Two Birds in a Tree: Glossary: Sensation Function

One of the personality’s four functions. The sensation function is one of the two perceiving functions. People with strong sensation functions get their information about the world from the physical world and their physical bodies. They’re down-to-earth people who are concerned with what is actual, present, and real; they operate in the present. The sensation function can be introverted (detailed and conscientious but subjective) or extroverted (concrete and realistic but kinetic). If sensation is your primary function then intuition will, by necessity, be your inferior function.

Someone primarily identified with the sensation function excels at manipulating objects. Engineers are often sensation types; they're the hard-nosed realists who believe only in what they can see and feel with their five senses. Some may even take it to such an extreme that they even deny the reality of ideas. Introverted sensation types are also primarily concerned with the physical world but where extroverted sensation types focus on the things themselves, introverted sensation types are more concerned with the impact the world makes on them; on their memories of the world.

Things to ask yourself to determine if sensation is your primary function(1):

I pay attention to physical reality; what I see, hear, touch, taste, and smell. I’m concerned with what is actual, present, current, and real. I notice facts and I remember details that are important to me. I like to see the practical use of things and learn best when I see how to use what I’m learning. Experience speaks to me louder than words.

The following statements generally apply to me:
• I remember events as snapshots of what actually happened.
• I solve problems by working through facts until I understand the problem.
• I am pragmatic and look to the “bottom line.”
• I start with facts and then form a big picture.
• I trust experience first and trust words and symbols less.
• Sometimes I pay so much attention to facts, either present or past, that I miss new possibilities.

Introverted Sensation: Memory (seeks reliable information)

Takes in sensory information. Integrates that which is meaningful

Both introverted (Memory) and extroverted sensation (Sensation) use their senses to gather information; with Memory, that information is inwardly directed and highly personal. As with other introverted types they take in experiences and ruminate over them; experience is reviewed later as a memory, and these memories are how they learn things about the world. Memory types use past experience to guide them in the present. For this reason they seek reliable information, which leads them to give more weight to experts and personal experience. Unlike extroverted sensation, Memory does not seek new experiences and materials things; they prefer the predictable and the routine. Where Sensation seeks out the latest trends, Memory looks to the past. They’re very attached to traditional ways of doing things, impelling them to seek to preserve those traditions.

Types that use introverted sensation as their main function: ISTJs and ISFJs (Introverted Sensation/Thinking and Introverted Sensation/Feeling).

Types that use introverted sensation as their auxiliary function: ESTJs and ESFJs (Extroverted Thinking/Sensation and Extroverted Feeling/Sensation).

Extroverted Sensation: Sensation (seeks verifiable information)

Uses sense perceptions to learn what can be proven, then immediately acts.

As with Memory, Sensation relies upon the sense perceptions to learn things about the world. However, rather than holding onto experiences and ruminating over them they immediately act on them in real time, as Exploration (extroverted intuition) does. Sensation lives in a state of permanent, kinetic readiness; like a boxer or a tennis player, they "stay on their toes," always ready to react to events with speed and power. Their senses are always in a heightened state; they’re always ready for something exciting to happen, and when it does, it's immensely satisfying to them. Sensation types are instinctive and sensual; they’re novelty seeking and love pleasure. New sights, sounds, tastes, smells, sensation; they’re “sensation seekers” in the truest sense of the word. They also have a tendency to chase what’s popular or trendy.

Types that use extroverted sensation as their main function: ESTPs and ESFPs (Extroverted Sensation/Thinking and Extroverted Sensation/Feeling).

Types that use extroverted sensation as their auxiliary function: ISTPs and ISFPs (Introverted Thinking/Sensation and Introverted Feeling/Sensation).

An attitude that seeks to do justice to the unconscious as well as to one's fellow human beings cannot possibly rest on knowledge alone, in so far as this consists merely of thinking and intuition. It would lack the function that perceives values, i.e., feeling, as well as the fonction du réel, i.e., sensation, the sensible perception of reality.

- “The Psychology of the Transference,” CW 16, par.486

[I]ndividuals with the Observant trait focus on the actual world and things happening around them. They enjoy seeing, touching, feeling and experiencing – and leave theories and possibilities to others. They want to keep their feet on the ground and focus on the present, instead of wondering why or when something might happen. Consequently, people with this trait tend to be better at dealing with facts, tools and concrete objects as opposed to brainstorming about possibilities or future events, or handling abstract theories. Observant types are also significantly better at focusing on just one thing at a time instead of bursting with energy and juggling multiple activities.

- "The 5 Aspects" (16 Personalities)

Sensation must be strictly differentiated from feeling, since the latter is an entirely different process, although it may associate itself with sensation as "feeling-tone." Sensation is related not only to external stimuli but to inner ones, i.e., to changes in the internal organic processes.

- “Definitions,” CW 6, par. 792

Concrete sensation never appears in "pure" form, but is always mixed up with ideas, feelings, thoughts… The concrete sensation of a flower… conveys a perception not only of the flower as such, but also of the stem, leaves, habitat, and so on. It is also instantly mingled with feeling of pleasure or dislike which the sight of the flower evokes, or with simultaneous olfactory perceptions, or with thoughts about its botanical classification, etc. But abstract sensation immediately picks out the most salient sensuous attribute of the flower, its brilliant redness, for instance, and makes this the sole or at least the principle content of consciousness, entirely detached from all other admixtures. Abstract sensation is found chiefly among artists. Like every abstraction, it is a product of functional differentiation.