Straylight
New member
- Joined
- May 21, 2017
- Messages
- 46
- MBTI Type
- INTP
- Enneagram
- 5w4
- Instinctual Variant
- sp/so
Of all the functions, this is probably the hardest to understand what it means.
I mean you read a description and it's like "Knowing thins instinctively" and "Experiencing Premonitions" and it's just like WTF? It's hardly an explanation of how a mental function works. Does anyone have a better explanation? I can almost never tell definitively in characters if what they are using is Ne or Ni, since both are abstract idea generators and pattern connectors, supposedly.
According to the theory,
Whenever your brain interprets information it can be classified into two categories: the objective quantifiable properties of it and the subjective qualities of it. This correlates with the extraverted and introverted attitudes described by Jung.
Intuition is (according to Jung) our ability to make predictions that are not based on reason, but rather, on hunches. "Hunches" is really the best word to use here, because everyone knows what it is like to have a hunch, a guess at something, before you have really thought it through.
When your hunches are triggered and depend upon the quantifiable properties of actual observable things (objects, places, people, events, ideas, etc), then they are extraverted. For example, while observing a group of people having a discussion, you may begin to notice subtle patterns in their mannerisms that seem to indicate to you what their individual personalities might be, but you aren't sure why they indicate this, you have only the "gist" of it in your head, and would need to further develop the insight into a real notion that you could then explain to someone.
When your hunches are triggered and depend upon the subjective qualities of things ("qualities" are subjective because they depend upon your own individual biases as a person, which are disturbed and evoked by their contact with other things), then they are introverted. For example, while observing the same group of people having a discussion, the Ni-type's intuition selectively chooses and emphasizes the aspects of that discussion that reinforce the particular world-view of the Ni-type. If he is a cynic, then he has a cynical insight. If he is an optimist, he has an optimistic insight. The intuition is subjective because it carries a bias.
In the case of the INTJ-Ni/Te, those insights are either voiced/expressed (extraverted thinking) in the form of an opinion/decision about them, if they can be supported by facts and evidence. If they cannot, then they won't be voiced and remain personal/private (introverted intuition), giving the appearance of swift decisiveness and confidence.
In the case of the INTP-Ti/Ne, the insights are openly discussed as possibilities rather than opinions or decisions (extraverted intuition), while the personal opinion and final decision regarding the information is kept private (introverted thinking) because of it's subjective nature, giving the appearance of indecisiveness and lack of confidence.