What exactly do "preferences" mean? (and borderline types)

[AureliaSeverina]

Hum, I've been wondering about this for a while.
E.g. I'm an INTJ and on the human metrics test my strength of preference for Te is "only" 62%.
So that would mean that most of the time I base decisions on Te but sometimes I base them on feeling, right? Now the question is what kind of feeling, Fi or Fe? According to the theory, are Te/Ti doms or auxiliaries supposed to sometimes use the F function with the same orientation as their dom/aux or the F function with the opposite orientation?

E.g.
When an INTJ is not using Te to make a decision, is it Fe or Fi they are supposed to use?
Or when an INTP is not using Ti is it Fi or Fe we are talking about?
etc etc

Let's say when I'm going for a meal with my best friend (Fe-dom) and we can't make up our mind about which restaurant, I'll just try to find out where she wants to go and decide for her that that's where we're going. But that's not because I "take on her needs as my own" or something. It's because in the long run I don't particularly care what restaurant we go to, seeing as it's not the last time we'll go to a restaurant and as long as there is food there, it doesn't really matter in the great scheme of things. So we might just as well go to the restaurant that she prefers rather than debating about it forever. (Fi + Te??? Selfish plan to avoid further boring discussions???)
Being considerate towards others in any conventional way drains me immediately.
Somehow I can't see my INTP friend temporarily using Fi as a decision-making function in any kind of situation. He just doesn't seem to have any Fi at all. E.g. this one time we were talking about his son, who's got dyslexia and my pupil, who has got Asperger's. He ranted about how the teachers don't help his son and how his son is 'disabled' and what not and how it's all outrageous and he doesn't understand how they can refuse to help a tiny little kid. But does he lift a finger to help the son himself or does he bollock the teachers about it or does he make an effort to accept his son they way he is? No, because the impersonal definition (Ti) of dyslexia is that it's a kind of disability, therefore his boy is disabled.
Then we talked about my pupil and he kept dropping words like "mentally handicapped", "disabled" etc. and I was like: "He's NOT mentally handicapped!!!!" FLAME FLAME ROAR. SHOUT *END OF STORY, DON'T CONTRADICT ME BECAUSE I'M RIGHT (Fi: I know that legally speaking Asperger's is a disability and/or mental health issue but I like my pupil and I have adopted him, therefor he is not disabled, that law is wrong and has to be changed!!!!)

Blah, sorry I forgot what I was gonna say... Anyway, think this also ties in with borderline types like INxP or INxJ etc. As in if you're a borderline INxP does that mean you use Ti and Fi or Ti and Fe about equally? Or for an INxJ: Te and Fe or Te and Fi?
E.g. I used to know a guy who reckoned he's borderline INxJ, but all his feeling was actually very selfish Fi, not Fe like in an INFJ.

HELP!!!

 

[EyeSeeCold]

Your primary function is your program, your attitude, your habitual and dominant disposition. With all other functions working simultaneously in the background, in your subconscious, as support. So other functions could temporarily manifest but it may be too weak to notice, or too raw to understand.

Tests have percentages to help gauge something that's hard to measure, that is psychological processes which don't work in percentages. Just take it as a crude indication, but not without skepticism.

There are theories of energy hierarchies out there, but when I really think about it, only the top two seem reliable and significant enough to speculate with. However it'd make sense that if one tool is unavailable you'd switch to the next best thing. Ti to Fi is a smaller jump than to Fe(shared Ji).


EDIT: No such thing as equals or borderlines, refer to the above on tests. But Jung recognized only the dominant as significant, so IxTJ / IxFJ / ESxP etc. Nevermind, forgot this is the broken system of MBTI.

 

[lungs]

Te & Fe are oppositional so it only makes sense to me that if its a matter of "Te vs. ?" the answer would be Fe. but thats just theoretical. in practice i have no idea. some might say what ESC said. some might say that since Te/Fi work in tandem that the feeling function you'd be using is Fi. if you think you use Fi and not Fe you might as well roll with that last option, no sense in trying to squeeze yourself into a theory that doesn't line up with your self-observations.

 

[AureliaSeverina]

There are theories of energy hierarchies out there, but when I really think about it, only the top two seem reliable and significant enough to speculate with. However it'd make sense that if one tool is unavailable you'd switch to the next best thing. Ti to Fi is a smaller jump than to Fe(shared Ji).

Good point. But then, it depends which way your jumping. You could be jumping along the "i"-dimension. On the other hand, we could assume that the functions are ordered this way (for an INTP): Ti Ne Si Fe Te Ni Se Fi. In this case an INTP's Fe would still be "bigger" than his Fi and would be more easily available, i. e. it would be easier to jump from Ti to Fe then to Fi.
Anyway, I'm not arguing with you, just exploring ideas.

 

[AureliaSeverina]

Te & Fe are oppositional so it only makes sense to me that if its a matter of "Te vs. ?" the answer would be Fe. but thats just theoretical. in practice i have no idea. some might say what ESC said. some might say that since Te/Fi work in tandem that the feeling function you'd be using is Fi. if you think you use Fi and not Fe you might as well roll with that last option, no sense in trying to squeeze yourself into a theory that doesn't line up with your self-observations.

Thanks
Hum, I think I do use Fe sometimes, but Fi is more of a "I know because I am right and I'm right because I know!"-thing to do with values and convictions. E.g. I 'know' that if you are friends with someone, you are friends for life. Is there any evidence for it? No. In fact there is plenty of evidence to the contrary, but it just seems 'logical' to me anyway. I don't feel threatened by Fi as such either (except when people who I don't like expect me to like them for some reason that is beyond me). But when I use Fe, I feel creepy and weird and I can't keep it up for very long. Just asking my best friend "How was your jorney?" makes me feel as if I was saying "Oooochi goooochi wooogie, who's a sweet baby?" (Funnily enough, she's an Fe-dom and never says those things).
I definitely don't get a fuzzy warm feeling out of helping others, I'm more proud of them when they help themselves.

Do INTPs feel weird when they use Fi?

 

[EyeSeeCold]

Good point. But then, it depends which way your jumping. You could be jumping along the "i"-dimension. On the other hand, we could assume that the functions are ordered this way (for an INTP): Ti Ne Si Fe Te Ni Se Fi. In this case an INTP's Fe would still be "bigger" than his Fi and would be more easily available, i. e. it would be easier to jump from Ti to Fe then to Fi.
Anyway, I'm not arguing with you, just exploring ideas.

That order doesn't inherently say anything about which should be easier to reach.

Functions sharing the i/e or T/F axes should be easier to reach, in this example graph. I'm aware it's only one theory and my personal one, there are others and until there is a more definitive way of assessing psychological functions, this is, in my opinion, the only sensible approach to the question.

 

[AureliaSeverina]

That order doesn't inherently say anything about which should be easier to reach.

Functions sharing the i/e or T/F axes should be easier to reach, in this example graph. I'm aware it's only one theory and my personal one, there are others and until there is a more definitive way of assessing psychological functions, this is, in my opinion, the only sensible approach to the question.

Thanks for the graph. Hum,, I'm rubbish at reading charts, could you explain a bit more what it means? (Only if you don't mind explaining your personal theory).

 

[EyeSeeCold]

Thanks for the graph. Hum,, I'm rubbish at reading charts, could you explain a bit more what it means? (Only if you don't mind explaining your personal theory).

There's not much to explain about the graph, there's little to it. As before, functions sharing the i/e or T/F axes should be easier to reach, the graph is just a visual representation. In real life, mechanics is the same way. It's easier to make 1/4 rotations rather than 2/4, try rotating a coin in your hand(pretty dumb example but do you get the point?).

 

[AureliaSeverina]

There's not much to explain about the graph, there's little to it. As before, functions sharing the i/e or T/F axes should be easier to reach, the graph is just a visual representation. In real life, mechanics is the same way. It's easier to make 1/4 rotations rather than 2/4, try rotating a coin in your hand(pretty dumb example but do you get the point?).

Yep, I see what you mean now. Thanks