Did you know MBTI is much more than just simple letter pairs? There is a actually more depth to your Myers-Briggs personality type based on a concept called the cognitive functions. When I learned about them, it changed the way I viewed my personality entirely. Discovering the MBTI cognitive functions opened up a whole new understanding of the complexities that exist within the Myers-Briggs. So, what are the cognitive functions, and what do they change?
More Than Just a Set of Four Letters
First, let’s look at the four sets of letters in the MBTI and how they are typically used. You probably know enough about your type to know you are either Introverted or Extraverted and use either your Senses or your iNtuition. You Think, or you Feel, and finally, you either Judge or Perceive. Admittedly, this is a very good start to understanding personalities through the lens of the Myers-Briggs. However, most people stop there. In reality, there is more complexity than that.
Introversion vs Extraversion and Judging vs Perceiving
Although it has gotten better over recent years, it seems to me that there has always been some misunderstanding regarding introversion vs extraversion. People often seem to think that being introverted means being shy and being extraverted means being outgoing. Truly, introversion implies a preference for solitude to recharge, and extraversion indicates the need to interact outside of themselves.
The judging and perceiving elements of your personality type have more to do with how you approach the world. Do you prefer things that are predictable and organized (judging) or spontaneous and flexible (perceiving).
Your preference for I vs E and J vs P also impacts the Sensing/iNtuition and Thinking/Feeling parts of the personality. This is where the MBTI cognitive functions come in.
What are the MBTI Cognitive Functions?
There are 8 different cognitive functions in the Myers-Briggs. They are:
- Introverted Sensing
- Extraverted Sensing
- Introverted Thinking
- Extraverted Thinking
- Introverted Intuition
- Extraverted Intuition
- Introverted Feeling
- Extraverted Feeling
The personality website Truity has an excellent “Beginners Guide to Understanding the Cognitive Functions,” and I recommend it for looking into how each of those functions change characteristics of your personality.
Each Myers-Briggs personality type uses four of the eight functions, but which ones? The short version is that the cognitive functions are derived from a person’s Sensing/iNtuiting and Thinking/Feeling preferences. Whether you’re more Introverted or Extraverted and whether you are a Judging or Perceiving type creates nuance in these other components of your Myers-Briggs type.
The Order of the Functions
In addition to each type using four of the functions, there is a particular order in which each type accesses the four that they use. Think of it as having 4 levels to your personality. These levels impact the order in which our personality type processes the world.
- The top level (dominant) is most natural and automatic.
- The second level (auxiliary) supports the top level. It comes in and says, “Hey, wait a minute!”
- The third level (tertiary) is more unconscious and less utilized. It may pop up from time to time, but interestingly, not as commonly as the last level.
- The final level (inferior) completes the functions. This one doesn’t show up in your Myers-Briggs letters at all and tends to be accessed more under stress.
The order in which you access these levels also depends on both your I/E and J/P preferences. This makes it a little difficult to describe a formula, although technically there kind of is one. You can use an interactive chart from the Myers & Briggs Foundation to determine the order of your functions, but here’s an example from my own type.
Examples
As I discussed previously, I am an ISTJ. The combination of I and J impacts which four functions I access and in which order.
- The top level of my personality is Introverted Sensing (IS)
- The second level is Extraverted Thinking (ET)
- My third level is Introverted Feeling
- Finally is Extraverted Intuition because E and N are not part of my type.
If you change only one letter of personality type, for example ISTP instead of ISTJ, there are suddenly a LOT of personality differences even though 75% of the type is the same. This is how the MBTI cognitive functions have such an impact on personality. I know what you’re thinking. OK, great. I can figure out the four levels of my personality. But what does it mean? As an ISTJ, I’ll break down what that means for me.
MBTI Cognitive Functions for the ISTJ
- As an Introverted Sensing type, I constantly take in information through my five senses and relate past experiences to the present moment. For example, the last time I saw a traffic signal turn yellow and didn’t stop in time, I ended up with a ticket. Now when I see the signal turn yellow, my senses tell me to stop based on what happened when I didn’t!
- My Extraverted Thinking plays a supporting role. It means that I set aside my emotions and think about my decisions. In my stoplight example, think of it as my rational mind telling me not to stop too abruptly if the person behind me might run into me, or I might end up in the middle of an intersection.
- The third level that I access is Introverted Feeling. While I have it in me to be empathetic and help other people when they are suffering, it is not a level of my personality that I access naturally. I can choose to act on this level, but it is not something I access easily and without thought. To that end, I can’t even think of a good example of this in my life! (Don’t get me wrong, I care about people and try to be kind. I just don’t tend to take on the weight of what others are feeling.)
- My inferior function is Extraverted Intuition, and this seems totally right to me! When I am extremely stressed out, this part of my personality comes alive, and I don’t know who I am anymore. Since neither intuition or extraversion are things I am skilled at tapping into, everything feels wrong when this function makes an appearance.
Want to Dive Deeper into MBTI Cognitive Functions?
By now you may be even more confused, or maybe you have a better understanding of how much more complex the MBTI is than you realized. If you’re ready to explore your own cognitive functions in more depth, refer to Truity’s “Beginners Guide to Understanding the Cognitive Functions,” and the interactive chart from the Myers & Briggs Foundation that I mentioned above.
No matter what your MBTI type, you are less black-and-white than you might think!
