People greatly overrate the tertiary function in terms of how it affects the personality, IMO. ISFPs don't prefer Ni, they prefer Se, and that will prove a much greater influence on their visible personality. The tertiary is an inferior function, one which often manifests itself negatively.
Originally Posted by
Introverted Intuition
As a Tertiary Function, Ni typically leads ISPs to suspect others of hypocrisy and cheating and putting on appearances aimed at exploiting people's credulity--especially hypocrisy inherent in social institutions. Sometimes ISPs draw upon Ni to find ways to throw a monkey wrench into social systems that call them into some kind of obligation: to respond in ways that don't make sense within the system's explicitly stated ways of interpreting behavior as cooperative or hostile (but are indeed hostile).
Consider Se traits now:
- Life is determined by impressions received from outside, to which they react with instinctual impulses
- Facts perceived through the senses are, for people of this type, the only reality.
- They never linger over reflections and principles; they are, to an extreme degree, realists.
- They don't feel any need to evaluate their experiences in any systematic way, but their reactions drive them from one sensation to the next.
- Recognizes the wealth of ancestral experience & understands the meaning of traditional forms better than do individuals of other types, finding it difficult to develop other ways.
- Instinctive aspect in adaptation to the community is also expressed in the faithful maintenance of custom and tradition
- They feel at home in the world, accept things as they are, and know how to adjust themselves to circumstances.
- Strongly reactive. If an object catches their attention, they at once seize hold of it, or they go after it, and study it from all sides, repeating this reaction again and again over a long period of time.
- Such a child needs to have a world of forms, colours and tones. He wants to sniff at every flower, and can with difficulty restrain his impulse to gobble up the things that tempt him.
- Their originality finds expression in a truer and less prejudiced view of facts than others take, with the result that they may also discover fresh facts
- A tendency to expect too little of themselves, since they are very little aware of their own aims and possibilities.
- Stick to experience, empiricists par excellence
- For the sake of special sensation, they pursue all kinds of things which otherwise would not interest them. Not satisfied with a simple pursuit of instinctual gratification. They seek intense and unusual sensations, not only those which are pleasant and easily attained.
- Ideals are directed almost exclusively towards the external, sensory side of life, with the uncomplicated individuals of this type having little inner life
- Doesn't lead exclusively to personal satisfaction of sensuous desires, but can drive him to dedicate his powers to service of a group he identifies with, even to sacrifice himself for it (ie. instinct to protect family physically).
- A great many so-called “ordinary” people belong to this type. If they do create any impression, it is more owing to their success in making an art out of life than to any special qualities.
- Are in general conservative in their practical life, if they see no prospect of advantage in change
- Good observers, often good storytellers, good at practical professions
- Includes many people of good taste, who have developed appreciation of the subtler pleasures of life into a fine art.
- Often capable of discussing problems and theories of life, but more for the pleasure of the discussion than out of interest in the actual problems
Here, you see words/phrases like instinct, ordinary, practical, pleasures, realists, facts, not seeking change, accept things as they are, etc, being used to describe the Se type, and this will apply to ISFPs in varying degrees, & will be more apparent than the opposite function Ni. It gives the impression of someone who is independent & spontaneous in ways, sure, but also not seeking change for its own sake (which tends to be idealistic, not realistic) & focused on making everyday life pleasant & interesting for themselves & their family. The person seeks novel sensory experience, but not necessarily new ways of doing/thinking as the N type often seeks.
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Likewise, Si in the tertiary for the INFP is not a great influence on their personality. It's an inferior function that will pop up in very limited ways, ways which don't greatly influence their mindset nor behaviors. After all, Si is opposite to Ne, just as Ni is opposite to Se, and so one has to be repressed for the other to play a major roe.
This is inferior Si, but I don't doubt it's not that much different in the tertiary for the INFP (at least, this rings true for me):
Originally Posted by
Introverted Sensation
Where Si occupies the inferior position (as it does for those with dominant Ne), it is strongly tainted with unconscious contents. In these cases, Si may manifest as negative/malevolent images of eternal tendencies in people and situations that will not change. Such tendencies may well be present, but inferior Si sees the part as the whole. Inferior Si is also linked to feelings of nostalgia, overwhelmingly vivid internal imagery and a selective recall of facts and memories that are highly emotionally charged.
Basically, Si in an INFP is a distorted, emotional view of sensory information, which tends to cause them to resist adapting to it and/or to romanticize the past. IMO, in INPs in general, Si is at its most idiosyncratic (as Jung & Myers describe it as such; when combined with Je thinking, it then seems stable & predictable), as it's led along by Ji, not Je. An INFP in a Fi-Si loop is probably paranoid, melancholy, neurotic, a loner, filled with chaotic feelings, caught up in wallowing too much to form any routine, etc. They do not become grounded, routinized, pragmatic, etc. Those are the "higher levels" of Si, often due to the influence of Je.
Now consider traits of the Ne type, particularly ones which will show up in varying degrees in INFPs:
- Whereas the Se type is guided by material facts, the Ne type sees in the external world all manner of connections in an original and personal way
- [Ne] seeks possibilities & potential everywhere, and has a special flair for finding them
- [Ne] will often provide a solution in circumstances in which none of the other functions can find a way out
- Forever seeking new paths and new possibilities for the external life, with all current circumstances soon becoming a prison, an oppression - and they long for liberation
- A fact is only valued so long as it opens up new and more important prospects which can liberate the individual.
- In many respects, is the opposite of the Si type, who has a great passivity and a certain dependence on the environment; whereas the Ne type shows much spontaneous activity and independence, even to the point of rebelling against any obligation
- Novelty attracts them, both in people & things, which makes them extremely fickle
- Constantly reveal new facets of their nature, which seem to come to light spontaneously
- Their activity is often very great, but somewhat unpredictable.
- Like to see quick results, and if failing that, their attention is readily distracted by something else
- Show more impulsive energy than concentrated will-power.
- Stimulated by difficulties, for they are by nature combative
- They do not like to admit that they cannot do something
- They will discover fresh possibilities where others have failed
- Take pride in seeing the possibilities of accomplishing something which others regard as impossible
- Startlingly clever, giving an impression of making nothing of the difficulties others struggle with, & they can get away with anything
- As children their spontaneous activity, independence, & rebellion against obligations is evident at a very early age
- Always thinking out something fresh, and their imagination continually suggests fresh possibilities
- They like to impress others by startling remarks or behavior
- When they are at the top of their form, there is something radiant and inspiring about them.
- Many discoverers and inventors belong to this type, but ..... even artists, who manage to find new modes of expression
- May have great difficulty in managing themselves, owing to the constant invasion of fresh inspirations and impulses.
- Excessive spontaneity of their nature makes it extremely difficult for them to keep rules or appointments
- Frequently better at taking the initiative in starting something than at finishing it, leaving others to profit from their idea
Repeatedly do words like spontaneous, original, individual, rebelling, novelty, & liberate pop up in Ne descriptions. Again, this will apply in varying degrees to the INFP, whose focus on people is no more than the ISFP since both are Fi-dom, resulting in a type whose typical way of interacting with the world is very much in a spontaneous, original & individual manner.
If you (in general, not directed at anyone) type people according to definitions & descriptions of types, then you will not see INFPs as being more sensory or less individualistic. If not, then it's likely you are mistyping people because you're not accurately grasping how a type usually manifests.
...the bottom line, the core of it that is usable.
