Dichotomies

From Wikisocion

A dichotomy is a binary trait that divides things into one of two opposite categories. For example, Jung's Typology categorizes people using four dichotomies: extraverted / introverted, rational / irrational (or "judging / perceiving" in the Myers-Briggs interpretation), thinking / feeling, and intuitive / sensing. There are 16 possible combinations of the "poles" of these four dichotomies.

Dichotomies in Jung's Typology and in socionics exist side by side with functional models and are generally recognized to be a result of the position of various elements rather than an independent property. For example, rationality / irrationality and extroversion / introversion are defined by the leading function. Sensing / intuition and thinking / feeling ("logic / ethics" in socionics) are determined by which of these elements is present among the first two functions.

Dichotomies are a fundamental part of the rules of function positioning. For example, you cannot have sensing and intuition as your first two functions, or both ethics and logic.

Other key aspects of socionics, such as intertype relations, are perhaps harder to understand through dichotomies, since intertype relations theory was originally built upon the interaction of elements, not the interaction of dichotomies. Smilexian socionics is one attempt to achieve such a description.

Compared to the Myers-Briggs Typology, socionics employs quite a few additional dichotomies. Some socionists, like Viktor Gulenko, integrate into their systems dichotomies from outside socionics, especially to characterize intratype differences.

[edit] Type dichotomies

In socionics each type is characterized by one trait (or pole) of each of the following 15 dichotomies. The first four are referred to as the "Jungian basis" (базис Юнга in Russian), since they were originally introduced by Jung, and the other 11 are referred to as "Reinin dichotomies", named after the socionist Grigoriy Reinin, who mathematically demonstrated the existence of a total of 15 dichotomies. Mathematically speaking, the Jungian basis is on an equal footing with the Reinin dichotomies, although the former are given much more attention and not questioned. See Reinin dichotomies for an extended explanation of where they came from. Note also that the Jungian dichotomies are given a different interpretation in socionics than Jung originally had of them.

Each Reinin dichotomy is either dependent on or independent of each of the dichotomies in the Jungian foundation. Its "tier" is defined as the number that it is dependent on. This means that the number of dichotomies in the nth tier must be ₄C_n, where C denotes combination. The idea of grouping dichotomies into tiers seems to have come from Dmitriy Lytov, and not Reinin himself.

[edit] Jungian basis (or first-tier dichotomies)

• Extroverted / Introverted (sometimes called 'Extratim / Introtim')
• Intuitive / Sensing (Sensing is sometimes called 'Sensory')
• Logical / Ethical (sometimes called 'Thinking / Feeling')
• Rational / Irrational (sometimes called 'Judging / Perceiving', 'Shizotyme / Cyclotyme' or 'Rigid / Labile')

This first grouping of dichotomies is used universally among socionists. The rest are somewhat controversial, but popular among many socionists.

[edit] Second-tier dichotomies

• Static / Dynamic
• Yielding / Obstinate (sometimes called 'Resource-protecting / Interest-protecting')
• Democratic / Aristocratic
• Tactical / Strategic
• Constructivist / Emotivist
• Carefree / Farsighted

[edit] Third-tier dichotomies

• Merry / Serious (sometimes called 'Subjectivist / Objectivist')
• Judicious / Decisive (sometimes called 'Reasonable / Resolute')
• Positivist / Negativist
• Process / Result (sometimes called Left / Right or Evolutory / Involutory)

[edit] Fourth-tier dichotomies

• Asking / Declaring (sometimes called 'Questim / Declatim', 'Questioning / Declaring', or 'Interrogative / Declarative')

[edit] Function dichotomies

Main article: Functions#Function dichotomies

[edit] Information dichotomies

Main article: Information elements#Dichotomies

[edit] Links

• The 4 Dichotomies by Rick DeLong
• [1] Article critical of dichotomy typing.