Posted by Tal on February 24, 1999 at 11:53:34:
In Reply to: Knowing what type you should be posted by Wayne Elliott on February 23, 1999 at 08:44:53:
Hey Wayne,
Personally I tend to think of what you describe as the shadow. Every type has, by virtue of those issues it centers on, certain parts of its nature it dislikes and thus represses. A One who prides himself on self-control will actively repress any spontaneous Sevenish impulses to get out and go wild; a Nine who wishes to maintain a continuous sense of peace may repress all assertive Eightish impulses. Every type has characteristics it represses (generally the opposite of what it likes in itself).
In most cases, because people have pushed this 'dark side' of themselves deep down, they've completly ceased to identify with it and have come to see themselves as devoid of that behaviour. They even tend to go out of their way to condemn such behaviour in others. As a result, in most cases people will actively avoid typing themselves in a manner symbolic of their shadow, and thus tend to score *lowest* on their shadow. A lot of wings on the conventional Egram are this type of relationship--6/7, 8/9, 1/2, 2/3, 3/4 and 5/6 are all types which, given an emphasis in one, tend to score very very low in the other. (e.g. 6's score lowest in 7 far more often than any other type)
The fact that despite this dichotomy--between our conscious personality and our shadow--one often thinks of people in terms of just such combinations of shadow types (e.g. the whole notion of 8w9s and 6w7s) is indicative of just how strong our shadows tend to be and how often they boil to the surface despite our best efforts to the contrary. As an example, 4's will generally do anything to avoid seeing themselves as 3's (which are almost the opposite of 'individualism') and yet precisely because both these types seek the same thing (love/acceptance) in diametrically opposed ways (the 4 by creating new and 'different' standards, the 3 by superseding current and accepted ones), they are likely to repress the chief characteristics of the other. 3's repress individuality (real self) that is so important to the 4; 4's go out of their way not to do anything in a 'normal' way. But what eventually happens is that when an imbalance arises (when the 3 seeks their real self and is unable to find it, when a 4 realises they're deluding themselves as to their uniqueness), a spontaneous balancing occurs, which manifests in a 'shadow eruption'.
This is when you get 9's suddenly going 8ish, 4's going 1ish, 7's going 6ish, and so on. Because these eruptions are so common in most people, it becomes easy to define them not in terms of any two types they would think of as their 'conscious' personality ('real' wings like 4/5, 7/2, 1/8 etc.) but in terms of the two types which seem to be so strongly conflicting. If I know myself to be a 4w5 but have a strong shadow of 1 which I try to repress, when that 1 side boils to the surface and you're around, you're probably going to see me not as a 4w5 but as a 4 'disintegrating' to 1, or possibly just as a 1 period. My real type(s) will have been eclipsed by an eruption of that part of myself I dislike and push away.
Most people score very low on their shadow types, probably because they're unwilling to recognise themselves as ever behaving in that sort of manner (usually in a negative connotation, because we tend to manifest the negative aspects of our shadow types rather than the positive). It probably takes an individual more in touch with themself to admit to characteristics and behaviours they disapprove of. When they do so however, you usually find that the score of the shadow type goes up significantly. I think this is probably where the scenario you pointed out comes in. If a 9 has 8ish hangups, but refuses to identify them in themself, they will make sure they score low on 8. But if they're willing to look at themself honestly and identify occasional 8ish behaviour, the scores will be more balanced.
Of course, psychological survival of any type usually hinges on adamantly refusing to have anything to do with the shadow, so it's an uphill struggle getting to accept it a lot of times... for a 4, being 3ish or 1ish can be a fate worse than death... for a 1, the same can be true of 4's or 7s... etc.
Ultimately, the fact that such a 'hang-up' leads to a high score in a type a person doesn't really want to identify with can be viewed in two ways:
Either the person is more in touch with themselves and more willing to accept all facets of their personality, or, they have an imbalance which is so strong they are unable to repress it to any significant extent.
I prefer no. 1... but the choice is theirs :)