The dominant and inferior functions are the only functions that matter!

Studying personality theory I've come to the conclusion the dominant and inferior functions are the only ones that truly help a person understand themselves and reach for a broader understanding of others personalities. The auxiliary and tertiary functions just cause people to act in a certain way to prove they're a certain type. (I've done it unconsciously on this forum before as well.)

For example... INFJ'S and INTJ's will act so different on the internet but in real life, they are so similar. Same goes for ENTP's and ENFP's. This is because they share the same dominant function that guides their life and perceptions... Fi/Ti sneaks in there, but since it's so unconscious and won't really aid the person in their understanding, why do we include it into the type? We all buzz around the lantern of life using whatever function we feel like using. Fi, Fe, Te, Ti... We all develop these whenever the hell we feel like. But it will never define who we are, it will only manipulate our dominant function for a bit.

I think it should start being like... I'm a [Dominant function]. Doesn't mean I'm this crazy extroverted/introverted person in my life, it means my understanding and perceptions come directly from my dominant. For example I'm not a highly emotional person anymore than an INTP, and I don't go around screaming my feelings. This just means I'm somewhat sane, not a Fi user. I'm idealistic, but come on.... Who's not?? Everyone is idealistic, it's narcissistic to say "I'm more idealistic than a Fe user because Fi is my auxiliary." Yes, INFP's/ISFP's are more idealistic, but that's their dominant function, so it's understandable and logical to say they are more idealistic than the average joe.



TLDR: I don't know because I went to a ramblefest, but the dominant and inferior functions are the only functions that permanently exist in our conscious personality. The auxiliary and tertiary functions exist only on the internet and in our minds.

Woah woah woah. Back up. Explain again how I don't actually have or prefer Ti and how I can develop Te "whenever the hell I feel like it." The claim that for an ENTP, Ti is used only to prove I'm an ENTP and nothing else is a rather weighty claim.

My internal rationality is just a ruse to be able to prove myself to people? Are you serious? Where is the evidence for this????

You are correct only dom/inferior really matter. The two middle functions are simply auxiliaries that support dom/inferior. This is what Jung was proposing and why he only has 8 basic types (with a ton of variation possible for those types, but still 8 basic types).

Dominant function represents the expression of conscious personality, inferior function represents the expression of the unconscious person. It really doesn't matter the middle two functions (people get all caught up in this unnecessarily trying to figure out if they are ESTP or ESFP or whatever, but those are MBTI categories). In reality you are just an Extraverted Sensation type who may prefer Thinking in general over Feeling or vice versa, but may not actually prefer Ti or Fi or Te or Fe. Jung never says the two middle functions will be differentiated into attitudes in this way.

Now I should say we can't dismiss the two middle functions because as people develop they will take on characteristics of these functions. Von Franz talks about people who sort of will live in a function that is not their dominant for a time while they assimilate it, and for a while may even look the part (say a person who really is a Fi-dom but looks like an Intuitive while they assimilate their intuition), but they are still primarily oriented around Fi/Te. Also in the Beebe model the two middle functions represent how we deal with the world around us and other people, parent/child complexes are expressed through these functions, so there is some importance there as well. But even in Beebe's model it is still dom/inferior that represent the 'spine' of that person.

Originally Posted by WinklePlum

Studying personality theory I've come to the conclusion the dominant and inferior functions are the only ones that truly help a person understand themselves and reach for a broader understanding of others personalities. The auxiliary and tertiary functions just cause people to act in a certain way to prove they're a certain type. (I've done it unconsciously on this forum before as well.)

The aux. and tert. functions are just as important in figuring out who you are. For example, our aux. and tert. functions as ENFPs are greatly used in our decision-making process. I wouldn't say people use them to prove their type, though I do believe that many people play to the stereotypes of their type in order to "fit in" as if it were a damn club :P

For example... INFJ'S and INTJ's will act so different on the internet but in real life, they are so similar. Same goes for ENTP's and ENFP's. This is because they share the same dominant function that guides their life and perceptions... Fi/Ti sneaks in there, but since it's so unconscious and won't really aid the person in their understanding, why do we include it into the type? We all buzz around the lantern of life using whatever function we feel like using. Fi, Fe, Te, Ti... We all develop these whenever the hell we feel like. But it will never define who we are, it will only manipulate our dominant function for a bit.

Yes, ENFPs and ENTPs can be a lot alike on the surface, but we ENFPs do process the information we take in a bit differently from ENTPs. There's a huge difference between using Fi+Te and Ti+Fe. Personally, learning about Fi and Te has helped me be more comfortable with the way I am and the way I handle things. I happen to very much like the fact that I gather outside information and evaluate it according to my own moral compass so to speak. There is a downside to that though, and that's why learning about it how much influence those functions have has been a very good thing for me. I can spot my weak points and improve on them.

I think it should start being like... I'm a [Dominant function]. Doesn't mean I'm this crazy extroverted/introverted person in my life, it means my understanding and perceptions come directly from my dominant. For example I'm not a highly emotional person anymore than an INTP, and I don't go around screaming my feelings. This just means I'm somewhat sane, not a Fi user. I'm idealistic, but come on.... Who's not?? Everyone is idealistic, it's narcissistic to say "I'm more idealistic than a Fe user because Fi is my auxiliary." Yes, INFP's/ISFP's are more idealistic, but that's their dominant function, so it's understandable and logical to say they are more idealistic than the average joe.

Sure, Fe users can be idealistic, but what does that have to do with your not liking the aux. and tert. functions? It sounds more to me like you hate the stereotypes ;) Join the club! And also, keep in mind, there are types whose aux. and tert. functions are Ni+Se and Si+Ne. An ENTJ isn't only using Te and inferior Fi, lol. Their Ni+Se is just as important as far as who they are and how they take in and process information.

TLDR: I don't know because I went to a ramblefest, but the dominant and inferior functions are the only functions that permanently exist in our conscious personality. The auxiliary and tertiary functions exist only on the internet and in our minds.

Not everyone believes this, and I understand why... but I personally believe that you can utilize functions that you don't normally favor. I only believe this because, to my knowledge, I have experienced it on a couple of occasions. I don't think it's an occurrence that happens often by any means, but for the most part, one's preference will shine through in most situations. This is my personal belief... so just take it or leave it. What I'm saying is that I don't think people utilize unnatural functions quite as often as you seem to think. Food for thought.

You lot do a very good job at looking at MBTI's functional stack too rigidly. I'm pretty sure everyone uses every function at least once at some point in their lives, and as seen with the results of cognitive functions tests, lot's of people's functional preferences don't match the MBTI stacks perfectly. But to say that the aux and tert preferences don't matter is just silly to me. They help differentiate the users of the same dominant functions. Yes they have a lot in common, but the differences can't be ignored. And even users with similar aux and tert functions have just as much in common. Any user of any function can find common ground with another user of a different function if people learn to look beyond differences in thought process. All the functions matter though.

Oddly, I recognized my middle functions more easily than dom./inferior. I think I'm a lot more on the Ti/Fe axis than Fi/Te.

I agree actually. I think it's a lot easier to find a judgement or perception type based on their dominant/inferior functions then it is to look at the auxiliary or tertiary ones.

Originally Posted by Arrow

I agree actually. I think it's a lot easier to find a judgement or perception type based on their dominant/inferior functions then it is to look at the auxiliary or tertiary ones.

Well yea because you can't really know the orientation of someone's auxiliary functions. If it were really that identifiable you wouldn't have so many "am I INFP or ISFP" or "am I ENTP or ENFP" type threads popping up. Or all the seemingly contradictory results of cognitive function tests. This is one of those areas where, especially in Introverts, MBTI imposes rules that people have just sort of accepted as doctrine that may not actually reflect the real world (like the auxiliary function will always be the opposite attitude of the dominant and that the tertiary will always be the same attitude - originally this wasn't Myers' theory). There may be a number of individuals for whom this is true, but maybe not everyone. Jung actually thought that, in his eyes, since the auxiliaries supported the dominant and the inferior they might actually take the attitude of those corresponding functions, so an ENFP might more accurately be Ne-Fe-Ti-Si (which of course this person wouldn't qualify as an ENFP under the type dynamics rules). Myers originally thought all the other functions would be expressed in the non-preferred manner so if you were typed as ENFP prior to the mid-80s revisions, you were typed under the assumption of Ne-Fi-Ti-Si.

Originally Posted by LiquidLight

You are correct only dom/inferior really matter. The two middle functions are simply auxiliaries that support dom/inferior. This is what Jung was proposing and why he only has 8 basic types (with a ton of variation possible for those types, but still 8 basic types).

While he may says that, when he takes apart Schiller and Göthe at the beginning of 6th volume he points out the issues that arise within society if we only attribute one function with meaning.

Namely imbalance.

Collectivity and individuality needs to be balanced on an ideal stage; thus aux and ter are well required in that process - whether their attitude matter specifically is a different matter.

EDIT: Also, the dominant function cannot perceive if it's a judging function, but solely judge.

A bit of a sidenote, but INFJs and INTJs do not act similar at all in real life.