From: kene@sequent.com (Ken Ewing)
Subject: Re: Friendship and personality
Organization: Sequent Computer Systems, Inc.
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 93 18:13:20 GMT

In article <C0G8K3.92r@utdallas.edu> bcollins@utdallas.edu (ARLIN B COLLINS) writes:
>> kene@sequent.com (Ken Ewing) writes:
>>I am a thoroughgoing intuitive.  I have many friends who are S-types, 
>>but there seems to be a subtle difference between my interactions with 
>>S's and with N's...  With S's, I almost feel like there is 
>>some kind of mental "wall" that separates the inner person from me.  
>>
>   I am an  ISTJ  [with a strong  T, also  computer analyst by education
>   and work, and .... sorta identify with the HACKER profile in several
>   ways]
>   In response to Ken's comments, I just wanted to say that it seems
>   to look the same from this side  of the  "wall".  

Thanks for your response.  Please continue to explain the S side of things.  

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).  

[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.  

Furthermore, although statistically Ss outnumber Ns in our society 
(60% vs. 40%), people who pursue psychological studies (and who 
develop tests like MBTI) tend overwhelmingly to be Ns.  Hence, there 
can predictably be an air of negativity toward Ss when descriptions 
of the types are written.  (That is, short-sighted Ns can cast the Ss 
in a negative light, and then little objection is raised because for 
the most part Ss tend less to pursue and be involved with such 
psychological testing.)  

After all that, do the Ss in netland feel that they are perhaps 
"looked down upon" by some/most/all interpreters of MBTI?  I'm curious.  

  Ken Ewing 
  Sequent Computer Systems, Inc. 
  Beaverton, Oregon 
  kene@sequent.com 
  ...!uunet!sequent!kene 

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