Introverted Thinking: Search For Universal Truth
Introverted Thinking gets a bad rap in our society. Think Spock, an over-exaggeration of Ti — zero emotion, all logic. We don’t value logic so much, we feel it’s lacking in humanity. That’s the message we tell those with Ti as the dominant function in their Function Family. The Ti is accused of being robotic, having Asperger’s, of being a sort of outcast from society for not “properly” registering natural emotions.
Of course, the Introverted Thinker does have emotions. But Fi, the function responsible for registering the impact of those emotions, is the lowest and therefore least prioritized function for them. (Incidentally, pushing emotions to the back burner does not make them go away. If they aren’t registered and dealt with, they stick around, causing problems, trying to get your attention. It’s a good idea for the Ti to learn some healthy ways of identifying and releasing emotions.)
The Extraverted Thinker has an easier time of it. Te is valued in our society because it starts businesses, leads companies to profit, and generally gets things done quickly and efficiently, though perhaps ruthlessly. Ti on the other hand, just sits around figuring out the Truth. Ti is a compass like Fi — while Fi is a moral compass, Ti is a truth compass. Introverted Thinking figures out what CAN be true, if it IS true, and HOW true it is. This makes them wildly controversial (if they share their thoughts) because most of us like to believe what SOUNDS true, FEELS true, or would be CONVENIENT if true.
For example, Ti figures out the theoretical (can be true) explanation of gravity (boom, most of you have left the page — good thing too, there’s math coming up). It figures out there is gravity on earth (is true) and that the value is 9.8 m/s2 (how true — to one significant digit, or precise only to the tenth place — eight tenths). It figures out that there is gravity on the moon, but it isn’t as strong as on earth (a few of you are glancing back; wait, did you say something about the moon?).
Ti also realizes that nothing can be proven. Nothing can be 100% known, nothing is absolutely, irrevocably certain. So Ti figures out Likelihoods. Given all the information we have at this time, conclusion A is 1,000,000 times more likely than conclusion B; so conclusion A is as good as fact. This irritates people if they happen to like conclusion B. Ti also purposely leaves emotion out of it. It doesn’t matter which conclusion you prefer, if you are looking for the most likely truth.
Given their nature to find the most likely truth regardless of how unpopular, and given their introverted orientation, these folks have a tendency to keep their thoughts and life to themselves. You can work to draw them out, but you may very well not like what you find! And they will be totally unapologetic. It’s not that they want to upset you, it’s just that gravity isn’t going away because you want to levitate.
One of my driving motivations in teaching the Language of Functions is to help You with your particular preferred Judging Function (Te, Ti, Fe, or Fi — in the first or second function position), learn to understand and communicate with Others and their preferred Judging Function. We use our preferred Judging Function to decide what to Value, then we equate ourselves and our own Value with the values of our Judging Function. Everything else is then seen as an Attack on our Value. Que gridlock.
The thing is, the best decisions cannot come from a single Judging Function. To solve our personal crises, our relationship issues, our environmental problems, and our social dilemmas, we require solutions that bring together the values of all four of the Judging Functions.
For example, Ti says our resources are limited and our current use of them is destroying our planet. Te says but we don’t have the infrastructure to change how we use resources. Fe says our society is dependent on these non-renewable resources and change would completely disrupt society as we know it. Fi says, and it’s really convenient for me to drive to work — the public transportation system (if it exists) would take me 3x as long and I just don’t have that kind of spare time. So nothing happens.
But if all the functions work together, then we come up with plans that change things strategically to retain individual convenience, allow the public time to adapt, provide the capital necessary for restructuring, and switch to renewable resources to protect the planet. However, the only way to start a united conversation such as this, is to first acknowledge the values that each Type brings to the table. Which means acknowledging the legitimacy of Judging Functions other than your own.
The best place to start is within yourself. You have access to all four Judging Functions. Are you using them?
I would love to work with you to learn about your dominant Judging Function and how you can strengthen and incorporate your other Judging Functions into your life. Contact me now for a Personality Assessment to begin the conversation. ~Julie