MBTI Ultimate

  Extroversion & Introversion Essence Extroversion  in its essence is to take information more or less as it appears, trying to apprehend its inherent properties. Introversion  in its essence is to take information and compare it to other information of its sort, to create a synthesis between it and other available information. Virtues & Vices Extroversion The Vice  of Extroversion is that it can take a rather naive attitude toward appearances; it tends to presume that what is obvious is all that one needs to know, or simply fails to consider that there is more beyond the obvious. The Virtue  of Extroversion is that it receives information more freshly and accurately. It is therefore able to avoid bias (though no one is ever free of it), and change its mind based on new information more quickly. Introversion The Vice  of Introversion is that, in its attempt to synthesise all incoming information with other information, can fail to appreciate the inf...

  Thinking & Feeling Thinking and Feeling  are the Judging Processes,  and when combined with an Attitude  constitute the Judging Functions. Those who prefer Thinking are called Thinkers . Those who prefer Feeling are called Feelers. Essence Once again, before one can understand Thinking and Feeling, one must consider how the mind works. As explained in the previous chapter on Sensation and Intuition, both sensations and pleasure & pain are qualia, raw experiences that cannot be divided. However, they differ in one important way: valence. Sensory experience is neutral or inert.  Pleasure & pain on the other hand are valent , that is, having to do with value  and having motivating power. Similarly, abstractions from sensory experience are also inert - for example E = mc^2  does not motivate anybody, though it may constrain their behaviour in some way. And abstractions from pleasure and pain - moral principles, rules, guidelines , and so on -...

  Sensation & Intuition Sensing & Intuition  are the Perceiving Processes , and when combined with an Attitude , constitute the Perceiving Functions. Those who prefer Sensing are called Sensors. Those who prefer Intuition are called Intuitives. Essence In order to understand Sensing and Intuition, we must first consider what the human mind does  (though I think all  cognitive animals do this!) when it's trying to understand the world. First, the human mind receives sensations.  Sights, sounds, smells, tastes, touches (pressure sense on the skin). In addition, it receives pleasure & pain  from various sources. The term one can use for both of these is qualia . From here on, 'sensations' will be used to refer to both sensations like sight and hearing, as well as pleasure and pain. When we speak of 'empirical evidence' , we are speaking of some way of demonstrating how some idea corresponds to an experience that can be had. As this occurs, the mind...

  Perception vs Judgement Essence Perception  is defined by a continuation  of cognition. A person with an inclination to perception seeks to continue  the process of information processing, be it by collecting it or thinking about it.  Judgement  is defined by a seeking of conclusion  of cognition. A person with an inclination to judgement seeks to conclude  the process of information processing, reaching an idea that can be considered settled. Thus, it is more intimately involved in the generation of one's views on things, as some kind of conclusion is required for one to become invested in an idea enough to claim it as one's position. Extra clarification: The Judgement  axis 'reaches conclusions' in that it seeks to class things by some metric of acceptance and rejection.  For Thinking this would be true vs. false , and for Feeling this would be good vs. bad. Vices and Virtues Perception The Vice  of Perception is that it may sim...

  Cognitive Elements #1 - Overview One of the great mistakes of online MBTI/Jungian Psychology is to neglect a proper examination of what I will call the Cognitive Elements.  The Cognitive Elements combine to form the traditional Cognitive Functions , and those cognitive functions are expressed in terms of those elements, and yet few ever really spend much time trying to explain those elements and simply try to jump straight to the functions. Jung was obsessed with dualities;  opposites and their interplay.  The notion permeates his works, and his personality theory is no exception. Thus, his entire system of personality relies upon such concepts, and so everything comes in pairs , which are opposed to each other. They are opposites in that the more you do of one, the less you do of the other, necessarily, and thus as you prefer one over the other as part of your personality, you disprefer the opposite. It is via these opposites and your inclinations toward and again...

  Personality Personality is ultimately some kind of inclination. What is an inclination?  An inclination when one has a psychological tendency toward something.  An inclination can be for or against  things. We can have an inclination towards  something, or an inclination away  from something - similar indeed to a like or a dislike respectively. In other terms, an inclination may urge us to seek or  avoid  the object of our inclination. Synonyms: Disposition, like/dislike, bias, propensity, temperament Personality is NOT  just  that which is inclined toward , but the inclination toward that thing. Example:  If we described someone as 'really loving tennis', their personality is not the act of playing tennis, but their love  of playing tennis. Of course, those who love tennis to tend  to play tennis, but there is a distinction there. It refers to a psychological attitude , and not the acts that flow from such an attitude. ...

 The Problems with Online MBTI Feature Lists  instead of explanations of the underlying principles  in any rigorous manner. Sometimes the underlying principles are  offered, but it is not explained exactly how  they line up with the stated features. Feature lists are very bad  explanations for the most part; it would be like saying that a bird is defined by a head, wings, feathers, etc. A pile in which a head, two wings, feathers, and all the other parts  of a bird would fit a similar description, but would not be a bird.  Rather, a good explanation includes these along with an account of how the features/parts fit together.  This is reminiscent of Aristotle's matter/form. With this comes an attendant disregard for the broader principles.  Little time is given to Thinking or to Extroversion or to Judging, but plenty is given to Te. This limits understanding outside of feature lists. This could be likened to those who try to make claims o...