• 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.

Introverts - Developing The Auxiliary

highlander

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Dec 23, 2009
Messages
26,562
MBTI Type
INTJ
Enneagram
6w5
Instinctual Variant
sx/sp
I've long read about that the "importance of developing the auxiliary cannot be underestimated" and similar things along those lines. I also understand that at times typological functions can become "unbalanced" and that the inferior functions (and perhaps some in between) can cause havoc. We can rely too much on our dominant function, the lesser functions start asserting themselves in a way that judgment becomes clouded or one chooses "flight", etc.

There are a few things that I've always been a bit confused about:

1. As an introvert, you need to develop the auxiliary in order to function in the outside world. If that's the case, and if the auxiliary is the path to more productive use of the other functions, how can you get unbalanced, since you would need to use the auxiliary in order to function on a day to day basis?

2. If you are getting unbalanced, what exactly do you do?

3. What does good type development mean - really? If there was an ideal, what would it look like?
 

BlueGray

New member
Joined
Oct 7, 2009
Messages
474
MBTI Type
INTP
Enneagram
5
1. The functions aren't perfect. While the auxiliary is the expected way to interact with the world you could find another method. There is also the fact that the amount of interaction needed isn't so much that a very weak function couldn't do at least that much.

2. I would say there is unbalanced and then there is unhealthy. Probably an awareness and understanding of the extremes could help prevent them from occurring. Being unbalanced is fine as long as you remain healthy. I would say don't worry too much about any specific balance to be achieved.

3. I guess the ideal of good type development is happiness/satisfaction/confidence. The system dictating that functions need to be balanced is because people saw patterns in such ideal people. Essentially there are many ways for people to achieve this so i don't think there is any single representation.
 

VagrantFarce

Active member
Joined
Nov 19, 2008
Messages
1,558
Honestly, "developing the auxillary / avoiding the tertiary" is just a convoluted way of saying "be confident in yourself".

  • If you're an Introvert, learn to assert yourself in the world and step outside of your own shell
  • If you're an Extravert, learn to trust in yourself as an individual, and think about what you're doing.
Believe me, the rest will come naturally. :)
 

Lily Bart

Member
Joined
Mar 27, 2009
Messages
136
MBTI Type
INFP
I believe what Myers was saying was that because introverts (especially women, since introverted men may not be under as much pressure to be social) are forced to use their auxilliary functions to get along in the outside world, they more easily develop balanced personalities -- the real risk is that extroverts may not develop a balanced personality because there is no similar imperative for them to use their auxilliary function. Myers' example of an unbalanced personality is the EP type with poor or nonexistant use of their introverted auxilliary who thus acts on every impulse that comes up with little internal reflection on whether it's a good idea or not -- lacking judgement.
 

Andy

Supreme High Commander
Joined
Nov 16, 2009
Messages
1,211
MBTI Type
INTJ
Enneagram
5w6
1. As an introvert, you need to develop the auxiliary in order to function in the outside world. If that's the case, and if the auxiliary is the path to more productive use of the other functions, how can you get unbalanced, since you would need to use the auxiliary in order to function on a day to day basis?

Remember, every introvert has an extroverted inferior function. This can also provide a way of relating to the outside world, though doing so often has disatorous consequences as it is so hard to control.

For instance, an INTJs inferior Se can ease the path into alcohol and drug addictions. The person may still dream of a better future (Ni), but in reality alll that Ni +Te cunning gets used for is to acquire more dope and booze.

Part of the problem here is that the behaviour is self perpetuating. The addictions make it difficult for the person to cimplete the long term goals typical of an Ni dom, leading them to turn to the inferior (i.e, more alcohol and drugs) to drown out the unsatisfied cravings of the primary. Thus the more of their life that slips away from them, the less they want to know about.
 

highlander

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Dec 23, 2009
Messages
26,562
MBTI Type
INTJ
Enneagram
6w5
Instinctual Variant
sx/sp
Honestly, "developing the auxillary / avoiding the tertiary" is just a convoluted way of saying "be confident in yourself".

  • If you're an Introvert, learn to assert yourself in the world and step outside of your own shell
  • If you're an Extravert, learn to trust in yourself as an individual, and think about what you're doing.
Believe me, the rest will come naturally. :)

One of the things I love about your threads and your posts is the way you're able to take complex things and boil them down to the essential point, making complex things simple, which you've again done here. :)

While I'm prone to over-analyzing things at times, I am however, wondering if this is a bit more complex. There are the people who judge without perceiving enough or introverts that can't come out of their shell. Those are the more extreme examples. However, I think there are more subtle/complex examples which specifically relate to a crisis or inflection point and type development in general.

I'm just reading this book by Lenore Thomson. I've read a lot of books on this stuff and this is the best I've seen. In there, she describes a scenario, which is I think a mid-life crisis, but is probably something that happens to people at different times in their lives under different circumstances. I will attempt to simplify the scenario:

59 year old ESTJ that has worked as an accountant for 30 years at the same place

dominant - extraverted thinking
secondary - introverted sensation

double agents
left-brain alternatives - extraverted feeling and introverted intuition
right-brain alternatives - extraverted sensation and introverted thinking

tertiary - extraverted intuition
inferior - introverted feeling

Someone else acquires the company where he is working. His identity is very much tied to his work. This is a threatening situation to him

He begins to use his double-agents more defensively to keep himself from feeling anxious and they "get out of control". He starts to act more like an "inferior ESP" at times. He feels trapped. He increases his efforts, focusing on his external problems, working to navigate through the situation. However, he does it wrong. He needed more contact with his secondary function in this situation, in order to grow.

The point is that if we don't turn to our secondary function under these types of circumstances or we do things the way we have always done them, the tertiary functions start to take over. They always tell you to "flee" or in some way encourage you to be misguided.

In the scenario, there was not anything about "not trusting himself" or not thinking before he did something.

I've seen other threads of discussion for the other types though more general in nature. So, like for an INTJ, you need to focus your extraverted judgment on yourself. If you have developed a strong secondary, the tertiary can be used more fruitfully.

Anyway, I ask these questions because I read the words and conceptually they make sense (at least now finally after reading this book), but do people really know how to respond/react in these crisis or inflexion points? How you practically apply some of this? If you develop a stronger secondary in the first place, it would seem that you could be more effective in responding or even prevent a crisis from occurring.
 

Eric B

ⒺⓉⒷ
Joined
Mar 29, 2008
Messages
3,621
MBTI Type
INTP
Enneagram
548
Instinctual Variant
sp/sx
Actually, only the right brain [opposite hemisphere] alternative would be Double Agents. The same side
alternatives are "Crow's Nests".

I haven't read the book yet, but is this ESTJ scenario the same thing the Exegesis Wiki on the book is referencing when it discusses Beebe's "Trickster" archetype (Ni for the ESTJ)?
(The wiki appears to be down at the moment).​
 

Poki

New member
Joined
Dec 4, 2008
Messages
10,436
MBTI Type
STP
Instinctual Variant
sx/so
I believe what Myers was saying was that because introverts (especially women, since introverted men may not be under as much pressure to be social) are forced to use their auxilliary functions to get along in the outside world, they more easily develop balanced personalities -- the real risk is that extroverts may not develop a balanced personality because there is no similar imperative for them to use their auxilliary function. Myers' example of an unbalanced personality is the EP type with poor or nonexistant use of their introverted auxilliary who thus acts on every impulse that comes up with little internal reflection on whether it's a good idea or not -- lacking judgement.

So would an extrovert who was forced into an introverted situation be more balanced?
 

highlander

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Dec 23, 2009
Messages
26,562
MBTI Type
INTJ
Enneagram
6w5
Instinctual Variant
sx/sp
Actually, only the right brain [opposite hemisphere] alternative would be Double Agents. The same side
alternatives are "Crow's Nests".

I haven't read the book yet, but is this ESTJ scenario the same thing the Exegesis Wiki on the book is referencing when it discusses Beebe's "Trickster" archetype (Ni for the ESTJ)?
(The wiki appears to be down at the moment).​


Yes - right. Thanks for the correction on double agents. I misquoted.​
 
Top