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[Jungian Cognitive Functions] Ni - What the hell is it?

Mr. Sherlock Holmes

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Of all the functions, this is probably the hardest to understand what it means.

I mean you read a description and it's like "Knowing thins instinctively" and "Experiencing Premonitions" and it's just like WTF? It's hardly an explanation of how a mental function works. Does anyone have a better explanation? I can almost never tell definitively in characters if what they are using is Ne or Ni, since both are abstract idea generators and pattern connectors, supposedly.
 

Oaky

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To put it briefly:
Ni tries to 'see through the facade'. Analysis of why something happens rather than how it happens. It looks for reason.
Ne tries to see how things are played out whether it's 'how it happened' or 'how it will happen'. It looks for the connections from one thing to another.
 

Domino

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We have several threads about it, seeing as it's such a strange spider making its webs. Make a search of the NF Idyllic - I know NTJs use it too, but I believe the explanatory threads are there? Perhaps the MBTI discussion section of the forum ( the one we're in ).
 

Mr. Sherlock Holmes

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Since the upgrade, there's only been a few pages of results for searches and I think it only gets threads that have been posted in since the upgrade happened.
 

Lethe

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Yeah, that's pretty vague. For instance, "knowing something instinctively" isn't exactly limited to Ni users.

There are different ways to cut, define and observe the functions, but here are some of the styles that I prefer*:

- Option # 1
- Option # 2
- Option # 3
- Option # 4 (Ignore the top part, start with the "triggered vs. represented ways of seeing" paragraph.)

*[Take them with a grain of salt; you could easily throw out some of the information (the ones highly influenced by the author's experiences), and it'd still make sense.]
 

Arclight

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The simple answer is.. It's about seeing more perspectives than your own..The more perspectives you can see, the more you "just know".
No one presents these other perspectives to you.. You can just see them , feel them and be them.
 

Domino

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To me this is what my Ni looks like:

entangled.jpg
 

Thalassa

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To put it briefly:
Ni tries to 'see through the facade'. Analysis of why something happens rather than how it happens. It looks for reason.
Ne tries to see how things are played out whether it's 'how it happened' or 'how it will happen'. It looks for the connections from one thing to another.

Hmmm...I think iNtuition in general (whether it's Ni or Ne) wants to know "why." Rather than simply looking for connections from one thing to another, Ne also looks for underlying patterns it what seem to be different or unrelated things/people/situations/concepts. While Ni may have a singular unshakable vision, Ne wants to explore all of the possibilities.

I'm no good at explaining Ni, but I wanted to clarify what Ne is.
 

Mr. Sherlock Holmes

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Wow. I'm confused. One person says Ni is about looking at things from different perspectives and another says Ne explores all possibilities while Ni is focused on a singular vision.
 

Arclight

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A lot of people use both, therefore they have a difficult time telling which is which.. They are the same thing just going in different directions. They do the same thing except with a different emphasis ..

Ne is perceiving abstract patterns and connections in response to stimuli (either in the external world or in the mind. ) Ne generates new information starting from something existing. Ne focuses on future possibilities.

Ni is the creation of mental imagery independent of outer stimuli. Ni generates abstract structural images of a given problem domain that a person can view from different points of view at will. Ni focuses on the structure of things from a timeless point of view.
 

redacted

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Wow. I'm confused. One person says Ni is about looking at things from different perspectives and another says Ne explores all possibilities while Ni is focused on a singular vision.

Ne continues to get different perspectives.
Ni continues to flesh out one perspective.
 

Craft

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It's really simple. Two words: Introverted Intuition. Now you have to define "Introverted" and "Intuition". It seems like Introverted is the adjective and intuition is the noun. What could this all mean?

Anything away from this is based on tendency and continuously slimming connections.
 

Oaky

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Hmmm...I think iNtuition in general (whether it's Ni or Ne) wants to know "why." Rather than simply looking for connections from one thing to another, Ne also looks for underlying patterns it what seem to be different or unrelated things/people/situations/concepts. While Ni may have a singular unshakable vision, Ne wants to explore all of the possibilities.

I'm no good at explaining Ni, but I wanted to clarify what Ne is.
Intuition in general is the process of gaining a conclusion by understanding a certain focused topic. Understanding what, how and why something is occuring.

Yes, Ne figures out why something occurs but through that which they first visualise how it came to be. In other words, figuring out the whole process of the event. The thought process works in that what is thought about brings about more things in relation to the subject and that it continues until a judgement factor plays into it for conclusion. They do not dwell into the purpose as usually Ne users tend to find knowing the purpose less useful than knowing the process.

Ni tends to look at the same focused thing within a different perspective usually with the intention of finding the purpose of that focused thing. For example: An Ni user could look towards someone wearing slick expensive sunglasses as 'an insecure person who uses expensive items to try to increase his/her social status' rather than 'someone who is posh'. Something that would tend be seen as generally positive was changed to negative.
It amount for large amounts of skepticism and that why compared to Ne, Ni amounts to more definite assumptions.
 

Coriolis

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I see Ni as the ability to fill in the blanks, even if there are many of them; the ability to read between the lines, even if all the words are not understood. I would almost reverse Arclight's graphics comparing Ne and Ni. Ne seems to take a starting point, and then go off in all directions pursuing the various possibilities suggested by that initial condition. Ni, on the other hand, takes an incomplete set of conditions, and tries to see what they all might be a part of. Oversimplified: interpolation vs. extrapolation.
 

Arclight

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I see Ni as the ability to fill in the blanks, even if there are many of them; the ability to read between the lines, even if all the words are not understood. I would almost reverse Arclight's graphics comparing Ne and Ni. Ne seems to take a starting point, and then go off in all directions pursuing the various possibilities suggested by that initial condition. Ni, on the other hand, takes an incomplete set of conditions, and tries to see what they all might be a part of. Oversimplified: interpolation vs. extrapolation.

It's possible I have them backwards. I have used various sources of definitions to refine my own definitions.
From what I can ascertain.. Ne is about Future possibilities triggered by a single idea.
Ni Is about Ideas triggered by a possible future with references to possible pasts and present possibilities.

Either way, my diagrams define what's going on in my head and it seems I am adept at both.
 

redacted

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It's possible I have them backwards. I have used various sources of definitions to refine my own definitions.
From what I can ascertain.. Ne is about Future possibilities triggered by a single idea.
Ni Is about Ideas triggered by a possible future with references to possible pasts and present possibilities.

Either way, my diagrams define what's going on in my head and it seems I am adept at both.

I don't think future and past are that useful in explaining the difference between the two. Intuition is simply abstract thought, and you can think of a spectrum of that thought as having internally driven on one side and externally driven on the other. Ne, being externally driven, will think abstractly about what's currently going on (including where the conversation is, what the social assumptions are, where the user is, etc.). Ni, being internally driven, will think abstractly about whatever is going on in their own heads (including the output of the last Intuition).

(I italicized 'about' because the distinction between the two functions is only based on what they look at, not what the mechanism is.)

So Ni can feed off itself (and other introverted functions) without once referencing the outside world. Ne can only feed on itself if the environment is affected. This makes Ne users more adaptable -- anything that comes at them can be thought of without the weight of past thoughts. It also means Ni users think more deeply about fewer ideas. They both have their pros and cons -- there is a tradeoff between integrating new information and processing information you already have.
 
R

ReflecTcelfeR

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It would seem that Ni (whatever the function purpose is) in Jungian terms means putting yourself above the environment. And with Ne it's vice versa. If we say that Sensing is about physical details specifically, we are saying that it's more of a micromanaging thought process. It works within small minute parts until a completed whole is made. If we say that Inuition is the other side of that spectrum then we say that with Inuition we take the whole and deduce why and how the whole was made. Ni will try to change his perception of the whole in order to understand it, while Ne will change the whole in order to figure out why it WON'T work anyway, but one. If on the way to the whole they find a new path, or perception to go down they record it within a judging function.
 
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