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can someone please define Si for me?

redacted

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for some reason this function doesn't make much sense to me. i feel like i completely get the other 7...

(hope this is the right place)

i mean, i've read a bunch of definitions, but it's just not clicking right...
 

Nocapszy

no clinkz 'til brooklyn
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Dig this.

Si is like taking in every miniscule detail of the exact current surroundings. The reason the users are resistant to change is that it's a lot of (tiring) work acclimating yourself to every little thing. Once it's done, then extraversion can happen -- the person feels settled knowing exactly how everything is configured, and the colors and everything about it.

It's not about sensing the object -- on some degree, obviously the object has to be noticed... obviously. But it's focus is more on how it affects the self hence introversion.

By contrast, the Se user, not having to actually acclimate themselves to the object, can quickly move on to the next. The focus is on the object there taking as much information about the object as it is, not about how it affects the self.

Si users "know their place" both physically and psychologically. They know it well. Se users act out, because they only know the place of those around them.

Not a very intuirific definition but I think it'll work for you man.
 

Carebear

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There's more on it here: Introverted Sensation
Proposed definition #2: The unknown is dangerous, so anchor yourself in the known

Introverted Sensation (Si) is the attitude that the unknown mostly contains threats that will undermine life and order. Given the precariousness of life--so many things have to be jjjjust right--the odds of something unknown being beneficial are very low. Consequently life demands that we carefully filter the unknown before letting it into a position of influence, that we construct barriers against the unknown, etc.

For example, in engineering, one is primarily concerned with designing systems that won't fail even though most of the exact causes of failure are not knowable in any precise way. Engineers learn many different ways in which things fail, and learn to design so that the things work, or at least major disasters don't occur, even when things go wrong--as they inevitably will. A bridge is typically designed to hold a load 6 times bigger than the biggest anticipated load, simply so it will resist unexpected troubles--shearing winds, or cracks in unexpected places, or who-knows-what that might come along and can never be fully anticipated. The full breadth of relevant dangerous factors is inherently unknowable.

An everyday example is to allow some extra time when leaving on a trip. The reason for leaving some extra time is because the world is filled with unpredictable things that could make you late. Very few unpredictable things could come along and make you early if you left late.

From the Si standpoint, the more you're going to depend on something, the more carefully you'd better inspect it, because you never know what unknown things might go awry, you only know that most of them are bad.
 

sassafrassquatch

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There's more on it here: Introverted Sensation
Proposed definition #2: The unknown is dangerous, so anchor yourself in the known

Introverted Sensation (Si) is the attitude that the unknown mostly contains threats that will undermine life and order. Given the precariousness of life--so many things have to be jjjjust right--the odds of something unknown being beneficial are very low. Consequently life demands that we carefully filter the unknown before letting it into a position of influence, that we construct barriers against the unknown, etc.

For example, in engineering, one is primarily concerned with designing systems that won't fail even though most of the exact causes of failure are not knowable in any precise way. Engineers learn many different ways in which things fail, and learn to design so that the things work, or at least major disasters don't occur, even when things go wrong--as they inevitably will. A bridge is typically designed to hold a load 6 times bigger than the biggest anticipated load, simply so it will resist unexpected troubles--shearing winds, or cracks in unexpected places, or who-knows-what that might come along and can never be fully anticipated. The full breadth of relevant dangerous factors is inherently unknowable.

An everyday example is to allow some extra time when leaving on a trip. The reason for leaving some extra time is because the world is filled with unpredictable things that could make you late. Very few unpredictable things could come along and make you early if you left late.

From the Si standpoint, the more you're going to depend on something, the more carefully you'd better inspect it, because you never know what unknown things might go awry, you only know that most of them are bad.

QFT

Dig this...

FAIL
 

white

~dangerous curves ahead~
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I think of it as the intake of sensations, filtered through memory.

There's always a comparison, simply. To what was.

The Se would just enjoy the new sensation e.g. "mmmm.. this wine is lovely, chocolate!" The Si would be, "hey, this wine tastes like the other bottle I had the other day, it is slightly better though, has a richer hint of chocolate".

Hence the insecurity, methinks. Because there's always some standard that will have to be lived up to. Something that blows it, will be something new, hence unfamiliar grounds, so wariness results. Something that falls short, will be picked on/not accepted, because it doesn't live up to what they expect.

So Si. Memory of sensations. Does that help?
 

alcea rosea

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Do you people think Si is related to remembering details?
 

nightning

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Do you people think Si is related to remembering details?

From a person with virtually no Si, I think so. Seeing as how I have difficulties doing exactly that, recalling details. I can summarize what happened, kind of, to you. But I wouldn't be able to tell you how exactly did a conversation go, what exactly did the other person tell me, what they were wearing, doing, what's around in the room etc.
 

INTJMom

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for some reason this function doesn't make much sense to me. i feel like i completely get the other 7...

(hope this is the right place)

i mean, i've read a bunch of definitions, but it's just not clicking right...
Actually, BlueWing described it very well - actually, I think it's a quote from Jung - in his INTJ profile. I'll see if I can find it.
 

The Ü™

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Possible examples of Si:
  • Giving into the gossip of other people and believing it as fact.
  • Seeing the environment and thinking of it in terms of how it is supposed to be in terms of established standards. (Not how they want it to be, how it could be, or how it's going to be, that is more the function of N.)
  • Seeing an image of a swastika and automatically thinking of Hitler.
  • Knowing you have money in the bank without being able to see it. (It is not direct experience, but merely a suggestion taken as fact.)
  • Teaching people the "proper" way to do things (i.e. your mother telling you to "roll up spaghetti on your fork rather than just slurping it into your mouth" or to "chew with your mouth closed").
 

INTJMom

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For some reason, it wasn't as substantial as I remembered.

However, I knew an ISFJ once, Si dominant, and it was quite a learning experience!

She used to get these "hunches". She used the word "hunch" a lot. I would question her on why she was so sure of something, and she would say, "I don't know; I've just got a hunch." I had to learn to trust her when she said that, and as we followed her "hunch" I don't remember a time when she was wrong.

I later came to learn, after knowing her for a couple of years, that these hunches were based on stored up information that she had actually taken in a long time previous to the time when she got the hunch - sometimes years. I'm talking about amazingly minuscule trivia. Sometimes we would trace her hunch back to an original source, and it could have been as obscure as something she read in a book somewhere 8 years earlier! Incredible memory! Because of her high Fi, it was usually people-related information.
 

Jae Rae

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Si

I think of it as the intake of sensations, filtered through memory.

There's always a comparison, simply. To what was.

The Se would just enjoy the new sensation e.g. "mmmm.. this wine is lovely, chocolate!" The Si would be, "hey, this wine tastes like the other bottle I had the other day, it is slightly better though, has a richer hint of chocolate".

Hence the insecurity, methinks. Because there's always some standard that will have to be lived up to. Something that blows it, will be something new, hence unfamiliar grounds, so wariness results. Something that falls short, will be picked on/not accepted, because it doesn't live up to what they expect.

So Si. Memory of sensations. Does that help?

I think Alceros has the right take on this - it has to do with details, because the examples you've given for Se and Si both have to do with memories (of chocolate), but one is richer in details.

Uber gave some good examples, but I don't agree with the first one, ie, believing gossip. IMO opinion and experience, ISJs are less likely to listen to and accept gossip than some other types. An exception would be hearing something about someone already known to be untrustworthy. In that case, Si would come forward and say "I believe that because he also did 1, 2, & 3."

Jae Rae
 

miss fortune

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he he.... it reminds me of gossiping with an ESFJ friend- if she dislikes something she's quite willing to remember every bit of gossip she's ever heard about them and weave it into a tapestry of them being an all around horrible person :) (and she generally has a point I suppose! :laugh:)

I generally just stick to making observations about people I dislike like "man- he looks like he needs to lay off the donuts!" or "ewww.... did you hear how she addressed him? it's like she thinks she's his mom and lover all rolled into one!"

Not nearly as elaborate, historical or systematic as my ESFJ friend :dry:
 

The Ü™

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I think Alceros has the right take on this - it has to do with details, because the examples you've given for Se and Si both have to do with memories (of chocolate), but one is richer in details.

Uber gave some good examples, but I don't agree with the first one, ie, believing gossip. IMO opinion and experience, ISJs are less likely to listen to and accept gossip than some other types. An exception would be hearing something about someone already known to be untrustworthy. In that case, Si would come forward and say "I believe that because he also did 1, 2, & 3."

Jae Rae

Well, I just placed gossip as an example, because it's not a direct concrete experience, but an absorption of ideas taken as something definite.

One thing I have noticed about many Si-dominant types I've come into contact with is that they believe what's written in tabloids, the news, or infomercials.

It is highly unlikely that all Si types think in the exact ways I described, but I was giving examples. So an ISxJ could be concerned with manners, but not all that concerned with gossip.

And it should be noted that I am not just taking about celebrity gossip. I have noticed that many ESFJs I've met are the ultimate tattletales. They'll tell the authority figures when someone is breaking the rules or something like that. And often, they'll tattle on someone who was merely a victim of a rumor, without questioning whether the rumor is true. So the Si in them takes what is heard and automatically thinks of it as definite.
 

INTJMom

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Dig this.

Si is like taking in every miniscule detail of the exact current surroundings. The reason the users are resistant to change is that it's a lot of (tiring) work acclimating yourself to every little thing. Once it's done, then extraversion can happen -- the person feels settled knowing exactly how everything is configured, and the colors and everything about it.
Very good explanation, and this is similar to how Ni works, except Ni is taking in thoughts instead of concrete data from the 5 senses.

It's not about sensing the object -- on some degree, obviously the object has to be noticed... obviously. But it's focus is more on how it affects the self hence introversion.
...
Good point.
 

lazyhappy

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well i might have a example:
One of my friends was holding her nails up to her boobs and the first thing i, somewhat Si, noticed was her stain which was pointed out by her nails making me think she was sad about the stain while my Se friend just thought she was pointing out her boobs.

maybe Sis' notices more details while Se notices the more obvious things.


edit- i mean i notice small things and disregard big ones and my friend notices big things and disregards the small
 
Last edited:

The Ü™

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I also think attention to detail could be attributed to a less prominent position of Se. ISxPs, both with auxiliary Se, tend to notice details because as introverts, they can focus more. And especially for the ISTP, who uses the analytic Ti function, which brings more focus to the Se function.

In the case of an INTJ like myself, my Se functions more as rigid and repetitive, but comforting, sensory behaviors such as finger flapping and or playing with small objects that feel good to the touch (such as T-shirt tags) and help me concentrate.

My underdeveloped Se also makes me sensitive to certain noises, such as vacuum cleaners and smoke alarms.
 

JustDave

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The best example I can think of is my ability to memorize the addresses of all the routers & switches on my network.
 

redacted

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thanks all. it was useful for me to see all those different ways of defining it in the same place.
 
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