Podcast – Episode 0376 – How To Identify Unhealthy Perceiving Functions In Personality Types

In this podcast you’ll find:

• Guest host Susan Storm from Psychology Junkie joins Joel and Antonia to talk about the 4 perceiving functions. 
• Unhealthy function experiences or expressions last for any time from minutes to years.
• It happens to all of us, but we can label other people without seeing the whole picture.
• Self-awareness and checking in is key.
• Perspectives (Ni) – what does it look like when it’s unhealthy?
  • Living for the future at the cost of the present
  • Always imagining, envisioning and only seeing how something will play out
  • Visions become faulty when unbalanced with sensory data
  • Ungrounded, unrealistic, impractical
  • False certainty and stubbornness about how something will play out
  • Susan’s personal experience with unhealthy Ni.
• We have more certainty about a function when it’s higher in our stack
• Sensation (Se) – what does it look like when it’s unhealthy?
  • Can sacrifice the future for the present
  • The “now” becomes everything
  • Quick action at expense of planning and strategy 
  • Opportunistic, hedonistic, materialistic and impatient
  • “Image management” at expense of integrating Ni
  • Avoidance of thinking about patterns and consequences.
• Memory (Si) – what does it look like when it’s unhealthy?
  • Unchecked hoarding – collecting objects that aren’t souvenirs
  • Passively accepting negative experiences as comfort zones
  • Getting stuck in a rut 
  • Doesn’t see the possibilities
  • Forgets it can make change
  • Narrow-minded and risk averse
• Exploration (Ne) – what does it look like when it’s unhealthy?
  • Restless and bored – untethered from ability to “be still”
  • No relationship to a “through line” or completing experiences
  • Opens more loops to solve challenges
  • Lack of acceptance – even with things it can’t change
  • False confidence without follow through
  • Impractical and unsympathetic
  • Detached from “lived experience”
• Revisiting the definition of perceiving functions and how they can be unhealthy:
  • Perceiving functions: our worldview, how we see reality
  • Unhealthiness: one-sidedness, overdoing it, unrounded, doubling-down
  • Some metaphors and examples from Susan, Joel and Antonia
  • What causes unhealthy perceiving functions?
  • How emotions play into this
• How can we create permission to “be in” our perceiving functions?
  • Give time or context to allow the dominant function to express
  • Integrate the other side of the polarity (our inferior)
  • Doesn’t have to be from neglect or indulgence
• How to integrate the opposite side of the polarity:
• INxJs – integrating Sensation (Se):
  • Gain respect for Se
  • Allow time for Ni to think without Se interruptions
  • Mindful sensory experiences
  • Practice taking action and “making it happen”
  • Presence with the body
• ESxPs – integrating Perspectives (Ni):
  • Healthy Se experiences and engagement
  • Try physical activities to find meaning
  • Pause to think “where will this lead?”
  • “Right action” versus just “action”
  • Talk to people to find out how their mind works
• ISxJs – integrating Exploration / Ne:
  • Healthy routines
  • Do you need to keep the things you’ve collected?
  • New experiences feed positive rumination
  • Positive acceptance of change
  • Possibilities become part of reality
• ENxPs – integrating Memory (Si):
  • Grind something out once started
  • Reap the rewards when you stick to something
  • Learn to view change as based on hard work
  • Achieve authentic self-esteem
  • Gain more present and still energy
• Check out our follow up conversation about how to identify unhealthy judging functions in personality types here