What are your weakest functions?

[AphroditeGoneAwry]

haahha! While I would love to be claimed by the INFJs , I think I'm best described as an eNFJ. Something just doesn't add up with me. My dad is a solid INFJ and it's pretty obvious he is what he is. His Ni seems to lead every charge. With me it's not so distinct. I'm clearly switching Ni and Fe constantly, and which one takes the reins is something of a crap shoot sometimes. I want to say that my Fe is more in charge. I think that's an accurate statement. I complicate things by being a really introverted extrovert (if that makes any sense) - meaning I'm the loudest INFJ ever, or the quietest ENFJ.

I have a male friend who's very ENFJ, and we have a great many similarities. He's well more extroverted than me, and I can tell. It could be a gender split. It could be the way we were raised. I tend to recoil in social situations until I've figured out the lay of the land.

When I'm under pressure, and I mean severe pressure, I go almost completely silent. My dad gets louder, more verbal and more exasperated.



Very interesting perspective! Again, I'm a split here. I like one-on-ones, they're not as exhausting. Being in a crowd of people all talking seems to intimidate me, at least initially.

hmmmm. you are definitely food for my thought now fo sho. kinda like a platter of yummy sushi, full of surprises .......perhaps (just playing devil's advocate here--if you really are enfj/infj doesn't matter to me of course, just curious now) it's more complicated because you compare yourself to your father, isn't it? i mean, in your mind you might have ascribed to him the golden infj standard, and anything much different might not fit the mark. i know only one other infj female (that i know of, but suspect more) and she and i are kinda similar, kinda not......i also know an enfj woman and i am kinda sorta like her in some ways, but she's very group oriented. alwasy seeking out neighbors to help in various ways......her Fe even feels kinda nosy in that cuz she just wants to help people so much. i'm not very much like the other infjs on here either.

e's irl seem to not spend much time on the internet, preferring to be in the real world. also, your response about getting fatigued in a group is interesting. if you do like groups, maybe you tend to hang out in the same social circle a lot, so you feel comfortable and 'e' ish in that setting, as do i. finally, have you given much thought to my earlier lenore thompson reference about 'e's dissolving in a one-on-one setting? the more i think about that, the more i agree with it and understand what she's getting at. when i'm around e friends alone, it's almost like i have to carry the conversation or work hard at starting conversation.....AND, interestingly, when we make plans to get together, they will usually want to invite others along. i think that's very telling. i prefer to get together, for the most part, with one friend at a time. but when i'm around them in a group or crowd they will be very animated and talkative. hence, the 'dissolve' phenomena. however, my 'i' friends and i can get into some seriously intense conversations one-on-one.

EDIT: please ignore me if i'm being presumptious about your type. you just tickled my mind is all about your functions test, and since i'm into this stuff right now, and a semi-outgoing infj, i could be excited and overstepping my bounds.

 

[simulatedworld]

My Si is certifiably atrocious, my Se is pretty bad, and my Fe is only recently starting to realize it exists.

 

[phthalocyanine]

Si, Te - i am terrible with regimens and strict schedules.. i'm almost always late, and my concept of time is almost non-existent.

 

[Domino]

hmmmm. you are definitely food for my thought now fo sho. kinda like a platter of yummy sushi, full of surprises .......perhaps (just playing devil's advocate here--if you really are enfj/infj doesn't matter to me of course, just curious now) it's more complicated because you compare yourself to your father, isn't it? i mean, in your mind you might have ascribed to him the golden infj standard, and anything much different might not fit the mark. i know only one other infj female (that i know of, but suspect more) and she and i are kinda similar, kinda not......i also know an enfj woman and i am kinda sorta like her in some ways, but she's very group oriented. alwasy seeking out neighbors to help in various ways......her Fe even feels kinda nosy in that cuz she just wants to help people so much. i'm not very much like the other infjs on here either.

Interesting that you should mention comparison, as I've been compared to my dad for many many years, and being the typical Ni-oblivious animal that I am, I had been taking our similarities for granted and had not thought to draw any sort of comparison between us until someone pointed it out. For example, if I'm not trained to notice something, like say the trash can is full and needs to be taken out, I will walk right by it as if it weren't even there. This is the ridiculous state of my Sensing function which leaves me wide open to all manner of obliviousness.

I'm somewhat more group oriented than my father. I have a lot of friends and feel generally outgoing but with major limits (beyond my low energy levels). I don't like crowds 90% of the time. I have situational anxiety problems, like walking into rooms full of people that I may or may not know, giving a speech, looking presentable and making myself "pleasing/enjoyable" to others in a casual social environment. If not for my highly social ENFP twin, I would have spent (would STILL spend) most of my years going nowhere and staying at home.

e's irl seem to not spend much time on the internet, preferring to be in the real world. also, your response about getting fatigued in a group is interesting. if you do like groups, maybe you tend to hang out in the same social circle a lot, so you feel comfortable and 'e' ish in that setting, as do i. finally, have you given much thought to my earlier lenore thompson reference about 'e's dissolving in a one-on-one setting? the more i think about that, the more i agree with it and understand what she's getting at. when i'm around e friends alone, it's almost like i have to carry the conversation or work hard at starting conversation.....AND, interestingly, when we make plans to get together, they will usually want to invite others along. i think that's very telling.

I'm way more comfortable in an established/semi-established circle of friends. I need certain levels of familiarity or I tend to freak out. You have to work amongst the 'e's to converse? Really? How so? I feel as if I'm the one who's always keeping the conversation moving too. Awkward silences are the worst.

I don't usually bring someone else with me if I'm going to an arranged meeting. I'm open to the idea, but it would have to be okay first, because I don;t like plans changed on me abruptly myself.

i prefer to get together, for the most part, with one friend at a time. but when i'm around them in a group or crowd they will be very animated and talkative. hence, the 'dissolve' phenomena. however, my 'i' friends and i can get into some seriously intense conversations one-on-one.

I would really like to understand the "dissolve" idea. Is there anyway you can explain it further? Sorry I'm so dense. It sounds compelling.

EDIT: please ignore me if i'm being presumptious about your type. you just tickled my mind is all about your functions test, and since i'm into this stuff right now, and a semi-outgoing infj, i could be excited and overstepping my bounds.

Not at all!

My Si is certifiably atrocious, my Se is pretty bad, and my Fe is only recently starting to realize it exists.

*applies shock paddles to Fe*

 

[heart]

Pink really resonates as Feeling dominant over Perceiving dominant, at least in her postings. At least to me she does.

 

[OrangeAppled]

Well, I test lowest Si, then Se, and then Te & Fe are tied for third.

I am supposed to be Fi, Ne, Si, Te, but I score Fi, Ne, Ti, Ni. I use my tertiary Si pretty well looking at real life though; probably better than I use Fe. I also use Te to communicate with people since Ne is a foreign language to some, but it's not very effective since it's my 4th function. It comes off as cold & blunt. I need to delegate it to the realm of organizing my finances and forget it for communication. My Fe dropped out of school by junior high and has trouble getting a job in the real world....my poor little Fe is such a loser.

I score well on Ti, but not as high as Fi. Ne is second place, and then Ni. I think the test simply doesn't distinguish between Ni & Ne that well, and why I score high on Ti, I don't know....it's just a test after all.

 

[AphroditeGoneAwry]

Interesting that you should mention comparison, as I've been compared to my dad for many many years, and being the typical Ni-oblivious animal that I am, I had been taking our similarities for granted and had not thought to draw any sort of comparison between us until someone pointed it out. For example, if I'm not trained to notice something, like say the trash can is full and needs to be taken out, I will walk right by it as if it weren't even there. This is the ridiculous state of my Sensing function which leaves me wide open to all manner of obliviousness.

I'm somewhat more group oriented than my father. I have a lot of friends and feel generally outgoing but with major limits (beyond my low energy levels). I don't like crowds 90% of the time. I have situational anxiety problems, like walking into rooms full of people that I may or may not know, giving a speech, looking presentable and making myself "pleasing/enjoyable" to others in a casual social environment. If not for my highly social ENFP twin, I would have spent (would STILL spend) most of my years going nowhere and staying at home.



I'm way more comfortable in an established/semi-established circle of friends. I need certain levels of familiarity or I tend to freak out. You have to work amongst the 'e's to converse? Really? How so? I feel as if I'm the one who's always keeping the conversation moving too. Awkward silences are the worst.

I don't usually bring someone else with me if I'm going to an arranged meeting. I'm open to the idea, but it would have to be okay first, because I don;t like plans changed on me abruptly myself.




I would really like to understand the "dissolve" idea. Is there anyway you can explain it further? Sorry I'm so dense. It sounds compelling.



Not at all!



*applies shock paddles to Fe*

everything you described sounds like how i feel too. here is the link to lenore thompson's exegesis wiki regarding introversion vs extroversion: Cocooning-vs.-Conforming Exegesis

 

[redacted]

Is there a more accurate test?

Unfortunately, I haven't come across one.

I, too, would want to say that both my sensing functions are my weakest; certainly the addition of both sensing functions is weaker than the addition of any other of the four. But it seems to me very unlikely that Si and Se would be 7th and 8th (even though I always score 7th and 8th on that test). My Fi and Te are probably much less used than my Se.

 

[heart]

My results:

Cognitive Process Level of Development (Preference, Skill and Frequency of Use)
extraverted Sensing (Se) *********** (11)
unused
introverted Sensing (Si) ******************** (20.8)
limited use
extraverted Intuiting (Ne) **************************************************** (52.9)
excellent use
introverted Intuiting (Ni) ***************************************** (41.2)
excellent use
extraverted Thinking (Te) **************** (16.8)
limited use
introverted Thinking (Ti) ******************************* (31.4)
good use
extraverted Feeling (Fe) ****************** (18.2)
limited use
introverted Feeling (Fi) ************************************************ (48.5)
excellent use


Summary Analysis of Profile
By focusing on the strongest configuration of cognitive processes, your pattern of responses most closely matches individuals of this type: INFP

 

[redacted]

My scores always look something like this:
Se (15.9)
Si (16.9)
Ne (33.3)
Ni (48.6)
Te (19.1)
Ti (45.3)
Fe (39.4)
Fi (21.9)

The order is good for the first three, but I think my actual order of usage is more like: Ni, Ti, Fe, Se, Ne, Fi, Te, Si

 

[AphroditeGoneAwry]

Unfortunately, I haven't come across one.

I, too, would want to say that both my sensing functions are my weakest; certainly the addition of both sensing functions is weaker than the addition of any other of the four. But it seems to me very unlikely that Si and Se would be 7th and 8th (even though I always score 7th and 8th on that test). My Fi and Te are probably much less used than my Se.

my si and se are my 7th and 8th, and that's using my new functions book and testing a couple times.

 

[simulatedworld]

I am supposed to be Fi, Ne, Si, Te, but I score Fi, Ne, Ti, Ni.

Tertiary and inferior functions are usually even worse than the four so-called "middle functions" that aren't included in your function order (for INFP, these would be Fe, Ni, Se and Ti.)

For instance, as an ENTP mine are supposed to go Ne, Ti, Fe, Si, but my full functional strength breakdown is something like:

Ne, Ti, Fi, Te, Ni, Se, Fe, Si.

 

[lunalum]

These are my results from my most recent test:

- Ti - 18

- Ne - 15

- Fi - 9

- Te - 7

- Ni - 7

- Si - 5

- Fe - 3

- Se - 3

And this is the order from the last one I took:

Ti - Ne - Te - Fi - Si - Ni - Se - Fe

And here are two older ones:

Ti - Ne - Ni -Te - Fi - Si - Se - Fe

Ne - Ti - Ni - Fi - Te - Se -Si - Fe

So... I think it would be a safe guess to say that my weakest functions are Se and Fe. It makes sense, because I rarely "trust [my] instincts and take action relevant to the moment and current context," or "connect with people by sharing values and taking on their needs as [mine]."

Some other interesting patterns here... it almost looks like I'm turning into an INFP. At this rate, I'll be in the mistyped member's thread in no time

 

[The Outsider]

Just wondering (if you subscribe to function orders) what role Si plays for INFPs? Combined with Fi and Ne I imagine it would emerge as a form of nostalgia, remembering how you felt about events and what they meant to you rather than the actual concrete details of the events?

Didn't see anyone replying to this, so I will.
Yes, that's exactly how it is for me at least.

 

[raz]

Tertiary and inferior functions are usually even worse than the four so-called "middle functions" that aren't included in your function order (for INFP, these would be Fe, Ni, Se and Ti.)

For instance, as an ENTP mine are supposed to go Ne, Ti, Fe, Si, but my full functional strength breakdown is something like:

Ne, Ti, Fi, Te, Ni, Se, Fe, Si.

That sort of makes sense. You have reasons to dig into similar functions. Thinking of myself as an ISTJ, I'm supposed to be Si Te Fi Ne. I've lived with Si and Te, but Fi and Ne go against Si and Te completely.

For instance, Ni, Fi and Ti, I'd have reasons to justify digging into them. They're introverted functions, if I were trying to defend myself from extraversion, I would use Te as a barrier, and attempt to dig into Ni, Fi and Ti as backups, Ni and Ti more so as Fi goes against the judgment of Te so strongly.

There's also reasoning to dig into Ti. Te gives me general reasoning that my life is based around objective competency and ability to comprehend things. So, Ti seems logical as something to attempt to do to maintain a level of competency required by Te. It's the same with Se and Ne. It comes back to Te expecting me to have a level of competency. Other people are capable of Se and Ne, so why can't I do it?

Te keep me from developing Fi and Fe, though, as it sees feeling as unnecessary unless required.

 

[Virtual ghost]

Te keep me from developing Fi and Fe, though, as it sees feeling as unnecessary unless required.

I can see something very similar/identical in myself. Te simply takes all the space that is reserved for feelings.

 

[NewEra]

For me: Si > Te > Fi > Ti > Se > Ni > Ne > Fe

Fe is consistently my lowest function. Ne is also very low down the list. I have much better Ni than Ne. I wish I had more interesting leading functions, Si and Te are very boring. Fi is cool though.

 

[OrangeAppled]

Tertiary and inferior functions are usually even worse than the four so-called "middle functions" that aren't included in your function order (for INFP, these would be Fe, Ni, Se and Ti.)

For instance, as an ENTP mine are supposed to go Ne, Ti, Fe, Si, but my full functional strength breakdown is something like:

Ne, Ti, Fi, Te, Ni, Se, Fe, Si.

Ah, interesting. Well, that makes some sense.
I thought they were "shadow functions" which were exaggerated and brought out during stress....
I would think that after the first two or three functions, it's going to vary a lot between individuals though.

 

[simulatedworld]

That sort of makes sense. You have reasons to dig into similar functions. Thinking of myself as an ISTJ, I'm supposed to be Si Te Fi Ne. I've lived with Si and Te, but Fi and Ne go against Si and Te completely.

For instance, Ni, Fi and Ti, I'd have reasons to justify digging into them. They're introverted functions, if I were trying to defend myself from extraversion, I would use Te as a barrier, and attempt to dig into Ni, Fi and Ti as backups, Ni and Ti more so as Fi goes against the judgment of Te so strongly.

There's also reasoning to dig into Ti. Te gives me general reasoning that my life is based around objective competency and ability to comprehend things. So, Ti seems logical as something to attempt to do to maintain a level of competency required by Te. It's the same with Se and Ne. It comes back to Te expecting me to have a level of competency. Other people are capable of Se and Ne, so why can't I do it?

Te keep me from developing Fi and Fe, though, as it sees feeling as unnecessary unless required.

Yes, you can learn the other four functions.

It seems to me that they simply don't show any significant patterns in terms of natural talent and are based largely on how much time the person has chosen to put into studying/developing them.

Of course, maybe when we use the four non-mapped functions for our type, we're just faking them through the lens of our four mapped ones. I really have no idea; this is where function theory starts to get a little zany.

In any event, mine seem to work like this:

Ni - Naturally, I'm not usually attuned to it a whole lot. I've had to do a lot of reading and direct study of NJs to even understand what natural Ni looks like and the things it tries to do. Suffice it to say, I'm starting to get pretty decent at it, but it's all been a matter of practice.

Te - Once again, not something I normally think about. My logical judging process tends to happen internally, so I have to make conscious effort to direct that outwardly and make an effort to apply my thoughts to objectively measurable goals. Gradually figuring it out the more I practice it, and watching NTJs for pointers.

Fi - I feel lucky with this one because I was raised by extremely morally conscientious parents--an ESFJ who learned strong traditional values from a young age, and an INTJ who has always had remarkably good Fi as long as I've known him. Maybe he didn't when he was younger, but I've always told people that INTJ dad is the most ethical person I know, and I still believe that. My Fi is especially trained for an ENTP, and I think that comes almost entirely from the Fi-heavy upbringing that my parents gave me.

Se - Ugh. This one has been a trip. My driving record is the subject of endless hilarity among my family. I never notice what's going on around me and navigating the physical world is a constant chore. Through years of practice and focus, I've managed to become a competent driver, and I use Se well in certain other particular learned areas--but I really don't have any natural talent for it. I don't read body language or the physical energy of the room much at all. It's definitely pretty close to Fe and Si in terms of how much I have to concentrate to use it, most times.

I also tend to indulge in Se in the form of partying when I've become frustrated with my current pet project and need a break from all the thinking and intuiting. It can be exhausting at times.

So yeah, it seems like the middle functions are mostly just learned skills that you can decide consciously to tap into, but probably aren't especially great or especially bad at naturally.

 

[TaylorS]

Se- Is this what sportscasters use? "Chelios to Kosten, Kosten on the red line, passes to McKinnis, McKinnis behind the net..." It's just so fast, I can't track it, and end up only getting the "feeling" of the game. In "Lectures on Typology", Von Franz says something about Ne requiring the user to be constantly kind of spaced out so they can pick up on unconscious perceptions. I have had lucid moments where I felt I might've experienced fluent Se -- suddenly a tree comes into focus and feels very real to me. But generally I do feel like I'm picking up on imagery or just, weird random shit. Like Shaquille O'Neal just pops up out of nowhere. I think Ne has something to do with archetypes? If I've picked up those, I didn't/don't know it.

My parents are ISTP and ISFP, so I think some clashes with them might illustrate Se vs. Si. They're messy, for one thing. I like to stabilize my environment, like having the pots and pans in the kitchen in the same place. Whereas they really seem to not mind just running with however it is. I understand Si as navigating an internal image whereas Se interacts directly with the environment.

Is all this really what the functions are about? I don't know, just thinking out loud.

Other than that:
Ni- The function I most don't "get".
Fi- I "get" Fi, but don't use it.

A lot of Buddhist mindfulness meditation involves Se, experiencing sensory input purely as it is without making judgments about it.