Curious Thinker Psychology

In the last article, we covered the history and basic structure of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. When attempting to apply the MBTI to yourself or others, it’s useful to have an understanding of how these functions are ordered. Therefore, in this post I’m going to cover the MBTI’s hierarchy of cognitive processes.

What exactly are cognitive processes?

What I’m referring to are simply different ways of perceiving and judging the internal and external world. In Psychological Types, Carl Jung described four cognitive functions. These four primary functions are Intuition, Sensing, Thinking, and Feeling. Each have their own attitude: extroverted or introverted. Jung also asserted that one of these functions is most dominant, and the opposing function is therefore considered inferior. For example, where Introverted Feeling is dominant, Extraverted Thinking is inferior.

In the table below, all eight functions are listed. The functions on the left oppose the ones on the right and vice versa.

So how does the hierarchy work, then?

Well, to recap, we know that the four letters in MBTI type code represents a hierarchy of functions. Here’s what the hierarchy looks like using INTP as an example. Use this table to follow along in the explanation below.

As you can see, the dominant and inferior functions are opposites. So are the second and third functions.

Let me explain how you can derive this list for any type without having to memorize all 16 types. Strangely enough, the best way to begin is at the end.

The fourth letter (J/P) in MBTI determines which processes are extraverted.
– Judging types will always extravert the judging functions: Thinking or Feeling. (xxTJ or xxFJ)
– Perceiving types will always extravert the perceiving functions: iNtuition or Sensing. (xNxP or xSxP)

Then, the opposing functions are shown as introverted.
– For J-types, this means the perceiving functions are introverted.
– For P-types, the judgment functions are introverted.
– Example: For an iNtuitive Thinking Perceiver (NTP), Thinking is introverted and iNtuition is extraverted; for an iNtuitive Thinking Judger (NTJ), iNtuition is introverted while Thinking is extraverted.

Finally, the first letter describes the order in which the functions are placed.
– Extroverts will have their extraverted function as dominant.
– Introverts will have their introverted function as dominant.
– Example: ENFJs will have Extraverted Feeling as their dominant, while INFJs will have Introverted iNtuition.

Here is a side-by-side comparison of some types to demonstrate:

See the Cognitive Functions Reference Chart for a complete and detailed listing of the functions for each MBTI type.

Hopefully through this article, you now have a better understanding of the cognitive function hierarchy of the MBTI.