The Semantics of the Information Elements (Summary)

This important book was published in July 2006 by three socionists in St. Petersburg — Larisa Kochubeeva, Vladimir Mironov, and Milena Stoyalova — at the conclusion of three years of research without any outside funding. Their task was to clarify which topics, themes, phrases, and words were associated with each of the eight information elements. Obviously, the concept of information elements is central to the field of socionics, and until this book, an understanding of these "facets of reality" was often taken for granted in works on socionics, despite minor discrepancies in descriptions of the information elements from different authors.

In the beginning of the book the authors substantiate the relevance of speech patterns to psychic processes, citing Grigoriy Reinin's statement, "if it's not in one's awareness, it's not in one's speech." Next, they talk about what influences speech and cite a number of psychological and psycholinguistic sources. Then they introduce the concept of "semantic fields" by discussing the psycholinguistic experiments of Luriya and Vinogradova, which demonstrated how the psyche associates words that have related meanings and similar sounds, and the role of context in these associations.

Next, the authors talk about how many phenomena can be described using different elements, and how "the semantic fields of different elements can contain both unique and overlapping meanings." The elements can be used to describe the same thing, but in different ways, so it is important to pay attention "not only to what a person is talking about, but how and using what means he does it." This opens new angles for typing. "You don't need to ask pointed questions about pots, illnesses, about whether they like fantasy or whether they like to hike" [pg. 19].

Frequency and superfluity of usage are two widely used terms from linguistics and psycholinguistics. Leading functions imply frequent and superfluous usage of words and phrases related to its particular information element. In time, the authors hope, programmers will help create programs that will be able to perform word counts and analysis.

Study methodology

Here is how the study was conducted, as I understand from the text:

"Resonance groups" were formed for the purpose of studying each information element. These are groups of four or more people of each of the four types that have the given element in their Ego block. People's types were determined by a group of no less than four experienced socionists of different types. In addition — the authors note — the experiment itself provided an additional chance to check their types.

These groups were first given 20 or 30 minutes to discuss some related topics and get used to each other. During this period they adopted a common communication style based on their shared information element, with all other elements and the participants' personal history and individual characteristics taking a second seat. Then the study leaders and observers — who sat around the edges of the room — began suggesting various words or phrases taken from all available socionics sources that were expected to have something to do with the information element in consideration, and the group was to determine whether this "lexeme" or related lexemes were a part of their working vocabulary and, if so, to generate related lexemes based on free association. Some lexemes did not resonate with the group, while others evoked a lively response and generated many related words and phrases that resonated with all group members. This resonatory effect was observed in all groups regardless of the information element involved.

As the participants of the resonance group rejected vocabulary that was unrelated to the given element and the semantic fields became more exact and complete, the resonance effect intensified. Concentrated into a single information stream, the element's lexicon produces a resonatory effect (switching to the given lexicon, changes in non-verbal responses: changes in poses, tonus, speed of speech, oculomotor reactions [i.e. eye movements], etc.) in representatives of all types, but the resonance effect is strongest in those who bear that element [i.e. in their Ego block]. [pg. 22]

(This is quite an interesting effect whose consequences I have discussed in my blog.)

The words initially used in the experiment were not structured in any particular way, but after results were obtained, the study leaders structured them into themes and sub-themes. As a result, they were able to reject a number of common stereotypes, confirm and clarify many expectations that previously had not been well enough articulated, and discover a number of new themes or sub-themes that had not yet been noticed in socionics literature.

A common problem of all descriptions of the information elements to date is that they are described from the point of view of someone who is not necessarily strong in that element. That person then tries to describe the traits of people who are strong in that aspect, but does so using language that is somewhat foreign to the people who actually have that information element in their Ego block. For instance, some manifestations of might conveniently be termed "mysticism" by someone observing from the sidelines, but this phrasing would not resonate with the -dominant types themselves. The only way to eliminate this problem is to involve a large number of people in the task of correctly formulating element content, as the authors have done here.

The authors do not consider this work to be the "final word," but just the next step in the study of this fundamental aspect of socionics. In addition, the words and phrases in their "dictionary" are used among Russian speakers in and around St. Petersburg and may be slightly different from what is spoken in Moscow or Kiev.

In my opinion, this work is a treasure trove and helps provide a very concrete and exact understanding of the information elements, as opposed to the hazy, poorly articulated understanding so many people have. Below I will list only the themes and sub-themes of each information element from their book. I will not try to translate all the words and phrases that follow beneath each theme and sub-theme. Maybe over time I will add some of the book's many comments and explanations that follow each element.

Introverted intuition

Extraverted intuition

Introverted sensing

Extraverted sensing

Introverted logic

Extraverted logic

Introverted ethics

Extraverted ethics

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12/18/2007 Dancing Butterfly Mama
Thank you for this summary! Just what I was searching for. :) I am definately Fi base function! And I "thought" evaluating others' behaviors, understanding their motives and having extreme empathy were of an intuitive level. Now I really see the difference! ESI!!! Yea!! :)