Socionics: The Semantic Content of Its Basic Concepts

Contents:

• Part 1. Functions
  • Functions of biological survival (“irrational”) - Ne, Ni, Se, Si
  • Functions of deliberative control of behavior for social purposes (“rational”) - Ti, Te, Fi, Fe
  • Functions of positioning the individual in society (“questimic-declatimic”) - Qi, Qe, Di, De
• Part 2. Dichotomies (“Reinin traits”)
  • Dichotomies determining the strength of functions
    • logic — ethics, intuition — sensing, questimity — declatimity
    • 8 types of thinking
  • Dichotomies determining the valued status of functions and quadra values
    • judiciousness — decisiveness, merriness — seriousness, democracy — aristocracy
    • quadras
  • Dichotomies of temperament
    • extraversion — introversion, irrationality — rationality, statics — dynamics
    • temperaments
  • Other dichotomies
• Part 3. Socionic Functions and Sociotypes as Survival Strategies
  • Static functions as methods of evolutionary selection of individuals
  • Dynamic functions as methods of transforming the habitat
  • Integrated type-specific survival strategies
• Appendices
  • 1. Average values of socionic functions for actual representatives of different types
  • 2. Comparison of the semantic content of functions in socionics and MBTI
  • 3. Recommendations for type diagnosticians - probability of trait inversion
  • 4. 60 important personality characteristics and character accentuations in the socionic coordinate system
  • 5. Values of socionic dyads (the author’s concept)

Part 1. Functions

Important: in some socionics schools, function signs are used to give functions a particular shade of meaning - in connection with the influence of third Reinin traits (“process-result” or “positivism-negativism”). We completely reject this approach. We use signs for functions (as for dichotomies) in a purely mathematical sense: plus denotes an excess of a function (its inertness in strength and valued status), minus - a shortage, a deficit (inertness in weakness and non-valued status).

The types for which this position of the function is typical are given in parentheses.

1-4) Functions of biological survival (“irrational”)

Irrational functions exist in all animal species, including non-social ones; they correspond to different strategies for obtaining food and avoiding dangers (herbivorous, predatory, parasitic, etc.); at the intraspecific level, they reflect the age-related developmental stages of individuals typical of all living things (since individuals of the same species often follow different strategies at different stages)

Ne (“black intuition”) = imagining freedom / alternatives

+Ne (ILE, IEE)

• “Childlikeness” (the curious-child character type) - retaining in adulthood personality characteristics typical of childhood, sometimes even including certain reflexes link
• Curiosity, attraction to everything new
• Innovativeness (usually the first to try something new)
• Searching for alternative possibilities (an option once chosen as the “main route” quickly becomes tiresome)
• Breadth of associations
• Constantly and chaotically running through options in the imagination - “racing thoughts,” “flight of ideas” (hence often - problems concentrating attention)
• Love of games
• Creativity (synthesizing new ideas by combining elements of old ones differently)
• Word creation (inventing names for new phenomena and reworking the meanings of old words)
• Love of freedom and willingness to grant freedom
• Intolerance of routine, monotony, and strict discipline
• A tendency to underestimate the dangers and threats contained in the new and unknown

−Ne (LSI, ESI)

• Strictness, seriousness, and “respectability” (the patriarch character type, the eldest and most experienced member of the community, guarding its property)
• Orientation toward one’s own past experience and distrust of new things from others that conflict with it
• Conservatism of habits
• Tolerance of routine - the ability to maintain a goal over a long period without being distracted by interference
• Dislike of unexpected events, a choice in favor of stability and rigid order
• Dislike of multiple alternatives, a preference for unambiguity and completion
• A tendency to introduce prohibitions and increase punishments for behavior that deviates from the sole option considered permissible
• A tendency to suppress the self-organization of people and systems under one’s control (justified by considerations of safety, but in fact signifying fear of losing personal control, fear of the uncontrollable diversity of the surrounding world)
• Preservation of the established order and a cult of security - perceiving the external world as hostile and harmful by default, as something from which one must physically fence oneself off and informationally isolate the people under one’s control - children, subordinates, etc.

Ni (“white intuition”) = imagining damage / crisis

+Ni (IEI, ILI)

• A set of personality characteristics that increase the ability of an initially physically weak subject to adapt to an aggressive environment
• Adaptation to coexistence with subjects of superior strength (who compel reality to obey their will), including and above all - the capacity to derive pleasure from one’s subordinate, dependent position, that is, masochism
• Observing ongoing changes in the environment and in people and waiting for a moment of crisis when one can benefit from the fruits of others’ efforts without making one’s own (proximity to a dominant individual who concentrates resources makes it possible to encounter such situations more often)
• Fantasies of the deformation, destruction, and transformation of surrounding reality and of changes in oneself under the pressure of external forces and the passage of time in general (may be accompanied by experiences of derealization and depersonalization)
• Cultivating ideas of one’s own damaged condition (including for manipulative-deceptive and provocative purposes)
• A tendency toward evasiveness, ambiguity, and deceitfulness (so as to be able to escape direct aggression by dominant individuals)
• Denial of the existence of eternal truths (“everything flows, everything changes”; “whoever imposes their will makes the rules, and we must adapt”)
• A generally rather depressive background mood, frequent thoughts about the meaninglessness of events and one’s own actions

−Ni (ESE, LSE)

• A parasitic life stance is uncharacteristic - prefers to make efforts and spend one’s own time on the desired reorganization of the surrounding world rather than wait for someone else to do it
• Denial of the possibility of crisis - tends to adhere in detail to all deadlines and quantities planned in advance, sometimes failing to notice how newly emerging circumstances sometimes turn such activity into a meaningless waste of time
• A desire to care regularly for surrounding things and provide sensory care for loved ones (derives pleasure from the routine of life)
• A desire to ensure an abundance of resources around oneself (“a home overflowing with plenty”)
• A sense of health, uplift, and security - in oneself and in the surrounding environment
• Love of life and absence of fantasies of self-destruction (does not like to think about aging, death, chronic diseases, or catastrophic changes in society)
• Does not experience derealization or depersonalization - a feeling of “strangeness” about what is happening
• Feelings of involvement in real life and of society’s support for one’s actions; feelings of rejection and existential loneliness are uncharacteristic

Se (“black sensing”) = sensing power / dominance

+Se (SLE, SEE)

• Strength of offensive (territorial) aggression, aka “the ability to push one’s way through” - effective at breaching others’ boundaries through manipulation and force
• A desire to obtain everything one wants first, immediately, and in large quantities, regardless of other people’s wishes (“I take what I want”); this applies especially to sex
• A desire to be above rules that are binding on others
• Dominance of one’s desires over life’s circumstances - at times, the strength of desire can even suppress the instinct of self-preservation
• A tendency toward self-satisfaction and inflated self-esteem
• A consumerist approach to the environment and people (“others must serve my needs and interests”)
• A desire for superior status and positioning oneself from the outset as a boss, leader, or dominant individual
• Persistence in obtaining what one wants (“pushiness”)
• Contempt for “weaklings” (all those who suppress aggression in themselves)
• Weak self-criticism and intolerance of objections
• Ease of resorting to physical violence
• Often - thieves’ values
• At the physical level, Se correlates with working-memory capacity, reaction speed, increased muscle tone, dexterity and agility of movement, and other characteristics that provide an advantage in a fight without rules

−Se (LII, EII)

• Voluntary self-restraint in material consumption and encouraging others to do the same - to reduce the overall competitiveness (aggressiveness) of the social environment
• An altruistic desire to preserve opportunities for future life and for other people as well
• Cultivated intellectual and moral refinement - disapproves of an aggressive, animal-like model of society dominated by alpha individuals, advocating that society should be led by those most capable of creating the common good, rather than those most skilled at suppressing others
• Neither knows how nor wishes to “pressure” others through force and threats, preferring instead to appeal to reason and conscience
• Honesty and non-acquisitiveness, no tendency toward theft or self-serving lies
• Self-criticism, the ability to acknowledge one’s mistakes
• Indecisiveness
• Weakness of the basic instinct - often looks and feels asexual, does not evoke instinctive sexual attraction in potential partners
• A tendency toward shyness and low self-esteem
• The evolutionary meaning of −Se - a reliance not on necessarily achieving personal victory and personal reproduction “here and now,” but on indirectly promoting the long-term development and reproduction of one’s community as a whole, that is, on weak tendencies that manifest through statistical effects over a long span and ultimately outweigh any voluntarism (for further details, see “Simpson’s paradox”)

Si (“white sensing”) = sensing comfort / homeostasis

+Si (SEI, SLI)

• Striving for pleasant bodily sensations and avoiding unpleasant ones as the dominant motive for activity
• High sensitivity in perceiving immediate reality (well-developed smell and touch, detailed tactile sensations)
• The ability to adjust one’s physical well-being (thereby restoring bodily homeostasis) through proper food preparation, massage, timely medication, choosing comfortable clothing and the optimal position of the body in space, etc.
• The ability to arrange a comfortable, harmonious, healthy environment for oneself with minimal means and effort
• Focus on the present moment, unwillingness and inability to think about the future
• Avoidance of crisis situations that disturb the equilibrium of one’s familiar living environment
• More often a conformist-conciliatory position in conflicts - seeking to avoid any excessive, unnecessary violence
• At the physical level, Si correlates with general bodily and mental relaxation, smoothness of movement, and well-developed fine motor skills of the body (especially the fingers)
• There is a hypothesis that Si as an integrated set of characteristics originated from the grooming strategy (cleaning one’s own and others’ fur) in monkeys link

−Si (EIE, LIE)

• Readiness to leave one’s comfort zone and take others out of theirs
• Background tension (physical and mental)
• A constant sense of inner discomfort and dissatisfaction with what has been achieved, spurring active efforts
• Avoidance of relaxing tactile contact
• Seeking out and provoking states of crisis in order, through personal overexertion and the ability to foresee, to “ride the crisis” and turn events to one’s advantage
• Orientation toward the future and a clear view of prospects
• Pursuit of distant goals
• Advocates accelerating the pace of events, forcing developments, even to the point where the system one leads “runs out of control” and “comes apart at the seams,” but nevertheless does not descend into catastrophe under one’s leadership (tends to derive pleasure from this)

5-8) Functions of deliberative control (“rational”)

The emergence of rational functions in nature is associated with the emergence of care for offspring and the organization of society around the need to perform the associated actions regularly over a long period; these functions reflect the division of individuals into professional providers and those in direct contact with offspring and other individuals in the nest or group, and of populations/species into gregarious ones (migrating across extensive wastelands in search of resources) and family-based/solitary ones (seeking not to move far from a resource deposit they have found)

Ti (“white logic”) = calculating law / rights

+Ti (LII, LSI)

• Constructing an integrated, logically consistent model of the world and seeking to fit the entire world, including other people’s personalities, into a single scheme
• Thinking within the chosen paradigm (and, often - “blindness” to everything it does not take into account)
• Systematizing and cataloguing material to increase overall control over it
• Mapping, typification, and schematization (generalized typical patterns are considered instead of the unique characteristics of objects and personalities)
• Analyticity
• Impartiality
• Uncompromisingness
• Weak cognitive empathy - does not know how to initiate personal relationships or influence people through informal connections, does not like gossiping or discussing anyone’s private life
• Prefers to solve all problems using the formal channels and rules of the system with which one identifies and which one develops

−Ti (SEE, IEE)

• Mosaic thinking and personality (the individual lacks a unified, internally consistent image of the world; instead, there are numerous fragmentary notions-”memes” borrowed from different sources and used according to the situation)
• Ease of interpersonal contact - the ability to switch easily between people, quickly adapting to the interlocutor’s way of thinking
• Social manipulativeness - the ability to bypass formal rules and “find the key” to the right people, telling each precisely what they want to hear at that particular moment (appears as flattery and charm “especially for you”)
• Superficiality - the ability to seduce without becoming emotionally involved or attached to the other person
• A tendency toward ethical play and relationships based on it (“ludus”)
• Often - inconsistency and lack of forethought in actions (which, however, is not critical as long as such a person remains in their natural environment of informal groups with constantly changing membership)

Te (“black logic”) = calculating benefit / business

+Te (LIE, LSE)

• A desire to channel all activity in a productive direction (yielding usefulness, benefit, profit)
• A desire to modify processes in the external world technologically in order to increase the amount of useful work performed within them
• An orientation toward maximizing efficiency in any undertaking, eliminating everything non-functional and decorative
• Utilitarianism (neither does nor values anything that would not be useful)
• Well-developed financial thinking (seeks to maximize earnings, is interested in finance and investment more often than the average person)
• Well-developed time management (avoids unproductive pastimes)
• Professional specialization (advocates increased specialization in society; trusts well-paid professionals more than amateurs)
• Business initiative and energy in building businesses and production
• Workaholism - tends to escape into work from problems of a personal nature

−Te (SEI, IEI)

• Love of idleness
• Capriciousness and dependence on mood
• Artistic decorativeness - a desire to create and preserve beauty as the main motive for activity
• Rejection of commercial interest as the dominant motive
• Receptivity and sensitivity to prevailing moods
• The ability to manage the mood of those around oneself unobtrusively, relaxing people and restoring their psychological strength
• Seeking support and protection from a group or a strong individual

Fi (“white ethics”) = inducing an attitude

+Fi (ESI, EII)

• Moral and ethical evaluation of people according to their inner motives, values, and experiences (read by the Fi subject from nuances of outward behavior), regardless of the objective effect these people’s actions have on reality
• Well-developed feelings of shame and guilt - frequently experiences them oneself, but is also capable of inducing them in close others, thereby implicitly “educating” them (i.e., controlling their behavior, suppressing aggression and other affects)
• An orientation toward building deep and lasting personal relationships with selected people (for whom the Fi subject seeks to act as a “savior of souls”)
• A preference for non-publicness, privacy, and an intimate setting in communication - an unwillingness to “air one’s dirty laundry in public”
• Frequent use of confidential tones of voice
• Typically, a positive evaluation of politeness, tact, and observance of the etiquette of communication accepted in the given environment (i.e., the ability to conceal and leave unspoken the contradictions within the system of social relationships maintained by the subject), and condemnation of nonconformism and radical and frank statements (anything capable of destroying this system)

−Fi (ILE, SLE)

• Disregard for the individual stylistic component of communication, resulting in tactlessness, unceremoniousness, harshness, and impudence
• Grasps the objective state of affairs better and faster than others, without being taken in by omissions and political correctness
• A tendency toward early emancipation
• Bold experimentation (no fear of offending or insulting someone through one’s actions)
• Often - radicalism and a revolutionary disposition
• The potential of a pioneer

Fe (“black ethics”) = inducing attraction

+Fe (ESE, EIE)

• Expressive behavior (encouraging people to care, inspiring and motivating them to surpass themselves in their actions)
• Emotional excessiveness of reactions
• Involvement in public social life - a desire to associate with those public actors and social movements that currently evoke the strongest response and attraction among the masses (regardless of whether the activity of these actors and movements is beneficial to the society in question)
• Striving toward the ideal of beauty and attractiveness prevailing in society
• Working with fashion - following, studying, and shaping it
• Creating emotional superstimuli that attract the masses, thereby synchronizing people’s moods and intentions
• Esoteric thinking (uncritically reproducing images considered beautiful from the perspective of the mass observer)
• Often - musical talent

−Fe (ILI, SLI)

• Concealing one’s identity, motives, and means of earning money
• Individualism as non-involvement and an “it is none of my business” stance
• Acting out of synchronization with other people’s lives
• Indifference
• Unemotionality
• Well-developed critical thinking - the ability to analyze events dispassionately and soberly
• Sees better than others what needs to be done to keep something working properly with minimal resources and effort

9-12) Functions of positioning the individual in society (“questimic-declatimic”)

Higher functions that become actualized at the intraspecific level only in the most developed species (those forming complex personalized communities whose individuals possess well-developed individuality and self-awareness); these functions reflect the balance between the interests of the collective and the individual, and between tradition, which favors autochthonous populations, and the desire of newcomers to change the organization of society so that their interests are also taken into account.

Qi (“white questimity”) = separation of individuality

+Qi (LII, ESI)

• A desire for independence
• Defense of personal freedom and justice
• Protection of personal space (the zone of privacy) from intrusion by outside agents
• Moral disgust and a desire to preserve moral purity
• Distancing oneself from society as a source of lies and vices
• Unconditional priority of personal principles over the behavioral orientations prevailing in society
• An orientation toward defending individual rights (not only one’s own but also, on the basis of one’s understanding of justice, those of others, sometimes even unfriendly others) in conflict with collective opinion
• As a tendency - low stress tolerance in situations of social contact and increased susceptibility to seasonal diseases typical of the given society (untrained immunity - a consequence of physical distancing from the majority)

−Qi (SLE, IEE)

• Herd instinct
• Collectivism in the sense of rejecting the division of things, ideas, etc. into “one’s own” and “others’” (has no need for this division, since one creates nothing unique that would be worth protecting from borrowing by others, whereas in such a situation it is easier to borrow and appropriate original things created by someone else)
• Patriotism and nationalism
• Any propaganda (overwhelming people with talk in an attempt to prove that the actions of the authorities serve the common good)
• Uniting the group through mutual complicity by participation in collective activity whose content is morally dubious or criminal from a legal standpoint (corruption schemes; mobbing - collective harassment of outsiders / “white crows”; war)

Qe = (“black questimity”) = separation of nobility

+Qe (EIE, LSE)

• Disgust toward the inferior, alien, physically dirty, and diseased (everything contact with which could transmit an infection that turns a person into a declassed outcast in the given society)
• Disgust toward low-quality resources, a desire to work only with high-quality ones
• Elitism - a desire to feel oneself a member of a hereditary “club of the chosen” (a noble lineage, professional dynasty, etc.)
• A desire to surround oneself exclusively with things that are refined, glamorous, branded, etc. (there is also a connection with +Se)
• A strong feeling of envy
• Irritation at discomfort
• Feelings of indignation and anger when needs are frustrated

−Qe (SEI, ILI)

• Acceptance of everything (acknowledges the existence of everything in the world, sees usefulness and meaning even in what the majority consider filth or rubbish)
• Tolerance of human peculiarities, vices, and any bodily dirt
• Willingness to perform dirty tasks (in both the physical and moral senses) that others will not undertake for fear of becoming a pariah, an “untouchable”
• The ability to survive even “at the bottom” of society, or, as a collaborator, balancing between several societies, adapting a little to all of them while belonging to none

Di (“white declatimity”) = acceptance of submission

+Di (LSI, EII)

• Belief in fate and predetermination; submissively following fate - when all that remains is to carry out what someone above has ordained; to some extent, indifference toward one’s own fate
• Patience
• Endurance of deprivation
• Collectivism in the sense of following the opinion of the majority
• A tendency toward unquestioning obedience to authorities recognized in one’s society, especially if their opinion is presented as that of the majority
• Places faith and subordination above personal intellect
• Willingness and even a desire to be like everyone else - a “gray mouse,” in no way standing out from the general herd, a “cog” in the machine of a totalitarian state
• Political conservatism - the principal custodians of society’s “bonds”

−Di (ILE, SEE)

• Nonconformism
• Impatience, unwillingness to wait long for what one wants
• Willfulness
• Protest activity - actions contrary to the majority
• Denial of predetermination - believes everyone is the master of their own fate
• Individualism as pronounced personal distinctiveness
• Readiness to seek and use any opportunities to obtain what one wants, including opportunities outside the system, not prescribed anywhere, or even explicitly rejected and condemned by the majority
• Reformist potential - a desire to refute, overturn, and destroy the existing system of authorities, to release resources unjustly held within it

De (“black declatimity”) = acceptance of cooperation

+De (ESE, LIE)

• Individual activity that probes others for shared interests and opportunities to cooperate as equals, overcoming any social and estate-based “partitions,” national, linguistic, and cultural boundaries
• “Omnivorousness” in willingness to exchange resources / services and form situational alliances with people - regardless of partners’ personal characteristics, views, and values
• A good understanding of one’s own and others’ needs
• Readiness to become involved in the mainstream and to involve other people in one’s undertaking
• Good abilities to operate in a multitasking mode link
• Often - optimism, extending to “overconfident bravado”

−De (IEI, SLI)

• Detachment
• Lack of initiative
• Doubts about one’s own essence
• Frequent uncertainty about what to undertake
• A tendency toward procrastination
• Seeking special paths and carrying out original work in the hope of obtaining privileges for one’s unique mastery - so as to live without encountering unpleasant situations and people

Part 2. Dichotomies (“Reinin Traits”):

The actual semantic content of the dichotomies (given below) is based on analysis of statistics from Talanov’s large questionnaires.

Dichotomies determining the strength of functions:

a “logic — ethics”:

b “intuition — sensing”:

c “questimity — declatimity”:

Types of thinking:

• Logic + intuition = probabilistic-analytical, scientific-research thinking (the aim - changing conceptions of the objective world by studying it and developing and applying new technologies);
• Ethics + intuition = abstract-imagistic, artistic-humanistic thinking (the aim - changing people’s inner spiritual state, mood, and views by influencing them through artistic images);
• Logic + sensing = object-instrumental, practical thinking (the aim - changing the world of objects by performing mechanical work - creating and destroying material objects);
• Ethics + sensing = visual-kinesthetic, everyday-domestic thinking (the aim - changing people’s physical condition by providing them with material resources - food, clothing, housing, etc., as well as services involving tactile contact).

Any thinking can also take divergent and convergent forms.

Divergent thinking means searching for new knowledge and ways of self-expression, technologies of production and seduction. For divergent thinking, the concept of authorship is central: driven by a desire for self-expression, the author assumes all the risks, creating something apart from and contrary to the mainstream, without knowing for certain in advance whether society will have a demand for it.

Convergent thinking means using standards and technologies that have already been developed and have demonstrated that they are in demand. For convergent thinking, what matters is not being original, but copying, adapting, and reproducing what is already present in the “common pool” of society’s achievements faster and better than competitors.

• Divergent probabilistic-analytical thinking is possessed by the sociotypes of KNOWLEDGE - ILE, the creator of new knowledge, and LII, the custodian of existing knowledge. Driven by a desire for truth, these types form a universal scientific picture of the world through competition among the original concepts of independent thinkers.
• Convergent probabilistic-analytical thinking is possessed by the sociotypes of BUSINESS - LIE, the creator of new business, and ILI, the custodian of existing business. Driven by a desire for gain, these types form and maintain society’s market unity (in which the value of everything is determined exclusively by market mechanisms and expressed in a universal monetary equivalent).
• Divergent object-instrumental thinking is possessed by the sociotypes of PRODUCTION - LSE, the creator of new production, and SLI, the custodian of existing production. Driven by a desire for usefulness, these types form an ergonomically perfect habitat through competition among technologies developed by independent craftspeople.
• Convergent object-instrumental thinking is possessed by the sociotypes of FORCE - SLE, the creator of new force, and LSI, the custodian of existing force. Driven by a desire for power, these types form society’s state unity (in which the right to use violence is alienated from the individual and belongs exclusively to the coercive military-police stratum).
• Divergent abstract-imagistic thinking is possessed by the sociotypes of ART - EIE, the creator of new art, and IEI, the custodian of existing art. These types form high art through competition among the original plots and works of independent artists.
• Convergent abstract-imagistic thinking is possessed by the sociotypes of CULTURE - IEE, the creator of new culture, and EII, the custodian of existing culture. These types form society’s cultural-linguistic unity (in which people undergo psychotherapy to reduce their aggressiveness).
• Divergent visual-kinesthetic thinking is possessed by the sociotypes of PROPERTY - SEE, the creator of new property, and ESI, the custodian of existing property. These types form reputational evaluations of particular people’s appearance and behavior (directly influencing their right to dispose of particular property) through competition among independent evaluators-moral authorities.
• Convergent visual-kinesthetic thinking is possessed by the sociotypes of NATURE - ESE, the creator of new nature, and SEI, the custodian of existing nature. These types form the unity of the population’s outward appearance by forming and maintaining its average value (mode) - conceptions of the most attractive appearance and behavior (with attractive defined as that which contributes maximally to the survival of the population as a whole).

Dichotomies determining which functions a person values and thus determining their quadra affiliation:

ac “judiciousness — decisiveness” (the designation “values of peripheral — central quadras” is also used):

bc “merriness — seriousness” (also: “subjectivism — objectivism,” “values of ascending — descending quadras”):

ab “democracy — aristocracy” (also: “egalitarianism — elitism”):

Quadras:

• Peaceful [left-]liberal universalists = Alpha.

  The first quadra represents the interests of humanity as a whole (cleansing human nature of errors of past development and restoring its capacity for new development). It promotes childhood values of knowledge acquisition and development (revealing the true nature of all that exists and selflessly conveying it to other people - for the continued reproduction of intelligent life in the global future).

• Highly competitive patriotic universalists = Beta.

  The second quadra represents the interests of state hierarchies acting under the banners of collective “egregores” (religions or ideologies that sacralize the institution of power). It promotes the romantic-force-oriented values of adolescent groups (the forcible seizure of living space and resources, inspired by an ideology of group existential superiority).

• Highly competitive [right-]liberal specialists = Gamma.

  The third quadra represents the egoistic interests of separate individuals. It promotes pragmatic adult values (accumulation of personal wealth and cultivation of a personal reputation legitimizing it through participation in market exchange and the advertising-political manipulations that accompany it).

• Peaceful patriarchal specialists = Delta.

  The fourth quadra represents the interests of small social groups united by traditionally established kinship and professional ties. It promotes conformist elderly values (psychotherapy and fostering tolerance to create a comfortable and ergonomic living environment conducive to preserving the customary way of life).

Dichotomies shaping temperament:

x “extraversion — introversion”:

abcx “irrationality — rationality”:

abc “statics — dynamics”:

Temperaments:

• Extraversion + irrationality + statics = “flexible-maneuvering.”

  Through the activity of this temperament, everything new (both good and bad) emerges from chaos.

• Introversion + rationality + statics = “balanced-stable.”

  Through the principled nature of this temperament, stable structures can be kept in order over long periods.

• Extraversion + rationality + dynamics = “linear-assertive.”

  Any regular social activity is sustained by the energy of this temperament.

• Introversion + irrationality + dynamics = “receptive-adaptive.”

  Through this temperament’s desire to conserve energy, any activity unnecessary for survival gradually slows and comes to nothing.

Less important dichotomies

Determining the inert/contact positions of functions (theoretically, they have the same values at both extremes of function strength, ”+” and ”−”):

abx “positivism — negativism”:

bcx “constructivism — emotivism”:

acx “tactics — strategy”:

cx “process — result” (also: “right — left” dyads):

ax “yielding — obstinacy”:

bx “carelessness — foresight”:

For the last three dichotomies, the semantic core is not yet entirely clear; at present, these are only hypotheses (albeit largely supported by statistics), and research continues.

Part 3. Socionic Functions and Sociotypes as Survival Strategies

Survival strategies can be divided into “static” and “dynamic” ones. “Static” strategies determine the method of selection of the genotype and its cultural envelope; they shape the characteristics of individuals in the population during selection. “Dynamic” strategies determine the way resources are obtained in interaction with the environment; they shape the characteristics of the ecotope in which the population exists.

Static functions as methods of evolutionary selection of individuals

Se: Genetic selection. Those individuals survive and reproduce whose genetics create a biological body better suited to the tasks of survival. The share of the genetic factor in the contribution to behavior increases - behavior becomes more instinctive, genetically determined. Because only relatively simple behavioral models can be encoded in the genotype, the behavioral norm narrows, requirements for the precision of behavioral reproduction become stricter, and intraspecific diversity decreases. As a consequence - more intense intraspecific competition and more aggressive territorial behavior. A shorter childhood is also typical (a rapid transition to independently obtaining food and reproducing).

Ne: “Selection of brains” (memes, images of the world). Those individuals survive and reproduce whose brain architecture allows them to form an image of the world more adequate to surrounding reality. The share of the genetic factor in the contribution to behavior decreases, while the contribution of linguistic culture increases (interpersonal learning through external speech and self-learning through inner speech). Because the brain’s synapses allow much more information to be stored than the genotype does, behavioral variability increases, behavioral norms broaden, and intraspecific diversity increases. As a consequence - weakening of intraspecific competition and territorial aggression. Also, because programming the brain requires time, childhood lengthens, and the population gradually shifts toward the retention and fixation of juvenile traits in its individuals - neoteny.

Ti: Natural selection (directed by the properties of the external environment). Those individuals survive and reproduce whose appearance, perception of the world, and behavior are more adequate to the objective reality common to all - the actual landscape in which action takes place (even if such appearance, perception of the world, and behavior reduce the individual’s social and reproductive success).

Fi: Sexual selection (directed by factors of random genetic and cultural changes and the stylization of behavior that follows from them). Those individuals survive and reproduce whose appearance, perception of the world, and behavior contribute more to the individual’s social and ultimately reproductive success within their local population (even if such appearance, perception of the world, and behavior are harmful to the survival of the individual and the population as a whole in the objective world).

Qi: Directional selection (a progressive factor of evolution). Work toward cleansing the genotype of mutations harmful to the survival of the individual and their offspring, and consciousness of harmful memes (the latter implies a positive correlation of Qi with high individual intelligence). The future of the species is determined by the genetics and culture of the most viable individuals, who become the founders of new genetic or cultural lineages. Because each separate individual gains the opportunity to exert a strong influence on the future of the species, Qi corresponds to individualism at the worldview level.

Di: Stabilizing selection (a conservative factor of evolution). The future of the species is determined by already existing collective genetic and cultural norms. Suppression of genetic and cultural renewal, accumulation in the population of genes (“genetic junk”) and memes (rituals) that have become useless for survival but have turned into species markers. Di correlates negatively with the value of intelligence (high individual intelligence among members of a population is harmful to the literal reproduction of the population’s tradition).

Ne+Qi+Ti (Alpha statics):

Relaxing requirements for precision in reproducing one’s behavioral strategy in the landscape (interest in strange ideas and actions) => increased probability of discovering new ecological niches and survival strategies => escaping into new niches from competitive pressure within the original one => allopatric separation into a new population with new characteristics => directional natural selection

Se+Di+Ti (Beta statics):

Tightening requirements for conformity of one’s behavioral strategy in the landscape to the population norm => all individuals in the population do the same thing and share one ecological niche => intensification of competition within this niche => stabilizing natural selection

Se+Qi+Fi (Gamma statics):

Tightening requirements for precision in reproducing mating and other social rituals => minor stylistic details of behavior generated by genetic and cultural drift become increasingly important in choosing and retaining a mate => sympatric separation of this population from the original one => directional sexual selection

Ne+Di+Fi (Delta statics):

Relaxing requirements for conformity of mating and other social rituals to the population norm (tolerance of “strange” individuals) => communication and genetic exchange between different populations of the species increase => differences between populations of the species are erased, and the populations approach the averaged species norm => stabilizing sexual selection

Dynamic functions as methods of transforming the habitat

Ni: Bringing the ecotope into crisis (opening ecological chains; a finite resource being expended; linear time that accelerates as the resource is depleted); reproduction is more successful during crises of ecotopes, because there are then more resources that have accidentally fallen out of circulation (out of the destroyed ecosystem), which Ni is best at finding first.

Si: Bringing the ecotope into homeostasis (closing ecological chains; a resource potentially infinite in its dynamic cycle; cyclical time); reproduction is more successful in stable (climax) ecotopes - those in which the individual can focus on the quality of resource processing without thinking about the possibility of its sudden depletion.

Fe: The dying out of a highly specialized economic order and a universal return to a natural ecosystem - to an archaic mode of subsistence and social organization; a society organized by Fe is built around dependence on the forces of nature and the irrational fears and hopes associated with this; its very organization follows biological nature, adapting to the basic instincts of the majority in their primary forms (undistorted by specialization).

Te: Development of instrumental technologies and, in the process, the formation of artificial ecotopes - highly specialized economies tied to the richest deposits of a particular resource; within Te economies, the original natural environment is largely replaced by a monoculture and a technosphere specializing in its processing; this also applies to the psyche of individuals, in which natural emotional reactions are suppressed and behavior is modified in the interest of better adaptation to a particular workplace.

De: Omnivorousness in resource selection; expansion of the ecological conditions suitable for survival; integration into others’ ecotopes (cosmopolitan species, “weeds”).

Qe: Selectivity in resource choice; narrowing of the ecological conditions suitable for survival; dependence on the native ecological pyramid, outside which survival is impossible (often leads to endemism); defensive aggression toward all outsiders is characteristic (as potentially capable of destroying familiar ecological connections, without which the viability of the Qe possessor integrated into them declines sharply).

Integrated type-specific survival strategies

ILE (= +Ne−Fi−Di) an innovative strategy (associated with weakening the filters of reality perception), relying on the discovery of new ecological niches not yet occupied by anyone and the spread of the original species into them; if successful, the species becomes a universal cosmopolitan with weakly genetically determined behavior; subsequently, a new progressive clade of species may arise from its subpopulations (allopatric speciation)

LII (= −Se+Ti+Qi) a strategy of intellectualizing the individual (renunciation of intraspecific competition, especially in sexual selection, to avoid the development and fixation of the cognitive distortions associated with it); reliance on the global progress of intelligent life - the strategy reproduces itself through weak statistical effects associated with the objectively better survival of more intelligent populations and species over long periods

SEI (= +Si−Te−Qe) a symbiotic strategy (maintaining the homeostasis of as broad an ecosystem as possible through tolerant mutual satisfaction of the needs of all its participants)

ESE (= −Ni+Fe+De) a swarm-intelligence strategy (following fashion to form a group within which all members’ consumption is synchronized and individual survival risks are reduced through mutual assistance)

SLE (= +Se−Fi−Qi) a strategy of intensifying natural selection (a desire to seize the top of the ecological pyramid, to become an absolute predator)

LSI (= −Ne+Ti+Di) a strategy of intensifying stabilizing selection (a desire to suppress all alternative behavioral strategies within the population, and to eliminate newly emerging groups and species capable of influencing the population’s already established structure of ecological connections; if the strategy succeeds, the species becomes fixed in its ecological niche, its genotype and phenotype are “frozen,” and against the background of an environment that continues to evolve the species gradually acquires relict characteristics)

IEI (= +Ni−Te−De) a strategy of “attractive parasitism” (instilling in a strong host inspiring illusions that implicitly control its behavior, encouraging the host to keep the parasite close, protect it, and care for it)

EIE (= −Si+Fe+Qe) a strategy of destabilizing provocations (expressively influencing the group’s opinion to consolidate it and intensify its struggle against the elite’s problems and enemies)

SEE (= +Se−Ti−Di) a strategy of intensifying sexual selection (development of “Machiavellian tricks” - “showy” behavior with elements of cunning and deception to raise one’s personal status and, ultimately, reproductive success)

ESI (= −Ne+Fi+Qi) a strategy of increasing sexual selectivity (development of “morality” - mechanisms preventing uncontrolled random mating in favor of controlled mating, tending more toward close inbreeding; the aim - reproductive isolation of the population, bringing harmful recessive mutations into the phenotype and, together with the elimination/expulsion of unsuccessful individuals, purging them from the population genome; if successful, the strategy provokes genetic drift and leads to sympatric speciation)

ILI (= +Ni−Fe−Qe) a “solitary scavenger” strategy (using disorienting deception in combination with searching for and tracking others’ misfortune, so as to be the first to exploit resources that have fallen out of circulation in a situation of universal disunity and distrust)

LIE (= −Si+Te+De) a strategy of escalating interpersonal competition (stimulating intraspecific personal effectiveness through a race among equals to create something useful from newly discovered deposits of resources that as yet “belong to no one”)

IEE (= +Ne−Ti−Qi) a disorderly-friendly strategy (associated with broadening conceptions of social behavioral norms - which leads to interpopulation communication and, ultimately, the emergence of a cultural-linguistic superstructure over instinctive, genetically specified behavior)

EII (= −Se+Fi+Di) a eusociality strategy (altruistic intragroup mutual assistance and tolerance, weakening selection pressure on the individual and increasing phenotypic intraspecific diversity, which makes the population a more complex and, therefore, more stable system)

SLI (= +Si−Fe−De) a peaceful-avoidant strategy (withdrawal to the deep periphery and occupation of a specialized ecological niche for which there are no other contenders)

LSE (= −Ni+Te+Qe) a highly productive strategy of habitat transformation (creating and maintaining through one’s own labor an artificial biotope that more stably reproduces the resources necessary for the survival of the given population)

Appendix 1. Average Values of Socionic Functions for Actual Representatives of Different Types

(The figures show the relative deviation of function values from the population mean, averaged across all people in whom the given type is leading)

Appendix 2. Comparison of the Semantic Content of Functions in Socionics and MBTI

Appendix 3. Recommendations for Type Diagnosticians - Probability of Trait Inversion

Recommendations for type diagnosis

Appendix 4. Various Important Personality Characteristics and Character Accentuations in the Socionic Coordinate System

Socionic Associations of Personality Characteristics and Accentuations

v 2.2.1(29.07.2022)

Table author: I. Romanov (https://socionavigator.com)

Data source: statistics from V. Talanov’s questionnaires

For more details, see: https://vk.com/club168821911

Appendix 5. Values of Socionic Dyads (the Author’s Concept)

copyleft: Ivan Romanov, Saint Petersburg, 4 July 2022 - 19 July 2023

The author permits free reproduction of information from this page provided that an active hyperlink to the source is included.