From: gsroka@leland.Stanford.EDU (Gregory Sroka)
Subject: Re: Friendship and personality
Organization: DSG, Stanford University, CA 94305, USA
Date: Sat, 9 Jan 93 09:00:44 GMT


In article <1993Jan7.181320.20175@sequent.com> kene@sequent.com (Ken Ewing) writes:
>
>Another point that came to mind to me is (what some would say) a 
>prejudice of Ns toward Ss.  I have noticed occasions when Ns 
>(especially NFs) lose patience when talking to Ss.  I know of one 
>extreme case where a particularly strong NF tended to label as S 
>anyone whom that person thought was "slow-witted".  (All it took 
>to be labelled as such was to display a minor habit pattern of 
>asking for clarification on what this person said.  If you didn't 
>automatically know, by intuition, what this person meant whenever 
>this person spoke, you were an S.)  If I hadn't had my MB results 
>on hand, this person would have labelled me an S (the person told 
>me so).  
>

Let me suggest a different way to look at this. Could this person be
a J?  I tend to think that someone prone to "pre-judgement" like your
extreme case is making snap decisions with very little information to
base them on (and a severe mis-understanding of MBTI perhaps). No
self-respecting NP would make such quick judgements - how could you
possibly nail down a classification of a person with such little info?
I agree that there is definitely a communication gap between N's and S's
which often leads to frustration, impatience, etc.  But don't forget
that J vs. P determines how decisions are made.  

>[In my following point, I realize that T and F play a significant 
>role in mental processing methods, but I am trying to explain my 
>point apart from T/F considerations.]  
>
>I think the prejudice stems from the different processing methods 
>used by the two types.  Ss tend more to reason from point A to point B 
>by "building a bridge" between the two.  Ns, on the other hand, tend 
>more to just "leap the chasm".  Ns therefore can get impatient with 
>Ss because they take "so long" to reach a conclusion that seems so 
>obvious to them that it requires no thought.  On the other hand, 
>Ss (and even other Ns) can get frustrated with Ns because the N leaps 
>to an incorrect conclusion, and then has no reasoning or structure 
>to show how they got there or to back up their position.  
>

As an INTP I can also relate to this.  But I think that SJ's are much
more likely to think negatively about NP's than vice versa. When I leap to an
(obvious to me) tangent, I often get a glassy eyed disinterest or
sometimes even a sarcastic sounding "No!" or "Why?" from people I would
assume are S's. It's as if when you can't say something of immediate usefulness
or obvious value to the person, they treat you as though you're nuts.
Sometimes I think this is just a defense mechanism for not really being
able to follow or predict where you are going with the discussion. 
I've even had a former boss (strong J and proud of it) say "I hate it when 
you're right" (only half) jokingly. It was a case where I saw a minor
problem that had a simple solution which if ignored could cause some future
headaches, but he was assuming everything was fine. I had to quickly hunt 
through a stack of drawings (in one of many stacks of things in my office!) 
to give him the evidence. My attempt at explaining why I knew had failed,
probably because the connections in my thinking made no sense to him.
Sort of a "Doubting Thomas" syndrome? But when he could "put his hands in
the wound", there was no evading the problem. Unfortunately, instead of a
grateful "attaboy, you just prevented a potential problem" I got the
sarcastic remark. 

I've had the experience that most bosses will exhibit SJ traits, even 
if they test differently, probably due to the inherent corporate culture.
Also, on the subject of S's taking a long time to come to "obvious"
conclusions, has anyone had the following feeling?  Upon voicing an
idea that you think is very useful you get non-responsiveness or apathy,
but then about a week later that person says "Hey look what I came up with",
(it's based on your idea) without the slightest acknowledgement that you 
at least planted a seed or two?  

-- 
Greg Sroka
Menlo Park, CA
Xref: sparky alt.psychology.personality:438 alt.mythology:2228 sci.anthropology:1716 sci.misc:2007 sci.psychology:4963 soc.culture.misc:509 soc.history:10650 soc.misc:1122