Si and Ni - how to tell the difference?

[Haphazard]

Other tiebreakers...Most Si's know where they park at malls, where they put their keys, why they store things where they store them, etc.

Hmm. I must be an ISJ, then because I'm the only one in my family who can ever remember where we parked. However, why I store things where I store them usually turns out to be "because it was convenient at the time," but I can still always find them...

 

[Skyward]

Si also uses a LOT of simple, rigid cause and effect terms while Ni uses blanket ones:

NTJ vs STJ example
Si: Shooting a gun at someone in the head will kill them. Shooting them in the stomach will cause a slow, painful death if not treated. Shooting them in the foot will not kill them, but it will give them a limp.
Ni: Shooting a gun at someone will hit them with a lot of force in a small area, if the force hits them in the right spot, they will die. If I do it right, they wont die instantly, but slowly.

NFJ vs SFJ example
Si: Doing things for people makes them happy, which is good. It makes me feel good for others to feel good. I like when people rely on me, then I can do more good things for them.
Ni: Doing things for other people can make them happy, but doing it too much may make them rely on me. I'll be nice to a person if I think it will do them good, but who knows? If I'm not quite sure I probably won't bother.

Hmm. I must be an ISJ, then because I'm the only one in my family who can ever remember where we parked. However, why I store things where I store them usually turns out to be "because it was convenient at the time," but I can still always find them...

Everyone has a balance between S and N and introversion and extroversion. Simple as that

And I do the same with storage: It may LOOK disorganize, but in my mind its all perfectly where I left them so it IS organized.

 

[Haphazard]

The way I explained it once was it was a bit like quick digestion before, or slow digestion after... like Si is the snake and Ni the spider.

 

[beyondaurora]

Si types often seem very calm and passive, Ni types often look more melancholy with a sense of longing.

Does anyone else agree with this? I'm definitely the latter.

 

[SolitaryWalker]

Does anyone else agree with this? I'm definitely the latter.

Uberfuhrer refers to Si dominant or auxiliary types, and Ni dominant or auxiliary types, and not just all types that either have Ni or Si as their four functions.

The longing that he speaks of is to be attributed to the intellectual intensity of the Ni type. It is not specific to the Ni type, it could be found in all N types, especially the INs. If you are an Intuitive, you certainly are more likely to identify with uberfuhrer'r description of the Ni type rather than the Si type.

 

[pippi]

Si is memories, Ni is imagination.
Si is rules you live by, Ni is the voices in your head telling you what to do.

 

[beyondaurora]

Uberfuhrer refers to Si dominant or auxiliary types, and Ni dominant or auxiliary types, and not just all types that either have Ni or Si as their four functions.

The longing that he speaks of is to be attributed to the intellectual intensity of the Ni type. It is not specific to the Ni type, it could be found in all N types, especially the INs. If you are an Intuitive, you certainly are more likely to identify with uberfuhrer'r description of the Ni type rather than the Si type.

 

[beyondaurora]

If you are an Intuitive, you certainly are more likely to identify with uberfuhrer'r description of the Ni type rather than the Si type.

P.S. I caught a typo in your post. I feel so accomplished now.

 

[Kollin]

Si:compares past experiences to present objectively
Ni:constency in ideas and thoughts...thru internal framework...personal 'aha' moments.



I didn't read the whole thread so I don't know if someone already posted this...

 

[Haphazard]

Why melancholy? Why longing?

 

[Frank]

The first step to understanding the problem correctly and easily is to see that Si types are not the SJ's in general, but ISTP ISFP ESTJ ESFJ (thus changing the S/N axis gives the correspondent intuitive group - INTP INFP ENTJ ENFJ). Then you will notice how all of them prefer to relate descriptions of physical(if ISTP or ESTJ) or emotional(if ISFP or ESFJ) phenomena to systems (cause-effect systems) that are "direct" and "immediately observable". Ni types instead relate physical (if INTP or ENTJ) and emotional (if INFP or ENFJ) phenomena to systems that are "symbolic" or "abstract". If it's an example that you need, I will give you one of ENTJ and ESTJ.

First, where an ESTJ strategy is successful and an ENTJ strategy is not:
ESTJ: "My tooth is aching because I have eaten sugary food"
ENTJ: "My tooth is aching because of the conjugate action of a quantity of self-replicating bacteria interacting with each other"
Then, where an ENTJ strategy is successful and an ESTJ is not:
ESTJ: "The stock market went up because they decided to bail out GM"
ENTJ: "The stock market went up because of the systematic expectations of the agents on the behavior of their neighboring agents, which is in line with what was predicted by the diffusion model"

Your first step is wrong

 

[Haphazard]

I think Frank may be referring to Socionics... but didn't use proper notation.

 

[Frank]

I think Frank may be referring to Socionics... but didn't use proper notation.

Ah. its possible thats what FDG was referring to.

 

[The Ü™]

Si is rules you live by, Ni is the voices in your head telling you what to do.

Wrong.

I think Frank may be referring to Socionics... but didn't use proper notation.

And really, I don't understand why more people don't. It makes it far easier to understand Jung's ideas. Modern MBTI just muddles them.

Why melancholy? Why longing?

Ni is the quintessential dreamer. And a melancholy look is often present in their eyes. Si, by contrast, often look calm and passive.

 

[Haphazard]

Ni is the quintessential dreamer.

But longing and melancholy mean no motion. Where are the dreams that inspire action? Does a 'quintessential dreamer' not have those?

 

[Cimarron]

The way I explained it once was it was a bit like quick digestion before, or slow digestion after... like Si is the snake and Ni the spider.

Hmm, that comparison might work...

 

[Athenian200]

But longing and melancholy mean no motion. Where are the dreams that inspire action? Does a 'quintessential dreamer' not have those?

Not without Fe and Te. Those are what inspire action, in either Ni or Si types.

Ni would simply dream without acting on it, getting lost in itself... Si would simply be passive and complacent. I assume.

 

[The Ü™]

But longing and melancholy mean no motion. Where are the dreams that inspire action? Does a 'quintessential dreamer' not have those?

By melancholy, I meant sad, dreamy look in the eyes, I wasn't talking about temperament.

Pure Ni by itself just muses upon fantasies, independent of direct sensory stimuli.

 

[Athenian200]

Ni is the quintessential dreamer. And a melancholy look is often present in their eyes.

I doubt this applies to how normal INJs use Ni, but rather to how Ni would behave by itself if it had no other function to work with. Thus, your definition is purely hypothetical and useless from the practical standpoint of assessing type.

It makes sense from a purely functional model oriented standpoint, but it tells us nothing about how Ni is used or applied by NJs.

 

[FDG]

Your first step is wrong

No, it cannot be wrong - it's MBTI that doesn't make any sense in respect to functional ordering. I don't think we can refer to "socionics" or "mbti", it's simply generally wrong to say that ISTJs and ISFJs have a dominant perceiving function - they're J types! The best theories are those that are most parsimonious while still adhering to reality; MBTI has to introduce an ad-hoc hypothesis of introverts switching functions that, if they got their ordering correct, wouldn't be necessary at all.