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Socionics vs. MBTI -- not so different in the end!

InvisibleJim

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I've recently gained significant respect for socionics, mostly because it offers a much clearer demarcation between behaviour and cognition then bamboozles you by actually pulling out the 'real' behavioural mannerisms. Perhaps I just prefer the very clear critical analysis it allows. Who knows. Although you should note the whole idea of typing by face structure is just like lolzy.

w.r.t socionics, I recommend: http://www.wikisocion.org/en/index.php?title=Wikisocion_home
 

Eric B

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if i remember right, socionics is based more on how the person behaves, while mbti is about how the person thinks. also those socionics descriptions have some aspects on physical structures that are total bullshit, like face structure etc.

as you can see most of this kind of speculation is totally ridiculous.
I didn't realize this was completely serious until I started seeing people use it to actually type people (celebrities).

I can buy the dispute as to what j/p really mean (i.e the INTp's Ni and Te "acting the same" as the INTP's Ne and Ti based on interpretation of Jung, like Jack Flak used to argue), but I don't see how anyone can think bone structure is apart of personality. Posture, I could see it, as some types might be more depressive (dour face, etc), more neat and less likely to get themselves fat, etc. You still can't make that a hard generalization, however. But not bone structure (including in the face)!
 

KDude

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^It should be pointed out that VI is only one segment of socionics. I've found that Socionics has a similar variety of opinions as MBTI. Only one guy owns the socionics.com domain, and while it has some interesting information, not all socionists (as in, the Russian writers/psychologists who specialize in it) agree with him.

The only reason why they didn't just adopt MBTI itself is that it was relatively unknown when Aushra Augusta developed Socionics in the 70's (behind the Iron Curtain, that is).. She was only focusing on Jung. It was until the 80's that she heard of Isabel Myer's. It's funny that it turned out fairly similar and that they were both heading in the same direction. Where the VI idea originally stems from is when one of the more famous writers on the subject (Ekaterina Filatova) interviewed a lot of people over time, she came up with some composite sketches just to capture the general essence or pattern she thought she was detecting in each type. I'm not sure what she was proposing exactly, but I've heard that she doesn't have much to actually say about VI herself. And I would agree with Jim, Wikisocion seems to be a better source. It's user driven, but the basis for most articles or descriptions is from people like Filatova.

Another good site (if you use Google translate) is http://www.socionics.org. If you click on descriptions for each type, you'll see that there are about 8 or 9 separate descriptions from different authors. It might help to get a better picture.

What throws me off is the subtype theory.. It's kind of hard to sift through the information and tell if I'm more EII or IEI.. or even something else. Heh. I've taken a step back from reading up on it and just stick to MBTI for now.
 

Eric B

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So when did the version using the first three MBTI letters with the modified j/p designation come about? Was that after they discovered MBTI, and then tried to match it? I take it, the original conception was the three letter version (L/E, I/S, I/E) or the shapes.
 

KDude

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The three letter labels came first, but I couldn't tell you when they borrowed MBTI labels. That might be traced to the guy I mentioned above, who owns socionics.com (Sergei Ganin). Apparently, he was the first person who offered any literature about it in the west.. along with being the one responsible for using the lowercase "j" and "p" lettering. I'll assume that since he introduced the lowercase lettering, he must have been the one who first borrowed MBTI labels in general. Maybe. :shrug: This would be sometime in the 90's. There is some history about socionics in the Wikipedia entry.
 

highlander

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I took the test on the Socionics site and it said I am an ESTj :shock:
 

sulfit

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Aren't the functions interpreted differently in each system? Also, haven't you noticed that ISFPs are like ISFps, not ISFjs, and so forth?
That's the most common reason that Socionics and MBTI are considered different systems.

http://www.the16types.info/vbulletin/content.php/73-Socionics-Information-Elements-Primer

But I looked at their interpretation of functions and many aren't all that dissimilar to MBTI. In particular Ne is still the function of "innovation" and spontaneous intuitive insight and Ti is still structural, analytical logic. So those who value Ne & Ti in MBTI should also value it under socionics. Descriptions are more different for sensing functions.
 

Shudder

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I always score both INTJ and INTj. I've once scored INTp on a test, but never INTP.
 
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