Hey guys. Today we are doing an updated video on the 8 cognitive functions. This time,
I'm going to endeavour to make my explanations as succinct as possible. Just a note before we begin:
a reminder that your particular cognitive functions indicate a preference in how you
perceive and judge information. You are all capable of adopting behavior that reflects the
use of other cognitive functions, but anything that is chosen behavior is not what a cognitive
function is. Your dominant cognitive functions indicate how you perceive and judge information
naturally without thinking. If you choose to do it another way, that's not a natural
cognitive preference, therefore it's not your natural cognitive function.
As a helpful general rule, extraverted functions are tethered in the external world,
and are therefore more objective and less personal to the subjects, whereas introverted functions
take place in the subject's inner world, and are therefore more personal, subjective and the stakes
are higher for the subject. So jumping into the perceiving functions; these functions indicate
how we take in data before we judge or evaluate it. So types who use an extraverted function as
their preference for perceiving data or taking in data naturally will use an introverted function
for judging the data that they have taken in. So these are all of our "P" types. So
first we have Extraverted Sensing, or "Se". Now this function prefers to perceive reality based
on what can objectively be experienced through the five senses. So they take in what they can
see and experience with their five senses, but again, because it's an extroverted function - so
tethered in the external world - it's not personal in any way. They're exploring the sense data based
on what they can see and experience, they're playing with it and then they're disregarding
it. They're not storing it away anywhere, unless their introverted judging function deems that
this experience is important or valuable in some way. Now Extraverted Intuition, or "Ne",
does the same in a similar fashion, but with abstract ideas concepts, possibilities and
patterns, because remember that where sensing functions prefer to take in sense data first,
intuiting functions are naturally able to see beyond the sense data to abstract patterns
and implications. They naturally pay attention to and take in all of the connections between things
and the patterns in an abstract way but not in a personal way. So they play with ideas
and patterns as they come - and this can be by extrapolating 1001 different connections and
possibilities just from one sense data point - and then disregarding them. So they're not
storing them away anywhere personal; again, unless their introverted judging function deems that this
pattern or connection or idea, or whatever it is, is important or significant to them in some way.
There is a fly flying around my room somewhere and I'm sure that it keeps making it into the shot, so
we're all just gonna have to deal with that. In regards to our introverted perceiving functions,
types who prefer to use an introverted function as a means of perceiving data will naturally be using
an extraverted function as a means of judging and evaluating the data that they've taken in.
So these are all of our "J" types. So beginning with Introverted Sensing or, or "Si". Again,
this is an introverted function, so it's personal to the subject. Whereas Se,
or Extraverted Sensing, is more objective. So it takes in sense data from observable
tangible reality, but prefers to slot it away and store it in a personal database and sort it
in a way that tells them how reality should be experienced. It cannot help but pay attention
to details within sense data that are similar to things that they've previously experienced,
and is more interested in ordering sense data than just experiencing it for its own sake (as
Se does). So as you can see, you cannot use both Si and Se naturally at the same time;
they kind of contradict each other. Se explore sense data as it comes - for its own sake,
without any personal attachment to it - and then disregards it, whereas
Si needs to categorize the sense data into familiar frameworks. Introverted Intuition,
or "Ni", pays particular attention to abstract links, implications and possibilities; this time
in a personal way that's about the subject. So whereas Ne takes in observable, objective, obvious
patterns and possibilities in the abstract, Ni creates its own subjective patterns about what is
symbolic or meaningful to them. So for them it's not just about exploring infinite possibilities in
the moment and for the sake of it (as Ne does), but creating internal patterns within the self
about what is going to happen in the future, what is important to them, by fitting all of these
different puzzle pieces together until it creates a whole picture. So again, you cannot naturally
use both Ne and Ni at the same time as your first cognitive preference. Ne explores patterns and
implications and possibilities broadly and in an impersonal way, whereas Ni is personal and
selective in the patterns it creates. They are curated and perfectly molded by the subject. I'm
doing this a lot in this video. Ne just sees the patterns. They're there to play with for anyone
who wants to play with them, unless the user chooses to do a deeper dive, which we can all do,
but again, chosen behaviors are not natural cognitive functions. Moving on to the judging
functions. Now these functions indicate how you prefer to evaluate and judge the data that
you've perceived using your perceiving function. And we'll begin with the extraverted functions,
which again, are less personal and more objective. And these are used as a dominant preference for
all of our "J" types. Extraverted Thinking, or "Te", judges external reality and the data that
it's perceived based on functionality of the data that it's gathered and how it is useful for the
external environment. This function pays attention to empirically proven facts or standards of what
works for the environment external to themselves - because remember, it's an extraverted function,
so it's not personal. It judges based on pragmatic systems of logic that have real-world application,
and so that's why people who use this function in a dominant slot are very "do do do", "go go go";
because they don't have any real personal attachment to the systems that they're putting in
place. So they're not as high stakes. They're able to execute quickly, efficiently and competently,
because to them it's just about getting it done and making the data that they've gathered useful
and applicable to the environment. Extraverted Feeling, or "Fe", also seeks to make changes
in their external environment, but they pay particular attention to people and interpersonal
dynamics. So these people are judging and applying data based on the emotional state of the people
around them, what's helpful for the tribe and the general consensus of the group. People who
use this function are naturally going to want to take into consideration what the shared value of
the group is when working out what is personally important to them.So they go outward before they
go inward when it comes to how they feel about things, in the same way that Extraverted Thinking
goes outward before it goes inward in terms of what works. As for the introverted judging
functions, these functions turn inward towards the subject before they reference the external tribe
or environment. And these are used as a dominant preference for all of our "P" types. Introverted
Thinking, or "Ti", judges based on the subject's personally devised set of logically-consistent
rules and protocols that they have established as absolutely true and therefore reliable. So again,
it's not about what makes sense for the external reality, the tribe, or the environment,
but what makes sense to them, first and foremost, when judging data. Everything needs to be weighed
against this personal fixed framework of what makes sense. Introverted Feeling,
on the other hand, or "Fi", judges based on the subject's personal set of values - what feels
right to them. They are interested in going inside first to judge data that they have gathered,
and they do this based on a subjective set of self-defined values. And they need to judge the
data this way in order to feel authentic to who they are. So they don't go to the consensus of the
tribe first to work out how they feel or to judge something; they go inward to judge how they feel
in an emotional experience that is completely detached from the tribe. Naturally. And again,
we are all capable of making decisions about what is best for the people around us,
but it's about where we naturally go first. So you can see that you cannot use both Fe and Fi first
as your natural preferences together. You are either going outside first to the tribe's values,
or inside first to the subject's values. And in regards to Te or Ti, you are either going outside
first to the external environment for rules that make sense, or inside first for the subject's
set of personalized rules. So those are my definitions. I'm sure you can see now why, given
what I've said, Ah! That fly. ...why simply calling someone an extrovert or an introvert within the
MBTI system skips over a lot of the nuance, as there are four different extraverted functions
that present completely differently and get their energy from completely different sources,
and it's the same with the introverted functions. So if you're going to use the MBTI system, please
keep the cognitive functions in mind; stopping at just the eight letters can make the system
far too ambiguous to be useful, and in fact, it can be quite the opposite. These functions
don't have to limit you; they are simply a tool for understanding your own natural cognitive
preferences, as well as those of others. Within your personality, you have access to all four
sensing, intuitive, thinking and feeling tools. They are not dichotomies; don't forget that. Well
that's it for today's video, guys. If you're interested, I have uploaded a podcast episode,
where I go into more detail about the functions and all of the things we've discussed today,
so please jump down to the links in my description if you'd like access to that episode. I've also
included some other links in the description of this video, if you'd like to do a deeper
dive into MBTI and the cognitive functions. So happy diving, and I will chat to you later! Bye!