Smilexian socionics: Si column

[niveK]

I wish VI would go away. Every time I'm turning around, people are putting VI, a totally subjective method of testing, above observed behaviors. Yes, VI works, but there's no sane reason to put it above observed behavior.

A thing that keeps coming up in my head is those well publicized works on information, how when we speak, about 80% or thereabouts, of the information is received through visual cues. Even people who aren't actually able to lip-read get information from people's lip movements that actually affects the correct hearing of words. So visual information about people is something we analyze naturally all the time anyway. And that information is especially directed towards attitudes and social roles. It does not seem impossible that this natural aptitude is used in connection with VI.

Well, my biggest complaint is that there's not objective standard to qualify a VI assessment. It totally depends on the skill of the person who gives the VI. And, no matter how skilled, a person can make mistakes. So, when people start taking VI over observed behavior, I get highly annoyed.

I'm also annoyed at the physiognomy aspect some people apply to it. Facial expression and other forms of non-verbal communication make sense to use in VI; socionics deals greatly with communication style. However, when people start saying "he has webbed toes, he must be ESFj!" (I use this example because I recall an actual thread here on a subject similar to that, and obviously it is extreme compared to the usual "he has INTj cheekbones" stuff I normally see) they've gone into the land of magical thinking. That's something I'm not going to believe until I see a statistical study showing the correlation actually exists. I might entertain the idea if someone can provide a reasonable hypothesis for the causal relationship that would allow type to influence physical structure (or vice versa).

I don't want VI to go away because it's bad, just because it's misused. And really, I don't want it to go away at all. I'm just annoyed by the way it gets misused.

And now, since this thread's all about Smilingeyes anyway, I have a question of a personal nature I'd like to ask. Obviously, you're not bound to answer this question, it's just a random curiosity. What is your line of work, specifically?

Hmm, yeah, my column, or blog, thingy.
Answer: Medical science.

I meant the first statement to be in jest. I seem to be having a run of jokes that sound too serious on this forum.