Blazer (Winner) Essay Entry

I. What is Socionics?

Socionics is a theory by Aušra Augustinavičiūtė about the nature of the human mind and society. Based on the works of Carl Jung, Antoni Kępiński, Ernst Kretschmer, and Andrey Lichko, Augustinavičiūtė theorizes that the human mind consists of one of sixteen structures, adapted from Jung’s Psychological Types, that operate and interact with each other in a similar fashion to the laws of physics, governed by the interactions proposed by Kępiński in Melancholy and Psychopathies. In her pilot study of Socionics, Augustinavičiūtė tested 200 Lithuanian people on the Jungian dichotomies of Introversion/Extraversion, Logic/Ethics, Sensation/Intuition, and Kretschmer’s distinction of the Schizothymic/Cyclothymic temperament, which Augustinavičiūtė correlates to the Jungian dichotomy of rational/irrational. In her observations, she noticed that people who were opposites on the three Jungian Dichotomies but shared the same rational/irrational temperament got along remarkably well, whereas those with those same three dichotomies but the same temperament had unsatisfying relationships. These findings served as a foundation to further research on Socionics.

II. Jungian Dichotomies & Terminology

A simplified version of the Jungian dichotomies can be described as followed, which will be explained further within this paper:

• Introvert / Extravert - annotated as I/E Whether a person feels that they exist and must respect all individuals as separate bodies, perceiving the world as a collection of external objects, changing their relationships to those objects when needed, or whether they respect the world as a field, believing that the relationships between these objects are more important and that the objects should adapt to fit these relationships.

• Sensoric / Intuitive - annotated as N/S Whether a person is immersed within the fullest, most explicit picture of the world and their physical needs, or in their abstract thinking and intangible prospects and future destinations.

• Logical / Ethical - annotated as T/F Whether a person feels strong and capable within the external forces of the world,

such as through their actions and managing official, hierarchical relationships, or internal, such as through managing interpersonal relationships and their emotional state.

• Schizothymic / Cyclothymic - annotated as p/j Whether a person’s actions exist as a consequence of a rational cause, or whether a person’s actions exist as some consequence of an irrational mood or state within the body.

These 4 facets can be recombined into 16 types, which create a distinct structure of the psyche. The I/E dichotomy outlines whether a type’s leading function is introverted/extraverted, and the N/S and T/F dichotomies outline which two functions are in the leading and creative positions.

Lastly, the p/j dichotomy outlines whether a rational function (T/F) or an irrational one (S/N) is in the leading position. So, for instance, an ENTp’s Ego block would be NeTi, as a sum of the base and creative positions. Most Socionics literature opts to name the types with respect to the human archetypes outlined by Augustinavičiūtė or through a 3 letter notation system, where the first letter represents the domain of the lead function, the second to the creative, and the third represents whether the type is an introvert or extravert. These form the labels of the 16 types as follows:

• ILE - ENTp - Don Quixote

• SEI - ISFp - Alexandre Dumas

• ESE - ESFj - Victor Hugo

• LII - INTj - Maximilian Robespierre

• SLE - ESTp - Georgy Zhukov

• IEI - INFp - Sergey Yesenin

• EIE - ENFj - Hamlet

• LSI - ISTj - Maxim Gorky

• SEE - ESFp - Napoleon Bonaparte

• ILI - INTp - Honoré de Balzac

• ESI - ISFj - Theodore Dreiser

• LIE - ENTj - Jack London

• IEE - ENFp - Thomas Henry Huxley

• SLI - ISTp - Jean Gabin

• LSE - ESTj - Max Otto von Stierlitz

• EII - INFj - Fyodor Dostoevsky

III. The Information Aspects & Elements

Augustinavičiūtė proposes that the eight Psychological Types developed by Carl Jung are not a purely theoretical construction, but rather reflect an objective aspect of the external world, which she calls the Information Aspects. However, the subjective way that the human mind absorbs and metabolizes these elements are called Information Elements, and each type processes each element in a different way and function in the psyche. The three primary divisions of the information aspects are as follows: introverted/extraverted, static/dynamic, and internal/external.

Introverted and Extraverted information mirrors the physical concept of bodies and fields: extraverted information perceives the existential properties of the object, whereas introverted information encompasses the fields of interaction where objects exist. A good example of this is the discovery of the planet Neptune by astronomer Urbain Le Verrier, who derived its existence without even seeing the planet but by studying the gravitational field and disturbances of Uranus’ orbit.

Static and Dynamic information mirrors the concept of static and dynamic mechanics in physics. Simply put, static mechanics analyzes the object at rest, such as, as Kępiński describes, a child killing a butterfly to analyze the form and structure of its wings. On the other hand, dynamic mechanics analyze the object in motion, such as how a butterfly moves and acts in its natural environment.

Internal and External Information is compared to endogenous vs exogenous physical processes to contrast logic and ethics, whereas it is compared to implicit vs explicit information to contrast intuition and sensation. In simple terms, this dichotomy contrasts clearly visible or obvious facts or interconnections between objects for logic and sensation, vs the less obvious, internal ones dictated by ethics and intuition.

These aspects can also be thought of through the perspective of Jung’s four functions, which Augustinavičiūtė compares to ignition phases on an engine. Intuition is analogous to the gas stored inside of a car, which carries hidden, potential energy. Ethics serves as the ignition phase of the car, exciting it while translating potential energy into kinetic energy. Sensation is similar to a fully mobilized car, that is turned on and clearly ready to move. Lastly, logic converts the energy into motion, creating actual, visible movement. The eight information elements can be summarized as follows:

• Extraverted Intuition (Ne): Perception of the object’s internal structure

• Extraverted Sensation (Se): Perception of the object’s external form

• Extraverted Ethics (Fe): Perception of motion happening within the object

• Extraverted Logic (Te): Perception of the object’s motion through external space

• Introverted Intuition (Ni): Perception of the object’s implicit situation, connections through time

• Introverted Sensation (Si): Perception of the object’s immediate situation

• Introverted Logic (Ti): Perception of the object’s position in external space

• Introverted Ethics (Fi): Perception of internal positions the object holds toward other objects

IV. Information Metabolism and Rings

According to Kępiński, the human mind can be thought of as an open structure of information exchange where the body receives a mass of signals, which Augustinavičiūtė connects to the information elements, but cannot process them in a meaningful way without discarding and narrowing down some of these signals into deliberate thought or real actions. The conversion of information from broad to specific information occurs in two phases: the first phase often being accompanied by discomfort due to taking in an overwhelming amount of information, whereas the second phase narrows down this information and realizes it into real, actionable outcomes.

Augustinavičiūtė connects the way people process signals outlined by Kępiński into a specific funnel of information metabolism, where broad information covered by a person’s potential (weak) functions narrows down into specific, actionable information on the kinetic (strong) functions. Moreover, she divides these phases into two further parts, known as the accepting and producing half-phases. Accepting half-phases take in a broad aspect of reality as it is, unfiltered, whereas producing half-phases creates assumptions about reality based on the accepting half-phases. For example, the type LSI (TiSe) objectively perceives a person’s position, power, and authority that one occupies in a particular structure, and assumes that these positions give that person access to objects and material things that put them in a state of maximum kinetic energy to perform real action.

Each of the phases described can be summarized as follows:

• Half-Phase I: Absorption of information, storing signals

• Half-Phase II: Opening up, exposing the self to feedback from others

• Half-Phase III: Opposition, setting one’s goals against others and the environment

• Half-Phase IV: Impact, a means of achieving these goals Each of these phases occurs on two rings working in parallel, the

Mental Ring and the Vital Ring. The Mental Ring describes the conscious side of one’s personality, physically perceiving information as a part of the environment and reality itself, whereas the vital ring describes the unconscious side of one’s personality, where one perceives information as felt by one’s own body, which accumulates in sets, which according to psychologist Dimitri Uznadze, are habits that are noted to only form in response to certain signals, but not all of them.

To clarify the difference between Mental and Vital cognition, think about the first time you drove to work or walked around your campus. Your mind was likely keenly aware of what was happening, and consciously processing these details. However, after enough repetition, the motion or structure of the campus becomes a “set” in your mind, fully ingrained into your unconscious.

Here is an example of the model of the mental ring of the Socionics type SLE (SeTi), divided into each of its four half-phases:

• Absorption of Ne: The SLE receives signals from the environment about the internal structure and hidden potential of the people or society around them, such as their physical capabilities and the spiritual makeup of society.

• Opening up on Fi: The SLE opens themselves and allows signals from others to regulate what they can do in their next phase, dictated by the lack of negative internal positions, such as dislike or hatred, held towards them.

• Opposition on Se: The SLE opposes their ideas about material forms, objects, or the fully activated kinetic energy (will) of other people to society. The SLE outlines which of these programs are socially important.

• Impact on Ti: The SLE generates impact by means of occupying positions within a field of external relations, such as of authority within an institution, to further emphasize the social program set by Se.

It is important to note that no function works in isolation within the human mind and that you will encounter “blocks”, also known as transitions between these half-phases, where two forms of information, such as Se~Ti, feel distinctly interconnected. In particular, Augustinavičiūtė highlights the relevance of pairs that belong to the same phase, comparable to Sigmund Freud’s theory of psychoanalytic development:

Phase I of the Mental Ring:

Super-Ego The Super-Ego is like a “storehouse” of information signals collected by a person, with lots of information. However, what the Super-Ego lacks is flexibility and the ability to choose, and while it contains a lot of information, it is unable to meaningfully discern which of the information to act on. Rather, the Super-Ego identifies problems that exist within society and transfers them to the Ego to solve them. Phase II of the Mental Ring: Ego The Ego contains less information than the Super-Ego, but the information that exists there is concentrated and much more capable of acting. In the Ego, one “studies” a particular aspect of the external world in-depth and outlines what people should do with that information. For clarification, if the Super-Ego were a general activist, looking at a broad picture of the kinds of problems that exist in society, the Ego could be a climate researcher, which studies in-depth one of these particular problems and offers real, actionable solutions. Phase I of the Vital Ring: Super-Id The Super-Id is the block of one’s unconscious worries and fears, that captures the vast array of signals and problems that exist within one’s own body. These signals are often not even known by the person but transmitted in a way that activates the Ego of certain other types of information metabolism. Phase II of the Vital Ring: Id The Id is the block of decisive, automatic actions that one does to demonstrate the well-functioning of one’s own body to society. If the Super-Id is completely unaware of what action to take in its own flood of signals, the Id quickly looks at what courses of action are available and chooses one. Dividing a type’s Mental and Vital Ring into four half-phases, one can now create a full picture of the type, where each of the information aspects occupies a unique function of the psyche. The common names for them in the English community are:

• Mental Ring, Phase I: Role function

• Mental Ring, Phase II: Vulnerable function, or Point of Least Resistance (PoLR)

• Mental Ring, Phase III: Leading function • Mental Ring, Phase IV: Creative function

• Vital Ring, Phase I: Suggestive function

• Vital Ring, Phase II: Mobilizing function

• Vital Ring, Phase III: Ignoring function

• Vital Ring, Phase IV: Demonstrative function

IV. Intertype Relations

According to Augustinavičiūtė, Intertype Relations could be thought of as the laws of physics of human interaction, where each person existed within a context of a “biofield”, and different intertype relationships would, depending on the person’s external relationship to the other person (such as being a parent or student), would create predictable outcomes, either constricting or freeing one’s “biofield”. While outstanding factors, such as the level of one’s intellect or their social environment play a significant role in the relationships that are formed between people in practice, Augustinavičiūtė claims that as a rule, the intertype relationships played the most significant role in the outcomes of people’s relationships. While each type has 14 intertype relations with different properties, for the sake of brevity, only the mechanics of the most important intertype relations for understanding the general picture of Socionics will be described:

a. Duality Duality is the optimal intertype relation in Socionics, where two types have a decelerating, but an optimal exchange of information in Socionics. The Ego block of one type, which confidently outlines specific, socially valuable programs, interacts with the Super-Id of the dual, which is receptive to these programs, learning about problems that they were not even consciously aware of. At the same time, the Super-Ego of the type, which outlines objective standards regarding information that it cannot act on, programs the Id of the Dual, which acts upon the information, involving the Super-Ego of the original person while now having the necessary context of individual action.

b. Activation This relationship is similar to duality in the sense that the blocks of the dual are the same as those for activators, but what is accepting for one type is producing for the other. Rather than a decelerating exchange of information from duals, the effect of these relationships is activating and accelerating with information mutually transmitted between the Lead and Activating functions of the types, but less stable in the long term.

c. Conflict Conflict is the most problematic intertype relation, where the socially valuable, prying nature of both people’s Ego blocks, particularly the Leading function, interacts directly with the Vulnerable function of the other, which does not want to be seen or noticed. This results in mutual misunderstanding, as one naturally expects information to be received by a dual.

d. Request Request, sometimes known as benefit, occurs when a person in a psychologically more powerful position transmits information to the recipient, who must accept the program. This occurs when the Mobilizing of the requester’s type transmits distress to the Lead of the recipient’s type, which it receives as a social request. However, the recipient transforms this information with their Creative function, which is not useful to the requester’s Ignoring function. While it is unimportant to the requester, this information can be used to activate the requestee of the requestee’s suggestive function, thus continuing the cycle. However, the Creative function of the requester transmits signals to the Suggestive function of the recipient which they cannot ignore, keeping the two together in a productive but ultimately unsatisfying relationship.

e. Supervision A type’s supervisor is the dual of the requester and solves the problems created by the relationship by forcing distance between people. The supervisor’s leading function transmits directly to the PoLR of the supervisee’s, creating tension and distance between them. However, this is a one-sided interaction, as the supervisor’s PoLR is the supervisee’s Role. This breaks the bond between the dual and their recipient, allowing for the transmission of social progress without being stuck in a suboptimal relationship.

V. Social Progress & Theory of Quadra

The previously described relation of benefit creates four rings of social progress that work in parallel:

Process Rings:

• ILE -> EIE -> SEE -> LSE -> ILE

• SEI -> LSI -> ILI -> EII -> SEI

Result Rings:

• IEE -> LIE -> SLE -> ESE -> IEE

• SLI -> ESI -> IEI -> LII -> SLI

These rings give rise to Social Progress, as the information is continually propelled forward by each type. Meanwhile, the transmission of this information is regulated by each type’s dual, so that as the ILE transmits information to the EIE, the SEI supervises and regulates the exchange of information. However, this gives rise to the question: how does information between the Process and Result rings get exchanged? This circles back to the intertype relation of Activation, where the Process and Result rings do not contact each other, but rather mutually activate each other, exchanging information through the intertype relation of Activation. For instance, an LIE and SEE, despite belonging to different rings of Social Progress, can exchange information by activating each other, transmitting experience into each other’s suggestive functions through their creative functions, and accelerating the speed of social progress with the interactions of the mobilizing and lead. A special small group forms by intersecting two types in an activation pair with their duals, which is called a Quadra. Types in a Quadra share verbal elements, sometimes referred to as “valued”, which describe the types of information that a person can freely discuss and share information and willingly receive criticism on. Socionist Victor Gulenko describes these quadras as the basis of societal development and programming but warns that quadra values should not be understood as what one openly declares as their values, but rather through one’s deeds and actions in society.

Alpha Quadra: ILE, SEI, ESE, LII

Verbal Elements: Ne, Fe, Ti, Si

Beta Quadra: SLE, IEI, EIE, LSI

Verbal Elements: Se, Fe, Ti, Ni

Gamma Quadra: SEE, ILI, LIE, ESI

Verbal Elements: Se, Te, Fi, Ni

Delta Quadra: IEE, SLI, LSE, EII Verbal Elements:

Ne, Te, Fi, Si

Based on the Process ring of social progress, which Gulenko refers to as the “evolutionary” ring of social progress, Gulenko proposes that quadra values mark certain “eras” of social progress. For instance, Alpha Quadra, with verbal Ne and Fe, studies new phenomena and excites people to act upon this information. Beta Quadra, with verbal Se and Fe, transforms these ideas into kinetic energy, mobilizing people to prepare for concrete action. Gamma Quadra, with verbal Se and Te, acts upon and utilizes the already established kinetic energy in the world. Finally, Delta Quadra, with verbal Ne and Te, perfects the actions set by the third quadra and develops a global, complete picture of a once novel idea. 

VI. Common Extensions of Socionics Theory

a. Reinin Dichotomies The Reinin Dichotomies, proposed by Socionist Grigory Reinin but also investigated Augustinavičiūtė, are mathematical ways of rearranging the Jungian dichotomies that create emergent properties of type. For instance, the Static/Dynamic dichotomy mentioned previously is a combination of the dichotomies of Extraversion/Introversion and Rational/Irrational as previously mentioned, where Extraverted+Irrational and Introverted+Rational types are Static, and the others are Dynamic. These dichotomies can create meaningful ways to divide the Socion, such as how the Merry/Serious dichotomy divides type with verbal Fe and Ti and nonverbal Fe and Ti. However, Reinin’s findings are controversial and remain the subject of further research.

b. Dimensionality Dimensionality, proposed by the Kyiv Socionists Aleksandr Bukalov and Vladimir Ermak, is a mathematical recombination of the kinetic/potential dichotomy and evaluatory/situational (or bold/cautious), that divides each type’s 8 functions into four “dimensions”, which represent a particular parameter of processing:

Dimension One: Accumulating information through direct experience (PoLR, Suggestive)

Dimension Two: Adapting to societal or personal norms (Role, Mobilizing)

Dimension Three: Creatively adapting to a particular situation, knowing the “exceptions to the rules” (Creative, Ignoring) Dimension Four: Modeling the development of information over time (Lead, Demonstrative)

According to the Kyiv School of System Socionics, functions have access to the parameters of processing from lower dimensions, but not higher ones. For instance, an LSE can process Fe information through social norms and past experience, but cannot creatively adapt it in novel situations.

c. Other Models & Hypotheses of Socionics According to Dmitri Lytov, founder of the Socioniko website and compiler of a wide array of Socionists’ works, there are a few different approaches to Socionics which have different implications for the structure of types: Informational Approach: The perspective that the types of information outlined in Socionics are not only divisions created by the mind, but real, physical properties of the world that exist in the realm of “information physics.”

Sociological Approach: The perspective that the types in Socionics carry specialized niches in the realm of social progress, and that particular types carry various social missions needed in society.

Biopsychological Approach: The perspective that information metabolism exists purely on the psychological level, and that the interactions described by Socionics are a unique part of psychology that is in need of being investigated further.

Linguistic Approach: The perspective that one’s information metabolism can be revealed by one’s language and speech patterns, and that how a type processes information can be extracted through the lens of speech.

Some researchers have made further models regarding Socionics, such as Gulenko and Victor Talanov. Gulenko, the founder of Model G, models Socionics through the perspective of energy metabolism instead of information metabolism, with certain key differences in its structure and an emphasis on holistic diagnoses through verbal and nonverbal means. Talanov, on the other hand, is the founder of Model T, attempting to uncover properties of type by aggregating results from self-reported surveys and seeing which traits cluster among each type category.

VII. Literature Augustinavichute A. (1991) Theory of intertype relationships (in Russian). Chelyabinsk. Augustinavičiūtė, A. (1996) The Socion. Socionics, Mentology, and Personality Psychology, (1–6). Translated by Sophia “Axiom”. Retrieved from https://classicsocionics.wordpress.com/socion/ Augustinavičiūtė, A. (1998). Model of Information Metabolism (in Russian). St Petersburg: Terra Fantastica. Retrieved from http://www.typelab.ru/ru/articles/aug-model-im.html Augustinavičiūtė, A. (1998). The dual nature of man (in Russian). In Socionics. vol. 1. Introduction. St. Petersburg: Terra Fantastica. Retrieved from http://www.typelab.ru/ru/articles/aug-duality1.html Augustinavičiūtė, A. (1998). The dual nature of man. Translated by Axiom “Sophia”. In Socionics. vol. 1. Introduction. St. Petersburg: Terra Fantastica. Retrieved from https://classicsocionics.wordpress.com/augusta-dichotomies/ Augustinavičiūtė, A. (1998). The theory of Reinin signs (in Russian). Socionics, Mentology, and Personality Psychology, (1–6). Retrieved from http://www.socioniko.net/ru/articles/aug-priz1.html Augustinavičiūtė, A. (2021) “Ego (leading + creative)” Compiled and translated by Sophia “Axiom”. Retrieved from https://classicsocionics.wordpress.com/ego/ Augustinavičiūtė, A. (2021) “Ego (leading + creative)” Compiled and translated by Sophia “Axiom”. Retrieved from https://classicsocionics.wordpress.com/superego/ Augustinavičiūtė, A. (2021) “Superid (suggestive + mobilizing)” Compiled and translated by Sophia “Axiom”. Retrieved from https://classicsocionics.wordpress.com/superid/ Augustinavičiūtė, A. (2021) “Id (ignoring + demonstrative)” Compiled and translated by Sophia “Axiom”. Retrieved from https://classicsocionics.wordpress.com/id/ Bukalov, A. V. (1995). The structure and dimensionality of information metabolism functions (in Russian). Socionics, Mentology, and Personality Psychology, (2) Bukalov, A. V. (2003). On Dimensionality of Informational Metabolism Functions (in Russian). Psychology and Socionics of Interpersonal Relationships, 2(2), 5–9. Gulenko, V. V. (1995). THE QUADRAL RELAY Silhouette of times through the string of types (in Russian). Kiev. Retrieved from http://www.socioniko.net/ru/articles/quadral-est.html Gulenko, V. V. (2000). Quadra values. Psychological roots of social inequality (in Russian). Socionics, Mentology, and Personality Psychology, (2). Retrieved from http://www.socioniko.net/ru/articles/valu.html Kępiński, A. (1974). Melancholy (in Polish). Warsaw: PZWL Kępiński, A. (1978). Psychopathies (in Polish). Warsaw: PZWL Lytov, D. (2006) Information Metabolism (in Russian). Retrieved from https://www.socioniko.net/ru/1.begin/infomet.html Pietrak, Karol, The Foundations of Socionics – A Review (2017). Cognitive Systems Research, Volume 47, Pages 1-11, DOI/10.1016/j.cogsys.2017.07.001, Forthcoming , Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2970140 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2970140 Pietrak, Karol, Review of the Socionic Model of Information Metabolism at Individual, Interpersonal and Societal Levels (2022). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3001323 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3001323 Uri, John. (2021) 175 Years Ago: Astronomers Discover Neptune, the Eigth Planet. NASA. Retrieved from https://www.nasa.gov/feature/175-years-ago-astronomers-discover-neptune-the-eighth-planet