Here’s where we start tripping over our own terminology traditions. Jung, of course, identified four “functions”—Sensation, Intuition, Thinking, and Feeling—and described them as being engaged in either of two “attitudes” (AKA “orientations”)—introversion of extraversion. So technically there are only four “functions.”

Jung never gave a label to the eight ‘things’ you get with the functions being used in their E or I orientation—Se, Si, Ne, Ni, Te, Ti, Fe, and Fi—probably because he didn’t consider them to be psychic units unto themselves. But it’s certainly convenient to talk as if they are. Dick Thompson proposed “function-attitudes,” and I think it was Linda Berens who first suggested “cognitive functions.” Leona Haas and I used “mental processes” throughout Building Blocks of Personality Type, hoping that the term would catch on and resolve the confusion. I continue to hear all three terms used regularly. The most popular seems to be “function-attitude;” ;ut it’s kind of a long label, so people often shorten “function-attitude” to just “function”—hence the confusion. Whenever you hear the term “function,” you need to ask yourself whether they are literally talking about one of the four functions or using short-hand for one of the eight function-attitudes. It’s certainly inconvenient; but usually you can tell from their context.

I’m not sure these are two ‘sides’ of the same coin, but rather two ‘directions.’ Jung says, “Without differentiation direction is impossible, since a direction of a function towards a goal depends on the elimination of anything irrelevant. Fusion with the irrelevant precludes direction; only a differentiated function is capable of being directed.” Then he also says that Te and Ti are “incessantly at war” which certainly suggests that these should not be considered the same coin but really are two orthogonal mental processes.

– Carol

In the church where I worked for many years, we went on a “head hunt” for the other type when we realized we were two INFJs and an INTJ. It was a matter of realizing that we had to be able to relate to the whole parish, all the ESFs out there and ESTs, whose perception and needs might be so different. It worked, but I must add that it made for some more prolonged and complicated staff meetings.

I use extraverted feeling which is in my auxiliary function for INFJ. It only becomes ineffective when I let it go overboard and I’m caring for someone more than myself. Interesting question to think about in terms of how I would prefer to be taken care of. I would have naturally answered this with Fe, but upon reflection, I think I prefer Si. I like to hear how someone else has handled a situation in the past and what worked for them. What symptoms did they have? What solutions did they try that worked or not? I also like practical, down-to-earth advice and common sense solutions.

Sometimes with Fe, I don’t like the feeling of people feeling sorry for me. Really interesting questions that I will pay more attention to in the future.

The trained, expected type within corporate America may well be ESTJ – as I can confirm from intensive training in US professional services firms. Evaluations were based on precisely the logical, evidence-based, outgoing, completer-finisher behaviour that would flow naturally from ESTJ types. Therefore, people will appear to be this way in order to get on and succeed. (As a different type, I managed but burnt out after 10 years.)My concern would be that many people are unhappy within such an expected culture, and so the leadership of our nations and corporations needs to embrace other types. We have seen hints of this from Obama and Cameron, which I applaud. The new technology generation are much more P oriented and this now seems to be the expected type within teenage peer groups – frequent changes of plan and no agreed decisions until the last possible moment! Will they cope in the workplace?

I lived in Brazil for 22 years and I started my journey with Jungian theory while living there. Although I have not done widespread application in Brazil, I was really surprised at how many ENFPs I seemed to come up with. It could be that since I worked with many pastors that this could explain part of the oversampling, however in my work among Brazilians I find the culture to be more perception oriented rather than judging. Extroverted Intuition is really common in meetings which I found entertaining since I am an INFP! If there are any Brazilians reading this please feel free to prove me wrong.
As far as the United States is concerned I would agree with the SJ at least. Our culture seems to be over achieving. In general closure is much more important than what I observed in Brazil. Our high demand for productivity seems to have pushed us to be more sensing/detail oriented. I wonder if we will see a shift in this as the next “video” generation begins to spread its wings more.

This is a great question I always teach people in our seminars on type that valuing and appreciating different types for most of us has been “an acquired taste.”

I compare it to my childhood when I was raised in Texas eating school lunch box slices of tasteless cheese and loving it and trading those sandwiches on the playground. The first time I tasted bleu (blue) cheese I thought it was poison and spit it out. Over the years it’s become my favorite cheese.

Equally as an ENTJ I thought that I was the standard of how a human being ought to be and was shocked that so few people agreed. These experiences began my journey of a lifetime to understand other types and to find out that they are not only valuable, but they save my bacon every day doing things I can’t.