Myers-Briggs

One thing that most people don't realize about the Myers-Briggs functions is that they are not eight different functions in the sense of I and E, N and S, T and F, and P and J. The two letters that really count are in the middle - the Perceiving functions (N and S) and the Judging functions (T and F). The former is how you take in information and process it, and the latter is how you make decisions. What the I and E tells you is whether your primary function is introverted or extraverted (and also, separately from the function system, tends to be an accurate indicator as to whether you gather energy internally or externally), and what the P and J tell you is whether the extraverted function (if you are an E, it is your primary, and if you are I, it is your auxiliary) on your primary axis (your first two functions) is a P (N or S) function or a J (T or F) function. (It's a system that is biased towards extraversion, and I dislike that the P and J don't dictate primary function, but, rather, extraverted function - what, because all that matters is what people see? But it's what we've got, so.)

That's all really complicated, and I've had more than one friend chew my ass out for discussing this with them. (And I think both of them were ENFP. Heh.)

So, to give examples, let's say you're INFJ. The I tells me that your primary function is introverted. However, the J tells me that you extravert a judging function, which is, in this case, F. So that means that your first two functions are introverted iNtuition (since it's not Feeling - Feeling is extraverted), or Ni, and extraverted Feeling, Fe.

Let's say we have an ESTJ now. The E tells me that the primary function is extraverted. The J tells me that the extraverted function is the Judging function, which is Thinking. So we have a primary function of Te. That means that the auxiliary function has to be Si, since Sensing comes next, and it cannot be extraverted as well.

But what about an introverted P? Say, INTP. The I says that the primary function is introverted. The P says that the extraverted function is a Perceiving function, which is, in this case, iNtuition. So we have primary Ti and auxiliary Ne.

But what about the rest of the functions? After all, every person has four functions - two on the primary axis and two on the inferior axis.

Well, the rest just mirror the first two in reverse. So, with Mr. or Ms. INFJ, you have Ni and Fe. Then, to reverse and mirror it, you have an inferior axis of Ti and Se. With the ESTJ you have Te and Si, mirrored and flipped with Ne and Fi. INTP would have Ti and Ne, then Si and Fe.

There are some people who think that judging functions cannot actually be introverted or extraverted; they simply are. I don't know if I quite buy that, because I have a lot of logic on my side (Primary Ti paired with tertiary Si for terrible organization purposes), but I cannot generally articulate it clearly. I am very good at math until I have to show my work, for example. I always had exceptional grammatical and spelling skills, but have never been able to explain why - I can barely diagram a rudimentary sentence, and I can't remember much past nouns, verbs, and adjectives. I understand a great deal of what I come across, but intuitively, rather than quantifiably. So I think there's merit to the idea that judging functions work internally or externally.

Not everyone works within these frameworks precisely - even I don't. It's not perfect, but nothing is; however, it does work as much as any other typing device does, and better, because it basically establishes a framework for how people function without saying that they will do this because blah blah blah. It simply explains how the processes work, not natural conclusions. You can get two quiet, gentle INFPs who believe strongly in different things and they'll fight to the death over it, but they are still the same types. Some of my strongest disagreements have happened over my INTP mailing lists and the varying forums (fora?) I take part in.

However, I haven't really thought until recently about the common themes to each function, regardless of its direction. Thinking would be logic and dispassion (clearly), and would be associated with the element of air, Feeling would be emotion and passion, and would be associated with the element of fire, iNtuition would be the subconscious and the conceptual, and would be associated with the element of water, and Sensing would be the concrete and grounded, and would be associated with the element of Earth.

Any debate over elemental correspondences would be interesting, if anyone is up to it. This was just me rambling about the technicalities of one of my favorite subjects.