The Tertiary Function Part 4

 In this article I'll continue my tour of the sister types and their tertiary functions, continuing with the ESFP and the ISFP

In the ISFP Ni is tertiary. Ni, as I've seen it argued, can be understood in part as a focus on the subjective representation of an idea. Evidence of this kind of heuristic can be seen in types with more differentiated Ni, e.g., Plato's theory of forms and Martin Luther King Jr.'s use of vivid symbolism in his speeches. The ISFP brings the symbolic representative nature of Ni into union with Fi and Se often by expressing itself through some aesthetic form. The ISFP Leni Riefenstahl says it better than I could: "I [seek] a style in the realm of legend. Something that might allow me to give free rein to my juvenile sense of romanticism and the beautiful image" 

In the ESFP Ni is repressed instead of tertiary. The ESFP, therefore, does not a have a meta-representative view of reality. Instead, they have a very direct view of reality. The ESFP Mussolini provides a great example of this perspective: "The reality of experience is far more eloquent than all the theories and philosophies on all the tongues and on all the shelves." This lack of theoretical representation gives the ESFP an ability to focus on (as Boye Akinwande says) the ever-changing object as exemplified in another quote from Mussolini: "My political evolution has been the product of a constant expansion, of a flow from springs always nearer to the realities of living life and always further away from the rigid structures of sociological theorists."

In the ESFP Te is tertiary. Similar to the ENFP this gives them an enterprising and adventurous disposition. Although, unlike the ENFP, Te is paired with Se in the ESFP. The investor Mark Cuban gives an excellent illustration of this interplay:  "[To succeed in business you have] to put yourself in a position where if luck strikes, you can see the opportunity and take advantage of it." The emphasis here is on the realistic awareness of circumstances (Se) as well an ability to execute a successful plan (Te). However, because Te is tertiary in the ESFP its influence on the psyche ranges from helpful third flavor (as I've just described it) to a mildly repressed function. For example, this Justin Bieber quote: "I want my world to be fun. No parents, no rules, no nothing." Here there is a lack of Te's desire to organize and control based on hierarchy and instead Fi's desire to be unrestrained and free.

In the ISFP Te is repressed instead of tertiary. One doesn't need to look far to see evidence of their repressed Te. They, much like the INFP, often shy away from positions where they are forced to make effectual decisions. As Steven J. Rubenzer said of the ISFP President Grant: "His personality was a very poor match for the presidency - the worst of any president thus far." But it's not all bad for the ISFP's repressed Te. Their repressed Te gives them an ability to live unrestrained and let others do similarly. As the ISFP Prince says: "I don't live in a prison. I am not afraid of anything. I haven't built any walls around myself."

The Tertiary Function Part 3

In the last article we discussed how Ni and Fe sets apart the sister types ESTP and ISTP. This time we'll move onto Si and Te in the ENFP and INFP.

 As I've said before in the article discussing the ENTP and INTP, I define Si as a sort of codifying heuristic. In the ENFP Si is repressed. Of course in common everyday language ENFPs don't typically use the word codified. Instead they use words like alive and dead to describe relationships, ideas, and projects. I understand these words as being synonymous with codification. When an idea has been codified it is no longer able to provide the wide range of possibilities that Ne thrives on, i.e., it is dead to the ENFP. This causes the ENFP to abandon the nascent projects that they've started. Jung says that they are like farmers who don't stick around long enough to reap what they've sown. But in Jung's Typology of opposing processes our weaknesses are often also our strengths and vice versa. And so with the ENFP repressed Si also gives them a wonderful proliferation of ideas. When one idea feels stagnate or codified they move on to the next, giving them a broad range of ideas as is the case with ENFP Jacques Derrida who wrote over forty books. As an Ne dominant myself I'm sometimes insulted by this idea of breadth over depth as I think it makes Ne sound shallow and somewhat superficial. To illustrate the strength of this lateral heuristic and justify its relevance to Ne I'll quote the ENFP Joseph Campbell who says "[I am not] a specialist, but a generalist. ... [I see] something over here [and] something over there. [And no specialist] has considered ... why this occurs here and also there." 

In the INFP Si is not repressed, taking the tertiary position instead. This allows the INFP to codify their ideas without making them feel "dead". Combining the interplay of Ne and Si in creating ideas and making them feel real through codification with Fi's tendency to personalize can give the INFP a rich and detailed mental world and imagination. As the INFP Johnny Depp says "My imagination was my savior [in my childhood]. I was able to imagine things weren't bad, or I could go in the backyard and transform myself into an astronaut or some [other] character and play for hours." But of course their is also a downside to tertiary Si. As I said in my Se v. Si video, Si can get caught up in a singular image or fantasy. In the INTP the combination of Ti and Si can make them resistant to change that challenges their system or order as we saw with Albert Einstein. In the INFP there is a combination of Fi and Si meaning they can hold onto their fantasies, opinions, or perspectives far past the point of realism.

In the INFP Te is repressed. Te's opposing process is Fi. While the Fi user will say live and let live, the Te user will say that society does not have room for slackers. So we can say that Fi seeks personal freedom from obligation but at the same time becoming soft and ineffectual. It was said of the INFP John Kerry "[No one] can tell him what to do. You can suggest it, and maybe he'll do it and maybe he won't. But he is not going to surrender that personal autonomy that is the core of [his] integrity." They may expose a political hypocrisy or evil like the INFP George Orwell does in Animal Farm but they are often removed from the front lines of the battle of social change. At the same time though, this repression of Te keeps the INFP from forcing their vision on anyone else like the INFJ might be inclined to do, e.g., celebritytypes.com lists Adolf Hitler and Robert Mugabe as INFJ dictators while there are no dictators on their INFP list. 

In the ENFP Te is not repressed and instead takes the tertiary position. So the ENFP does not share the INFP's effete disposition, in fact they can be very enterprising even more so in my opinion than their cousin the ENTP. This enterprising Te combined with their hatred for redundancy and consistency which owes its existence to repressed Si gives the ENFP his adventurous quality. Two quotes about the ENFP Hunter S. Thompson demonstrate this "Hunter didn't have to seek out adventure, he was adventure.", "There was always a powerful comfort in knowing he was out there somewhere ... guzzling high-octane whiskey and railing against a world amok with complacency and hypocrisy." Unfortunately, it is in Te's nature to justify the ends by the means. Combine that disposition with Fi's deeply personal beliefs and one might get violent revolutionaries like Che Guevara or subversive terrorists like Ulrike Meinhof. 

While the NFPs may seem very similar in the way their psyches are structured they are distinguishable by their respective tertiary functions.  

  

The Tertiary Function Part 2

Last article we discussed the idea that the tertiary function sets apart sister types. We saw this in action with the two NTP's tertiary functions, Fe and Si. Now we'll see the same principle with the two STP types' tertiary functions Fe and Ni.

Fe is repressed in the ISTP. In the INTP this repression combined with their Ne/Si axis gives them (to quote millon.net) an eccentric and intellectual expression and an alienated self-image. In the ISTP because of their Se/Ni axis their repressed Fe manifests as a more intense and direct "no-bullshit" approach to life. Take for example, the ISTP Steve Jobs. As Guy Kawasaki said, if you're a steve fan you say he knew how to cut through the bullshit. But if you're not you say he lacked social graces. And these social graces may be crippling for the ISTP. As ISTP Ron Paul said of his ISFJ son Rand Paul (a type whose Fe is far more developed) "It may well be that his approach will be far more succesful than mine ever was."

In the ESTP, however, Fe is not repressed instead taking the tertiary position. Therefore, they aren't not averse to diplomacy and negotiation that requires tact and social graces. Charm then is rightly praised as one of the ESTP's greatest assets. Ben Affleck has been described by his wife as charm personified when he wants to be. But it's a rakish and clever charm that contributes to the Antisocial personality in the ESTP (Antisocial meaning confrontational, independent, and non-conforming). And so the ESTP is very much like the ENTP in that his expression and approach may be interpreted as over-aggresive and be met with resentment.

Ni is repressed in the ESTP. This comes out in two ways that are relevant to the discussion of distinguishing sister types. The first is in their awe-inspiring courage. They don't try to over-intellectualize or prepare for the future instead relying on improvisation and grace under pressure. Of course, this can go wrong for the ESTP as is the case with ESTP Douglas MacArthur in his invasion of China. To quote celebritytypes.com "they may overestimate the scope of their... solutions."

Many people associate the Se/Ni axis with an intense singular perspective and the Ne/Si axis with a flighty non-commital multifaceted perspective. I'd argue that this is somewhat erroneous. I think in Ni and Ne lies the difference in perspective, either multiple and flighty or singular and intense. This may seem trivial but it matters when Ni is repressed. As the ESTP Sasha Grey said "If I only concentrated on one thing I would limit myself in life." Which appears to be something that someone with Ne/Si would say but makes much more sense if you allow Ni and Ne to be the determining factor in this matter.

Ni takes the Tertiary position in the ISTP. While they can still be improvisational and reactive like the ESTP, they can intellectualize and sum up their vision of a goal before engaging the object. For example, it is said that Miyamoto Musashi delayed his duel with Sasaki Kojiro timing it so that he would be carried away with the tide afterwords, thereby escaping Kojiro's angry supporters.

Since Ni is not repressed in the ISTP we do see an intense commitment to singular ideas and a rigorous perfection. Although the perfection is in part due to dominant Ti it is nevertheless intensely focused by tertiary Ni. And so with the repression of Fe and Ni's difficulty expressing itself the ISTP developes a stoic silence, using only the words that are necessary. As was said of Jack Dorsey, when he speaks he makes every syllable count.

The Tertiary Function Part 1

The Tertiary Function Part 1

Disclaimer 1: I am not an expert. I am just a hobbyist. However, I hope this article will give you some fresh insight into the nature of the tertiary function.

Disclaimer 2: The orientation of the terattiary function has been hotly debated (even Myers did not finally settle on one orientation), but for the sake of simplicity I will be using the Standard Model. So the tertiary function is extroverted if the dominant function is extroverted. Hence, ENTP's function stack is Ne, Ti, Fe, Si.

Starting with John Beebe's association of the tertiary function with the Child Archetype, the tertiary function has become known as the puerile function. I think this is a fair assessment but I prefer to think of the tertiary function as that which distinguishes sister types such as the INTP and ENTP, e.g., the ENTP's Feeling and the INTP's Sensing set them apart and give them distinguishing characteristics. The rest of this article and the ones that come after will contain my observations on how the tertiary function distinguishes sister types.

Repressed Si in the ENTP makes them more flighty non-codifying thinkers. This can be their boon and their bane. In Wolfgang Pauli, who according to celebritytypes.com is an ENTP, we see the advantage of a non-codifying heuristic. He carries no expectations of what physics should be based on prior expectations and this gives him an open-mind when approaching quantum mechanics and allows him to speculate freely whether the psychology of an observer can change quantum observations. The down-side to repressed Si is it can lead to a lack of consistency. As the writers at celebritytypes have said David Hume tries to say everything but one can pair two of his papers together and we find Hume contradicting himself amounting to nothing.

In the INTP, however, Si is not repressed. Instead it takes the tertiary position and we do find a codifying heuristic. This gives the INTP the ability to bring a large number of facts under an umbrella of principles that represents those facts as we find in Charles Darwin's Adam Smith's and Friedrich A. Hayek's works. However, tertiary Si has a downside as well. It can be resistant to challenges to what has already been codified as is the case with Albert Einstein when he grew angry with the study of quantum mechanics.

Repressed Fe in the INTP gives them a distrust of expressive emotion. Again this can be good and bad. Take the philosopher Thales of Miletus. He very much disapproved of the melodrama of the gods (the melodrama being that Neptune would kill some sailors on a whim because their sacrifices were not sufficient or whatever). And so Thales becomes the systematizer and as Nietzsche says "has a chilly relationship with allegory and myth". But in the INTP Fe can be a real thorn in his side. This video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tD1QHO_AVZA provides an example of Fe as the INTP Richard Dawkins's Achilles heel. He gets very testy with the sympathies and laughter of the crowd even though it appears completely good-natured. This fear of expressive emotion is what can turn the INTPs off from debate. Look at xkcd.com by INTP Randall Munroe. It contains many comics that point out the ridiculousness of debate.

In the ENTP Fe is tertiary. As such, the ENTP is not averse to expressive sympathies and instead enthusiastically charges into debate. This example alone shows both good and bad in tertiary Fe. The ENTPs Socrates and Xenophanes go out and have intellectual brawls with the citizens of their time, leading to great philosophy. But this same debate is what got Socrates in trouble with Athens and ultimately killed him. This Socratic style in ENTPs is often misinterpreted as anger and given a cold treatment.

Next Article, I will go into how the tertiary function separates ESTP and ISTP.