Cognitive Functions
The fundamental building blocks of personality - cognitive functions represent distinct modes of information processing, decision-making, and values that shape human behavior and experience.
Dynamic Psychological Framework
In socionics, cognitive functions represent the states of the psyche and actions a person takes in these states. They form the mutable shell of personality and serve as focal points of attention. A person's functional profile evolves throughout life — some functions strengthen while others weaken, leading to significant transformations in character and lifestyle, particularly during developmental transitions.
Individual agency plays a crucial role — each person can actively develop different functional capacities and shape their growth trajectory.
Perception Functions
Information Processing
How we perceive and interpret reality
Intuition of Time
Crisis perception, trends, foresight, anticipation, temporal patterns, waiting for inevitable developments
Intuition of Possibilities
Novelty seeking, alternatives, experiments, curiosity, unconventional thinking, exploring potential
Comfort Sensing
Health, comfort, balance, harmonious proportions, bodily awareness, homeostasis maintenance
Power Sensing
Power dynamics, territorial control, dominance, immediate presence, authority, realistic assessment
Judgment Functions
Decision Making
How we evaluate and make decisions
Structural Logic
Systematic analysis, theoretical construction, ordering information, building complete frameworks
Business Logic
Goal-oriented efficiency, resource optimization, practical results, organizational productivity
Ethics of Relations
Personal relationships, psychological distance, individual understanding, empathy, moral conscience
Ethics of Emotions
Emotional expression, mood creation, passionate engagement, capturing attention, affective resonance
Extended Functions
Advanced Concepts
Extensions of the cognitive model
Individualism
Independence, freedom, personal autonomy, universal human rights, justice, nonconformism, democratic leadership style
Disgust Sensitivity
Resource protection, social hierarchy, elitism, quality standards, biological homeostasis, privileged positioning
Collectivism
Service, duty, subordination, group cohesion, conservative values, social structure preservation, discipline
Social Plasticity
Universal acceptance, mediation, tolerance, cooperation, symbiosis, initiative, flexible social engagement
Function descriptions are based on established socionics theory and ongoing empirical research. Extended functions represent explorations of the cognitive model's boundaries and potential applications.