Plus and minus

Plus and minus signs are a convention used by many socionists to separate what are seen as two 'versions' of the same IM element, depending on which of two other elements it is blocked with in the type formula of a specific socionic type.

For Alpha and Gamma, irrational functions are given + and rational functions -, whereas for Beta and Delta, irrational functions are given - and rational functions +.

Overview

Plus and minus
Plus +	Minus -
+ =	- =
+ =	- =
+ =	- =
+ =	- =
+ =	- =
+ =	- =
+ =	- =
+ =	- =

Names

The property in question has been given various names: + has been called "short-range" and - has been called "long-range." However, these names may not always correspond intuitively with the plain meaning of the terms "short-range" and "long-range." For example, given these names, it may not be apparent why Ethics becomes "long-range" when in the ego block with Sensing, but "short-range" when in the ego block with Intuition.

Better names might be expanding for + and reducing for -.

Implications

One implication of assigning plus and minus signs is that it implies the existence of some property linking various different IM elements. This suggests that Intuition (in the presence of Logic) has something in common with Sensing (in the presence of Ethics), and also with Logic (in the presence of Sensing) and Ethics (in the presence of Intuition) - namely, Intuition, Sensing, Logic and Ethics respectively have in common some property of "plusness," whereas the IM elements they're paired with (Logic, Ethics, Sensing, Intuition respectively) have in common "minusness."

Criticism

Numerous socionists see the practice of using plus and minus signs as logically superfluous. Nevertheless, this system got quite a good rating in the study Portrait of a Modern Socionist.

External Links:

• Excerpt from Quadras and their Socio-psychological Characteristics by Gulenko