On the Differences Between Negativism and Questimity, Positivism and Declatimity

Correlations of trait loadings in a sample of 6000 questionnaire items

Inert Questimity (that is, a feeling of irritation or disgust that, once it has arisen, does not subside for a long time) leads a person to begin expecting only what is bad and negative in everything that follows. Hence - gloomy forecasts and a priori Negativism toward any initiatives and proposals. This property (pessimism, skepticism, constant expectation of trouble) constitutes the essence of the Negativist pole. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN NEGATIVISM AND QUESTIMITY PROPER is that Questimity manifests itself in bursts, as a reaction to a specific irritant. The reaction may be intense, but when there is no irritant – there is no reaction either. Moreover, among Positivist Questims (manipulative Questimity), the irritation response also quickly subsides. In contrast, Negativism manifests itself as a constant and insurmountable PERSONAL ATTITUDE toward expecting the unpleasant.

This difference can be felt even in questionnaire items concerning hypochondria and unpleasant, painful bodily sensations. Some of these items are more closely linked to Questimity, while others – to Negativism. “Questim” items are oriented toward rare and accidental causes for trouble and anxiety, almost always with their specific localization (a rash appears on the body – immediately there is fear of a specific serious illness; a mosquito bites – and attention is invariably directed toward the itching and blisters, as though intensifying and exaggerating them). Among Negativists, by contrast, what is hypochondriacal is not acute reactions to individual episodes accompanied by anxiety; instead, the constant background itself is somber (but not anxious). For example, in the case of Negativists (but Declatims at the same time), these will be vague complaints of an almost constant depressed mood, prolonged and frequent headaches, regular pain in the muscles and bones, etc. Here it is not so much anxiety about the diagnosis as simply an attitude that life itself – is shit.

Yes, there is a correlation between Negativism and Questimity (+0,51). This accounts for 26% of the shared variance of these two traits. Yet more than 70% of the variance of their properties - is different and non-overlapping. The positive correlation is to be expected, because, owing to the program functions being the most pronounced in absolute magnitude, the strength of any socionic function is partly correlated with its inertia. Analogously, Intuition is positively correlated with Tactics (the inertia of Intuition), while Logic - with Emotivism (the inertia of Logic).

Despite the moderately positive correlation between the item loadings of Questimity and Negativism, among their correlates there are also items in which the sign of the responses for Questimity and Negativism diverges. Thus, a dislike of hot weather is correlated simultaneously with Negativism and Declatimity (why - we will not attempt to explain for now).

POSITIVISM, being associated with inert Declatimity and mobile Questimity, is, in its properties, the opposite of Negativism. An inert good mood, initial optimism, a placid hope for success and good fortune in any undertaking (while not yet having any information about it), etc.

Unlike Declatimity-Questimity, which manifests itself as the predominant character of a reaction to specific information (an accepting-unperturbed reaction among Declatims and an irritated-rejecting reaction among Questims), Negativism-Positivism reflects a person’s initial attitude toward success-failure, the pleasant or the unpleasant under conditions in which initial information is absent, when the phenomenon being evaluated itself is not yet present, or when it has an unclear, diffuse character (both in its properties and in time).

Declatimity-Questimity requires an object to which it reacts, whereas the poles of Positivism-Negativism manage perfectly well without any specific object at all. Thus, Questimity-Declatimity, like Logic-Ethics, performs an evaluative function with respect to specific objects, whereas Positivism-Negativism reflects only the general inert attitude of the subject’s PRELIMINARY expectations toward the pleasant or the unpleasant.

Among Negativist Declatims (SEI, ILI, SLE, IEE), the general attitude toward the development of events is more often negative, but as events unfold nothing throws them off balance, and nothing particularly outrages or shocks them (high irritation thresholds). Among Positivist Questims (ILE, IEI, SEE, SLI), the initial attitude is optimistic, hopeful, “recklessly overconfident,” but as events unfold these people readily, that is, with a low threshold, become indignant and irritated (while, however, calming down quickly). Let us illustrate the situation using Balzac as an example. His generally predominant Declatimity leads to high irritation thresholds – it is difficult to make him lose his temper. But once his irritation has arisen for some reason, it will be long-lasting (Questimity, although weak, is inert). Therefore, “Balzac” will pursue you with his ill will for a very long time if you were fortunate enough to “get to him” once. And his program Ni, by constantly turning to memories, further consolidates any such dissatisfaction, thereby elevating every negative experience of Balzac, even a very rare and accidental one, above positive experience.

“Yesenin,” unlike him, gets worked up easily (with a low threshold) and reacts to negative irritants intensely and often, readily noticing what is unpleasant for him. But the bursts of his emotions are brief and quickly pass (the manipulative character of Questimity). On the other hand, memories of what is pleasant and serene (perhaps much rarer for him in real life than his troubles) remain imprinted in his memory for a long time, hence his overall attitude is rather optimistic (that is, Positivism).

Thus, among irrational types these phenomena easily coexist independently of one another. And only among rational types are they combined. LII is both a pessimist and easily irritated. ESE, by contrast, is both a recklessly overconfident optimist and calmly accepts (more precisely, simply does not notice, ignores) almost any nastiness around them.

---------------------—

Copyleft V. L. Talanov 2019