• You are currently viewing our forum as a guest, which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community, you will have access to additional post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), view blogs, respond to polls, upload content, and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free, so please join our community today! Just click here to register. You should turn your Ad Blocker off for this site or certain features may not work properly. If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us by clicking here.

Is Ni like Fi?

SubtleFighter

New member
Joined
Jan 6, 2011
Messages
253
MBTI Type
INFJ
Enneagram
6w5
Instinctual Variant
sx/so
This is a question that I had wondered awhile ago but was reminded of it again by someone bringing it up recently in this thread.

In looking at a bunch of old threads, I noticed that there were several people (all dom/aux/tert Fi-users) independently saying that Fi (or Fi/Ne) was like Ni. Because several people are saying this, there must be something there. But I'm not understanding it. They have similarities that all introverted functions have, but I don't see it beyond that.

My concept of Fi is that it has to do with the personal values and feelings of the person using it, and that it identifies what values are at play in a given situation.

Ni on the other hand has nothing to do with values or feelings, and is as impersonal as a computer spitting out data.

So I'm obviously lacking in some understanding of what Fi is.

What do you think about this? What am I missing about what Fi is? Does anyone have any theories about how Ni and Fi (or Fi/Ne) are similar? Or how they work differently?
 

Ribonuke

New member
Joined
Mar 16, 2012
Messages
255
MBTI Type
esTP
Enneagram
845
Instinctual Variant
sp/so
Well, I personally feel like Ni and Fe can combine to resemble something like Fi; we become attached to something (or someone) due to perceiving their emotions, and our Ni cracks down on trying to figure out the "why" and what other details regarding the situation that we can't readily see. So we may have seemingly complex insights and reasons related to our Fe, making it resemble its introverted counterpart, but it's still a bit different.

I admit, though, I have difficulty telling Fe and Fi apart at times.
 

Qlip

Post Human Post
Joined
Jul 30, 2010
Messages
8,464
MBTI Type
ENFP
Enneagram
4w5
Instinctual Variant
sp/sx
I'm not very versed on the matter.. my stunted Fi can be mysterious to me. I think that may be a similarity, in both Fi and Ni users, we get only get the end result. It's always working, updating in the murky background, but it gets revealed in a flash.
 

Nicodemus

New member
Joined
Aug 2, 2010
Messages
9,756
Conceptually, no. In reality, they are probably like this:

Henselzwillinge.jpg
 

Zarathustra

Let Go Of Your Team
Joined
Oct 31, 2009
Messages
8,110
The main similarity is that Ni and Fi are the two most subjective functions of their respective domains (i.e., Judging and Perceiving).
 

Cellmold

Wake, See, Sing, Dance
Joined
Mar 23, 2012
Messages
6,266
I reckon Fi and Ti are closer. Both can, at their worst, induce a sense of being right in an individual.

No wait....sorry that's just human beings in general.
 

Amargith

Hotel California
Joined
Nov 5, 2008
Messages
14,717
MBTI Type
ENFP
Enneagram
4dw
Instinctual Variant
sx/so
Fi has often that same gut reaction feel that Ni has. And it makes it sometimes really hard to tell them apart irl. Ive found though that Ni flashes operate without any emotional attachment. It is gaining insight at its purest, where you just see what will happen next. Fi otoh feels more like looking in a mirror and going 'ohhh..i didn't see *that* before! So thats how that works!' It usually involves seeing the 'logic' behind the raw emotion that drives the value driving the action, whether in your or in others. It slots together like a puzzle, much like Ni does, but with more focus on the system underneath values and emotions, whereas Ni seems to focus more on the puzzle of events in front of you only to see what it will lead to in the future.

I also find that Ni feels way more like a detached and perhaps even slightly amused understanding in a 'this is how it is' kind of way, whereas Fi feels more like an epiphany when the puzzle piece falls into place as it feels so....*right*


:ninja: *waits for shitstorm*
 

Nicodemus

New member
Joined
Aug 2, 2010
Messages
9,756
Fi has often that same gut reaction feel that Ni has. And it makes it sometimes really hard to tell them apart irl. Ive found though that Ni flashes operate without any emotional attachment. It is gaining insight at its purest, where you just see what will happen next. Fi otoh feels more like looking in a mirror and going 'ohhh..i didn't see *that* before! So thats how that works!' It usually involves seeing the 'logic' behind the raw emotion that drives the value driving the action, whether in your or in others. It slots together like a puzzle, much like Ni does, but with more focus on the system underneath values and emotions, whereas Ni seems to focus more on the puzzle of events in front of you only to see what it will lead to in the future.

I also find that Ni feels way more like a detached and perhaps even slightly amused understanding in a 'this is how it is' kind of way, whereas Fi feels more like an epiphany when the puzzle piece falls into place as it feels so....*right*
The color red denotes emotional involvement in my depiction.
 

Amargith

Hotel California
Joined
Nov 5, 2008
Messages
14,717
MBTI Type
ENFP
Enneagram
4dw
Instinctual Variant
sx/so
No. But, in nature, red is often a sign of danger - and emotions are dangerous.

Sounds like you are still at odds with your tertiary :laugh:
Then again, I aint one to talk.
 

Nicodemus

New member
Joined
Aug 2, 2010
Messages
9,756
Sounds like you are still at odds with your tertiary :laugh:
Then again, I aint one to talk.
I could have chosen blue and given another justification, but it comes more easily for red because blue is traditionally associated with deepness, tranquility, rather an absence of strong emotions.
 
G

Ginkgo

Guest
Fi is like hating everything, every time, all the time, except for one single thing you don't know exists. It's funny because it's true. In fact I think the "Haters Gonna Hate" meme was created for the sole purpose of spiting Fi dominants.
 

Amargith

Hotel California
Joined
Nov 5, 2008
Messages
14,717
MBTI Type
ENFP
Enneagram
4dw
Instinctual Variant
sx/so
...Ok,you have a different Fi than I do :laugh:
 

Southern Kross

Away with the fairies
Joined
Dec 22, 2008
Messages
2,910
MBTI Type
INFP
Enneagram
4w5
Instinctual Variant
so/sp
Here's my list of similarities. I'm sure I could come up with more if I thought about it.

Ni and Fi
- focussed on an inner vision of the ideal
- highly instinctive (just "knowing" something)
- introspective
- seek to explore latent, underlying reality/truth/essence
- holistic
- driven by the search for profound meaning and insight
- highly subjective
- process the world in an enigmatic manner which others often struggle to follow or understand
- concerned with the power of perspectives and the insights that can arise in shifting them
 
G

Ginkgo

Guest
..yeah, that must be it :ninja: :alttongue:

Honestly, that's not a far cry from the original function description; it's described as having more averse reactions to things that are evaluated than not. Jung makes it sound like an allergy to reality, along with the rest of the introverted functions.
 

Amargith

Hotel California
Joined
Nov 5, 2008
Messages
14,717
MBTI Type
ENFP
Enneagram
4dw
Instinctual Variant
sx/so
Honestly, that's not a far cry from the original function description; it's described as having more averse reactions to things that are evaluated than not. Jung makes it sound like an allergy to reality, along with the rest of the introverted functions.

Ok well..in my own experience, thats how it starts out..it changes and becomes more refined as you develop it though.
 
Top