The #1 thing that the MBTI community misunderstands about the cognitive functions.
I feel like I need to say make this point, because I see a lot of the people in this group (and in MBTI boards in general) make this extremely common error when they approach Jungian typology, and I feel compelled to correct it.
A lot of people view the cognitive functions (Ne, Ni, Te, Ti, Fe, Fi, Se, Si) as a set of personality traits, or a tool or skill set that can be sharpened and honed, or used as needed; but that isn’t how the functions (or our personalities) work. All the functions are is a set of paradigms that dictate in what order our brains place a priority on certain types of external and internal sensory input - and your brain does this instantaneously and automatically; it isn’t a conscious decision on your part at all. All this means is that, in its natural state, your brain is placing a higher premium on certain types of information that on others. In the case of Se, for example, an Se-dom’s brain is, first and foremost, placing the highest priority on objective sensory data gathered through the five senses (smell, sound, touch, taste, and smell) - when they’re eating ice cream, their brain is, fire and foremost, involved in the sensory pleasures of what they’re eating; the pleasant, creamy coolness of the sundae on their tongue; the tangy, quasi-soggy under-taste of strawberry; the juxtapositional crunch of the waffle cone compared to the softness of the ice cream; the the ripe, sweet berry scent wafting into their nose, fitting with specificity into their olfactory glands.
“But when I smell, sound, or taste something, then doesn’t mean I’m using Se, too?” you ask; and the answer is that yes, you are, but that doesn’t mean that your brain is automatically prioritizing that information over other types of data. For example: say you’re an INTP who is eating a strawberry ice cream cone, too. Yes, that INTP is experiencing all of the same smells, tastes, temperatures, and textures associated with eating ice cream as the Se-dom was (though perhaps not as intensely); but his brain is also likely thinking back to the last time he had ice cream, and recalling all of the sensory experiences involved with that memory as well. Maybe, for example, as he’s eating, he will recall the sound of the ice cream truck driving past (Si), and then start wondering what it would be like to create an ice cream shop that exclusively makes unusual combinations of flavors, like Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans from Harry Potter (Ne). In this way, his brain has prioritized all of these other types of experiences to him over top of Se. And so when he recalls this memory later on, what he will remember are things related to his Ti, and his Ne, and his Ti, and his Fe; but when the Se-dom recalls it later, he will mainly be recalling all of the different sensory experiences that the memory evoked in him - the smell of the ice cream, the way it tasted, the texture of it, the temperature, how hot it was outside where they were eating it, how many and which of his friends were there, what they were all wearing, and so on. Same memory, but their brains are placing a priority on completely different types of data in order to categorize external input and make sense of the world around them.
The point that I’m trying to make here is that functions are not tools. They’re not toys, they’re not personality traits, they’re not skill sets that we can pick up and put down when we’re done using them. They are psychological paradigms that simply describe the order in which our brains prioritize certain types of information. (And this is certainly up for debate - I’m by no means an expert, people argue about this all the time, and even Jung himself didn’t seem to know the answer to this - but this is why I believe that it isn’t possible for people to be more than one type, or to be able to use both Te and Ti or Ne and Ni with equal proficiency. There are other reasons why I believe this too, but that’s a bit of a different topic and I’m getting lazy, so… bye!)
Another thing I’d like to add that I feel is very important to make known is that YOUR MBTI TYPE DOES NOT DICTATE WHAT KIND OF PERSON YOU ARE! Being of a certain type does not make you kind, it does not make you intelligent, it does not make you creative or athletic or a poet or philosophical or profound or ambitious or honest or authentic or sweet or a good person. Those are CHOICES (or personality traits), and ANYBODY can be empathetic, or genuine, or compassionate, or selfish. MBTI says absolutely nothing about the kind of person that you are EXCEPT for the way in which your brain absorbs, interprets, and responds to environmental stimuli in its natural state. So please don’t get discouraged when you read the INTJ Celebrity Types page and see five or six terrorists on there, or go to the INFP page and realize that half of them have committed suicide. That DOESN’T have to be your life just because you share the same type. You are who you are, and who you want to be; and MBTI tells you absolutely nothing about whether you’re a kink, thoughtful, perceptive, open-minded, or empathetic individual. Be who you want to be, and don’t let MBTI hold you back from being who you want.
Thoughts, opinion, and rebuttals welcome, as always!
dededos
areudirty
vaporwave
romaincrisis
titsay
germansingergirl
snowghoul
blakekathryn
