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How does auxiliary function look like?

alcea rosea

New member
Joined
Nov 11, 2007
Messages
3,658
MBTI Type
ENFP
Enneagram
7w6
According to the book Gifts differing: Understanding Personality Types (Isabel Briggs Mayers with Peter B Myers, Davies-Black Publishing, Mountain View, California 1995).p. 13

"With Introverts, the reverse is true. The dominant process is habitually and stubbornly introverted; when their attention must turn to the outer world, they tend to use the auxiliary process. "

This makes me wonder :thinking:
How can I identify the auxiliary function of introverts because I would assume it "looks" different than the same function as a dominant function of an extroverted person (example: ESTJ dominant Te and ISTJ auxiliary Te.) If the auxiliary function is shown to the outer world, how does it look like?
How does the auxiliary function of an introverted person "look" like?
Ne?
Te?
Se?
Fe?

On the other hand, how does the auxiliary function of an extroverted person "look" like?
Ni?
Ti?
Si?
Fi?
 

Mort Belfry

Rats off to ya!
Joined
Jan 12, 2008
Messages
1,238
MBTI Type
INTP
Here's a link to the Lenore Exegesis Wiki and half-way down the page is a paragraph about "preaching the secondary." It's an idea that because we don't see our dominant in the same way a fish doesn't see water, we idenify ourselves more actively with our secondary.

Attitudes from the Horse's Mouth
 

INTJMom

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 28, 2007
Messages
5,413
MBTI Type
INTJ
Enneagram
5w4
According to the book Gifts differing: Understanding Personality Types (Isabel Briggs Mayers with Peter B Myers, Davies-Black Publishing, Mountain View, California 1995).p. 13

"With Introverts, the reverse is true. The dominant process is habitually and stubbornly introverted; when their attention must turn to the outer world, they tend to use the auxiliary process. "

This makes me wonder :thinking:
How can I identify the auxiliary function of introverts because I would assume it "looks" different than the same function as a dominant function of an extroverted person (example: ESTJ dominant Te and ISTJ auxiliary Te.) If the auxiliary function is shown to the outer world, how does it look like?
How does the auxiliary function of an introverted person "look" like?
Ne?
Te?
Se?
Fe?

On the other hand, how does the auxiliary function of an extroverted person "look" like?
Ni?
Ti?
Si?
Fi?
Exactly. I've wondered the same thing myself.
There are a couple of experts here who should know the answer to that.
 

nightning

ish red no longer *sad*
Joined
Apr 23, 2007
Messages
3,741
MBTI Type
INfj
A tough thing to answer, the functions will be the same. I think what you want to look for is how the auxiliary function interact with your dominant instead of trying to isolate the auxiliary because that's impossible. I know for myself that my Ni is always running things.
 

GZA

Resident Snot-Nose
Joined
Aug 13, 2007
Messages
1,771
MBTI Type
infp
A tough thing to answer, the functions will be the same. I think what you want to look for is how the auxiliary function interact with your dominant instead of trying to isolate the auxiliary because that's impossible. I know for myself that my Ni is always running things.
I like what you said about relating the auxiliary to the dominant function. For me thats Ne and Fi. I think, since it's the extraverted one, Ne certainly is what people will see the most. I think this, with the perceiving function giving it a steroid boost, is mostly responsible for the Don Quixote like nature of some of my actions/ramblings, where one second I'll be swept away into some kind of bizarre tangent and the next second I'll be making show stopping connections between various peices of information. But ultimately Fi is the puppetmaster of all my shananegans. All these connections and tangents serve as a foundation for my inner feelings and values, and how they can be developed and expressed. Its like paint and canvas -Ne is my canvas, but Fi is the paint (and the brush!) that makes the canvas come to life. No connection is made without some kind of reaction to it, without some kind of Fi reflection.

"With Introverts, the reverse is true. The dominant process is habitually and stubbornly introverted; when their attention must turn to the outer world, they tend to use the auxiliary process. "

That is so true. Fi is strictly introverted, people rarely see it. I think that gives it a floodgate like quality, where it only comes out in huge amounts or not at all. The last time I cried... thats what happened. I was calm, then it CRASHED and I had tot go to the corner and let it run for about half an hour :blush: Or sometimes when I laugh... something can be very funny and only get a slight laugh and a big smile from me, but once it breaches a certain threshold I'll HOWL with laughter and fall right out of my seat!

I showed MBTI to a friend once and she guessed I must be a Thinker because I seemed "emotionally cold" in terms of expression (which is true due to my Fi and her very strong Fe that is always VERY externally expressive), but when she read the description of the intuitive function she lit up and said "THATS YOU". Of course, this analysis of the situation hit me and was then plastered with my emotional reaction ("how come I seem cold?:( ", and "why is there any doubt about what I am?" It was kind of discouraging to be seem slightly differently than how I am/want to be).

So... I guess in conclusion I think that an introvert is seen differently than they may actually be due to the nature of the auxiliary function. The auxiliary is bound to throw off the viewer because while it may seem strong and dominant there is really a lot more running the show behind it, potentially causing suprise, depending on type.

Good night!
 
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