTP of your subconscious (please don’t come for me I was joking).
All jokes aside, a good way to think of this function is like what a person worries about the most. It is the suspicious part of you that becomes defensive and stubborn when put under pressure. For example, someone who has Ni as their opposite function may look for underlying meanings and over-examine certain situations to find these underlying meanings. If they perceive an underlying meaning, they may begin to obsess over this meaning and reject all outside viewpoints.
Likewise, the opposite function is also the function that keeps a person from becoming too certain in their dominant function.
6th Function: Critical Parent/ Witch/ Senex
This function is the part of ourselves that judges absolutely everything, hence the name “critical parent.” Conversely, this is also the part of you that feels judged by others. Simply put, this is the part of you that you feel like you’re not good at, so you reject it and judge other people for how they present this function.
It is no surprise then, really, that this function can also be a bit assertive in its beliefs. This function is harsh in how it views us, and this is mostly because the critical function helps form our ego. It helps us recognize what we’re not good at and we perceive that in other people. On the contrary, because of how harsh this placement is, people tend to think that they’re worse at presenting this function than they actually are.
Think of Fi in an ISFJ or INFJ. Fi mostly shows up in these types when the ISFJ or INFJ have felt like have done something morally wrong against others. A good example of this is my grandma (ISFJ). She’s an animal lover and whenever she sees a dead animal on the side of the road she will beat herself up mentally because she “can’t save all of the animals.”
Now of course how this placement is presented depends on what type a person is and what function is in their critical spot. Of course, again, this goes for all placements.
7th Function: Trickster
This function mainly shows what a person ignores as a source of information. Yes, including “logical” people.
The best way I can explain this is to show how it presents. ENTJs and ENFJs have Si as their 7th function. Because of this, they tend to generalize their memories. For example, if you ask them to recall a time when they were upset, they might tell you how they act when they are upset most of the time but will not give you a specific memory or a specific event. This is, quite honestly, because they do not remember specifics.
The 7th function is called trickster because it acts as an illusion. It disregards a specific type of information corresponding to the function that is in this place. Almost as if the information happened to magically disappear. This can lead to obvious logical fallacies and potential misinformation.
Another good example of this is Fe in INTJs. INTJs typically prefer using obvious facts over appealing to others. Because of this, they may appear “blind” to how others feel or completely disregard the information as a whole. The trickster function can either cause a lapse in thinking, or simply cause someone to purposefully reject information.
8th Function: Demon
The last function is the part of you that you see as inherently bad. This is also because you do not fully understand it and it is something you probably will never understand. This function conflicts with your dominant function far too much for it be made useful. Because of this, your dominant function suppresses this function.
Think of this placement as a person who holds a blind faith. This person grew up under the belief that their religion is the right religion and all other religions are examples of a negative figure (from their religion) trying to distract them from their “true path.” The person ultimately does not learn about other religions. This person has closed their mind to other possible answers in regard to spirituality.
The “demon” placement acts similarly to this. The religion that the person belongs to can be attributed to the person’s dominant function. The negative figure can be attributed to the last function placement. For example, someone who has Si as their demon placement might feel as though random memories pop inside of their head. At the same time, they may feel as though they can’t remember anything, and so they ultimately reject the past as it cannot be made useful. Simply put, the purpose of the 8th function is to reject what you feel threatened by.
Alongside that, the 8th function also shows where a person may show negative characteristics. For example, an INFP (Fi-Ne-Si-Te-Fe-Ni-Se-Ti) may perform better when applying logic outwardly, but will have trouble when applying logic to themselves.
Summary…
Alongside the four main cognitive functions, each person has four “sub-conscious” cognitive functions used specifically for self-defense. They were defined by Jung as a way to incorporate the idea of the “shadow self” into his cognitive function theory. The four functions are defined as follows:
5. Opposite- to make you rethink/doubt/secure your train of thought.
6. Critical Parent- to judge and critique yourself and others harshly.
7. Trickster- Shows a lapse in judgment. Makes certain types of information disappear.
8. Demon- To reject what you do not like.
While these functions hold purpose, they should not be heavily relied upon. Higher use of these functions can show a character who has unprocessed stress/trauma.
That’s a wrap for this post. Once again, I apologize for being gone for a while. I’m going to try to start posting more short posts just because that’s less I’ll have to worry about burning out over. I appreciate all of you, and as I always say, if there’s anything you’re not clear on or have a question about please ask! Thank you!!!! :)
