(Image from Carl Jung Resources)
This blog has been reeeeally quiet for a while, and that's because I've been working on so much! I also keep getting distracted from one thing I'm working on by another thing that comes up that I "need" to explore. The latest thing has been a deep dive into the MBTI; I'm learning so much but I still have a long ways left to go. But I have made some breakthroughs that I think I can share with the world right now regarding the subject of my recent obsession; John Beebe's 8 function model.
This is going to be a first in a series - hold onto your butts because there is a LOT coming. Like I said, I've been doing a lot of thinking on this. This first post is going to be an introduction to the theory before I go into the stuff I've been working on (which I'm super excited about!) And my understanding of the MBTI in general has deepened so much that I'm going to need to update the information on this site about the functions, etc., in light of all the new discoveries I've been making.
John Beebe's 8 Function Model
During your time in the MBTI community you may have seen people talking about the "shadow functions." These are the 4 functions that exist in our unconscious. They mirror the lucid functions, or the functions we are conscious of. The four functions that make up our MBTI type are the ones that are in our consciousness. Let's take an ENTP for example - a diagram of their psyche would look something like this:
Their dominant function is Ne (extroverted intuition)
Their auxiliary (second) function is Ti (introverted thinking)
Their tertiary function is Fe (extroverted feeling)
And their inferior function is Si (introverted sensation)
An ENTP is probably going to be aware of these four functions existing in them, even if they may be awkward at using two of them. But what about the other four functions (Ni, Te, Fi, and Se)? Do they exist in our psyche, or are we just made up of the four functions of our MBTI type? John Beebe seems to think we do have all 8, based on his experiences and those of his clients. He had dream images that he identified with the different functions in his psyche; a prominent one was an anima figure that he called the "Chinese laundress," an inner personality he identified with his inferior Si function. Beebe eventually came to identify all 8 functions with various Jungian archetypes, such as the Hero and the Good Parent (the first and second functions, respectively.)
When I was initially exposed to this theory I pretty much dismissed it immediately based on the lack of any evidence I had at that time. It isn't surprising that they're so difficult to see given that they're in the unconscious, unlike the four conscious functions. But as I explored more, especially through C.S. Joseph's excellent videos on YouTube, I began to see more of these functions, both in myself and in others, and now I'm convinced that they actually do exist.
The 8 function roles are named after the position they play in everyone's psyche; everyone has a Hero function (the dominant), just as they all have a Nemesis (the archetype of the archenemy of the Hero). Which function falls where and fulfills which role determines our MBTI type and our personality. The reason I've spent so much time lately on this topic isn't just because I'm still trying to gather data about how the different functions express themselves in the different types, but also because it's turned out to be an incredibly deep topic, and one that I believe has an enormous potential to help us grow psychologically and spiritually. But I'm going to get to all that in other posts.
The 8 roles of the cognitive functions are as follows:
The Heroine/Hero
The function one's ego is most identified with, forming the core of what we and others think of as "us." It's the easiest function for us to develop - it basically happens automatically - and is the area of our lives where we have the most proficiency and control. It costs the least energy to use; we can use it at high levels for what seems like a limitless amount of time. In fact, it's so easy to use that it doesn't actually require any conscious effort. It's the thing we value most, we enjoy using it, and can easily get depressed if we don't have any opportunities to express it. Confident and competent, the Heroine leads the charge. She adapts us to the world and initiates action. This is especially critical for the process of individuation, which is why we need a healthy ego. We care about this function, we're good at it, we're relaxed when using it, and we tend to favor it. The heroine matches our gender identity (she's a "heroine" if you identify as female, and a "hero" if you identify as male.)
For example, the phrase “cogito ero sum” (To think is to be) fits perfectly the two types INTPj and ISTPj, Ti dominants. For other types different principles of existence can be valid: “I am loved, therefore I exist” (Fe), “I am healthy, stable and have a roof over my head, therefore I exist” (Si), “I feel, therefore I exist” (Fi), “The world is in order, therefore I exist” (Te), “I can move my body, therefore I exist” (Se, paralysis in bed or chair would destroy an ESxP), I am free therefore I exist (Ne), I am secure and at peace therefore I exist (Ni).~ Lastrevio, “The 8 cognitive roles in-depth explanation”
If you notice that you or someone else has shifted into a leading the charge mode – as if carrying out a dramatic banner ahead of the troops, with complete confidence in the rightness of the action or position, and serious therefore that others will be compelled to follow – you’ve probably seen the “energy signature” of the Hero/Heroine.~ Mark Hunziker, Depth Typology
The Good Parent (Father/Mother)
Supports the Heroine. Balances her out; if she's extroverted, the Good Father is introverted; if she's a perceiving function (intuition or sensation), he'll be a judging function (thinking or feeling), and vice versa. Comforts and nurtures both the self and others. If the Heroine is Batman then the Good Father is Alfred, always looking out for her and trying to give her good advice... and patching her up when she gets hurt. Unlike the Heroine the Good Parent takes some effort to use and, if we use it too much, we can get exhausted leading us to seek escape in the Child function. Also unlike the Heroine, the Parent tends to be cautious, sometimes even negative.
Bold functions are used with confidence and more freely while functions in our cautious roles are used with caution and insecurity, with a lack of confidence in them. That is because our bold functions are of the same I/E attitude as our preferred one (if you’re extraverted, they will be extraverted, if you’re introverted they will be introverted) while our cautious functions are of opposing I/E attitude to our preferred one, therefore not in the “realm we dominate” (be it external (Extraversion) or internal (introversion)).~ Lastrevio, "The 8 cognitive roles in-depth explanation"
This function takes some effort to develop; when we're unhealthy we tend to try to do an "end run" around the uncomfortable Parent function and just hang out at either the Heroine or Child functions. This is because, being the opposite attitude (extroversion/introversion), it forces us out of our comfort zone. Developing this function, though, is one of the major keys to personal growth, and doing so will unleash a great deal of potential, thanks to the Parent's ability to balance out the Heroine's weaknesses. We care about the Parent, are good at it, anxious when using it, and tend to resist it. Opposite gender as the Heroine/ego.
Recognizing this archetype’s energy signature is usually a simple matter of noticing supportive, nurturing, positive-enabling, and protective behavior. When the Parent becomes inflated-when we become possessed by the archetype-it’s a matter of being over-protective or too permissive, patronizing, or teaching or “parenting” when it’s not appropriate to take on that role.”~ Mark Hunziker, Depth Typology
The Child (Puella/Puer)
Where we play; we like to tease others and generally be childlike here. The Child is called the “relief function” because it’s where we go to relax, especially when we’re avoiding something... particularly work we have to do with the Parent function. Our tendency to try to avoid the Parent by running to the Child is quite common. There's even a name for it: the "dominant-tertiary loop." This is where we go when we want to relax, or play, and can be the way we wish to be comforted. If this function is extroverted the individual will want to “give others balloons and candy” in this area, while if it's introverted they'll want to receive the “balloons and candy.” Doing so makes us feel good, and we loooooove people who make us feel good here.
This is the function we escape to when we're feeling pressured. We're ok messing up here. We're not particularly competent with this function - Personality Hacker calls it the 10 year old and that's about the level it's at - but, unlike with the Animus function, we don't really care. Even weaker than the Parent function so too much work with this function is even more exhausting. Not play though, we can play all day long here which is the main problem with the Child. Innocent. We care about it, aren't very good at it, are relaxed when using it, and tend to favor it. The same gender as the ego.
The Eternal Child tends to manifest in manic cycles: one minute, the “king of the world,” and the next, a withdrawn and timid “wounded child”. Good integration of the Child into the ego means allowing ourselves to be playful, silly, irresponsible, and vulnerable when appropriate and healthy.~ Mark Hunziker, Depth Typology
The Anima/us (Animus/Spirit or Anima/Soul)
The opposite function as the ego and, therefore, usually the last conscious function to be integrated. Awkward and painful, it's the place of our shame; mistakes made here will cause feelings of almost unbearable humiliation. The tender spot in our psyche; a never healing wound. If we're attacked here, we will hate that person.
At the same time, it's also what we most admire, and as such it's sometimes called the "aspirational function." Of all the conscious functions it's the one that's closest to the unconscious, a bridge from the conscious mind to the personal unconscious. We both despise and admire it; while we may consider it a waste of time, we admire and respect those who are highly proficient in it. And if they're of the opposite gender we often find them exceedingly attractive. (Although if they, or we, are unhealthy they will drive us up the wall, and vice versa.) In my experience it appears that one's attitude towards the Animus function is an excellent indicator of psychological maturity. The more friendly a person's attitude towards their inferior, the healthier they generally are, especially after mid-life. We care deeply about this function, aren't very good at it, are very anxious when using it, and tend to resist having to use it.
"In most normal societies, people cover up their inferior function with a persona. One of the main reasons why one develops a persona is so as not to expose inferiorities, especially the inferiorities of the fourth function, which is contaminated with one's animal nature, one's unadapted emotions and affects."- Marie-Louise von Franz, Psychotherapy
The Nemesis (the Opposing Personality)
Image from Badass Anime Wallper
Unlike with the Animus we have a hard time accepting the Nemesis's value... even though, like the Animus, the Nemesis actually carries the very qualities we most need. Also unlike with the Animus we're actually fairly competent at this function, we just don't care. It's tiring to use for long periods but it's different from when we use a weak function, like the Child or Animus. With our weak functions we find it stressful and unnerving; with the antagonistic function, which we're actually quite good at, we just feel bored and uncomfortable. The Nemesis engenders feelings of aversion, a desire to get away from it as soon as possible.
I'll have a lot more to say about this and the other shadow functions in later posts because there is a lot going on here, but these are the basics. The Nemesis, I believe, is closely related to the Animus as well as the Heroine. He seems to be the dark side of the Animus. We're good at using this function but don't really care, are relaxed when using it, and tend to resist it.
It is oppositional, paranoid, passive-aggressive, and avoidant. This is a shadow that is very hard to see in oneself (it seems to fall in the blind spot of the superior function) and very easy to project onto another person.~ John Beebe
The Critic (or Bad Parent, Witch/Senex)
The opposite of the Good Parent; where the Father builds up, the Witch tears down. Harsh, humiliating, and uncaring of anyone’s well-being. We have unreasonable expectations of others in this area, refusing to even attempt to understand why they might not be very good at whatever it is that we're so critical of. An example is Se Witch in ESFJs and ESTJs; both these types tend to place disproportionate importance on how people look. If a person has a spot or a hole in their clothing, or it's old and stained, they will immediately write them off in disgust. Conversely, if someone is dressed sharply they'll give them the benefit of the doubt, even if they don't deserve it.
The Witch is the function of our hypocrisy. We tend to turn it unthinkingly, and cruelly, on others when what we really need to do is to turn it back on ourselves. We need to ask ourselves if what we're doing in this area is really the best we can do, what we should be doing. The problem is, we think we don't need to do anything about it. We don't reject it forcefully the way we do the Nemesis, we just don't see the value in us doing anything about it. For example, INTPs and INFPs, who both have Ni as their Witch, tend to ridicule other people's goals that we think are "stupid" (for me, people who want to be popular, or have lots of money, or stuff). We don't want to be like that - we don't want to want what we feel is trivial and meaningless - so we end up not wanting anything at all. This is part of the reason INTPs and INFPs tend to accomplish so little in our lives (that, and our lazy-ass Si Child.) But turning the Witch's focus away from others and onto ourselves can be amazingly beneficial... including by making us less obnoxious. This is another function we're good at but don't really care about. We can get a bit anxious while using it, and tend to favor it (we may not value it but we don't resist it). The Witch/Senex is same gender as the ego.
And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?— Matthew 7:1-5 KJV
Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?
Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.
The Trickster (Bad Child)
The annoying, no good trickster function, lol. I'm lol-ing because this is the place where we screw up all the time, often hilariously so. This was the first function that made me think that there might actually be something to all this "shadow functions" stuff. My trickster, Se, is always playing jokes on me (and often everyone around me). For example, a story my fiancé and I love to tell is about the time I accidentally knocked what was apparently the perfect cup of coffee out of his hand. We were riding up the escalator, I was on the step above him facing back towards him, and I gave him a few friendly pats on his shoulder. When I swung my hand back down to my side I somehow managed to SLAP HIS COFFEE RIGHT OUT OF HIS HAND. I've rarely seen him so angry but I just couldn't stop laughing about how monumentally stupid I was and he (fairly) quickly ended up joining me. I'm always running into things, often without even being aware of it, and I have to constantly remind myself that the physical world actually exists, and that thing that I lost didn't just disappear dammit!
The dark twin of the Child, the Trickster (or the Bad Child) is mischievous, sometimes even malicious. He's our blind spot; he doesn't seem to exist for us... until he pops up out of nowhere and ruins our carefully laid plans. The Trickster is the buffoon of the psyche. If the Heroine is the Queen of our inner kingdom, then the Trickster is the court jester. It's his job to make sure that the Heroine doesn't get too puffed up; he punctures our hot air filled ego when it gets a little bit too big. I've personally noticed that whenever I start feeling like I'm "all that," that's when he loves to strike, pulling a prank that usually ends up with me being humiliated. He can have a cruel sense of humor, and no concept of self-preservation. He will gleefully threaten to ruin your security, although in my experience he never seems to go all the way to destruction. That's for the Demon to do. This is a function we're definitely not good at but don't really care (if we're even aware of it) and tend to resist having to use it, though we're relaxed when we have to do so.
The Trickster is, above all, a catalyst for individuation. In this, the trickster is both destroyer and creator. It breaks down self-limiting structures, creating disorder, in order to open up new options that lead to a new order.~ Mark Hunziker, Depth Typology
The Daimon (Demon/Angel)
As the Trickster is the opposite of the Child, the Daimon is the opposite of the Animus. She's very mysterious; we're rarely conscious of her, and when we become so it's because she's overwhelming us. Possession by the Demon - the Daimon in her destructive, unconscious form - leads us to feeling "beside ourselves." Those around us will say that we're "not ourselves." She's constantly trying to bend the personality away from the Heroine; she's a villainess who's basically trying to supplant the Heroine. To continue our Batman analogy if the Good Parent is Alfred, and the Nemesis is Catwoman, then the Demon would be the Joker. In the same way that the Nemesis is the dark half of the Animus, the Daimon is the hidden, other half of the Heroine. I believe she, along with the Animus, is the key to individuation. I've seen her called the "inferior function of the inferior function." I call her the anima of the Animus (or in the case of a masculine ego, the animus of the Anima). We can't care about this function because it's hidden from us, we're not at all good at it and we're anxious when we have to use it but, when we finally connect with it in a healthy way, we enjoy using it. Even when we don't connect with it healthily, when we're raging beasts, we still kind of enjoy it. The same gender as the ego.
The Demon is where our hate lives. In my experience, she rises up when we've been hit in our inferior function (the Animus). Attack someone's inferior function and they will hate you. The inner personality who is the embodiment of that hatred is the Demon. In my case (INTP), if someone attacks me when I'm trying to show them care (Fe inferior) I won't want to have anything to do with them. When the Demon rises up she takes the form of the absolute worst of our shadow ego... in my case, a bitter, self-pitying, passive aggressive ISFP. Now, I normally have absolutely no idea what I'm feeling (Fi Daimon). My negative Fi reaction when I've been hurt is completely unconscious... and completely out of my control. This is the hallmark of the Demon; she has you, you don't have her. This is the nature of the Demon. We normally only ever see her when she's raging out of control and, unlike the Bad Child, she can and will try to burn down the world. However... when integrated she becomes our greatest spiritual guide. As the Anima/us is the gate to the personal unconscious, the Daimon is the gate from the personal unconscious to the collective unconscious.
There are two ways in which the Daimon is the key to our spiritual and psychological growth: first off, she is the thing in us that we ought to be ashamed of. We generally feel excessive shame for our failings in our Animus function; we need to learn to have compassion for ourselves there. But the Demon, in all her self-righteousness, is where we actually need to learn to feel shame. It's important for us to see and accept our shadow, and the Demon is the darkest part of that shadow. Doing so not only enlarges our personality, it makes us more humble, and more able to have compassion and understanding for others when they're in their shadow. Accepting this destructive aspect of our shadow leads us to Daimon's ultimate role in our lives; once we're able to truly integrate her into our personality, we see that the Demon is actually an Angel. I believe, based on my recent work with these functions, that the Daimon is the function of the Self in our psyche. When the Self appears in dreams, or in active imagination work, She seems to take the form of the shadow ego, the Daimon. She reveals herself to be the Angel that we, like Jacob, must struggle with through our own long night before earning our blessing from her.
The Demon is what we need to be ashamed of - the flaw in our character for which integrity exists and is needed.~ John Beebe
Jacob took his family and sent them across the stream, and everything else that he had. And he was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.”~ Genesis 32:23–28
So, these are short descriptions of the 8 function roles, as discovered by John Beebe. Later posts will go into more detail about them, looking at their relationship within the four pairs that make up what Socionics calls "blocks," and C.S. Joseph calls "the four sides of the mind." I've come to call these our Core Complexes.
Knowledge of, and integration of, the functions is crucial to personal growth. Not only is it important for self-awareness, and getting along with others, work with these inner figures plays a key role in the journey of individuation. Through our depth work with these figures we can (fairly) quickly reach deep into our unconscious, and through them, especially the Daimon, we can connect with the Source.
Chart of the 16 MBTI types and their functions
MBTI Posts
The Cognitive Functions
The Houses
The Core Complexes
The Sodalities
How to type
Working with the MBTI
My MBTI story
Links
Beebe, John, "Evolving the 8 Function Model"
Antonia Dodge, "Personality Development Tools: The Car Model" (Personality Hacker)
Lastrevio, "The 8 cognitive roles in-depth explanation" (MBTI Subreddit)
Marissa, "What Does Each Myers-Briggs® Type Look Like If They Get Stuck In A 'Loop'?" (Like an Anchor)
Storm, Susan, "An Introduction to the Shadow Functions," (Personality Junkie)
"The John Beebe 8 function model" (Present Obsession)
Also, just about anything by C.S. Joseph. A large part of my understanding of the 8 function model comes from him.
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