Introverted iNtuition - what is it, really?

[ssrprotege]

The MBTI tests type me as an INTJ, but I don't really have what really Introverted iNtuition is really about.

cognitiveprocess.com says introverted intuition has more to do with archetypes - it rather sounds spiritual. I read more books about it, such as Gifts Differing and Lenore Thomson's book (in which Introverted Intuition is associated with the left-brain function and language-based skills) about personality. Or I read that Ni is an "foreseeing" function. The more I read about books - it is never enough I think - the more confusing I feel.

I would like to understand more about my 'dominant' function. Thanks.

[Solaris]

As I have probably stated repeatedly elsewhere, I find iNtuition difficult to separate from its counterpart -- whether it be Thinking or Feeling. I, like you, have read and read and read about Ne and Ni, and still find the concepts to be quite nebulous.

Partly, I think Ni is what gives INTJs and ENTJs knowledge that we didn't consciously know we had (or have). I will sometimes realize that what a person is saying to me is being said for the first time, although I already knew the information. In other words, Ni knows things it has no business knowing, and it doesn't always share that knowledge with my conscious self.

[Motor Jax]

it is sometimes call The Force

all Jedi are born with it

[Uberfuhrer]

Ni is basically having a vision in the mind and wanting to make the vision real.

Ni types tend to have trouble explaining themselves and wish they could just get people to do what they're told when it comes to the hands-on tasks of realizing the vision, because the internal vision they have is just too hard to explain.

It's basically a sudden insight that is often visionary and unrealistic. Or the insight could be more along the lines of paranoia. Ni types are often so self-confident of their internal conceptions that they refuse to listen to other people's perspectives.

[Motor Jax]

spot on

i get so frustrated trying to explain what i want to happen or what needs to happen and why

it is always why

grrr...

i really, really do not like this question... it is the hardest question to answer

who cares why anyways?

[Lagawrd]

I think this is a perfect indirect explanation of iN by David Lynch (To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.)

[elsdfr]

I was confused over the primary Ti and Ni but I decided I am primarily Ni due to the fact that if something is happening I'll replay guessed outcomes over in my head until I find the most likely outcome, this is what I like to do.

This was hard to distinguish because it was subconscious process that I was really aware of. Examples are when I can remember confiding these thoughts in a close friend. Suggesting things and waiting for outcomes... I didn't care if I was right or wrong I just wanted to have a future view of what ever was going on and let someone else know about it. "Hey you know how this and this happened.. what do you think the chances of this are happening??"... "I don't f&*#ing care man.. damn you're strange sometimes" ;)

These days I do the same thing but keep it basically to myself. I think its invaluable... the ability to consider all possible outcomes and take what ever action. I also think this is what gets me offside with most Sx type males. This is harder to explain but I need to express these ideas if I'm going to do something for someone, or if I'm going to explain or back something up. Its either a "win" situation for me or I say and do nothing and I will sit there and stew over what that person has said.

From this experience I've decided an unwaivering Sx type should never manage an Ni.

This is a long shot but perhaps Ni just involves Ti and thats why its hard to distinguish? Seeing a system or a problem, looking at it on all levels to understand how it works. Perhaps the Ti will solve the problem based on comparison and the most logical outcome based on that. This process might be similar to Ni but from my experience I won't always let comparison or the past help me solve the issue but instead take intuitive guesses as to what would make the most sense. That brings me back to why I think I generally have an abrasive working/social relationships with Sx types... they won't debate my ideas and I can't stand their drone like approach (it's boring).

Hmm I don't think I've said anything new!

[onlyparallel]

I haven't read much on the difference between iNtuitive and Sensing as well as thinking or feeling, but I've always explained to myself that my intuition is what kicks in when I don't have time to think, when I dno't want to think (rare :)) or sometimes just for no reason at all. Sometimes, despite having no logical explanation for my train of thought, I just know something and go with it. There's no real process, no thought towards it and no emotion, but I trust it completely. This tends to happen to me during sports, in tense situations, or sometimes in math. Without thinking I just know the answer to an equation, or know what to do.

I think this varies from the others because with the feeling function you need emotion to base actions on, with thinking you need logic and facts, while with sensing you need to go through the process in order (such as all of the steps in solving an equation) while with intuition you skip some.

[bmartinl]

I could write pages on Ni but basically, when you are sitting around pondering the universe and a little nugget of truth sneaks up on you, and you think about it, and think, "Hey wait a second....THAT'S how it works...." - that's Ni. All your amassed subconscious knowledge in a big soup, bubbling away under the surface. Ni is extremely powerful and INTJ's often have the keenest sense of themselves and their relation to the world.

[Aldanga]

it is sometimes call The Force

all Jedi are born with it

I lol'd.

[Monika]

The MBTI tests type me as an INTJ, but I don't really have what really Introverted iNtuition is really about.

cognitiveprocess.com says introverted intuition has more to do with archetypes - it rather sounds spiritual. I read more books about it, such as Gifts Differing and Lenore Thomson's book (in which Introverted Intuition is associated with the left-brain function and language-based skills) about personality. Or I read that Ni is an "foreseeing" function. The more I read about books - it is never enough I think - the more confusing I feel.

I would like to understand more about my 'dominant' function. Thanks.

I've been quite confused about the functions as well, but I've just read Building Blocks of Personality Type by Leona Haas and I think some things have finally "clicked".

The way I understand it is like this...
The perceiving functions are essentially a way of filtering data (nobody can take in everything). When we use Ni or Ne we filter out a lot of the facts and details and focus on patterns, connections, underlying meanings etc. in the new data instead. While Ne does this fairly objectively (generating a huge amount of possibilities and connections quite indiscriminately), Ni is much more subjective. Somebody with dominant Ni will be creating very personalized data systems in their heads - to the outside world these systems will probably not make any sense at all. These data systems are not logical or linear (the INTJ will try to "translate them" into something that is logical and linear via Te).
Something that is supposed to be very common in types with dominant Ni is that they know something will happen (it's just obvious based on the collected data, it's not even necessary to deduce it - it'll just come to you like a flash as soon as the data is assembled in the system), but can't explain it to other people because they've not managed to make the explanation linear enough.
To somebody with Ni as the dominant function a lot of things will seem extremely complex and you're likely to hear people tell you you're overcomplicating something (I get that all the time). Of course to you that thing really *is* that complex ;)
You might have difficulty listening to something carefully for long because you'll get too preoccupied with searching for the hidden meanings and patterns (I usually zone out within max 30min. of a lecture - it's not that the lecture isn't worth listening to, it's just that it connects with so many other things in my head that I end up getting preoccupied with listening to my head - sometimes it takes me a long time to even realize I've zoned out!).

Hope that's helpful :) There's even more in the book, so if this isn't enough I highly recommend it.

[Beery Swine]

I think every answer is pretty much going to be subjective, but so's mine. I think my intuition mainly comes into play when I'm listening to someone talk and in the back of my mind I the thought just makes itself known: "LIER." Maybe when I'm reading a book on some scientific theory that I didn't know much about before at a certain point in a chapter I can start predicting where the line if think is going. Also predicting plot points and twists in movies and TV and novels.

These are all just guesses, though.

[ssrprotege]

I was confused over the primary Ti and Ni but I decided I am primarily Ni due to the fact that if something is happening I'll replay guessed outcomes over in my head until I find the most likely outcome, this is what I like to do.

This was hard to distinguish because it was subconscious process that I was really aware of. Examples are when I can remember confiding these thoughts in a close friend. Suggesting things and waiting for outcomes... I didn't care if I was right or wrong I just wanted to have a future view of what ever was going on and let someone else know about it. "Hey you know how this and this happened.. what do you think the chances of this are happening??"... "I don't f&*#ing care man.. damn you're strange sometimes" ;)

These days I do the same thing but keep it basically to myself. I think its invaluable... the ability to consider all possible outcomes and take what ever action. I also think this is what gets me offside with most Sx type males. This is harder to explain but I need to express these ideas if I'm going to do something for someone, or if I'm going to explain or back something up. Its either a "win" situation for me or I say and do nothing and I will sit there and stew over what that person has said.

From this experience I've decided an unwaivering Sx type should never manage an Ni.

This is a long shot but perhaps Ni just involves Ti and thats why its hard to distinguish? Seeing a system or a problem, looking at it on all levels to understand how it works. Perhaps the Ti will solve the problem based on comparison and the most logical outcome based on that. This process might be similar to Ni but from my experience I won't always let comparison or the past help me solve the issue but instead take intuitive guesses as to what would make the most sense. That brings me back to why I think I generally have an abrasive working/social relationships with Sx types... they won't debate my ideas and I can't stand their drone like approach (it's boring).

Hmm I don't think I've said anything new!

I've been quite confused about the functions as well, but I've just read Building Blocks of Personality Type by Leona Haas and I think some things have finally "clicked".

The way I understand it is like this...
The perceiving functions are essentially a way of filtering data (nobody can take in everything). When we use Ni or Ne we filter out a lot of the facts and details and focus on patterns, connections, underlying meanings etc. in the new data instead. While Ne does this fairly objectively (generating a huge amount of possibilities and connections quite indiscriminately), Ni is much more subjective. Somebody with dominant Ni will be creating very personalized data systems in their heads - to the outside world these systems will probably not make any sense at all. These data systems are not logical or linear (the INTJ will try to "translate them" into something that is logical and linear via Te).
Something that is supposed to be very common in types with dominant Ni is that they know something will happen (it's just obvious based on the collected data, it's not even necessary to deduce it - it'll just come to you like a flash as soon as the data is assembled in the system), but can't explain it to other people because they've not managed to make the explanation linear enough.
To somebody with Ni as the dominant function a lot of things will seem extremely complex and you're likely to hear people tell you you're overcomplicating something (I get that all the time). Of course to you that thing really *is* that complex ;)
You might have difficulty listening to something carefully for long because you'll get too preoccupied with searching for the hidden meanings and patterns (I usually zone out within max 30min. of a lecture - it's not that the lecture isn't worth listening to, it's just that it connects with so many other things in my head that I end up getting preoccupied with listening to my head - sometimes it takes me a long time to even realize I've zoned out!).

Hope that's helpful :) There's even more in the book, so if this isn't enough I highly recommend it.

All very insightful answers. Thank you very much. :) I think I believe more in intuition than logic. My two closest friends value the logic most, whereas I wait for what my inner voice (hence intuition) says. My INTP friend seems to puzzle out when I said something (but hard to translate it into words). I couldn't explain logically because that thought...just popped out without my going through whatever logical steps I went through. And I find myself getting lost because I try to find "what it could possibly suggest" to see "what it would ultimately suggest." That did happen to me, especially when I read some philosophy books.

Then I have other questions...
#1: Is having Ni as a dominant function related to my problem that I find the linear reasoning hard to follow? It seems I am better at "non-linear" approach on some subjects. Maybe insufficiently developed Te?

#2: I am an INTJ, then, but I do not have much desire to do something about it with my insight. And as you know, this is more of an INTP behaviour. Any insight on that? Or is it possibly that my preference towards Judging may not be strong?

#3. While Ni is a dominating function, Ti and Ne are Senex and One-dimentional opposing personality, respectively. Can they work together (as suggested in elsdfr's thread)? And I mentioned all three because the Cognitive Process test says I am using all three very well.

#4. I read some books about Ni, but some detailed description about Ni I read is Thomson's and Gifts Differing by Briggs Myers.. I read Type Talk, but I don't think it extensively describes Ni. I am planning to purchase Linda Berens's books about the Eight Cognitive Processes. Any other recommended books?

[INTJoe]

when you are sitting around pondering the universe and a little nugget of truth sneaks up on you, and you think about it, and think, "Hey wait a second....THAT'S how it works...." - that's Ni.

This is exactly how I've identified it in myself. Exactly. Sometimes, things will just hit me, and it's like "Holy crap...that is how the Global economy works!" lol. Things that are very complex suddenly become this tiny, polished nugget of realization that is served to me on a silver platter. How it gets there, is a little more difficult to understand.

I think these things happen because we do spend SO MUCH time in our head, that eventually, something HAS to come of it. But it is still surprising (and amazing) when things do come. I'm often amazed by these abilities, and it is one of my favorite things I like about myself. What sucks is my inability to do much with it.

I think this has a lot to do with INTJ scholastic success. I often remember back in school I would be taught a subject that seemed impossible to me...only to find that a month down the road or so, everything would just click, and I would suddenly be equipped with the ability to help teach the other students. We sort of trudge through the mud in our heads for what seems like an endless amount of time only to stumble across a prize for our struggles.

[sriv]

In my opinion, Ni

It allows one to tap into the subconscious and connect information that would otherwise have little logical backing. It provides deep insight on a great many things. It sees the possibilities and finds new ones.
Above all, it dreams.

[thephoenix1414]

This may have already been mentioned, but I think that intuition, introverted in particular, is most likely subconscious thought processes. And the reasoning that it seems to be actually stronger than pure thinking or conscious logic is that the subconscious mind processes data at an exponential rate as compared to the conscious mind. Thus intuition can make "unlikely" connections at a much faster rate. Thus the 'foresight' thing.

[NephilimAzrael]

I believe it is a hyper-active mind that has energy running on so many processes that the working memory is far too consumed with processes that it cannot run the neccessary communication module right away. Ni is to be rather bogged down in analysis or daemon threads that the overall functionality is rather lagged. All links are tested and re-tested, the immediate reactions are delayed but the solutions are rather concise.

[NHere]

Monika - I love the explaination. Exactly how I feel when people as what they (ignorantly) think is a simple question and they get a 3 hour answer for me - it's never that simple. And yes, the whole time I'm telling myself to shut up - but I can't because everything has to be qualified. It's my internal lawyer avoiding future lawsuits.

And yes, I totally do zone out after collecting a large amount of information - I hit capacity and then am doing twice as much work making all the puzzle pieces snap into place.

I'll look into reading the book, but I think your summary will give me something to chew on for a while.

So, now, how best to use the Force in real world applications?





New Hanoian added to this post, 2 minutes and 29 seconds later...

And does anybody else hate the painstaking work of taking your internal lawyer and actually writing down/communicating the details using good semantics and making sure all the details are expressed properly? I can think of all the variables, but ugh, telepathic powers would be a great leap forward.

[Linwenilid]

it is sometimes call The Force

all Jedi are born with it

LOL!

Loved your explanation, Monika, very spot on.

I believe it is a hyper-active mind that has energy running on so many processes that the working memory is far too consumed with processes that it cannot run the neccessary communication module right away.

Yeah, exactly. Can't add anything, it's an excellent analogy.

I have trouble recognizing N from S in my type; most of it comes from my lack of understandment of Ni, so this thread is being very helpful to me. Thanks everyone for your insight. :)

And does anybody else hate the painstaking work of taking your internal lawyer and actually writing down/communicating the details using good semantics and making sure all the details are expressed properly? I can think of all the variables, but ugh, telepathic powers would be a great leap forward.

Yeah, exactly! I've tried to be more communicative with my husband, but when I try to explain something, I usually get all tongue-tied and feel awkward, while his speech just flows so naturally, and we're way past the awakward phase of a relationship!