The Socion, or Socionics Basics

part 1: Introduction

Prologue
Augusta begins her article with this sentence:

Socionics — the science of the socion, the socionic nature of man and the socionic structure of society, different types of people's information metabolism (IM), and different forms of relationships between them — was born on the foundation of the typologies of C.G. Jung, E. Kretschmer, A.E. Lichko, and A. Kempinsky's theory of information metabolism.

Augusta writes that her absence of special training allowed her to see Jung's typology in a different light, but at the same time, this creates difficulties as she tries to explain things and develop terminology.

Some of our statements may seem to be purely theoretical constructs to readers — not completely proven and hard to pin to the ground. For instance, why there are eight aspects of reality, why they form blocks, why only certain blocks and not others, and so forth. Therefore, I feel it my duty to warn that we have not thought up anything ourselves, but have just extended and elaborated on the provisions of C.G. Jung, though in the process some of them have changed beyond recognition. This happened as a result of studying the specific ways of thinking of individual people.

Augusta states that her and her associates' research enabled them to understand the specific content of each aspect of reality and understand the connections first between separate elements, then blocks, and so forth.

So, even though this work seems theoretical, 'theory' is just a way of describing in the most condensed way all that we have been able to decipher through practical observation of specific people. There isn't a drop here of 'pure theory' that doesn't come out of our observations.

Introduction. Society and the Socion.

Here are some of the most basic and important principles behind socionics.

The human brain, in reflecting external and internal reality, serves not only the individual himself, but society as well. To satisfy his own needs, a person needs to have an idea of the entire reality around him. People cooperate in serving the needs of society; individuals communicate to the community their impressions of only certain aspects of reality. The mechanism for this phenomenon, in our present understanding, is quite simple: various aspects of reality are reflected in the human brain with differing degrees of differentiation and awareness. Aspects that the individual only uses for himself are reflected in general, composite form and are remembered as images, experience, and skills. Other aspects, which the individual communicates information about to society, are perceived in well-differentiated form with an accuracy that allows the individual to relate information verbally.

Because people cooperate in serving society's needs, and each individual person is a part of society, each person conveys to others information about some aspects of reality and receives information about other aspects from others.

Information that the individual uses only for himself is interpreted to some degree under the influence of other people. This information is enough to get by on, but not to pass on competently to other people.

Augusta makes the example of intuitive and sensing types, which she calls strategists and tacticians, respectfully. Intuitive types (especially those with intuition as their leading function) receive enough information about the surrounding concrete world for their own practical use, but not for verbal transmission to others. However, they perceive information about abstract aspects of reality with depth and clarity and easily communicate it to others. Sensing types (especially those with sensing as their leading function) perceive information about the concrete world around them with depth and clarity, but aspects that we tend to call 'abstract' seem to "slip by" them, although they have no problems using it for their own needs. Both types are equally necessary in any society.

It is noteworthy that the first (intuitive types) have a certain sluggish thinking style. They need much more information to figure out what's going on. They create the impression of being absent-minded "dullwits." The latter (sensing types), on the other hand, immediately impress you by how quickly they are able to get their bearings.

[*NOTE: Here and elsewhere Augusta likes to poke fun at her own type — ILE]

"Humanity's strength is in the multi-typeness of its intellect." One form of information processing by itself is unproductive. If you created a large group of people of one type of information metabolism, it would function poorly and wouldn't manage to perform the most basic tasks. Each person's intellect comprises 1/16th of society's intellect, and the entire intellect (all 16 types together) we call the socion.

You might call the socion the basic unit of human society and the basis of man's social nature... But the socion is not only the sum of 16 different intellects or a group of 16 people of different IM types. It is also a strict system of their interaction. In other words, it is not only 16 distinct and specific intellects, but also 16 completely different (and no less distinct and specific) relationships of each person with every other.

Together, these relations make the socion an energetically cohesive unit. First of all, we have 8 pairs of dyads, or dual types. The purpose of these relations is to "even out" or balance the individual's life activity. "As far as we are aware, without this, the individual's full-fledged intellectual realization is impossible." Secondly, the 8 dyads split into two energy rings (or tracks) of four dyads apiece. These dyads are connected by a one-way connection; new information only flows in one direction. Information in these two rings flows in opposite directions, creating an "induction" effect between the two. This picture so far shows only dual and social request relations.

All patterns of societal development, including the law of social progress, are inherent to the socion as the basic unity of society. The essence of the socionic nature of man is manifested in 1) different perceptions of reality, and 2) that good or bad, easy or difficult relationships with other people are determined not by partners' free will, but by their IM type.

[*NOTE: Most socionists would disagree with the Augusta's use of such strong wording here, since some layers of relationships are obviously subject to change and influence, and there are also non-socionic factors that influence relationships.]

An organism's survival depends on its adaptation to its environment and its ability to be in harmonious relations with this environment — including other organisms. A person's survival as an active social being requires not just harmony, but also a sort of fusing or interlocking with the IM mechanisms of other members of the socion.

Regarding how individual people experience their inclusion — or the lack thereof — in mutually beneficial socionic relationships, Augusta says the following:

Each individual experiences real psychological pain if he is not part of a dyad — if he does not have a dual to cooperate with. This affects his psychological and physical well-being. In addition, people feel acutely their inclusion in the socionic mechanism of society. There are people who lead a socially active life who feel that society needs their activity, and there are people who don't feel needed much or even at all, even though they read about how much society needs them in the papers. It's not enough to "know" — one must feel the seething pulse of life and his own part in it. For this to happen, it turns out, one needs a sufficient amount of contact with the IM types that one's specific type needs to be able to function properly. This feeling of being needed or not needed by society is apparently directly proportional to the individual's degree of inclusion in the socionic structure of society. Activity outside of society or activity where socionic ties are a rare fluke is always exhausting to the psyche; the individual's energy is expended and replenished very poorly, with a low coefficient of societal utility. Much energy is wasted simply trying to prove to oneself and others that one is worth something.

People in leadership positions have more chances to make contacts with the IM types they need and to feel useful to society. "However, if someone is surrounded by the people he needs, he will feel needed in any position." Activity outside of the socion is always inefficient and goes unrecognized by society. "You could say that the speed of progress in society is directly proportional to its 'socionness.'" Work groups that are gathered without socionics in mind waste much energy on resolving endless intertype conflicts.

We believe that human society as such appeared at the same time as the socion and language — that is, together with the psyche's differentiation into 16 IM types and the beginnings of language — because animal species can get by without language only if they perceive facts in their environment unambiguously. Humans' perception is not so unambiguous.

Take, for example, the many different meanings and intentions that could be conveyed by the word no. "As long as there is no socion, language is not necessary. As soon as the socion appears, it is impossible to get by without it."

With the advent of language a partial gap or discrepancy appears between the energy metabolism and the information metabolism (IM). Information signals arise that are completely cut off from energy metabolism. One must pay attention not only to how others behave, but also what they say.

Augusta is intrigued by the nature of misunderstandings between people. She sees the ambiguity of human language to be a direct result of the differentiation of the psyche and socionic phenomena. Different types convey different meanings using similar language. How information is understood or misunderstood is at the heart of intertype relations.

continue to part 2: Information Elements