Cognitive functions: Complete guide

🍳Part 1: What are functions? + The functions🍳

What are cognitive functions?
If you're new to MBTI you're probably familiar with letter-typing; it's when you type someone by the letters of MBTI types: e/i s/n f/t p/j.
That's an inaccurate way of typing as MBTI goes deeper than just the letters.
Cognitive functions are like the core of MBTI; it's what MBTI "consists" of.
Cognitive functions are something that we use to perceive and process information - some use some of them more than others, and that's what determines our MBTI types.

There are 8 cognitive functions and every MBTI type has 4 of them in their stack - they're more developed and valued - and the rest are shadow functions - undeveloped and unvalued. I'll explain it more in my next post.
There are perceiving functions that take in information and judging types that process the information and make decisions.
The types are either introverted or extroverted, which is not necessarily equivalent to social introversion/extroversion. Introverted functions take place in your head and extroverted functions interact with the outer world. More on that in the next slides where I'm going to explain all the functions.

Extroverted sensing (SE) & introverted sensing (SI)
Both sensing types are perceiving types, which means they take in information, the difference is of course in the introvert/extrovert axis:

Extroverted sensing (SE):
If you are a high SE user, you tend to use your 5 senses more than others. Of course,  everyone uses their senses, but you value them higher than others.
When you're outside, you tend to take in everything around you with your 5 senses; you see your surroundings, you hear the sounds around you, you touch things around you, and so on. You mostly focus on what you're sensing at the moment without filtering the information very much.
SE users can often adapt to new environments very fast and quickly sense the environment, they're good at handling emergencies and therefore would likely be good at careers like firefighters.
SE users tend to:
    - Like physical stuff more than theoretical ones; you would rather build something than listen to someone talking about building this thing.
    - Enjoy physical stimulants like extreme sports
    - Live in the now - dislike planning
    - Be good at adapting and improvising

Introverted sensing (SI):
High SI users tend to think back on past experiences and notice details others would fail to notice. They feel safer with a detailed plan and while planning you refer to pass experiences and what has worked (or hasn't) before - they feel safer using trusted methods than improvising.
SI focuses on inner bodily sensations like pain and hunger and can often describe them in detail after experiencing them; if you break a leg then you would be able to recall every part of the pain afterward.
If you're a SI user then you usually like repetition; you would order the same meal at the restaurant if you know it was good or you would have a favorite shirt that you put on often.
High SI users tend to:
    - Be good with details - they're precise and look back to see if it's correct
    - Like tradition
    - Have a good memory
    - Dislike change
    - Be uninterested in new things

Extroverted intuition (NE) & introverted intuition (NI)
Both sensing types are perceiving types, which means they take in information, the difference is of course in the introvert/extrovert axis
In my opinion, the intuition functions are the hardest to understand; I still struggle to understand them fully.

Extroverted intuition (NE):
NE is all about possibilities and ideas: What can I do with this? What if this happens? How can I view this from a different perspective?
High NE users can see one thing and expand it to lots of possibilities; if they're given an assignment they'll think of all the different ways they can complete it (actually completing it is a different story)
NE jumps quickly between different subjects and makes connections between them, for example, they often have a short attention span and have a hard time focusing on one subject for a longer time; something else will pop up in their mind and they'll think about that instead.
Because NE users are good at seeing possibilities, they're also good at
coming up with ideas and NE is one of the most creative functions.
High NE users tend to:
    - Be good at brainstorming
    - Be very creative
    - Live in their world; they can be absent-minded and be unaware of their surroundings
    - Have a hard time focusing
    - Be indecisive; Which one of my 100 ideas should I stick with?
    - Have many hobbies "jack of all trades, master at none"