Si = Good Memory?

[Norrsken]

Can somebody explain to me the purpose of introverted sensing and how people behave through it.
The kind of descriptions I found online seem a bit elementary- Si means having great memory recall, it means standing by and protecting traditions, and it means preferring the past over the present.

But, I think those are all something that EVERY type goes through in some way?

 

[ZNP-TBA]

Si attaches a sentimentality to a particular memory which makes it more 'memorable' and easy/frequent to recall when something else 'reminds' them. The sentimentality isn't necessarily 'feeling' based though Si doms I've talked to describe it as a 'feeling.' It's not really a value judgment its more of an internal sensory experience. A certain smell, sight, experience mixed with a particular thought you had at the time will evoke a internal sensory response (i.e. your heart can beat faster, your eyes dilate more, a sensation of something). Reactions/emotions like excitement are just as much physiological experiences (increased heart rate for example, endorphin rush) as mental experiences.

 

[Frosty]

If it is than Im not si in any way- like si very last.

My memories craptastic.

 

[Poki]

Si is the Ni of sensory details. They just know the way things are gonna turn out. Its s based intuition

 

[Norrsken]

Thanks all. I am on my mobile now so I cant individually answer you, but I'd like to ask [MENTION=12103]Poki[/MENTION], do you mean that someone who uses Si means that they gather all sensory details and then figure out what will happen next?

 

[Poki]

Thanks all. I am on my mobile now so I cant individually answer you, but I'd like to ask [MENTION=12103]Poki[/MENTION], do you mean that someone who uses Si means that they gather all sensory details and then figure out what will happen next?

Everything that is deduced from Si, whether it be past, present, or next. Remember though for doms extraverted perception is inferior.

Its the stuff Ne doms just blow off.

 

[Cellmold]

Descriptions always read to me as a very specifically precise memories of sensations based on how intensely imprinted they are.

But in much the same way you can't control a connection of thoughts (you can just rationalise a reaction) you can't really choose what will stick from a sensory experience.

So good a remembering the facts and sensations that stick, but im not sure about memory overall. Maybe being less distracted by what ifs does lead to better recall of solid information.

But a good memory is something else entirely, I think.

 

[Verona]

I have heard it described as a filing cabinet in your brain. Everything is organized by what you have experienced before and you can connect past sensory experiences to new experiences in a direct way. In areas that they are passionate about I have heard it described that they can have an encyclopedia-like knowledge because they like to acquire as much factual information about it as they can to add to their file.

I think with anything there are Si users who have good memories and those who don't. Even if you can't remember specific details I imagine that new experiences would trigger some relationship to past experiences.

 

[Yama]

Si attaches a sentimentality to a particular memory which makes it more 'memorable' and easy/frequent to recall when something else 'reminds' them.

I have heard it described as a filing cabinet in your brain. Everything is organized by what you have experienced before and you can connect past sensory experiences to new experiences in a direct way. In areas that they are passionate about I have heard it described that they can have an encyclopedia-like knowledge because they like to acquire as much factual information about it as they can to add to their file.

I think with anything there are Si users who have good memories and those who don't. Even if you can't remember specific details I imagine that new experiences would trigger some relationship to past experiences.

^

People tend to water Si down to "oh, it's just nostalgia" and "oh, they have good memories" and basically things that literally everyone can do whether they value Si or not.

I like these two posts. They explain it well.

It's not just "nostalgia." That sounds more like tert Si. It's the sentimentality that goes along with pretty much everything, completely subconsciously. It's the very lens I look at life through. Everything is connected. A good visual for Si is the roots of a large tree. Above ground, you just see the trunk. Underneath, there is a hell of a lot going on, it's very complex, and it's all connected.

My memory is crap, I can't remember what I did two days ago. Si isn't just "having a good memory." It's more like what ZNP and Verona described.

Si is quite similar to Ni. People recognize how Fi and Ti are similar, but either don't want or refuse to see it with Si and Ni. I use Si with so much ease that it's so difficult to describe. It's like trying to tell someone how to breathe air. I don't have to think about it, I just do it, whether I'm trying to or not.

I relate everything back to something that I've experienced before. Imagine you're trying to teach me to do something completely new to me. I'm going to struggle with it at first. Eventually, something might "click" with me and I'll say, "Oh, so this is kind of like doing [unrelated activity]!" And I'll use all of my experience with that and be able to apply it to the current activity in a new way.

Sometimes, there's nothing to relate it back to. In which case, I struggle a lot, but eventually through gathering this new experience, I'm able to build up new information and skill that can be applied to future activities that require something similar.

Sure, it seems like something basic anyone can do. So does "having personal values" etc. We all do this. Some of us just do it more.

 

[prplchknz]

^

People tend to water Si down to "oh, it's just nostalgia" and "oh, they have good memories" and basically things that literally everyone can do whether they value Si or not.

I like these two posts. They explain it well.

It's not just "nostalgia." That sounds more like tert Si. It's the sentimentality that goes along with pretty much everything, completely subconsciously. It's the very lens I look at life through. Everything is connected. A good visual for Si is the roots of a large tree. Above ground, you just see the trunk. Underneath, there is a hell of a lot going on, it's very complex, and it's all connected.

My memory is crap, I can't remember what I did two days ago. Si isn't just "having a good memory." It's more like what ZNP and Verona described.

Si is quite similar to Ni. People recognize how Fi and Ti are similar, but either don't want or refuse to see it with Si and Ni. I use Si with so much ease that it's so difficult to describe. It's like trying to tell someone how to breathe air. I don't have to think about it, I just do it, whether I'm trying to or not.

I relate everything back to something that I've experienced before. Imagine you're trying to teach me to do something completely new to me. I'm going to struggle with it at first. Eventually, something might "click" with me and I'll say, "Oh, so this is kind of like doing [unrelated activity]!" And I'll use all of my experience with that and be able to apply it to the current activity in a new way.

Sometimes, there's nothing to relate it back to. In which case, I struggle a lot, but eventually through gathering this new experience, I'm able to build up new information and skill that can be applied to future activities that require something similar.

Sure, it seems like something basic anyone can do. So does "having personal values" etc. We all do this. Some of us just do it more.

this is kind of how i think i experience Ne except the reverse i dunno how to explain it but apparently when i go off on tangents i am like oh this is so related and i keep moving forward where Si from what it sounds like is moving backwards. So I'm like moving towards the future in my mind to make connections but refering to the past at the same time and that might be inferior Si for me. Where you're also moving towards the future but pay more attention to the past. Maybe what i'm describing is inferior Si sorry i just fucked this whole thing up I don't understand Si *cries* its like damnit i dunno like you said Si is like breathing for you, that's how Ne is for me. it's like what it's like having arms to someone who has always had arms

 

[Yama]

Regarding tradition and preferring the past to the present...

I often dislike the use of the word "traditional" for Si because it can be misleading. When people think of someone who is traditional, they tend to think of someone who basically embodies the traditions of their time period... which most people default to the traditions of like, the 1950s. They think of the housewives with their little aprons and the breadwinning white collar job men. Even starting from the other end, when you think of that image and try to attribute a type to it, most people are going to say SJ.

Thus, the SJs of today are often nothing like that. It leads to a lot of mistypes, actually. People think, "Oh, I'm not traditional at all, so I must not be an SJ." To be honest, I don't give a fuck about most traditions, and the ones I do care about, people of all types seem to care about, too (like celebrating someone's birthday even if it's just a dumb meaningless day like okay so someone was born just like everyone else lol, but I still like to celebrate them).

People who don't know me that well want to type me as an IxFP. I fit the "aesthetic." I'm not "traditional" in the sense most people think of. I mean for god's sake when people think of the archetypal ISFJ they don't think of gay trans boys. I don't "fit" with people's mental (often outdated) image of an Si dom.

I don't prefer the past to the present. I hold things, people, etc. from the past very close to my heart and find it hard to let go because of this extreme sentimentality. But really, I live in the present. I'm in the here and now, but I do carry the past around with me. It isn't my "first and foremost" thought. What's most important to me are the things that are happening right now, today. I find it hard to even create a mental image of someone who lives completely in the past. How is that possible? You can only exist in the present. The past was the present once. But now, I digress.

Anyway, I love talking about Si. I love explaining it to people who ask about it, because it shows that they like to actually understand things rather than take it at face value. So kudos to you OP.

 

[Yama]

this is kind of how i think i experience Ne except the reverse i dunno how to explain it but apparently when i go off on tangents i am like oh this is so related and i keep moving forward where Si from what it sounds like is moving backwards. So I'm like moving towards the future in my mind to make connections but refering to the past at the same time and that might be inferior Si for me. Where you're also moving towards the future but pay more attention to the past. Maybe what i'm describing is inferior Si sorry i just fucked this whole thing up I don't understand Si *cries* its like damnit i dunno like you said Si is like breathing for you, that's how Ne is for me. it's like what it's like having arms to someone who has always had arms

The Ne/Si dynamic is so interesting to me. When we use one, we're using the other, but one of them is stronger. For me, Si overpowers Ne, but Ne is still present. I've had people tell me they can "really see the Ne" in me.

Inferior Si is also a concept that fascinates me because, well, I live and breathe Si. I'm sure my inferior Ne is equally as intriguing to Ne doms.

 

[Verona]

Regarding tradition and preferring the past to the present...

I often dislike the use of the word "traditional" for Si because it can be misleading. When people think of someone who is traditional, they tend to think of someone who basically embodies the traditions of their time period... which most people default to the traditions of like, the 1950s. They think of the housewives with their little aprons and the breadwinning white collar job men. Even starting from the other end, when you think of that image and try to attribute a type to it, most people are going to say SJ.

Thus, the SJs of today are often nothing like that. It leads to a lot of mistypes, actually. People think, "Oh, I'm not traditional at all, so I must not be an SJ." To be honest, I don't give a fuck about most traditions, and the ones I do care about, people of all types seem to care about, too (like celebrating someone's birthday even if it's just a dumb meaningless day like okay so someone was born just like everyone else lol, but I still like to celebrate them).

People who don't know me that well want to type me as an IxFP. I fit the "aesthetic." I'm not "traditional" in the sense most people think of. I mean for god's sake when people think of the archetypal ISFJ they don't think of gay trans boys. I don't "fit" with people's mental (often outdated) image of an Si dom.

I don't prefer the past to the present. I hold things, people, etc. from the past very close to my heart and find it hard to let go because of this extreme sentimentality. But really, I live in the present. I'm in the here and now, but I do carry the past around with me. It isn't my "first and foremost" thought. What's most important to me are the things that are happening right now, today. I find it hard to even create a mental image of someone who lives completely in the past. How is that possible? You can only exist in the present. The past was the present once. But now, I digress.

Anyway, I love talking about Si. I love explaining it to people who ask about it, because it shows that they like to actually understand things rather than take it at face value. So kudos to you OP.

Learning more about Si has really made me wonder if I could potentially be ISFJ or if I just strongly relate to Si because it is my tertiary. I do think most SJ descriptions fall very flat and are hard to relate to unless you are a traditional rule follower. I have enjoyed reading the perspectives of young ISFJs on this forum and it has made me look at all of the SJ types differently.

 

[prplchknz]

The Ne/Si dynamic is so interesting to me. When we use one, we're using the other, but one of them is stronger. For me, Si overpowers Ne, but Ne is still present. I've had people tell me they can "really see the Ne" in me.

Inferior Si is also a concept that fascinates me because, well, I live and breathe Si. I'm sure my inferior Ne is equally as intriguing to Ne doms.

yes Ne is stronger for me so we probably do basically the same thing but for me Ne is stronger and for you Si is stronger.so while it's the same its also very very different.

 

[Yama]

Learning more about Si has really made me wonder if I could potentially be ISFJ or if I just strongly relate to Si because it is my tertiary. I do think most SJ descriptions fall very flat and are hard to relate to unless you are a traditional rule follower. I have enjoyed reading the perspectives of young ISFJs on this forum and it has made me look at all of the SJ types differently.

Yeah, SJ descriptions are so unrelatable and make us sound so painfully boring that I sort of don't blame SJs for mistyping. This forum is pretty good about not being biased towards SJs, but some other places they are met with such random hostility that it's like wtf lol. People have really bad mental images of Si most of the time that really should be corrected but they chase the SJs away before that can happen.

I don't know you well enough yet to say what your type is but I think you're definitely on the Ne/Si Si/Ne spectrum. I see INFP well enough but could possibly see ISFJ as well. Fe is another function that gets a lot of crap (with the whole "living to serve others" and "conforming to social norms" type crap) but, that's for another thread, another day! Good to see people keeping an open mind about their typings.

 

[Yama]

yes Ne is stronger for me so we probably do basically the same thing but for me Ne is stronger and for you Si is stronger.so while it's the same its also very very different.

Another reason for my love/hate relationship with the NPs. Okay well, it's pretty much "I love all of the NPs except for my sister."
We (NPs/SJs) seem to be drawn to each other for this reason. We sort of balance each other out that way.

 

[prplchknz]

Another reason for my love/hate relationship with the NPs. Okay well, it's pretty much "I love all of the NPs except for my sister."
We (NPs/SJs) seem to be drawn to each other for this reason. We sort of balance each other out that way.

yeah my best friend is an ESFJ and though at times she does drive me nuts with her SJness we do compliment each other quite nicely

 

[Poki]

^

People tend to water Si down to "oh, it's just nostalgia" and "oh, they have good memories" and basically things that literally everyone can do whether they value Si or not.

I like these two posts. They explain it well.

It's not just "nostalgia." That sounds more like tert Si. It's the sentimentality that goes along with pretty much everything, completely subconsciously. It's the very lens I look at life through. Everything is connected. A good visual for Si is the roots of a large tree. Above ground, you just see the trunk. Underneath, there is a hell of a lot going on, it's very complex, and it's all connected.

My memory is crap, I can't remember what I did two days ago. Si isn't just "having a good memory." It's more like what ZNP and Verona described.

Si is quite similar to Ni. People recognize how Fi and Ti are similar, but either don't want or refuse to see it with Si and Ni. I use Si with so much ease that it's so difficult to describe. It's like trying to tell someone how to breathe air. I don't have to think about it, I just do it, whether I'm trying to or not.

I relate everything back to something that I've experienced before. Imagine you're trying to teach me to do something completely new to me. I'm going to struggle with it at first. Eventually, something might "click" with me and I'll say, "Oh, so this is kind of like doing [unrelated activity]!" And I'll use all of my experience with that and be able to apply it to the current activity in a new way.

Sometimes, there's nothing to relate it back to. In which case, I struggle a lot, but eventually through gathering this new experience, I'm able to build up new information and skill that can be applied to future activities that require something similar.

Sure, it seems like something basic anyone can do. So does "having personal values" etc. We all do this. Some of us just do it more.

I like that "ahaaa" moment because its been pinned so much to Ni. To me its is part of a dom Ni, but the same part that dom Si have. Its not only Ni, but Ni has been skewed so much by "intuition" and its connotation that it has taken a huge part of Si with it dwindling Si down to nothing.

We all do the same things. Some more then others and for different reasons.

 

[ChocolateMoose123]

^

People tend to water Si down to "oh, it's just nostalgia" and "oh, they have good memories" and basically things that literally everyone can do whether they value Si or not.

I like these two posts. They explain it well.

It's not just "nostalgia." That sounds more like tert Si. It's the sentimentality that goes along with pretty much everything, completely subconsciously. It's the very lens I look at life through. Everything is connected. A good visual for Si is the roots of a large tree. Above ground, you just see the trunk. Underneath, there is a hell of a lot going on, it's very complex, and it's all connected.

My memory is crap, I can't remember what I did two days ago. Si isn't just "having a good memory." It's more like what ZNP and Verona described.

Si is quite similar to Ni. People recognize how Fi and Ti are similar, but either don't want or refuse to see it with Si and Ni. I use Si with so much ease that it's so difficult to describe. It's like trying to tell someone how to breathe air. I don't have to think about it, I just do it, whether I'm trying to or not.

I relate everything back to something that I've experienced before. Imagine you're trying to teach me to do something completely new to me. I'm going to struggle with it at first. Eventually, something might "click" with me and I'll say, "Oh, so this is kind of like doing [unrelated activity]!" And I'll use all of my experience with that and be able to apply it to the current activity in a new way.

Sometimes, there's nothing to relate it back to. In which case, I struggle a lot, but eventually through gathering this new experience, I'm able to build up new information and skill that can be applied to future activities that require something similar.

Sure, it seems like something basic anyone can do. So does "having personal values" etc. We all do this. Some of us just do it more.

Fwiw, this sounds exactly like my ISTJ mom explain her thought process. I think she even used the tree analogy. It's eerie.

 

[Tilt]

^

People tend to water Si down to "oh, it's just nostalgia" and "oh, they have good memories" and basically things that literally everyone can do whether they value Si or not.

I like these two posts. They explain it well.

It's not just "nostalgia." That sounds more like tert Si. It's the sentimentality that goes along with pretty much everything, completely subconsciously. It's the very lens I look at life through. Everything is connected. A good visual for Si is the roots of a large tree. Above ground, you just see the trunk. Underneath, there is a hell of a lot going on, it's very complex, and it's all connected.

My memory is crap, I can't remember what I did two days ago. Si isn't just "having a good memory." It's more like what ZNP and Verona described.

Si is quite similar to Ni. People recognize how Fi and Ti are similar, but either don't want or refuse to see it with Si and Ni. I use Si with so much ease that it's so difficult to describe. It's like trying to tell someone how to breathe air. I don't have to think about it, I just do it, whether I'm trying to or not.

I relate everything back to something that I've experienced before. Imagine you're trying to teach me to do something completely new to me. I'm going to struggle with it at first. Eventually, something might "click" with me and I'll say, "Oh, so this is kind of like doing [unrelated activity]!" And I'll use all of my experience with that and be able to apply it to the current activity in a new way.

Sometimes, there's nothing to relate it back to. In which case, I struggle a lot, but eventually through gathering this new experience, I'm able to build up new information and skill that can be applied to future activities that require something similar.

Sure, it seems like something basic anyone can do. So does "having personal values" etc. We all do this. Some of us just do it more.

Ahhh interesting, in relation to Ni, I tend to relate everything back to a certain concept or framework that I have learned or am learning....so it's almost second-nsture for me to be able to wrap my mind around things that I have never experienced before. However, the main downside to this approach is that I can end relying too much on assumptions rather than facts. Si, on the other hand, seems to be able to make quick, accurate intuitive leaps between different experiences and facts. However, once SJs are sold on pieces of information about you, it's really hard to convince them of anything else.... I swear I have to repeat myself at least on 5 or more different occasions that I don't like the same music or brand of perfume from 5 years sgo. LOL

In regards to memory, it really depends on what it is. I will beat out an SJ any day about details, facts, memories in which I deem important to my understanding, goal, or vision. But if it's about details regarding past experiences, directions, instructions, legalese, common-sense matters, an SJ will tend to have the upper hand.