[SJ] SJs and looking to the past

[KLessard]

Hi SJs.

I was wondering if you could explain this whole notion of having your eyes fixed on the past. Whatever that may mean to you. Thanks.

 

[Tigerlily]

my mother is an ISFJ who dwells on the past so much that she doesn't seem to realize that there are people alive around her, like me and her grandchildren. she can't let go of people who have died. she also hasn't planned for her future so when the family business shut down she was forced to get a job earning not so great money. i guess she assumed a magical fairly was going to drop out of the sky and wiped all of her troubles away.

on a positive note, she's knowledgeable where our family is concerned. she is a good record keeper and has lots of old pictures. maybe i should suggest she make a family tree. i just worry it won't keep her attention.

 

[FallaciaSonata]

It really depends on what you mean by that. Si is what drives our "past fixation", according to the Function. This means as we go through life, we constantly collect and store data about the world around us (in many, varied forms. Differs for everyone --- I tend to remember quite a bit, myself.)

Because we gather this data, we are able to compare and contrast it with current situations --- effectively using the data to deal with problems. I generally recall factual information, little blips of things here and there --- that earned me the "walking dictionary" nickname amongst my acquaintances.

Here's an example, from a recent trip I took. I was in Tennessee for a conference with my Youth Group and we were in a mall near the hotel. Almost entirely unconsciously, I was scanning and remembering my surroundings. Later on, one of my friends asked where the X Store was, (Don't remember what store he asked for,) and I was able to get us there with the fastest route that I knew of. Apparently no one else was paying attention to where we were walking. ; )

Of course, this is just one of the many, many examples of "Si in action". If you want an example that relates to further in the past, I can tell you that I look for the solution to a problem first by looking how the problem was solved by other people in the past --- I then find the solution that works the best or suits my needs. (I wouldn't do what an "N" type would do and just conjure up some prodigious answer out of nowhere. I'm don't work that way.)


Hope that helped.

 

[IZthe411]

FallaciaSonata gave a good description- We rely on past experience to guide us through present situations.

I wouldn't say SJs are fixed in the past; ISxJs use primary Si, for ESxJs it's secondary, but we do think towards the future, sometimes optimistically.

 

[Andy]

I've said this several times recently, so I'm in danger of starting to sound like a stuck record, but I'll say it just one more time...

I think Si user are backwards looking because Si is a prefference for information that is certain/absolute in some way. This can include factual information or the location of things (as Sonata mentions). This is why they tend to look to the past so much, because everything in the future is uncertain to a degree. Only by looking backwards can you see what was worked before (or failed before!). This doesn't necessarily mean that they dread the future, just that they are cautious of the untride, which isn't necessarily a bad idea.

P.S. My appologies if I'm treading on any SJs toes!

 

[raz]

my mother is an ISFJ who dwells on the past so much that she doesn't seem to realize that there are people alive around her, like me and her grandchildren. she can't let go of people who have died. she also hasn't planned for her future so when the family business shut down she was forced to get a job earning not so great money. i guess she assumed a magical fairly was going to drop out of the sky and wiped all of her troubles away.

on a positive note, she's knowledgeable where our family is concerned. she is a good record keeper and has lots of old pictures. maybe i should suggest she make a family tree. i just worry it won't keep her attention.

No offense, but I think that might be a bad definition. Perhaps those are problems not explainable by type, but rather her own personal experiences that have negatively affected her without the proper help.

 

[JocktheMotie]

Like some of our SJs have said, they don't necessarily focus on the past, but in judging the present and future they will try to maintain symmetry with the what the past has taught them and shown them.

 

[NewEra]

my mother is an ISFJ who dwells on the past so much that she doesn't seem to realize that there are people alive around her, like me and her grandchildren. she can't let go of people who have died. she also hasn't planned for her future so when the family business shut down she was forced to get a job earning not so great money. i guess she assumed a magical fairly was going to drop out of the sky and wiped all of her troubles away.

This is not a good example of how SJs look to the past. Maybe your mom dwells in the past but normally SJs are not like this. If you want a perfect example of SJs looking to the past, look at FallaciaSonata's post.

SJs look to the past to guide them in present and future decision-making. We don't "live in the past", we live in the present and use the past as a resource.

 

[Tigerlily]

No offense, but I think that might be a bad definition. Perhaps those are problems not explainable by type, but rather her own personal experiences that have negatively affected her without the proper help.

well that's a trait they're known to have (thinking about the past) and that's my experience so i shared it. of course typology is an indicator so behaviors vary from person to person. i assumed we all were aware of that. i am quite sure i remember reading keirsey describing SJ's as spending time thinking about the past. i'll dig the book out and look.

 

[BlueSky]

As I messed with an ESFP girl for a short while, I quickly came to understand Si better than before.

When an SP tells you she wishes to experience something, she means that she wishes to do something just to know what it's like. When an SJ tells you he wishes to experience something, he means he wishes to do something so that he might use the experience for his benefit in the future.

Also, I noticed my Si in that whenever we talked I almost always could quote her verbatim on earlier conversations.

And more generally, my Si regularly manifests itself with my consistency. I know what I like and I like what I know, and consequently I rarely see a need for change. I when I have to "try" something new, at least without adequate research tools.

 

[sofmarhof]

There was just a thread about Si in INTPs which sadly seems doomed to neglect... In any case, I'm really intrigued about the differences and similarities between Si in SJs and Si in... NPs I guess, tertiary & inferior users. So, SJs, tell me more.

 

[raz]

well that's a trait they're known to have (thinking about the past) and that's my experience so i shared it. of course typology is an indicator so behaviors vary from person to person. i assumed we all were aware of that. i am quite sure i remember reading keirsey describing SJ's as spending time thinking about the past. i'll dig the book out and look.

Yes, but the way in which you described her portrayed her traits as negatively affecting her relationships and her lifestyle. That's not healthy.

 

[IZthe411]

As I messed with an ESFP girl for a short while, I quickly came to understand Si better than before.

When an SP tells you she wishes to experience something, she means that she wishes to do something just to know what it's like. When an SJ tells you he wishes to experience something, he means he wishes to do something so that he might use the experience for his benefit in the future.

Also, I noticed my Si in that whenever we talked I almost always could quote her verbatim on earlier conversations.

And more generally, my Si regularly manifests itself with my consistency. I know what I like and I like what I know, and consequently I rarely see a need for change. I when I have to "try" something new, at least without adequate research tools.

Exactly.

My girl's an ISFP and I will recall to her statements that she has made, word for word. Sometimes she remembers them, sometimes she doesn't, due to her wacky Fi.

I find it funny when she tells me that I said something, and I know I didn't. She'll accuse me of saying something, but I can remember the situation and recall the situation and exactly what I said, and I can give her the exact words I said. It's just that she translated it to mean something else, good or bad.

 

[BlueGray]

Exactly.

My girl's an ISFP and I will recall to her statements that she has made, word for word. Sometimes she remembers them, sometimes she doesn't, due to her wacky Fi.

I find it funny when she tells me that I said something, and I know I didn't. She'll accuse me of saying something, but I can remember the situation and recall the situation and exactly what I said, and I can give her the exact words I said. It's just that she translated it to mean something else, good or bad.

This seems just way too similar to how I interact with an ESFP...

 

[Wild horses]

My mother is ISFJ and she constantly has her eyes fixed on the past. I think that it is a form of security for her as she trusts in things that are tried and tested. I even think that she would prefer to revisit a bad situation or keep repeating a mistake rather than try something completely new and risky, in some cases anyways. However, she is also very stuck in the present tense and I am very stuck in the future which means that I am probably better at dealing with bad events than her however, she is better at sorting them out