I Didn’t Take Languages in High School but I’m Multi-Lingual Anyway!!

All human beings speak at least four languages.

I’ll let that possibility sink in for a second. How can that be?

I’m referring to “mental languages” if you will, specifically type dynamics as presented and explained by the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI).

Take a Free Myers-Briggs Test and discover which of the 16 personality types you are and thereby what your favorite “language” is and how you approach the other 3!!

Knowledge of what these mental languages are, and how they are used can be powerfully helpful. Humans are “hard-wired” for conflict and conflict resolution because of our mental languages; we are hard-wired for spousal communication; parent-child communication; love communication, marriage communication; employer-employee; and employee to employee communication. You get the idea that all communication can be aided and positively improved with a working understand of type dynamics.

A brief introduction to the MBTI will be helpful. For purposes of this brief article we’ll proceed assuming you understand a little anyway regarding the MBTI four dichotomies and the eight functions.

Jung postulated that human thinking is made up of how we see the world and thereby become informed, which he called the “perceiving” functions of “sensing” and “intuition”, and how we reason and make decisions about what we see, which Jung termed “thinking” and “feeling” or the “judging” functions. Jung postulated that these four “functions” are polar opposites and that while all humans use and function in both opposites, one of the two possible opposites are innately preferred.

These mental/behavioral functions are driven by a natural inclination to energy which Jung termed “extroversion” or “introversion” and later Katherine and Isabelle added one more dimension to the mix which explained how people prefer to behave in public or when facing the outside world and things need to get done. The terms “judging” and “perceiving” were used for this fourth level. So, the MBTI is composed of four sets of polar opposites:

Extroversion and Introversion; Sensing and Intuition; Thinking and Feeling; and Judging and Perceiving.

Humans will innately have a preference for one of the two on each of the four levels for a total of four behavioral preferences; but, will use all eight functions or behavioral functions just about every day. When we engage any activity that is comprised of our favorite or preferred functions that activity will be better in many ways; alternately, when we engage in any activity comprised of our lesser preferred functions that activity will not be as good.

“Wait a minute, wait a minute” one might say, “What in the world has this got to do with speaking a mental foreign language??” Well, this reality of instinctively preferring certain behaviors is so powerful and ingrained in the psyche that it controls how we speak what ever language we are speaking.

In other words, becoming informed with “sensing” and/or “intuition” and making decisions with “thinking” and/or “feeling” are the core of this entire idea of personality. This is so central to human thinking that all humans take these four functions and rank order the use of them, and then speak in that order, depending of course upon what is transpiring at the time to make them speak.

All of this is based upon a descending order of “conscience” psychological energy. Jung was big on “conscious” and “unconscious” psychic energy…a bit scary about it actually; in fact it was over the concept of the “conscious” and the “unconscious” that Jung and Freud had a falling out; well be that as it may.

The dominant function gets the most energy, the secondary function gets a good bit but not as much as the dominant, the tertiary function gets whatever is remaining (and it won’t be much) and the inferior function receives basically zero conscious psychic energy.

The bottom line to this is that humans will literally speak their native language through these functions at various times, and these times and the languages can be identified thus giving communication tools, tips, warnings, information, whatever term you want to use so that we can better understand ourselves and others as we interact.

As an example everyone will speak, oh lets say English (because I’m writing in English and that is my language) through their dominant function. One will either be dominant in sensing, intuition, thinking or feeling….and brother those languages do not sound alike, look alike at all. For instance, I speak “intuition” which basically means I’m speaking “conceptually” all the time….well that’s just great…to another dominant intuit. Now my lovely bride Carol is a dominant sensor….meaning she speaks sensing, which is the polar opposite of intuition. This might be like a Russian speaking to Japanese in Russian and the Japanese replies in Japanese…in other words, neither understands the other.

The intuit will confuse the sensor with an overload of abstractions that are conceptual to boot…..while the sensor will overwhelm the intuit with too much practical, sequential details so that sooner rather than later, someone is going to get really irritated and irritation will lead to anger at some point.

So, the end to all of this is that with a very rudimentary knowledge of personality type ala the MBTI, people can become better communicators by recognizing the common, natural, wonderful, not a problem really at all, differences that exist between and amongst humans. In fact, in a later paper, I’ll discuss how to use these differences in mental languages to solve communication problems! All the best, and remember: The knowledge of type is as “solid as a rock”.

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