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Ni vs. Si comparative Ni TEST

Siúil a Rúin

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The family's posture seemed stiff and uncomfortable, rather posed. The "For Sale" sign had no connection to any phone number, Realtor, or anything in the real world. It was like an archetype of a house in transition. The family was facing the house and so could either be the buyer or seller. I think it doesn't matter what they are because the whole image is basically a statement of non-specific transition.
 

simulatedworld

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*returns open mind and unbiassed point of view to you*

They said you'd lost it.

Or maybe they said you were losing it.

I can't quite remember.

Must be bad Si.

;)

Doesn't assuming that someone's immediate reaction to one picture will provide any useful information about Si vs. Ni preferences strike you as kind of silly?

Maybe it's just me.

Look, though...here we have an INFJ answering the stereotypical "S" way:

The house is yellow (I like yellow houses) and has pretty white window pane things (I like those, too).

It is nicely landscaped, but it looks like those steps aren't used regularly because there is a plant growing across them.

The mom and the boy are dressed nice in matching outfits. The man (dad?) doesn't match at all and looks (comparatively) like a slob.

They are looking at the house and considering buying it, which is why there is still a For Sale sign up.


So while it might be interesting to think about how different people react to the image, this one little bit of information doesn't tell us much in terms of how reaction to this photo will predict Si/Ni preferences. Insufficient sample size + no real way to correlate Si/Ni preference to the way people will respond without knowing about the people themselves, and the biases and experiences they bring to the interpretation of the picture. Introverted perception is personal like that, and requires knowledge of past context to have any particular meaning.

Of course, everything I've said here is just cocky, inaccurate, closed-minded and not worth a response.


Plus, this:

My immediate reaction is if you want immediate reactions, you're asking Se.

In other words, I got nothing. The colours are pretty.

+1
 

Siúil a Rúin

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Would you mind explaining how this one-question test is actually going to do anything in terms of determining functional preferences?
I don't think it necessarily will, but it can show a distinction between taking in concrete, specific information in the image vs. seeing it in more symbolic terms. This image in particular is good at making that distinction between it is concrete being a house and a family - something with which every person can relate. At the same time it is incredibly vague and unreal because it actually is completely lacking in specifics.
 

AphroditeGoneAwry

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Would you mind explaining how this one-question test is actually going to do anything in terms of determining functional preferences?

Yeah, I get what it's supposed to do. Si-ers are supposed to say "GOSH THE STANDARD MEANING IS THAT THIS FAMILY IS SELLING THEIR HOUSE LOL" and the clearly superior Ni-ers are supposed to say, "Well it could mean that the family is for sale, or that the family doesn't own the house but enjoys gazing together at houses that are for sale, or..."

blah blah blah. It's one question in one situation that doesn't offer enough data (or even provide enough context) to say anything meaningful about Si vs. Ni preferences in real people.

How about Si-ers who have seen this kind of "test" before and already understand what it's supposed to do?

Just another illustration of the problem with one-size-fits-all type testing.

:yawn:

Sim, this whole response is just so defensive. You make so many assumptions here about the op's intent (which may or may not be true), not to mention assumptions about the fallacy of the test. You just (seem to) jump way ahead without really thinking about if this test has any validity.

Not to mention it's just disrespectful to me (and others) who might have come before you and stated that this was a pretty cool way to test cognitive functions. The best insight I've gotten into Si, for example, has been when I conducted a little visual test among the different perceivers in my family. I blogged a bit about it. I'll quote the pertinent part here:

I was discussing typology with my kids last night. Poor kids--it's always what I want to talk about and they just cringe but indulge me as the good kids they are. I was reading from Solitary Walker's awesome book about each of their profiles (intj, istj) and we all found Si to be fairly confusing. So I asked my daughter to look at the light over the table and tell me what she sees when she regards it. We had read about how with Si, a person subjectifies the object, filtering it through their personal mind and seeing it in a unique way, but I didn't quite get it.

So the light fixture is a primitive chandeliere with 5 faux candle looking sconces set in a circle with very bright pointy lightbulbs that resemble flames on top of each one. When I look at it I see uncomfortably bright white light (i don't really like unnatural light) and that's pretty much it.

She said, "I see a candle light, which reminds me of candles, which reminds me that I want to watch 'Sixteen Candles,' which reminds me I can't because youtube won't play it."

Hah! How about that. Then my intj son said he saw candle lights too, but he didn't elaborate. I think he has an Ni/Si divide in the 70/30 range. Then I asked my husband to tell me what he saw (Ti/Se) and he said, "I see 4 lights, and one is burnt out." (meaning he should replace it--always looking through the fixing Ti function).

So, you see, your sarcastic response about Si was totally off the mark; no where near what I've observed, nor what other members of this board have described. I know you to be an open-minded person in other ways, but when it comes to something you think you know, you appear very close-minded. But that is part and parcel of being an extraverted perceiver, according to SolitaryWalker.

Furthermore, since a picture is worth a thousand words, asking a question about a picture is a very open-ended, and therefore potentially unbiased way, of finding out about a person's thought processes. That's why I've been thinking for quite a while that developing cognitive functions tests heavy on pictures, would be much more illuminating and accurate than tests that rely on verbage.

And I never thought, and the OP never said, this was one-stop shopping for a cognitive test to determine Ni vs Si. I perceived it as a sampler, just to get a taste of some of the difference between the two. So, kudos to musttry for starting this thread! Obviously, more pictures and more analyses would lend more information for drawing conclusions about the functions as they relate to mbti type.
 

Totenkindly

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I say this without sarcasm: I just don't find these threads useful in determining anything of value between Si and Ni.

They're interesting, and creative, but there's not nearly enough 'controls' built into the experiment to show anything at all with any sort of validity. There just aren't. It's just sort of a mess, from an intellectual/experimental POV.

People are perfectly free to enjoy them and learn what they can from them, however. If they stimulate thought in you and discussion with others, A-A, then that's cool.
 

uumlau

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I say this without sarcasm: I just don't find these threads useful in determining anything of value between Si and Ni.

They're interesting, and creative, but there's not nearly enough 'controls' built into the experiment to show anything at all with any sort of validity. There just aren't. It's just sort of a mess, from an intellectual/experimental POV.

People are perfectly free to enjoy them and learn what they can from them, however. If they stimulate thought in you and discussion with others, A-A, then that's cool.

Actually, I find the lack of controls to be helpful. Reading the variety of responses makes it clear how meaningless most functional stereotypes are. The real commonalities lie much deeper than what the tests measure.

The N/S divide is really quite intriguing for this reason: it's the most difficult thing for which to test, but in the long term it makes a huge difference in most relationships with other people.

Oh, and a real test with real controls would be boring, and no one would do it. Lots of informal data is more useful than a small set formal data.

Of course, if someone really did do a full test with controls, then we'd get to argue about the controls and the systematic biases and confirmation bias and fun stuff like that.
 

IZthe411

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And since no one operates absolutely within intuition or sensing, you can't predict who will answer which way.

I actually agree with both of you, Jen and Uumlau; it's interesting to discuss who sees what, with the purpose to delve deeper, at the same time it demonstrates less of the differences.
 

yenom

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(1)3 aliens leaving their house and beam back to the mothership.

(2)Life is great when you lose your home, because it means the banks can confiscate your property and get richer.

(3)Real estate poster bullshit marketing scheme, your family needs to find the right house to be happy.
 

Jaguar

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She said, "I see a candle light, which reminds me of candles, which reminds me that I want to watch 'Sixteen Candles,' which reminds me I can't because youtube won't play it."

What function are you suggesting that quote illustrates?
 

AphroditeGoneAwry

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I say this without sarcasm: I just don't find these threads useful in determining anything of value between Si and Ni.

They're interesting, and creative, but there's not nearly enough 'controls' built into the experiment to show anything at all with any sort of validity. There just aren't. It's just sort of a mess, from an intellectual/experimental POV.

People are perfectly free to enjoy them and learn what they can from them, however. If they stimulate thought in you and discussion with others, A-A, then that's cool.


I guess I see it as a qualitative versus quantitative "study." When considering new theories or something which little is known about, like cognitive functions, open-ended, characteristic-gathering studies are necessary so that you can try and see if any patterns exist in the data you receive. Qualitative studies require fewer 'n' and are mainly just looking in an open-minded way at new concepts, attempting to hold some variables constant, in this case, mbti reference point.

From there quantitive studies can be developed than have controls, and large numbers of n, etc. Although it sounds fluffy to a Ti-er perhaps, what I'm suggesting is very much part of the scientific process, in its initial phases of exploration, and using picture interpretation as one key methodology.
 

Totenkindly

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I guess I see it as a qualitative versus quantitative "study." When considering new theories or something which little is known about, like cognitive functions, open-ended, characteristic-gathering studies are necessary so that you can try and see if any patterns exist in the data you receive. Qualitative studies require fewer 'n' and are mainly just looking in an open-minded way at new concepts, attempting to hold some variables constant, in this case, mbti reference point.

Well, let's get away from this abstracted process that you describe (which, as a general process, i do see as valid) and again look specifically at the thread(s) in question, which is what I am discussing. Is what you are suggesting in theory actually being accomplished in this specific scenario?

IMO, no. I'm not really seeing any inherent "patterns" being established, I'm just seeing people projecting the cog functions we've already imposed prior to our "test."

aphrodite-gone-awry; said:
She said, "I see a candle light, which reminds me of candles, which reminds me that I want to watch 'Sixteen Candles,' which reminds me I can't because youtube won't play it."

is said by you to be:


funny. It's also Ne, which springboards from one piece of an idea to the next:

Candle light -> candles -> sixteen candles -> youtube won't play it

It sort of just reinforces my point in this post, these threads are just self-justifying.
 

Jaguar

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I already knew that would be your answer, my dear.
I needed you to say it, outright.
It's not Si, it's Ne.


Now, read this quote:

Extraverted intuition would be more like: notice something -> realize that it reminds you of something -> realize that the second thing reminds you of something else -> forget that whole sequence as you notice something else -> realize that that reminds you of something... so on and so forth. As you can see, not very useful without other ways of thinking to temper its fury.
 

Tiltyred

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I see that picture as a movie. The next thing that happens is, the family turns around together, smiling, and gets in their car, which is packed with their suitcases, and they go down the road on an adventure to their next new house.
 

AphroditeGoneAwry

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Well, let's get away from this abstracted process that you describe (which, as a general process, i do see as valid) and again look specifically at the thread(s) in question, which is what I am discussing. Is what you are suggesting in theory actually being accomplished in this specific scenario?

IMO, no. I'm not really seeing any inherent "patterns" being established, I'm just seeing people projecting the cog functions we've already imposed prior to our "test."

I'm just pointing out the general idea of a picture thread to glean insight into cognitive functions is illuminating, and highly illuminating for me. I can already see some parallels into functions and MBTI type just from this meager response. If you can't, oh well.

I never implied, that I know of, that this was a perfect thread, lol, in that regard. What is it about some NTPs that makes you want to immediately jump to a conclusion about what (you think) someone is saying?



is said by you to be:



funny. It's also Ne, which springboards from one piece of an idea to the next:

Candle light -> candles -> sixteen candles -> youtube won't play it

It sort of just reinforces my point in this post, these threads are just self-justifying.

I don't see it that way. One thought segueing into the next via subjectifying objects to me is Si. I interpret Ne as more grasping everything and understanding the underlying premise behind abstract concepts.

I already knew that would be your answer, my dear.
I needed you to say it, outright.
It's not Si, it's Ne.

I know that, Darling, but I said it anyway because it is true. ;) Unless you guys can make a better point at how this is Ne and not Si, then I will stick by it. Perhaps an true Si user can help out this discussion.........unless you are one.
 

AphroditeGoneAwry

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Alright, jag. Interesting that you noted the similarities between the 'reminds' phrase in onemoretime's post and my daughter's account.


Originally Posted by onemoretime
I like that chart. It's pretty indicative of introverted intuition. Extraverted intuition would be more like: notice something -> realize that it reminds you of something -> realize that the second thing reminds you of something else -> forget that whole sequence as you notice something else -> realize that that reminds you of something... so on and so forth. As you can see, not very useful without other ways of thinking to temper its fury.

Please not that OMT's post does not specifically point to objects, besides possibly an initial object to spur thought.

If you notice in my daughter's account,


She said, "I see a candle light, which reminds me of candles, which reminds me that I want to watch 'Sixteen Candles,' which reminds me I can't because youtube won't play it."


she is specifically speaking to objects appealing to her senses which have been stored in her memory. A light bulb shaped like a flame, she sees as a candle light. This reminds her of candles. Candles reminds her of a movie (which is a sensory experience and one of immediate concern because she wants to watch it now, in this moment). There is nothing abstract about this account. One object has inspired all this subjective perception based on sensory input.

I think an Ne user would be spurred by an object initially, but that his brain would quickly begin to splinter into abstractions, not more objects. For example, he might see a light that reminds him that circuits conduct electricity which reminds him that electricity is but one form of energy which reminds him that each kind of energy can be harnessed to varying degrees, and on and on and on.

Right?


I went back to Jung for illucidation, but unfortunately couldn't find too much that applied, imo. His definition of introverted sensation is very foggy to me. His definition of extraverted intuition is better. I will quote to show the difference.


We should speak of sensation when sense impressions are involved, and of intuition if we are dealing with a kind of perception which cannot be tracked back directly to conscious sensory experience. Hence I define sensation as perception via conscious sensory functions, and intuition as perception via the unconscious.

And on intuition,


But since extraverted intuition if directed predominantly to objects, it actually comes very close to sensation; indeed, the expectant attitude to external objects is just as likely to make use of sensation. Hence, if intuition is to function properly, sensation must to a large extent be suppressed.

This is interesting for me on two counts. First, it shows how my little illustration can be confused with Ne. Second, it implies that it might not be that difficult for an Ne user to use Si.....What if he doesn't suppress his Si very well? What results? Si?
 
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