Cognitive Functions
MBTI: The Basics
MBTI is a typing characterization that explores how your brain processes information through cognitive functions. The order of the functions determines your cognitive stack, which translates into a four-letter combination. It sounds complicated, but it’s learnable with practice. The purpose of MBTI is to identify your strengths and weaknesses, so you can focus on becoming a more balanced individual.
Where a function in the stack determines how easily you are able to use it well (without exhausting yourself) and how successful you are at that function. There are two kinds of functions: introverted and extroverted. You have four of each, which alternate in strength, to provide you with a full functional stack. If you have an extroverted function, it has an introverted counterpart to balance it out. We call these a “cognitive axis.” The one that comes first (your “dominant function”) is easier for you to use than the last function in your stack, which we call the “inferior” function. The inferior function is often a source of anxiety, stress, embarrassment or neglect in your life, that place where you feel you should be more adept at using it, but you are not, so you either use it aggressively or you will avoid using it if you can.
Since you develop your functions sequentially as you age (life forces you to start using them more frequently in tandem with each other), it’s recommended that you only type yourself after 20 years of age, since by then your third function will be in visible use.
Here are the four cognitive centers:
Thinking (how you judge situations logically)
Feeling (how you judge situations ethically)
Sensing (how you interact with the sensory world)
Intuition (how you visualize the future and interact with ideas)
Two functions go with each center, an introverted (self-referencing) function and an extroverted (outside world referencing) function. They operate differently internally and externally, and go with the function of the opposite orientation. So, if you have Extroverted Thinking (Te), you also have Introverted Feeling (Fi). You may identify with more than one (both versions of thinking, for example) but one is your primary method of dealing with information.
Cognitive axis: you have two of these, one from the sensing/intuition center and one from the judging center: Se/Ni, Ne/Si, Te/Fi, Fe/Ti.
Functional Differences:
Remember, where the function falls in your stack will change how easily you can do these things. You need to look for over-reaching patterns of information processing to choose the right functions. (Not how you think you are, or how you act sometimes, but how you interact with the world on a regular basis.)
Here is the basic desire and response of each function:
Extroverted Thinking (Te): to use the external facts and evidence to draw conclusions and act on them to achieve a tangible result. It wants to create a system applicable to any situation, which anyone can use, regardless of their background or level of intelligence. It likes to organize the external world through delegation, sequential learning or teaching, and “order” in the process (spreadsheets, to-do-lists, and the organizing of business or personal files).
Introverted Thinking (Ti): to build an internal framework of logic, which is consistent and makes sense to themselves. It wants to take things apart (either metaphorically or literally) to understand all the components that make something work, so they can know the system or object from the inside out, and thus find ways to “hack” it. It takes a long time to build this understanding, but then moves forward with confidence, applying the framework to each new piece of information to see if it fits. It’s main focus is internal organization (organizing things within the mind, rather than in the external world).
Extroverted Feeling (Fe): to judge situations based on their impact on the social group and individuals involved, to motivate other people to work together to accomplish similar goals, finding ways to bring people together through shared values. Objective ethics, does not favor anyone as higher than anyone else. Tends to feel what others feel, does not need a similar experience to have empathy. General discomfort when others display inappropriate emotions in the wrong context, since the goal is to reach a similar emotional state. Uses “mirroring” of other people to bond with them.
Introverted Feeling (Fi): to judge situations based on a personal system of ethics (formed of how Fi wants to be treated or its beliefs), to pursue self-understanding, and not violate an internal standard of behavior. Tends to judge based on “what I would do.” Subjective ethics, prioritizes a single point of view. Relates to others through self-referencing, unable to understand or empathize without a personal experience or by putting themselves in someone else’s shoes. Never feels what other people feel, strongly resistant to being told what to feel in a social context; their emotions are often out of sync with the situation.
Extroverted Sensing (Se): to interact with opportunities and have experiences in the real world, to act confidently within the sensory world by being able to see how this decision can make something else happen quickly. Focus lies on absorbing situations and experiences, immersing self in them, and living fully in the moment. Learns through being hands on and “doing.”
Introverted Sensing (Si): to interact with the sensory world and take away from it individual impressions and experiences, to help build an internal catalogue of experiences from which you can draw “similarities” when approaching unknown situations, which helps you know how to navigate situations with confidence. Learns through observation, seeing how others succeed, and following their process. Good with repeated sequential learning until it becomes an automatic process of expertise.
Extroverted Intuition (Ne): to instantly connect to, explore, and consider all new ideas as equal and talk about them with confidence, seeing their potential and longing to implement them quickly, also seeing both sides of an issue and how this idea connects to a different train of thought. This all happens very quickly. It can abandon ideas once they prove ineffectual for newer and better ideas, so it tends to wing situations with confidence. Often changes perspectives, has no firm view of the future since it is always changing.
Introverted Intuition (Ni): to perceive the futuristic implications of new ideas, behaviors, and attitudes, to visualize things completely and carefully before they start to implement them in the real world, and to internally consider many different perspectives before reaching a single perception. Tests ideas before they embrace or reject them. Capable of asserting distant implications with confidence, can find it difficult to change ideas or set another course when faced with difficulties, since they pursue a specific vision.
The order of the functions:
Functional order determines your stack. The dominant function is what you use every day; it is second nature to you. The auxiliary (second) function is something else you do well, but it soon tires you. The tertiary (third) function, you use sometimes but it can be stressful to linger too long in it. The inferior function (fourth) nags at you to be better at it, but you often use it poorly and are emotionally reactive / defensive when people point out flaws related to it (for an inferior Te, accuse you of being disorganized, wasting time, or not finishing projects on time).
If you find it easiest to “do” the dominant functions:
Te: You are either ESTJ (TeSiNeFi) or ENTJ (TeNiSeFi)
Ti: You are either INTP (TiNeSiFe) or ISTP (TiSeNiFe)
Fe: You are either ESFJ (FeSiNeTi) or ENFJ FeNiSeTi)
Fi: You are either INFP (FiNeSiTe) or ISFP (FiSeNiTe)
Se: You are either ESTP (SeTiFeNi) or ESFP (SeFiTeNi)
Si: You are either ISTJ (SiTeFiNe) or ISFJ (SiFeTiNe)
Ne: You are either ENTP (NeTiFeSi) or ENFP (NeFiTeSi)
Ni: You are either INTJ (NiTeFiSe) or INFJ (NiFeTiSe)
Click here for an example of the functions in real life.
Examples of how each function works differently dependent on its place in the function stack:
Please read this post about subjective and objective functions.