Rational and irrational: definition and characteristics

2024 Author: Miguel Ramacey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 06:11

All socionics are built on dichotomies taken from Carl Gustav Jung's monograph "Psychological Types". The main dichotomies are introversion and extraversion, intuition and sensory, logic and ethics. However, in addition to them, there is another, less well-known dichotomy - rationality and irrationality. You will read about it in this article.

Socionic functions (aspects)

In socionics, which inherits Jung's typology, there are four main functions that make up dichotomies:

• logic;
• ethics;
• sensory;
• intuition;

Rational aspects

Logic and ethics are functions by which a person makes certain decisions. Decisions based on logic appeal either to facts and cause-and-effect relationships (black, or business logic), or to abstract structures and systems (white logic). Ethical decisions are based either on subjective ideas about morality, attitudes, good and evil (white ethics), or on ideas aboutexternal aesthetics, emotions, external human reactions (black ethics). Logic and ethics are called decisive and therefore rational aspects. Bearers of psychological types whose basic function is one of the forms of logic or ethics are called rationals.

Irrational aspects

Sensing and intuition are perceiving functions. With their help, a person perceives the surrounding reality, orienting himself in it. Since they are focused on perception and not on decision making, they are also called irrational aspects. Sensory perception implies either one's own and other people's physical sensations (white sensory), or a feeling of one's own and someone else's power potential (black sensory). Intuitive perception of reality implies either the perception of reality as a dynamic process, extended over time (white intuition), or as a static space with countless options and possibilities (black intuition). Carriers of psychological types whose basic function is one of the forms of sensory or intuition are called irrationals.

What is "rational and irrational": socionics, Jung's typology, popular psychology

Thus, basic intuits and sensors are irrational, while basic logics and ethics are rational. This affects their character, thinking, behavior, work habits and decision-making.

Features of irrationals

So, rationals and irrationals, no matter what anyone says, are veryvarious. Irrationals tend to listen to their own feelings in everything. They are environmentally oriented. They seem to be listening to the vibrations of being, trying to navigate the myriad of sensory and intuitive signals. Because of this, their decisions often look spontaneous, thoughtless, taken at random. Rationals often reproach irrationals for the unplanned and chaotic nature of their actions. But in fact, this seeming randomness has its own internal logic, based on a deep understanding of the surrounding reality, characteristic of irrationals.

Irrational intuitives tend to rely on their premonitions, fantasies and insights for everything. The whole world for them is an endless thin space woven from images, trends, dynamics and possibilities. They move through this space, relying on their basic function - black or white intuition. Among these people are many writers, poets, futurologists, shamans and soothsayers.

Irrational sensors in the literal sense of the word "live" the material world, "breathe" matter. They perfectly feel both the possibilities and the state of their own body, and the physical properties of the surrounding objects. Thanks to this ability, they stand firmly on their feet and "pull up" their duals in this - in some ways too pliable, careless and irrational intuitives out of touch with life. All decisions made by irrational sensors are based on well-perceived properties andfeatures of the material world.

Features of rationals

Rationals and irrationals think completely differently. The stereotypical rational is a classic Stolz from a well-known work of Russian literature. These are people for whom the possibility of action and decision-making is much more important than the sensation and perception of the surrounding reality. They tend to follow plans and schedules, live according to the regime, follow long-established rules. These are some kind of demiurges trying to rewrite the laws of reality for themselves, their plans and ideas about the rational (fair, aesthetic, logical) structure of the world. Among these people, most of all are neat people, larks, workaholics and law enforcement officers. Their psyche is arranged in such a way that compliance with a specific program of action is for them a simpler and more convenient form of interaction with the world than the somewhat extravagant, but flexible and easily adapting activity of irrationals.

The example of rational logicians best shows how to distinguish rational from irrational. Rational logicians tend to draw graphs, create systems, come up with rules and regulations that, from their point of view, simplify life (in fact, they really simplify it - but only for the same rationals). They see the world in terms of ordered logical patterns and cause and effect relationships. To irrationals, their activities and worldview may seem somewhat ridiculous, but rational logicians, as a rule, are distinguished by a practical mind and a stableefficiency, and therefore they can quickly and easily (and most importantly - in practice) prove the advantage of their approach to life.

Rational ethicists (especially those with creative intuition) see the essence of the people around them perfectly, and act on the basis of stable, fixed and often very subjective ideas about how to build relationships, show emotions, communicate with people, etc.. These are people who live according to the laws of feelings, emotions, some invisible energy that brings people together and makes them reach out to each other, straying into pairs, groups, families and companies. Feelings, emotions and relationships, oddly enough, have their own internal logic and their own laws, which is why ethics is a purely rational aspect, along with the aspect of logic. Rational ethicists can be pedants and punctilious no worse than rational logicians, and sometimes even surpass them in this. These are people who live according to the laws of feelings - strict, stable and even logical in their own way.

However, they most often ask themselves the question: "How to determine whether I myself am rational or irrational?" The fact is that ethics (emotions, feelings, attitudes) is mistakenly considered an irrational phenomenon due to its opposite to logic.

Advantages and disadvantages of irrationals

In order to understand the differences between rationals and irrationals, one should briefly list their qualities. The obvious benefits of an irrational mentality include:

• flexibility;
• adaptability;
• susceptibility;
• prudence;
• multitasking;
• internal independence from rules and regulations.

The disadvantages of irrationals include:

• spontaneity;
• inconsistency;
• unstable performance;
• poor planning ability;
• in the future - lack of punctuality.

Advantages and disadvantages of rationals

The indisputable advantages of rationals include:

• the ability to plan everything;
• the ability to live according to the schedule;
• sequence;
• stable performance;
• collection.

At the same time, rationals also have disadvantages, and here are some of them:

• lack of flexibility;
• low adaptability;
• monotony of activity;
• in perspective - excessive, annoying pedantry.

Psycho types: rationals and irrationals

It's time to list the main socionic types. So, let's start with irrational sensors:

• SEI (Dumas);
• SLE (Zhukov);
• SEE (Napoleon);
• SLI (Gabin).

Next in line are irrational intuitions:

• ILE (Don Quixote);
• IEI (Yesenin);
• OR (Balzac);
• IEE (Huxley).

Now let's move on to rational sensors:

• ESE (Hugo);
• LSI (Maxim Gorky);
• ESI (Dreiser);
• LSE (Stirlitz).

And let's finish the list of types with rational intuitives:

• LII(Robespierre);
• EIE (Hamlet);
• LIE (Jack London);
• EII (Dostoevsky).