Inferior Function

16973 Views 53 Replies 28 Participants Last post by Casus Belli, Sep 12, 2019

spifffo

Discussion Starter · Jul 20, 2010

How do you experience your inferior function? Is it a blindspot? A weakness? Your preoccupation when unhealthy? Or simply an area of life you don't care much about?

Si causes problems for me...stuff like getting enough sleep, eating right, exercising, organizing...it's just time I'd much, much rather spend elsewhere...so I put it off until it seems overwhelming...it stresses me out.

But, when I consistently address Si concerns, I feel great!...until it starts to block time for Ne and Fi...and then I snap back.

Sometimes Si is also the only introverted function I can really get to work...for example, "eating my feelings" (Fi is out of balance, so Si compensates.)

I don't know how to define or apply meaning to any of this...I just know that my inferior function causes me problems, so I thought I'd ask and see how you guys deal with your own inferior functions.

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zitronentee

· #41 · Nov 20, 2015

As INFJ, Se is the inferior function.

I think, my Se manifest as a hobby : cooking. I think, in my case, cooking use both inferior Se and dominant Ni. When I want to cook something new, I tried to imagine the taste first, then let my hands work (spontaneity and five senses).

Other than that, I enjoy music. Then again, it is combined with either Ni or Fe, i.e lyrics has to be meaningful, or the music has to evoke some feeling/connection.

Then again, I don't want to always work with Se. It's better for me to use Se as hobby.

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VideoGameMaster

· #42 · Nov 24, 2015

spifffo said:
How do you experience your inferior function? Is it a blindspot? A weakness? Your preoccupation when unhealthy? Or simply an area of life you don't care much about?

All of this.

In this case, your inferior function may be telling you that something's wrong.

With you, an extraverted intuitive type, your inferior function is telling you that you need to pay attention to your internal sensations.

Jung noted that extraverts are in danger of not paying attention to their personal health because they're too busy engaging with the outer world. My mom, an extravert, is a bit of a workaholic and tends to ignore her personal health as she doesn't exercise enough and has high blood pressure. She's not horizontally challenged, though.

My inferior function is thinking, and as such, I tend to repress it when it doesn't support my feeling, and when I do use it, I sometimes trip over it.

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ScientiaOmnisEst

· #43 · Nov 24, 2015

ISFP (some think INFP, so I'm revisiting that), so I have inferior Te.

Mostly it erupts in angry (self-)criticism and total obsession over my own competence, or lack thereof. I can create systems, but can't maintain them. I'll make plans then not follow through. I'm also prone to thinking of non-feeling things in extremes - perfection or failure; strict, flawless discipline or reckless who-gives-a-fuck hedonism; genius or idiocy, perfect expertise or total ignorance. Feeling has plenty of nuances, but with more logical, emotionless things the middle doesn't, can't exist for some reason.

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Jane Lane

· #44 · Oct 4, 2016

An old thread I know. I have been looking into the inferior functions more. I relate to some aspects of inferior Se but I don't know if I use it . I can relate to the overdoing sensory activities but necessarily the ones you hear about the most such as alcohol and drugs. Some of them yes, shopping or too much junk food. Maybe a movie or tv marathon . That kind of thing.

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pwowq

· #45 · Oct 4, 2016 (Edited)

Fe. It means that the little concern I have for people is geared toward a concern for the well-being of the general population. I might actually not care about you (singular) but I do care about you (plural).

Since common social sense is ruled by rules and Ti is theoretically very good at spotting patterns, orders, hierarchies it can and will compensate enough for not always phrasing everything without a certain censorship. Albeit if you ask for feedback/critism be vary of the path. It might make someone cry if you're not SPECIFIC of what you ask.

No, not really. If you cry and we know each other I'll offer my shoulder.

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SlowYin

· #46 · Aug 29, 2019

LiquidLight said:
Inferior function is probably the most important function though because it represents the fulcrum point between the conscious and unconscious parts of ourselves. If we do not properly assimilate our inferior function we cannot really grow as individuals and become more complete because we will never truly accept the sum total of who we are only the nicely dressed up veneer (generally expressed with dominant function and our personas).

I'm interested in this idea - If we do not properly assimilate our inferior function we cannot really grow as individuals - Does anyone have experience with this :ghost3:

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morgandollar

· #47 · Sep 1, 2019

I'm an INTP so I use inferior Fe but I think it's actually a pretty strong function in me. I'm not that good at using Fe (my EQ is below average) but I have quite a few friends and am friendly and have concern for others. I don't relate to the "hating people" stereotype of inferior Fe users, I actually don't mind small talk. I often don't get a lot of enjoyment out of spending time with others though, which makes me sad.

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Bunniculla

· #48 · Sep 5, 2019

Inferior Ne causes me to over worry and predict bad scenarios that aren't any more logically estimated to happen when compared with good scenarios that can happen. It is a pain in the butt. It clouds my inner reason and replaces it with fear. I try to overcome it by talking to others and hearing them out on their perspectives and why it makes sense. It gives me a sense of comfort when the bad predictions can be explained away.

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SlowYin

· #49 · Sep 5, 2019

Bunniculla said:
Inferior Ne causes me to over worry and predict bad scenarios that aren't any more logically estimated to happen when compared with good scenarios that can happen. It is a pain in the butt. It clouds my inner reason and replaces it with fear. I try to overcome it by talking to others and hearing them out on their perspectives and why it makes sense. It gives me a sense of comfort when the bad predictions can be explained away.

I've been trying to play more fun future scenario games with my ISTJ friend so that he gets more comfortable with the acting of imagining and predicting so he can start to experience this way of thinking differently than experiencing it as some nightmare ghost of Christmas past or future :ghost3::ghost3::ghost3: that pops in from the depth of your mind. We imagine different alternative future worlds and also go back in history and imagine life then - but the minutiae of these scenarios. I think he enjoys it?

h:

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Bunniculla

· #50 · Sep 5, 2019

SlowYin said:
I've been trying to play more fun future scenario games with my ISTJ friend so that he gets more comfortable with the acting of imagining and predicting so he can start to experience this way of thinking differently than experiencing it as some nightmare ghost of Christmas past or future :ghost3::ghost3::ghost3: that pops in from the depth of your mind. We imagine different alternative future worlds and also go back in history and imagine life then - but the minutiae of these scenarios. I think he enjoys it? h:

That sounds fun. What kind of future scenario do you imagine to help alleviate his fear of bad possibilities?

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Casus Belli

· #51 · Sep 5, 2019

Episodic: skydiving
Periodic: fight sports, swimming
Recurrent: FPS game, food, lot of food... (can be a problem)

In the latter case, it is compulsive. And usually I work abstract at the same time

SlowYin

· #52 · Sep 6, 2019

Bunniculla said:
That sounds fun. What kind of future scenario do you imagine to help alleviate his fear of bad possibilities?

well sometimes its realistic scenarios about life today and the immediate years, but its more so asking questions like - "If you had the power to deal with X issue here, what would you do?" - and then we just play with ridiculous ideas we know aren't going to happen but sound good. I think its an exercise in stepping outside the boundaries of only whats realistic and possible, by giving oneself the freedom to imagine what would be fun or interesting or ideal.

Mostly, I'll admit, he fails at imagining good scenarios in the future but that makes it funny and... its more so about getting comfortable with even going there (I guess exercising Ne). I'm thinking if you exercise it more, you may be able to deal with it better if it pops up.

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brightflashes

· #53 · Sep 12, 2019

spifffo said:
How do you experience your inferior function? Is it a blindspot? A weakness? Your preoccupation when unhealthy? Or simply an area of life you don't care much about?

For me it's erroneous information that I naturally don't consider important. Of course S is very important, so I have to slow myself down and focus on S to really take it all in.

I enjoy gentle S things like gardening or massage or music. I think the best example of how my inferior function materialises is that I am really good at playing different musical instruments. Sometimes I overeat, but this didn't start until my father died in 2015 so maybe that's more of an emotional thing rather than related to inferior S.

Bursts of light, loud noises, crowds, smells, etc ... where sensory overload is possible is very distracting and uncomfortable for me.

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Casus Belli

· #54 · Sep 12, 2019

brightflashes said:
Bursts of light, loud noises, crowds, smells, etc ... where sensory overload is possible is very distracting and uncomfortable for me.

Same. Except when I use (Se). But most of the time it bothers me. I really appreciate the darkness with a small subdued light. This contrasts strongly with my previous post. ISTPs are less sensitive to this variation.

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