Appreciating Differences - Jack Falt - Ottawa area, Ontario, Canada

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Book Review by Jack Falt

Quenk, Naomi L., In the Grip: Understanding Type, Stress, and the Inferior Function, Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press, 2000, 50 pp

This is an updated version of the booklet In the Grip: Our Hidden Personality (1996) by the same author. The first booklet explored the concept of the Inferior Function and how it can manifest in what could be called out-of-control, unstable, crazy, or abnormal behaviour. The material is a condensed version of her Beside Ourselves: Our Hidden Personalities in Everyday Life (1993). The material is well laid out in separate sections for each of the eight dominant functions which also each have the same inferior functions. There are charts listing the key points that relate to the narrative descriptions of the problems. Each section also gives an example of what being in the grip looks like in real life.

The revised version is expanded from 28 pages to 50 pages. Each of the eight dominant functions now has four pages instead of the previous two. E.g. Extraverted Thinking as the dominant function includes ESTJ and ENTJ with Sensing and Intuition as their respective auxiliary functions. More information about psychological type and the inferior function are given. A discussion about the effects of chronic stress is given for each of the eight dominant functions. Today, with more production expected in less time and with fewer people, more individuals are experiencing chronic stress. There are suggested remedies for each type. There is clearer differentiation for both auxiliary functions of a dominant function. There are 16 vignettes instead of just the eight in the earlier book.

I have found this a very helpful book. I have used it many times to help explain to people some of the more negative behaviour they and others exhibit. Most of the material relating to type is very positive and “best case scenario.” This is because the MBTI® instrument is measuring preferences for mental functions not how well people use these functions. The in the grip phenomenon relates to the unconscious and those parts we have repressed. Under stress this unconscious material erupts into the conscious.

As an INFJ I’ve been trying to determine the difference between my being able to call on my extraverted Sensing when, for example, I go to an art gallery and want to experience the impact of the art work, and having to work for an unappreciative boss and go home and have a night of binge eating (Se). The key difference is the amount of stress I have to cope with. If I have to face that stress every day because I feel there is no way to quit my job and find something where I am appreciated more, then I may forget how things could be and just live a dreary existence and continue going home and stuffing my face.

The concept of the inferior function explains many destructive behaviours, but what about the other four shadow functions that John Beebe postulates - the hierarchy of the eight functions for each type? Every time we think we have nailed down the final answer, many new questions arise. I don’t think understanding the lower four functions of each individual type hierarchy will contradict Naomi Quenk’s work; it will only add further dimensions to our understanding of human behaviour. In the meantime you will find this revised booklet very useful.

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