Fixation on Unique Properties of Objects – Is It Really Questimity?

Questimity =
is not the perception of uniqueness in external objects, but only protection from any harm to what is one’s own, personal, and unrepeatable – including one’s unique properties.

1) IN THE SURROUNDING MATERIAL WORLD, HE FIXATES MORE ON THE UNIQUE FEATURES OF OBJECTS THAN ON THEIR STANDARD AND COMMON FEATURES.

No. 1. In the surrounding material world, he fixates more on the unique features of objects than on their standard and common features.

(Averaging the profiles of 22 scale questions, 34532 respondent answers in total; all profiles, except the second and third type profiles, are normalized to unit sigma of the type profile). All profiles are given after corrective factor rotation.

Unnormalized type profile (deviations from the mean in units of the population standard deviation):

Approximate percentage of representatives of each type group giving the raw responses “YES” and “RATHER YES” for the property (averaging all scale questions, taking the sign of the question into account, after corrective factor rotation; diagnostics by traits):

Contribution of the traits to the variance of the property, in percent:

1. I strive for my clothes and my things to be unique. 0.81
2. Most situations are unique; standard techniques and typical patterns are poorly suited to them. 0.79
3. I have an unconventional aesthetic perception; I know how to see the unusual in the ordinary. 0.68
4. As a rule, I orient myself not toward general principles or typical patterns, but toward the specific situation, which is almost always unique. 0.64
5. In almost every situation, I see something unique and special. 0.56
6. I usually regard each new situation as unique. 0.51
7. At times I look at well-known objects - and I am haunted by the feeling that they seem somehow new, special, not as they always are. 0.50
8. It is true that I am not interested in tracing similarities between different phenomena; for me every thing, every event, every person is unique. 0.51
9. Better than many others, I notice subtle visual differences in the form and individual appearance of objects (both inanimate objects and people’s faces). 0.40
10. Between a crow and an airplane: 1) more similarities than differences 3) exactly equal 5) more differences than similarities 0.12

11. I would like to deal with issues of unification and standardization - in engineering, electronics, software, document workflow, laws - in anything at all. -0.91
12. Practically all my sensations are repeatable and typical, easily sorted “into cells” and classified. -0.88
13. I would like to work in a bureau for the standardization of measuring instruments. -0.84
14. I would like to live in a world in which nothing changes. -0.83
15. There is far more that is identical and standard in the world than what is unique and unrepeatable. -0.81
16. For me, all cats look alike, all kiosks look alike, all homeless people look alike. -0.76
17. For any task I almost always have a large set of standard methods of solution. -0.73
18. For me, all cities on Earth look alike; I have never felt any particular passion for traveling around. -0.68
19. A good system for me is first and foremost one that has no unique parts, one in which all its parts are easily interchangeable. -0.57
20. I poorly perceive individual visual differences - for me all Black people look alike, and all infants look alike as well. -0.53
21. I poorly perceive individual visual differences - for me all trees look alike, and all houses with the same number of storeys look alike. -0.49
22. For me, all banknotes of the same denomination look alike. -0.18

The property is associated with Ethics (especially with the opposition between Fe and Ti), but not with Questimity!

2) IN OTHER PEOPLE, HE FIXATES MORE ON THEIR UNIQUE FEATURES THAN ON THEIR STANDARD AND COMMON FEATURES.

No. 2. In other people, he fixates more on their unique features than on their standard and common features.

(Averaging the profiles of 12 scale questions, 11322 respondent answers in total; all profiles, except the second and third type profiles, are normalized to unit sigma of the type profile). All profiles are given after corrective factor rotation.

Unnormalized type profile (deviations from the mean in units of the population standard deviation):

Approximate percentage of representatives of each type group giving the raw responses “YES” and “RATHER YES” for the property (averaging all scale questions, taking the sign of the question into account, after corrective factor rotation; diagnostics by traits):

Contribution of the traits to the variance of the property, in percent:

1. I always see many small differences between people. 0.63
2. I prefer unusual people in my surroundings, people who lay claim to uniqueness. 0.62
3. The same familiar person generally seems to me even different in appearance on different days. 0.61
4. I notice individual differences well even in the faces of people of another race. 0.32
5. People should behave independently rather than identically; there is no need for them to orient themselves toward leaders. 0.20
6. I more often think about the specific ways in which two people I know are unlike and differ than about the ways in which they are similar to each other. 0.20

7. People usually take pride in their uniqueness in vain. -0.60
8. Different nations differ from one another more strongly than people of the same nationality differ from one another. -0.55
9. I have little interest in exactly which person said something specific, and in general I have little interest in differences between other people - I am quite content that, to me, they are all the same. -0.49
10. I feel comfortable only in surroundings where everyone thinks and believes the same things. -0.20
11. For me, by and large, all people are the same - everyone has two arms and two legs, everyone eats and poops, an approach can be found to anyone - whatever language they speak and whatever chair they sit in. -0.04
12. Differences between people do not bother me; for me, by and large, they are all the same in terms of the possibilities for finding an approach to them. -0.03

Here too, this property is associated with Ethics (especially with the opposition between Fe and Ti), but not with Questimity.

Cutting off (and ignoring) the unique properties of an object while fixing attention on common properties (as more important and universal) – this is not a Declatim property. This is a property of Logic (both Ti and Te, but Ti first and foremost)

The second most important trait for the property under consideration (the ability and preference to see unique features in other people) – is the Democratic pole (in contrast to the “non-social” perception of uniqueness in the purely material world, where the Democracy trait did not figure).

3) EMPHASIZING ONE’S OWN PERSONAL UNIQUENESS

No. 3. Emphasizing one’s own personal uniqueness

(Averaging the profiles of 13 scale questions, 23663 respondent answers in total; all profiles, except the second and third type profiles, are normalized to unit sigma of the type profile). All profiles are given after corrective factor rotation.

Unnormalized type profile (deviations from the mean in units of the population standard deviation):

Approximate percentage of representatives of each type group giving the raw responses “YES” and “RATHER YES” for the property (averaging all scale questions, taking the sign of the question into account, after corrective factor rotation; diagnostics by traits):

Contribution of the traits to the variance of the property, in percent:

1. I shun everything ordinary, drab, and unattractive - I am afraid of being “infected” by it myself. 0.92
2. In my words and actions, I often go “against the current” - I even like it. 0.84
3. I would be very upset if I were regarded as just as simple and ordinary as everyone else. 0.81
4. It is possible that I really am slightly “obsessed” with my superiority or my uniqueness in some respect. 0.74
5. I am a person who comes up with more creative and unconventional solutions than my acquaintances do on average. 0.72
6. I am a person who takes pride in my uniqueness and unrepeatability. 0.72
7. It is very important for me to constantly feel that another person perceives me as a unique individual. 0.68
8. I cannot stand criticism of my uniqueness. 0.67
9. To be like everyone else, to live like everyone else, to do only what everyone else does - this is exceptionally repugnant. 0.61

10. I like being like everyone else. -0.91
11. I can easily imagine myself in the role of an ordinary worker at a large enterprise. Why not? -0.83
12. I am like everyone else, and I want to be like everyone else - no smarter and no stupider, no worse and no better. -0.79
13. I practically always follow the main direction of fashion - like everyone else. -0.27

But here, precisely in this property (not perceptual, but rather egocentric), Questimity manifests itself for the first time as the leading trait of the property! (and the influence of Democracy is also retained, receding to second place).

Thus Questimity has nothing to do with the perception of unique or common features in objects. But it has the most direct relation to the protection and preservation of one’s own unique features. Again, this is the work performed in the brain by the insular cortex, “tuned” to evaluating and sensing any harm that has been, is being, or may be inflicted on the individual. Questimity – is a purely egocentric trait, closely connected with supporting the instinct of self-preservation, which, however, in the form of Qi may acquire (indirectly!) altruistic features as well. After all, justice very often arises through a subconsciously constructed self-protective chain: “If one can do this to him, then one will be able to do this to me too.” Furthermore, if a person identifies themself with others (whether with real people or with literary characters, - and this happens all the time among people with developed empathy), then on the display of an fMRI scanner, thinking about that other subject begins to look exactly the same as it does when thinking about oneself. Namely, in the form of increased activation of the ventromedial frontal cortex. The very same ventromedial cortex which, according to neurophysiologists, is very closely linked into a single correlated complex with the insular cortex responsible for the perception of harm.

The correctness of our conclusion is confirmed, in particular, by the fact that the contrast in the predominance of Questimity’s leading role becomes even greater if, from the list of questions for the latter property, we select and retain only those that have the most direct relation specifically to protecting one’s uniqueness, to intolerance toward any encroachments on it capable of causing it harm:

4) PROTECTION OF ONE’S OWN PERSONAL UNIQUENESS

No. 4. Protection of one’s own personal uniqueness

(Averaging the profiles of 2 scale questions, 747 respondent answers in total; all profiles, except the second and third type profiles, are normalized to unit sigma of the type profile). All profiles are given after corrective factor rotation.

Unnormalized type profile (deviations from the mean in units of the population standard deviation):

Approximate percentage of representatives of each type group giving the raw responses “YES” and “RATHER YES” for the property (averaging all scale questions, taking the sign of the question into account, after corrective factor rotation; diagnostics by traits):

Contribution of the traits to the variance of the property, in percent:

1. I cannot stand criticism of my uniqueness. 0.97
2. It is very important for me to constantly feel that another person perceives me as a unique individual. 0.93

The percentage contribution of Questimity to the variance of the property has increased even further!

Thus, Questimity should be linked not with perception, but with the instinct of self-preservation. With the joint functioning of the insular and ventromedial cortex of the brain.

First conclusion: Questimity has no relation to the range of equivalence or positive-negative abstraction within cognitive styles.

Main conclusion: Questimity belongs not to the mechanisms of perception at all (and therefore not to cognitive styles), but to the mechanisms of self-awareness and the instinct of self-preservation, implemented by the tightly correlated pairing of the ventromedial cortex and the insular cortex.