Neojungian Function Descriptions

  • Published: 01-30-2015 Edited: 01-30-2015
  • Neojungian Typology Functional Descriptions

    In this part, we add and we pair up the encoding and association dichotomies with the execution, processing, cognitive and affective dichotomies, nailing down the neojungian functions. In a way, doing this is entirely useless: we never use solely one function, we always pair one function with another. Whenever you think back to a mental state you've been in, your thoughts have always been the result of using two functions or more simultaneously. However, these descriptions are necessary to establish the differences between different functions you are using, and they are useful for scientific purposes.

    Affective Processing: (Extroverted iNtuition or Sensing in the MBTI)

    When engaging in Affective Processing, we are taking in information from a bottom-up perspective, trying to experience the situation without relying on pre-conceived opinions and memories that filter or disrupt our understanding of the situation. After taking in sensory information, the information is processed with high saliency, causing us to react quickly to obvious changes in a situation, such as weather, violence, high sounds, or other pressing activities. The high saliency makes the information appear pressing, causing us to move reflexively, acting reflexively to changes rather than waiting to process the situation before moving on, due to the high saliency, the affective processing state will make the person using it visually display alot of energy, making dominant body movements, high sounds and other things that may attract attention.

    Abstract Affective Processing:(Extroverted iNtuition in the MBTI)

    As the information from the world is being processed, it goes into the neocortex, holding our association memory, and this is used to process how we process information, and how it should be processed in the future. The Abstract Association is responsible for thinking about how we think about information, and about changing how we process information to better manage new situations. This causes known information to be interpreted information from a meta-perspective. (i.e., being able to think about how you’re thinking about sensory information.) This is done in at a fast and general pace, impacting their behavior on a general level. In comparison to Abstract Cognitive Execution, it does not require a high amount of work-memory usage, causing abstract processing to adapt more quickly to new information.

    Concrete Affective Processing :(Extroverted Sensing in the MBTI)

    Being a less-developed field, we are still looking to develop our understanding of Concrete Affective Processing. On a theoretical level, we would speculate that the information for a Concrete Processor is used to reinforce habits, patterns, and information, making it useful for learning and mastering tasks in our daily lives. Concrete Affective Processing appears responsible for thinking about information, saving information, and withdrawing the right information when necessary. In comparison with Concrete Cognitive Execution, it does not require a high amount of work-memory usage, causing Concrete Processing to more quickly attend to information.

    Cognitive Processing: (Extroverted Thinking or Feeling in the MBTI)

    When information around us is less pressing, and sounds are lower, we generally engage in cognitive processing, causing us to more easily reflect on sensory information in low saliency. In these situations, we will generally be quiet, expressing low outward energy. Being in this state makes us less willing to make movements or to articulate information to others, taking our time to think about answers and actions, until we are sure that the information we’re acting on is correct.


    Image source: Flickr.

    Consider that sometimes we have a chance to prepare for a situation, the moment before it's time to start acting. In these moments, through the use of Cognitive responses, we can focus before hand on the lines we need to say, the gestures we need to make, or the emotions and underlying motives that we need to convey to the group.

    Mechanic Cognitive Processing: (Introverted Thinking in the MBTI)

    Low salience sensory information is processed through the mirror-neuron network, particularily adept at tracking time, motion, and action, registering and determining the properties of information, and understanding the rules that govern the existance of different forms of information, and this information is stored as a procedural memory. MGP can process this sensory information in a task-positive state, allowing it to make deliberate motions and actions, whilst observing the results of these actions.

    Organic Cognitive Processing: (Introverted Feeling in the MBTI)

    Information of low salience is processed through the mentalisation network, which is particularily adept for understanding and processing episodic memories, such as particular situations, events, but rather than study the visible motion, time or properties of these memories, organic encoding causes cognitive processing to focus on the mental state that may have given rise to the events, and other underlying factors that may have caused the behavior to occur. Whilst this happens, OGP is in a task-negative state, where it’s unlikely to make deliberate motions and sensory-motory actions, causing the person to be somewhat unaware of their own actions and movements.

    Cognitive Execution: (Introverted intuition or sensing in the MBTI)

    Cognitive Execution is associated with high working-memory usage, in particular in goal-oriented tasks. It relies on processing information in a low-salience state, making the information appear less pressing, and making the person express little visible energy outwards. GE relies on a top-down approach to information, thinking more about how information should be processed, based on the persons pre-conceived information, and it’s associative judgements (labelling and organization) on what is important or valuable, filtering out things that aren’t.

    Abstract Cognitive Execution: (Introverted iNtuition in the MBTI)

    In the state of a high working memory, information is processed in the neocortex, where the AGE can process how to process it’s information, and pre-conceived judgements, in particular, dealing with questions such as: “How am I going about achieving my goals?” This information is then used to build new neural pathways, storing and making new memories and judgements of a situation, and making them look at information from new perspectives once the process is complete and a new goal or judgement has been made. As it is a low-salience, cognitive process, the changes tend to be subtle or small, nuances that change over time.

    Concrete Cognitive Execution: (Introverted Sensing in the MBTI)The high working memory of execution is used for CGE to reinforce and rehearse a memory so that it can be accessed quickly and accurately in future situations, setting up and repeating goals internally, learning through emotional conditioning, utilizing the mirror-neuron network to register the sensations simultaneously as they are processing sensory information. As it is a low salience process, it tends to focus on learning and practising nuanced, small, subtle goals, that will develop slowly, over time.

    Affective Execution: (Extroverted Thinking or Feeling in the MBTI)

    Affective Execution is associated with utilising the working memory to attend to high-salience situations, where we reflexively make directed actions based on our judgements and our set up understanding of the situation and our goals. These actions usually change or maintain the situation in some way, for example influencing the group or sensory properties in the situation, and it makes us somewhat impatient to move or to act out our interests in the desired manner.

    Mechanic Affective Execution: (Extroverted Thinking in the MBTI)

    In particular, MFE attends to mirror-neuron tasks, such as registering the time, the properties of objects, their motions, and how particular actions can cause these motions to change. When doing this, MFE’s are in a task-positive state where they are aware of their own and outer actions and behavior on a physical level. This allows them to deliberately make motions and to evaluate and score their behavior while it is happening. Furthermore, while in this situation, they are in a high-salience state where the judgements they set are general overviews of performance, which are easy to understand.

    Organic Affective Execution: (Extroverted Feeling in the MBTI)

    When in an executive, goal-oriented state, organic thinking connects to the mentalisation network to process the situation from an episodic perspective, acting out images, motives, or other underlying needs in their environment, in a task-negative state, where they tend to be unaware of their behavior or bodily motions, and where they are unable to evaluate or score their performance in any concrete manner. Because of this, they can focus on processing on the underlying feelings or interests of others, but this is done on a high-salience perspective, where the judgements are general and values-based, but quick and reflexive; the person makes a judgement on how they are perceived, and then they quickly adapt to this perspective in a convergent or divergent manner.

    Image source: Flickr.

    In a system, there are multiple goals, different objects that interact with one another in different ways. Our working memory contains some of these objects, rules and information, allowing us to focus/look at the things that are relevant to it. Every lego soldier in this picture sees things from a different perspective, everyone is focused on something different, and everyone's goals are different, some tasks require different functions. Which of the soldiers do you think are using which functions?

    Hope you found this interesting, and feel free to ask questions or feedback on the descriptions outlined here. :)

    Discuss the theory here.

    Concepts used here:
    Mentalization Network, Mirror Neuron Network
    Task-negative state, Task-positive states
    Execution modes, Processing modes
    Low and high saliency
    Affective and Cognitive
    The neocortex
    (Some references can be found in the Cannon-Ball revision, found here. Other studies are posted in the science section and on the forums, found here.