Hey
I've just started to read lenore thomson's book on personality type and she has a unique way of describing cognitive functions that makes things much clearer for me. So I would like to share some of it with you
introversion/extraversion
in general, introversion helps us to realize individual responsibility. When we judge our situation by relating it to our own ideas, impressions, hopes, and values, we are not at the mercy of our environment
The introverted part of the brain is constantly processing sensory input and relating it to an internal agenda. Thus, introverts can be quickly overtaxed by too much external input unrelated to their needs.
Extraversion helps us to risk ourselves and to discover what we lack. When we judge ourselves in light of the values and reality of others, we learn to trust and to be vulnerable. We also learn how to work within the bounds of what exists to bring about change
the extraverted part of the brain requires an outward goal to stay involved. Thus, extraverts become restless below a certain level of external stimulation
sensation/ intuition
an easy way to see the difference between our two perceiving functions is to think about the crew of the starship enterpise on the classic star trek series. Scotty, the ship's engineer, behaves like a sensation type. He is persuaded b nothing less than actual experience, and his focus is always on objects and conditions as they really exist - fuel, dilithium crystals, and not having enough time to repair the ship.
His direct opposite is Captain Kirk, the quintessential intuitive, whose focus is squarely on the possible - the not-yet-tried. Like most intuitives, Kirk is a master of the great idea but has little sense of the details or strategy needed to bring it about. He expects to solve problems as they happen, under the pressure of the moment.
Many of the heated arguments on board of the enterprise occure between Kirk and Scotty, because their approaches to life are fundamentally alien to each other. "Mr. Scott! More warp drive - now!" says Kirk, in another last-ditch attempt to extricate the ship from peril with a brilliant but untested plan of action, to which the redoubtable engineer objects with his legendary sensate rejoinder, "I canna' give you more'n she's got, cap'n!"
feeling/thinking
sensation and intuition encourage us to keep our options open and to acquire more information. They help us to respond immediately when new information/situations occur and help us to hack our way through the thickets of firsthand experience.
But sometimes it is better to know where the path is and whether something horrible is likely to eat us on the way. The judging functions prompt us to note how things usually happen and to organize our behaviors accordingly. This is why thinking and feeling are considered rational functions. Rational behavior is always based on predictability - things we know to be true because they happen regularly in the same way.
the distinction between thinking and feeling becomes clear in the star trek episodes, in the ongoing conflict between dr. Bones McCoy, the ship's physician, and mr. Spock, the half-vulcan, half-human science officer. Both are eminently reasonable men, technically proficient and scientifically knowledgeable. The primary difference between them is the criteria on which their reasoning is based. Spock, the thinking type, reasons by way of logic. He aggressively seeks the most expedient solution to a problem, unencumbered by the need for approval or attention to other people's beliefs or opinions. Dr. McCoy, the quintessential feeling type, reasons by way of human values, which dictate that relationships and people's reactions be taken into account when solving a problem.
Although Spock stereotypes him as a sentimentalist, McCoy's behavior is not guided by romantic notion or by immediate emotional responses to life. His rationale is consistent and predictable, based on a lifetime of experience with people and cultural assumptions. His role is to serve as the moral conscience of the group by offering a humane counterpoint to pragmatic decisions already made.
For example, when McCoy, Spock, and others have crash-landed on a primitive planet, McCoy is horrified to find that Spock is willing to leave the dead behind unburied. Spock has reasoned that survival of the group is a more logical aim than an unnecessary ritual service. McCoy has reasoned from a different perspective. He believes that Spock will forfeit the groups's cooperation, even in the interest of their own survival, if he odes not show the proper respect for human life conveyed by the ritual. Both man are approaching the situation rationally; but one is focused on the impersonal criteria of logic, the other on the personal criteria of values.
I've just started to read lenore thomson's book on personality type and she has a unique way of describing cognitive functions that makes things much clearer for me. So I would like to share some of it with you
introversion/extraversion
in general, introversion helps us to realize individual responsibility. When we judge our situation by relating it to our own ideas, impressions, hopes, and values, we are not at the mercy of our environment
The introverted part of the brain is constantly processing sensory input and relating it to an internal agenda. Thus, introverts can be quickly overtaxed by too much external input unrelated to their needs.
Extraversion helps us to risk ourselves and to discover what we lack. When we judge ourselves in light of the values and reality of others, we learn to trust and to be vulnerable. We also learn how to work within the bounds of what exists to bring about change
the extraverted part of the brain requires an outward goal to stay involved. Thus, extraverts become restless below a certain level of external stimulation
sensation/ intuition
an easy way to see the difference between our two perceiving functions is to think about the crew of the starship enterpise on the classic star trek series. Scotty, the ship's engineer, behaves like a sensation type. He is persuaded b nothing less than actual experience, and his focus is always on objects and conditions as they really exist - fuel, dilithium crystals, and not having enough time to repair the ship.
His direct opposite is Captain Kirk, the quintessential intuitive, whose focus is squarely on the possible - the not-yet-tried. Like most intuitives, Kirk is a master of the great idea but has little sense of the details or strategy needed to bring it about. He expects to solve problems as they happen, under the pressure of the moment.
Many of the heated arguments on board of the enterprise occure between Kirk and Scotty, because their approaches to life are fundamentally alien to each other. "Mr. Scott! More warp drive - now!" says Kirk, in another last-ditch attempt to extricate the ship from peril with a brilliant but untested plan of action, to which the redoubtable engineer objects with his legendary sensate rejoinder, "I canna' give you more'n she's got, cap'n!"
feeling/thinking
sensation and intuition encourage us to keep our options open and to acquire more information. They help us to respond immediately when new information/situations occur and help us to hack our way through the thickets of firsthand experience.
But sometimes it is better to know where the path is and whether something horrible is likely to eat us on the way. The judging functions prompt us to note how things usually happen and to organize our behaviors accordingly. This is why thinking and feeling are considered rational functions. Rational behavior is always based on predictability - things we know to be true because they happen regularly in the same way.
the distinction between thinking and feeling becomes clear in the star trek episodes, in the ongoing conflict between dr. Bones McCoy, the ship's physician, and mr. Spock, the half-vulcan, half-human science officer. Both are eminently reasonable men, technically proficient and scientifically knowledgeable. The primary difference between them is the criteria on which their reasoning is based. Spock, the thinking type, reasons by way of logic. He aggressively seeks the most expedient solution to a problem, unencumbered by the need for approval or attention to other people's beliefs or opinions. Dr. McCoy, the quintessential feeling type, reasons by way of human values, which dictate that relationships and people's reactions be taken into account when solving a problem.
Although Spock stereotypes him as a sentimentalist, McCoy's behavior is not guided by romantic notion or by immediate emotional responses to life. His rationale is consistent and predictable, based on a lifetime of experience with people and cultural assumptions. His role is to serve as the moral conscience of the group by offering a humane counterpoint to pragmatic decisions already made.
For example, when McCoy, Spock, and others have crash-landed on a primitive planet, McCoy is horrified to find that Spock is willing to leave the dead behind unburied. Spock has reasoned that survival of the group is a more logical aim than an unnecessary ritual service. McCoy has reasoned from a different perspective. He believes that Spock will forfeit the groups's cooperation, even in the interest of their own survival, if he odes not show the proper respect for human life conveyed by the ritual. Both man are approaching the situation rationally; but one is focused on the impersonal criteria of logic, the other on the personal criteria of values.
