Shadow funtions/personality

The term is used for at least 3 different things:
- reverse the order of your major 4 functions - shadow type, i.e. INFJ NiFeTiSe -> ESTP SeTiFeNi
- flip the direction of all your functions I/E; mirror type, i.e. INFJ NiFeTiSe -> ENFP NeFiTeSi
- the 5th function, which is the I/E flip of the 1st, i.e. INFJ NiFeTiSeNeFiTeSi


IMHO only the first example has real life application.

 

I've seen at least once source use shadow function as a synonym for the 4th function, also called inferior or aspirational.


Normally though shadow functions is the term given to the 4 least developed of the 8 Jungian functions. In theory an INFJ is Ni>Fe>Ti>Se >> Ne>Fi>Te>Si, with the bottom 4 shadow functions used almost entirely in the subconscious mind. Some sources I've read though say that studies cannot demonstrate much of a pattern in the bottom 4, or even bottom 6 functions. (It is apparently not that uncommon for the 3rd and 4th most developed functions to be the same as the dominant and axillary but with different attitudes, meaning an INFJ could be NiFeNeFi and have really underdeveloped thinking and sensing instead of being the normal NiFeTiSe.)


This is one fo the better sites about it: http://www.cognitiveprocesses.com/16types.html