Taken from
MBTI at a Glance - Cognitive Function Theory : (Interesting and thorough blog)
"Ni:
-attends to subjective abstract meaning
-oriented to underlying causes & patterns
-looks for depth in understanding unknowns
-experiences the world through “what will beâ€
-seeks to maximize intuitive clarity
-idealistic, synthesizes unified vision
-rationalizing, defensive of inner world
Ne:
-attends to objective abstract connections
-oriented to conceptual ideas & possibilities
-looks for unique connections of details
-experiences the world through “what could beâ€
-seeks to maximize openness to change
-creative, generates ideas for progress
-impatient, impractical, unstable self"
From what I've seen of your posts, you strike me as more of an Ne user. More specifically, an INFP. However, as an ENTP, Ni would be your fifth function and as an INFP, it would be your sixth.
As another Tumblr blog defines those functions:
"5th Function -
This one is comparable to your tertiary in strenght/ tends to be in the “average use†bracket, depending on how much you’ve developed your teriary of course, but you probably hardly use it and find doing so very exhausting or counterproductive. Nonetheless, the fifth function is the one shadow function that you can consciously flip on to its full extent without needing to learn how to do so, when the situation calls for it, but it’s likely that you don’t want you:
In fact it’s called “opposing†or “negative hero†function because you might really resist having to use this one, or feeling you need to filter it out. Take, for example, and INTP for whom the 5th function is Te - INTPs are not known for organizational skills (to say the least) and like many perceivers actually feel uncomfortable with too much sheduling, but there’s more to it, because in a way it represents an alternative approach: Te is concerned with finding what seems to work on an almost completely empirical basis, Ti, at least in a high-end user, is about finding out why things work or putting them in a self-consistent framework where most factors are accounted for - ultimately even here we need room for a reasonable doubt,
The Te shadow might be the reason for this phenomenon where the diaries of some reclusive, reasonable INTP-ish researchers are found, and it’s discovered that they were well ahead of their time (Gauss is a famous example) and had the next decades’ worth of advances sitting right there, but didn’t pblish them because they weren’t fully sure off/ satisfied with their
Since “pragmatic feasibility†(or whatever your fifth function is) is already a sort of devil’s advocate in your head, it can also come out in arguments/debates, when you’re “opposing†others - Say, your criticise an INTPs model/theory/conclusion, and they will pull some facts, studies, or feasibility considerations to support their conclusions. (I’ve actually observd this in myself) Or, I read one INTJ reflecting on the Ne shadow; The person observed how when their ideas are criticised, they would defend them via “finding alternatives†- For how the person they’re arguing with could be wrong, or how to patch up/ bugfix their Ni-derived idea with minor changes.
I’m not fully sure how this would work for someone leading with a feeling function, but I have noticed a pattern that I previously just chalked up to my general poor people skills and delicacy, where an ISFP in my family (5th function: Fe) would become upset about something that went wrong/ she felt she mucked up, and I would try to move to comfort her in what might have been a clumsy-tastic way, and she would react really negatively and get out the snarky voice. Now it has dawned on me that dealing with me in addition to the initial situation probably just added extra stress and that I should probably let her finish reacting internally instead of repeating my points (â€Come on, it wasn’t your faultâ€) -.-°
(Although it can’tthat my skill at comforting people rarely goes beyond “it’s the thought that matters†and my perceptiveness rarely exceeds picking up the obvious, ie, that a person who’s crying or saying they’re upset is probably upset. She probably has more Fe than I have even if she mostly uses it to tell a person when they should back off and let her internally process in peace)
But in all examples you can see that this is a relatively “narrowâ€, small scale application of the function: Your starting point is your base function’s conclusion, you don’t - and likely can’t - scale the whole field of possibilities.
At best, this can slightly ‘round out’ or complement your primary and thus become a part of yourprocess (for example: devise theory -> go test it! Or, in a job rather than private setting, recognize the need to have someone else do the testing) but you’ve got to be careful not to use it in a wholly self-serving way (ie, confirmation bias. Only cite studies that agree with your theory, only find possibilities that , only pick up that ridiculous Big sis is being ridiculous and not that she’s trying to help (though lemme state that litte sis is not guilty of this, she was more like, “I get that you mean well but take a hint†if more politely worded))
Interestingly, just like your inferior supposedly influences your choice in mates a bit can lead you to go after someone you see as having something you lack/ an idealized version of yourself, the fifth function influences your idea of “dark sexyâ€, the bad boy/girl rather than the dream one or a sentiment “I don’t think I could or want to be like this person but there’s some parts of them I can’t help but admire or be slightly jealous of†(at least according to Beebe theory).
6th Function -
This is perhaps the most interesting one, and therefore one I wish I had found more information on - You find more information about the other three as they can really cause problems, aligning with the base idea of the shadow functions as “stuff you suck at that you don’t realize you suck at†(as opposed to say, your inferior, where your suckage is more unpleasant but also more noticeable to you personally.) but the sixth function is more about stuff you’re good at that you don’t know -
Depending on which source you believe (and the individual’s) this can be anywhere between nearly as strong as the secondary function, and comparable to the primary one. This is actually one of your strongest functions, a “latent hidden strenght†every type has, and actually uses every day without noticing. It’s called the “demonstrative functionâ€, maybe because others actually notice it more easily than you do and might even value this good quality in you.
So I’m particularly interested in learning how to get more use out of this. My 6th function would be Ni and I think we can all agree that Ni is basically black magic.
About how exactly you use this, the sources vary. Some sources say that the into/processing this gathers feeds into the conclusions of your base and auxillary, but you don’t know how to flip it on independently of those. Like the fifth function (Like in the INTP example, “I need to know WHY/HOW I know so I don’t trust, or dare to make, an estimateâ€. Conversely, an INTj might not see the point in dissecting something in detail when they’re comfortable making the mental jump to the end result and don’t see it getting them closer to their goals) Some said that it’s things that seem “obvious†to you, that you see without being aware that actual thinking/processing has taken place, or that you use them in “inverted†negative ways as a tool for criticism (sort of like the fifth one) and part of your panic mode.
When I first read this I was clueless as to how this is present in my life but I’ve since read up on both this thing and Ni and observed my thinking and… I do frequently find myself going “I should have known this would happen because of A and B†in a self-critical way/ and avoid A and B in the future, sometimes I even distinctly recall a moment where I thought “Won’t that thing happen if I do this?†but dismissed it (maybe I should follow/trust that more often?)
Ni is also supposedly tied to symbolism, analysis of deeper meanings, predicting what will happen next in a story, finding patterns etc. This is something that at very least interests me as a fun hobby activity.
To give another example, my mom is an ENFP, so her sixth function is Fe. If you asked her why she does things, she would reply in a way indicative of Fi-style internal processing, “I believe in XY valueâ€, “You can’t do [wrong thing] and expect your children to grow up with [positive trait]†or “I think WZ is importantâ€, but she’s a lot more loudly expressive than other Fi users in our family, and cultivates a warm and lively atmosphere around her.
Or for, INFJs, it’s Fi. They’ll reason in very other-oriented ways of wanting to help and do right by everyone, but when reading their many tumblr posts you do get the sense that many of them actually have deep ethical/personal convictions."
Hopefully this helps. ^_^