Techniques of dealing with negative control emotions of one-dimensional functions are described. These techniques have been elaborated in the course of the practical work of the SSS experts.
socionics, type of informational metabolism of the psyche, one-dimensional function, control emotions
Faced with reaction of our one-dimensional functions, we usually want to get rid of this existential "inconvenience." Clearly, people would like to be fully developed persons, have no weaknesses, and so on.
What I do not recommend doing [in order to become a fully developed person] - is the so-called "overexercise" of the one-dimensional functions, intensively pumping them up with experience, overloading them with work or subjecting them to all sorts of training. A normal course of life provides the best training. It supplies information to the one-dimensional functions in volumes which makes it hard to cope with. Subjecting energy-consuming functions to extreme loads can result in the overloading of the psyche, accumulation of fatigue and potentially lead to disease. Sure, the experience of the function grows under the load, but the function itself does not become "stronger" in the sense that it does not begin to process information in the way a high dimensional function would do.
In the same way I consider useless the usual techniques: plan your day, take a break, divide a big project into smaller pieces, plan your route beforehand etc. A person with the one-dimensional T-function in the course of his life elaborates individual equivalents of these approaches. The one-dimensional function, however, never ceases to react painfully. These approaches may help to adapt [to the world], but not get rid of the pain.
The essence of the problem of one-dimensional functions is often missunderstood, although the symptoms of the problem are apparent - the person has anxiety (as for the above example) about time. And one would offer him advices intended to help him cope with time-related activities, that is, how to be on time, not be late, how fit ones activity to a time schedule. Mind, that this advice is aimed at solving the problem with efficiency of handling ones time. However, the LSE type ("Stirlitz" [who has the one dimensional T-function #4]), already copes with these tasks pretty well. As he constantly monitors his schedules, he is seldom late for appointments, he plans his actions in advance, makes provisions etc. Is his efficiency with time-related activities the point where the problem lies? No. The problem lies elsewhere, in the fact that all of these techniques, which deal with "propping" and "safety netting" the efficiency of person’s function 4 are accompanied by a painful psychological reaction - by a fear or a neurotic condition. That highlights the main problem - how to take the stress off the function? It turns out that although a person has carefully "safety netted" himself in all that concerns his pain function, he does not feel any relief. Although he could be taking most relevant actions, whether being advised by socionics or not, he is still "harrassed" by the T element. The very action of "safety netting" is neurotic in itself! Every time when he arrives to an appointment well in advance the stress and anxiety is there. Planning and scheduling does not free the inner tension, every pause or delay increases the fear more and more because it cannot be silenced by actions, free time slots between the actions will be used for planning of next actions. It must be understood that the anxiety caused by the T element is present in the background of any activity, it is just [always] there. Of course, if everything is "thought of" and controlled, there is less tension (but the tension is still present), and if, by accident, arrises some sudden external factor, a factor which the LSE has not been able to foresee (again, because of the one-dimensionality of his T function), this tension increases manifold and provokes emotional boiling, which may result in an eruption. And the fact that it is impossible to foresee all that unexpectedness, is in itself another stressing factor for the psyche.
Thus, what is the use of the advice to "work up" ones one-dimensional function harder? Definitely it is useless. Although an average person uses all possible "safety nets" he could think of, some unpredictability drives him outside the safety net borders.
In fact, the one-dimensional function needs other kinds of help - there is a need to take the inner tension off the one dimensional function. That is a worthy topic for a meticulous research. And when you begin to study this issue seriously, trying different techniques, it turns out that obtaining a poised sate of a one dimensional function is far from being an easy task. And this makes sense. We are dealing with our control system. A person can not tamper that system easily, otherwise it would be a bad control system. While we are controlled by the buttons "pain" and "pleasure", is it possible to disable the action of these buttons? I always say to those who consider it possible to try to change their [emotional] reactions: try to stop psychological pain or craving at your will. At the moment when your one dimensional function is affected, and you are overwhelmed by rage or you are helplessly weeping, or you are suffocated by resentment or shame wishing you’d disappear on the spot, can you simply say: "all right, I don’t feel this pain any more". Do you think it will help?
I’m not saying that we should not use all the "props" and "safety nets", I’m saying that the issue must be addressed on a fundamentally different level, bearing in mind that we are dealing with a control mechanism built in to our psyche.