#functional stack
Anon wrote:
hello! firstly, I’d like to thank you for making this blog. it’s been really helpful in understanding mbti theory and taking steps to improve myself. i do have 2 questions though:
I’m glad you find my blog helpful, thanks for saying so.
1) is it possible that a person still undergoes tertiary loop in their mid-40s? i have seen evidence of si-ti loop in my mother, but can’t really reconcile that with the fact that she should’ve probably dealt with this earlier. and i don’t think she’s always been in the loop (as far as i remember, anyways), but has only gotten into it within the last 2 years.
It is more common than uncommon for people to get developmentally stuck. Type development is a very personal or individual process, so, in that sense, there is no “should’ve”. This is explained in the Type Dev Guide, please review it. Every individual is at a different point in development based on their unique circumstances. Anyone can misuse their functions at any time of life for a variety of reasons. If she only started within the last two years, it would be important to understand what circumstances or stressors might have prompted it.
2) i have noticed in myself (an infp) that i tend to re-read books/ re-watch movies that i liked in the past multiple times, usually when I’m feeling a bit out of sorts or stressed. a celebrity that i have been trying to type said the same thing about themself— that they like re-watching a specific movie when they’re tired/stressed. i thought that this was an obvious indication of si-tertiary, and that they were also an infp (using other clues about their type, too, of course). however, most other people say that that person is an enfp. (nobody else has typed them as infp). i just wanted to know if my understanding of that specific behaviour being an indication of si-tert was correct or not.
I should probably explain why i think that is si-tert. tertiary functions are usually used as a psychological defense to stress. fi-si tends to make a person look to previous sources of comfort in hopes of gaining the same comfort again, usually leading to the person staying in stale comfort zones. what i think is, basically, that a person can also seek comfort in fictional stories (books and movies) that they liked in the past. again, I’m not 100% sure about this, it’s just what I’ve noticed in myself. thank you in advance :)
It is incorrect. The problem is that you haven’t understood the difference between cognition and behavior (as well as the fact that the two do not have a perfect 1:1 relationship). Taking your example: Si prompts people to revisit things of their past. This is generally true of Si, so this fact alone is not enough information to tell you the stack position of Si. To identify stack position, you cannot only focus on the behavior (the “what”), you must go far deeper than that to understand the underlying cognitive reasons (the “whys”). The set of reasons for why tertiary Si revisits the past is different from inferior Si (… is different from dominant Si … is different from auxiliary Si). The functional stack positions are covered in the Function Theory Guide.
Until you’ve understood the exact underlying cognitive reasons behind the behavior, the most you can claim is that Si is probablyin there… somewhere. I say “probably” because this one detail alone isn’t even enough to prove Si, since other functions like Ni may also prompt someone to revisit the past, but for very different reasons. You would also need to accumulate more evidence of Si cognition that specifically rules out Ni cognition.
In short: Don’t judge a book by its cover. You have to understand exactly why someone is doing what they’re doing, rather than just assuming that they’re doing it for the same reason as you.
