Socionic Traits as Features of the Organization of Consciousness

Today we present some of our reflections and conclusions based on considerations previously known in socionics and ideas previously expressed by V. L. Talanov concerning the neurobiological nature of sensing and intuition.

Sensing consists of well-tuned, narrow perceptual filters (at the point of entry into consciousness from the subconscious) that screen out doubts and illusions, which provides a more accurate and detailed sensation of material objects and increases adaptation to current reality.

Intuition, conversely, consists of weakly tuned, broad perceptual filters that let weak and atypical signals through, which provides an understanding of alternative forms and logics of events and increases the desire to change current reality.

Logic consists of well-tuned, narrow judgment filters (terminal filters, at the point of exit from consciousness, in the transition from thoughts to decisions, words, and actions) that increase the accuracy of the details of an individual’s logic, its reproducibility, and its field independence, which allows more effective interaction with the objective world.

Ethics, conversely, consists of weakly tuned, broad judgment filters, which reduces self-control, lends greater individuality to thinking, and makes its conclusions more dependent on the surrounding environment (on interaction with another person’s individuality).

Thus, the consciousness of ST types is well suited to performing concrete actions, filtering information at the output and also filtering it at the input - which is necessary for accurately assessing the situation and tracking what previous actions have led to.

The consciousness of NT types is better suited to cognition - since it does not screen out the lion’s share of information at the input, but works with its entire volume and only at the end draws conclusions on this basis (performs intellectual synthesis).

The consciousness of NF types is the broadest - receptive and diverse in its conclusions, which is particularly valuable in artistic creation.

SF types, in turn, tend to draw diverse conclusions on the basis of a small amount of consciously apprehended information - which allows them, even under conditions of informational impoverishment, to generate a large amount of social content, through the exchange of which the social structure itself is maintained at its everyday, grassroots level.

The factor of extraversion/introversion is associated with the speed at which information passes through consciousness (the time from the moment of perception to the moment of judgment) - in extraverts this occurs quickly, in introverts - slowly.

As a consequence, extraverts have a higher throughput of consciousness, respond more quickly, and can perform more logical transactions per unit of time (which increases the overall volume of physical and mental activity, indirectly also increases sociability, and provides the capacity for multitasking).

The factor of rationality/irrationality is associated with the presence of looped circuits in consciousness; information entering these circuits remains in consciousness for a long time and continues to influence judgments throughout that time. This makes it possible to adhere to what has been planned.

The factor of statics/dynamics is probably associated with the internal format of information processing in consciousness - in statics, the information signal is discrete, “digital”; in dynamics - continuous, “analog.” As a consequence - in the consciousness of statics, reality is divided into discrete quantities, whereas for dynamics it constitutes a unified medium with a continuous gradient of some characteristics.

The factor of Questimity/Declatimity is the most interesting. On the basis of general considerations, a larger proportion of incoming information in questims is critically assessed for its correspondence to certain internal criteria of their own. However, a critical assessment of anything is impossible without bringing that fact into consciousness. That is, it follows that individual consciousness in questims is more developed overall; their activity is more conscious and less subject to the influence of the sphere of the instinctive, of what is preset by genetics and learning and carried out automatically.

(Below in the comments: […] irritability, especially characteristic of Qe, can also bypass consciousness. It is, however, unclear whether this is an innate property or one acquired as a result of some conscious experience in the past. […] There is actually one more rationale for Questimity, likewise based on the settings of the filters of consciousness. I allow for the possibility that, in questims, the filters responsible for identifying something with what is personally one’s own are narrowed. But how they work, and at what point in consciousness - is not yet clear.)

The following considerations are already almost pure speculation; nevertheless, we shall mention them as well.

The consciousness of democrats is probably distinguished by greater mobility of logical connections than that of aristocrats, by their ability to reorganize under the influence of new information.

The consciousness of merry types exhibits greater wholeness and unity; it contains a single global structure with long-range order (an integrated worldview), which, by virtue of this, is a good resonator (capable of eliciting affects). The consciousness of serious types is polycentric, loose, and consists of isolated logical structures that resonate with signals at different frequencies, thereby making overall resonance and affect impossible.

The consciousness of decisive types is adapted to processing signals of extremely high intensity (associated with existential threats) capable of critically severing the logical chains through which they pass. To withstand the passage of such a signal and as a safeguard, logical chains in decisive types are duplicated more often, which reduces the number of original chains, coarsening and simplifying the overall structure of thinking.

In judicious types, conversely, consciousness is geared toward processing weak, low-intensity signals, which allows finer structures for information processing to be created within it.

Overall, one can say that everything in the world is “as above, so below”; here too, when describing quadra traits as projected onto the organization of individual consciousness, the impression may arise that what is being described is the corresponding types of social structure, consisting of a multitude of individual consciousnesses.

But there is nothing surprising about this - on the contrary, it would be strange if it were otherwise - after all, consciousness is nothing other than a model of reality, and as reality is, so is the model (and conversely, as the model is, so is reality - if we are speaking of a multitude of subjects whose activity constructs reality to suit themselves).