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In this episode Joel and Antonia talk about using the judging functions in your cognitive function stack to determine your personality type.
In this podcast you’ll find:
- Some people have a difficult time finding their best fit type
- There are so many different factors that can go into how you type in Enneagram or MBTI
- There is power in these systems.
- Judging process = Decision-Making processes
- Car Model
- Cognitive Function Stack = The order of mental processes you use in your life
- Antonia’s (ENTP) primary decision-making function is Introverted Thinking
- It’s about logical consistencies and managing massive amounts of info
- Joel’s (ENFP) primary decision-making function is Introverted Feeling
- While he is out about he tends to turn to his tertiary process of Extraverted Thinking, so he takes action on info that Antonia shares.
- Whereas Antonia doesn’t believe all info is actionable.
- Four judging processes:
- Extraverted Feeling (Fe) – “Harmony”
- Introverted Feeling (Fi) – “Authenticity”
- Introverted Thinking (Ti) – “Accuracy”
- Extraverted Thinking (Te) – “Effectiveness”
- We don’t just use one of these. They represent a polarity, and we will often pull on both to a greater or lesser degree.
- If your decision-making function is extraverted, then that makes info/emotion actionable.
- All info is actionable with Extraverted Thinking.
- If you are using an introverted judging process, it doesn’t have to be actionable. It is just one more piece of the picture.
- If you are trying to figure out what Thinking function you use:
- Do you believe that all info is actionable? Extraverted Thinking (Te)
- Or is it just one more data point you need to know to make a later decision? Introverted Thinking (Ti)
- People who use Te don’t share info as readily as people who use Ti.
- If all info is actionable, Te is going to pick and choose the info they share.
- Te users may withhold info to avoid people acting on it.
- People who use Ti are very free with info & data.
- The only time they may withhold info is if they think the other person can’t handle it.
- Do you overshare info?
- Or are you careful with how you dispense info?
- People who use Introverted Feeling (Fi) may not want their emotions acted upon, whereas someone who uses Extraverted Feeling (Fe) may jump into action when someone shares an emotion with them.
- Just like with Ti, Fi wants to share all the nuances of their emotions to add fidelity.
- Whereas with Fe, like Te, all emotions are actionable.
- Fe users see the world filled with unmet needs they need to fulfill.
- Listening to someone may not feel like action, but it is.
- Fe users may be reticent to share their emotional experiences because they don’t want to burden someone else with their emotions.
- Fi won’t share their emotions with someone if they don’t trust that person to be responsible with their emotions.
- Fi is always looking for opportunities to be self-expressive (i.e. through distinct art or dress)
- Fi: Self-expression = Identity
- Ti needs to get the info out somehow and will often share their data online
- Te/Fe may hold back but Ti/Fi feel a need to get the info out – as it strikes them individually.
- Te wants to get something specific done.
- Fe wants to connect with people and get their needs met
- Introverted Thinking vs Introverted Feeling
- The easiest way to see the difference between these two is by remembering that Fi is more concerned with how they’re feeling and how other people are feeling.
- Whereas Ti is more concerned with how they’re thinking and other people are thinking.
- Ti & Fi both create virtues around these processes
- Our thoughts bleed into our emotions and vice versa
- Fi considers intent very important.
- It doesn’t matter what the action is, but what the person may have intended.
- What is the reason for their behavior? Good or bad?
- Fi polarity opposite is Extraverted Thinking (Te) which is about taking action in the outside world.
- Ti doesn’t look at intent as much as Fi. It understands that everyone has a mixed bag of intent.
- Nobody is all good, and nobody is all bad.
- To Ti, it matters how someone comes by their thought processes. Are they careful with their data?
- Behavior comes from thoughts
- To Ti, the most refined thought is priority.
- To Fi, the most refined intent is the priority.
- Fi is so in touch with the complexity of humanity it knows there is bad intent everywhere and it honors anyone who fights that tendency.
- Fi cuts slack to anyone trying to do good because it realizes how easy it is to do bad.
- Ti knows that everyone shows up as an idiot now and then. But are you trying to clean up your data and learn?
- Te is very proactive in how it wants to set up sustainable systems in the outside world.
- Fe is responsive to people’s needs.
- People who use Te have Fi as a polar opposite, and they can be very empathetic.
- This is why Te can be mistaken for Fe.
- Everyone has the capacity for empathy.
- If Te planned a party, they may leave assuming their systems were good enough to keep the party rolling.
- If Fe plans a party, they will stay to make sure everyone is having a good time.
- They continually keep their finger on the pulse of the situation and stay responsive to people’s needs.
- How much do you believe that it is your job to stick around and make sure the system is working?
- Te sets up systems then they leave. They are only interested in when the system needs maintenance.
- Te wants to get rid of people who impact the system negatively.
- Fe thinks it is more important to preserve the person unless they are messing it up for everyone else.
- Imagine a garden. Te plants the garden and sets up the irrigation. Fe tends and nurtures the plants.
- Fe has a higher tolerance for chaos than Te.
- Te desire is ‘one and done.’
- Fe knows that isn’t possible because Humans are constantly causing chaos.
- At what level does chaos become overwhelming to you?
- Introverted judging processes are about how something occurs as opposed to what.
- Extraverted judging processes are more aware of what is going on in the outside world.
- Fe/Te believe all thoughts are actionable.
- Fi/Ti are interested in greater fidelity before action.
- Do you feel you have to immediately act on something?
- Or do you prefer to wait for more info?
- This podcast is not intended as a way to diagnose your type but to be a tie breaker if you keep typing as a couple of different types.
- Become familiar with the cognitive functions then use this info to determine your preference.
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8 comments
WHOA. I’ve thought for oh, maybe 20 years or so? That I’m an INFP. After listening to another one of your old episodes, on the two different styles of intuition, I began to think maybe I’m actually an ENFJ. That’s a whole ‘nother story (but one that’s kind of hard to skip, see the end of this paragraph), and it’s the “J” part that’s really weirding me out, not the “E,” though the combination doesn’t really help either. MAN, do I have stereotypes developed in my head for Js, and right this second I’m watching my 3yo Ti wanting to give you all my similarities and differences to other ENFJs you’ve interviewed, and the qualifiers and reasons it manifests in me exactly the way it does, ha!
Anyway, I’m also a countertype 4, self-prez then social. I used to think I was a 9, but noticed I seemed a little more self-aware than most 9s, though both harmony and authenticity are very high values on my radar. I feel my feelings strongly, although I’m just now realizing how much I understand them through my intuition, feel them in my body with my 10yo, and then try to explain them to my therapist with my 3yo, should she ask me to expand on “sad.” But as a self-prez 4, I don’t express my emotions strongly. I feel like I do, but I’m 39, and after a lifetime of feedback, apparently I don’t. :) It’s pretty easy for me, though, to express emotions and be authentic online or in other social situations. Understanding my instincts with the Enneagram was a huge “aha” moment for that, BUT!
I had to pause at 18:44 in this episode, because AHA! I have also told my therapist, multiple times, that the other reason it’s harder for me to express certain emotions to my spouse than to the Internet or, okay, to other friends, is because it means something totally different when I tell my spouse, “I’m feeling really overwhelmed right now, if anyone asks me what’s for dinner I’m going to scream” than if I call up a friend and tell her that.
BECAUSE THIS IS INFORMATION THAT IMPLIES ACTION. (And also listening is an action.) Sorry, I’m very soft spoken in real life, but this is just so exciting! I love it when things make sense. ? Oh, and to be sure I’m explaining this more clearly to brains that aren’t wired like mine, even though ordinarily we especially don’t want to put emotional needs or burdens on strangers or people we aren’t as intimate with, in this case the closer you are to me, the more of a burden would be implied by my complaint. If I tell my husband I just can’t with the kids anymore, or I have no idea what’s for dinner, it probably means he needs to take over. If I tell a friend, she only has to listen. If I tell strangers online, it’s probably to make a point about personality types or something, where my Ni and Ti think people should have ALL THE DATA, and my Harmony driver is like, “Yeah, that’s a good idea, if we all understood each other better, wouldn’t that be awesome? Please, cute little 3yo, carry on.” ?
This is why I feel like both an open and closed book, with no boundaries, but not wanting to impose on anyone, and always trying to manage other people’s feelings should I have to tell them about personal bad news. Because I process feelings externally, and also, because I process feelings externally. ?
I had to pause and comment on your Mexican restaurant situation. I am an INFP and I would read into this comment „look there’s a great Mexican restaurant” while driving to find food also as a suggestion to eat there. It is a way I might do it if I want to go somewhere but I don’t want to be to pushy and I’d like a person to still have a choice without having to refuse me. So it is a subtle way to say I want to do something but in a subtle way. (Although clear to me ;))
I started with this podcast excited that I might finally be able to find my type …I’ve been struggling for a while tbh. I think I always felt like INFP it best describes me ..but many tests come back as INFJ. The thing that confuses me most is that I am very logical, my analytical mind is very good at seeing patterns and focusing on one thing when I need to (gathering points, remembering and finding reasons for something ). Sometimes I am very rational. (and that doesn’t sound like a INFP thing) :/
I think this is one of your all-time best podcasts. I’ve been listening for a couple years, but still waffling around on best-fit type (often thinking I was an ENFP because of my inability to settle on a type). Hearing your discussion on judging functions helped me to 100% know that I was using Fe and Ti with INFJ being the most likely, knowing other things about me. That being said, almost ALL people (including myself) would claim I’m extroverted. But I’m 42, and I’ve definitely developed a skill of being comfortable around people which wasn’t obvious in my younger years. Additionally, I believe I’ve always had a self-confidence that I rarely saw in other young people, because I was so tall I could never fit in (although I still long to be included). Is it possible I’m an INFJ with a developed comfort-level around extroverting? ENFJ does not fit me at all, as I can be kind of cutting and cold with people at times.
Hello, love this and all your podcasts, they’re full of great information, so thank you! One question I’d like to ask. Why did Joel use his tertiary function of extraverted feeling when driving the car with Antonia when looking for somewhere to eat rather than his co-pilot of introverted feeling to make the decision? Just confused why we would kind of jump a function if that make sense!
Thank you and really love the clarity in this podcast.
Dawn