I get asked how they differ all the time. Watch any season of Teen Wolf.

Scott (Se): *handles things competently as they happen.*

Stiles (Ne): do you think the dead deer and your dog biting you are related in a bigger pattern, like when animals get weird before a hurricane?

Se = handles reality as it exists.

Ne = theorizes off reality to speculate about “what’s REALLY happening here.”

I was browsing threads in a forum tonight and thinking about how high Ne has been perceived and sold online as “zany.” Characters like Lorelai Gilmore, the queen of rapid-fire responses, does not help. I think it has caused many folks to mistype as high Ne when they are not (leading to general misunderstanding and confusion, because their descriptions are based on what they think Ne is, rather than a mature understanding formed of personal experience; in an ideal world, a description of a function would only be written by someone with that function, in that position, in their stack).

High Ne isn’t about being funny or wacky or superficial; Ne is intuition, and has two serious purposes – to assess everything based on what’s happening now, the possible “motive” or “reason” behind it, and what might happen next; and, to desire continual change, a sense of things becoming better, and wanting to push society over the edge into a “new reality” – sometimes too quickly. Think of Ne as a promoter of instant revolutions, with no ability to grasp the implosion that will happen if their desire came about tomorrow, with no careful transition.

If you cannot see these things (for better or worse) in a high Ne, you are not dealing with a high Ne.

For example, a Ne would not simply look at what is happening “right now” and take it for granted. They would start searching for “why” this is happening. What factors caused it to happen. And where it will lead next. This is not purely in the realm of Ni, it is basic dominant intuition. Looking at the sensory reality, pulling away from it, crawling into it, and seeing what makes it and where it’s going. It’s a serious, unconscious thing. And, it preoccupies 90% of the Ne’s attention. Patterns. Patterns everywhere. Where it came from, where it’s going, what is behind it, what it implies about society, and certainty about that perception. For objects, people, concepts, and ideas. Always the big picture. Always a threading out into new possibilities. Where it differs from Ni is it will abandon an idea if the idea is proven wrong and quickly switch to a different thread – like a train hopping onto another track, but this one running in the opposite direction. High Ni has more trouble doing that.

The second object is, the continual drive for change – of self, of others, of society, of a desire for “improvement” and growth and change. It can be fantastical improvement, sure (wouldn’t it all be nice if…?) but more often, it is serious improvement. My friend would be much happier if they could just overcome this, and become that. Society could be much better, if it embraced this philosophy. I am going to push these ideas on society and see if they catch hold. The desire of the Ne is to “share ideas.” To debate ideas. To abstract away from the object, and see it in a more idealized state. To pursue that end.

It makes a Ne unhappy over time when reality does not match their expectation, or it moves too slow… they or this person or that cause or that end is not moving fast enough, because the Ne-dom devalues what Si understands best– the best change, the most continual and effective, long-lasting change, is slow. It’s a gradual process of breaking down “what is known” and replacing it with “a better reality.” It fits the old adage of put a frog in a hot pot of water, he jumps out; heat it up slowly, and he’ll die because he’s used to the water changing temperature. That is how lasting change comes about – a meticulous, gradual attack on what is not desired.

If the Ne-dom becomes frustrated with the world not meshing with their need for constant improvement and change, they turn to what they CAN change – their room, their interests, their beliefs, their hairstyle, their career, their friends, their religion, their philosophies, anything they can tamper with, to feel they are “moving forward.” Because not to be changing is painful for them, like a butterfly caught in its own cocoon. These things are what others see, and what they interpret as the Ne being ungrounded or flighty; but what they see is only the superficial behaviors of someone seeking constant “change.” They do not always see the inner workings of Ne, or the serious consideration of patterns, but if the Ne-dom is allowed to be themselves, they will also see a tendency to speculate on the motives and patterns of what’s happening and what’s coming.

These conclusions will often be insightful and accurate – without proof, but the proof may come… sooner or later, if the pattern plays out as they see it. (Ni-doms are better at long term specific predictions, but all N’s love to speculate on where this will wind up and what may happen as a result.)

Ideas are a valid object to the Ne, who would define themselves through their ideas, but descriptions that focus only on “have lots of ideas” are forgetting that Ne is about patterns – and the conscious ability to recognize, interpret, and invent new patterns, theories, and concepts rather than accepting things on a surface level. These are not games to a high Ne. It’s literally how they perceive the world. It is their strength, but also their flaw. They will take your concept, and push it further – because in their mind, you did not go far enough.

Ne-doms should be good at doing this; it should be effortless. A Ne-aux can also do it, and you should see it in them, but their tert-Si makes them a little more aware that massive social change needs time to be effective.

As far as self-typing goes, if you’re a high Ne, you should be able to pay attention to your thinking process and recognize how much effort, time, energy, and natural interest goes into these thought processes of pattern-seeking. You should notice them manifesting on a continual basis, where your attention is ‘arrested from the object into the realm of abstraction.’

- ENFP Mod