After a diagnostic interview, an analysis of Micah’s answers suggests the 8 IM Elements may best be assigned to the functions of Model A in the following order, making his best fit type the ‘Intuitive Ethical Integrator’ or ‘IEI’.
Leading Function - Telos
(T1)
To Micah, “faith is something that everyone
has, so it’s just a matter of what you’re gonna decide to have faith in”.
With this view, Micah approaches the fields of film and literature with a near “spiritual”
reverence. It is with this reverence that Micah requires a story to be “allowed…
to speak through metaphor and imagery”, believing that to do otherwise and
overly “preach” the message would not be having faith that it will be
interpreted correctly. Micah sees the close identification with literature, and
his eventual contribution to it, as his life’s calling. In addition to this
pseudo-religious approach to a singular aim, Micah shows a natural affinity for
analysing the meanings of themes, this being his chief area of confidence. This
affinity for themes also manifests in how his interests draw his
attention. For instance, his enjoyment of the horror genre is less about
feeling afraid and more about grappling with the “metaphysical idea of fear
in a symbolic way made into reality”. Furthermore, he is clear that in his
own writing, he is not so much focused on character, or the plot, but more on
the underlying themes these superficial elements represent, with not all of his
love poems being “actually love poems”, but representing something
deeper. In these ways, we can see that Telos manifests as a prime,
all-encompassing motivator for Micah and a place of natural confidence. One
could say that Micah ‘lives and breathes’ thematic imagery and is a devotee to
creating and furthering these themes in literature. For this reason, the best
place for Telos is straightforwardly the Leading function.
Creative Function -
Emotions (E2)
Micah does not see himself as purely an analyst
of themes, but also a “storyteller”, and throughout his interview, the
desire to shore up the deeper meanings of events was interspersed with an
emotive quality that could engage a reader. Micah remarks that in his own
writing, there is often a “tragic” quality and he has written multiple
poems that would be quite moving. In discussing his own interest in literature,
above all other interests, Micah speaks of “passion” it instils in him
that he does not feel for other fields, and how that feeling of enthusiasm is
crucial for him to give the time to learn something, saying that “once you
get [his] heart there, [his] mind is already almost there.” Although a
teacher himself, Micah criticises schooling for taking the “exciting” elements
out of fiction, such that pupils lose interest in what ought to be emotionally
compelling. Furthermore, in mathematics, his least favourite subject, Micah
recalls a begrudging respect he felt towards his maths teacher, who eagerly
showed his own passion for the subject, which to Micah, may as well be “humanity”
itself. With this desire for passion comes an expectation on others to show
their emotions openly, with Micah becoming suspicious of his friendships with
those who do not communicate a positive reaction to him. At the same time,
Micah is able to adapt and shape his tone to the needs of his audience, being
able to “work in jokes” to his speeches to make them less boring
and, despite naturally being highly critical of written poetry, being tactful
and focusing on the positives when marking another person’s work, assuming the
quality of the work did not reflect on his own ability. From this information,
we can see that Emotions plays a strong and valued, but flexible and
subordinate role to Telos, giving his sense of underlying, thematic meaning, a
dramatic and emotional edge. This best fits the Creative function.
Role Function - Senses
(S3)
Talking to Micah, he appears to possess a
stable, calm demeanour, without the restlessness often seen with a type low in
Senses. On a few occasions, Micah mentions how he can be lazy, disposed to “chilling
and stuff”. He also shows a middling level of ability in day to day
maintenance, and upon being asked about the tidiness of his room, said that “people
are worse than me, but I’m not the best”. At college, he was capable at
keeping his clothes “off the ground”, but never took much pride in this
and never saw himself as a “very tidy person in general”. Furthermore,
we can see that Micah, despite feeling lazy, finds the idea of a workaholic to
be “very attractive”, which suggests that he is not comfortable with his
lack of activity and would prefer a more unhealthy level of activity. Overall,
this suggests that Senses is one of Micah’s weaker functions, but not the
weakest, while also not being valued, more something Micah does to middling
ability without appreciation. This is a good fit for the Role function.
Vulnerable Function -
Pragmatism (P4)
In general, Micah says that he has “never
really been exceptional… at anything” and does not feel confident in his
ability to do things well. Despite this, and not wanting to be “viewed as
dumb”, Micah has not evidenced much drive to increase his capabilities.
During his college degree, Micah worried about his finances, realising that
after graduating he would “have no idea [how] to make money”.
Nonetheless, he continued with his chosen degree of English because he enjoyed
it. Additionally, when trying to learn things, Micah soon realised that it was
a pointless activity unless he was passionate about the thing he wished to
learn. In these ways, we see that Micah’s priorities in decision-making are
counter to what is practical or about self-improvement, with him much
preferring to do what fires his passion, even if the stakes are high. Micah’s
difficulty with efficient implementation extends to how he articulates himself,
with Micah having a faltering, wordy way of communicating, with many uses of “like”
to stall his delivery of sentences and the inappropriate use of qualifications
like “almost” or “maybe”, such that the strength of his language,
when taken literally, does not match what he actually meant. At times, Micah
would pause and say “I’m not sure if I know how to explain”,
acknowledging the trouble he has with putting his thoughts into words. In
general, Micah avoided the use of objective fact when speaking, preferring to
begin controversial sentences with “To me, it is…” and ground the truth
of the statement in personal opinion, seemingly an area in which he feels more
authority to speak from. What we can see from this is that Micah struggles to
accumulate and work with factual information he is not passionate about and has
a more universal trouble assessing how to do things well and whether he has
done a good job, making it a very weak area. At the same time, he deprioritises
attempts to overcome this difficulty, showing he does not value it. This range
of qualities best fits the Vulnerable function.
Suggestive Function -
Force (F5)
Micah expresses an interest and attraction to
the wilful and dynamic, even workaholic “hero” of the stories he
analyses. However, when asked about his ‘own story’, Micah said that he is “usually
no[t]” the hero, reserving this for “people [he] admire[s]”.
Additionally, he was quick to identify the physical activity of sports as one
of the areas he is least confident in, and has recently felt “annoy[ed]”
at his own lack of assertiveness while teaching at school, feeling unable to “get
[the] respect” from his pupils to cause them to be quiet, something which
he has seen other teachers achieve “automatically”. As well as lacking
assertiveness and the dynamism to see himself as a ‘hero’, Micah shows a
general difficulty moving from his thoughts to activity, sometimes due to
laziness, or especially when having feelings of emotional distress, and “if
[he doesn’t] have someone forcing [him] to do something… it’s really hard for
[him] to do” something productive. What we can see from this is a
pronounced lack of confidence and ability in Force, with Micah very much seeing
himself as support for more engaging individuals. At the same time, it appears
that Micah values this area, seeing things in terms of who is more ‘heroic’ and
appreciating the forceful willpower that others can provide for him. For these
reasons, Force best fits the Suggestive function for Micah.
Mobilising Function –
Laws (L6)
Although struggling with the practicality of
learning factual information and applying it well, Micah shows more confidence
in his ability to “analyse themes” and seems to readily enjoy picking
apart the underlying meaning from surface material in literature and film.
Although struggling to articulate himself efficiently, Micah shows a refined
sense of the distinctions between the ideas he is analysing and has formulated
a clear sense of “how [he] see[s] the world” and reality. Analysis of
literature is also something he takes seriously, with Micah being “harsh or
critical” of the poetry he and others construct. Indeed, despite not
feeling very intelligent, intelligence is a quality his friends readily
identify in him, and although he will avoid games and puzzles that may make him
look “dumb” in front of others, Micah will feel confident with certain
other logical games like chess. What can be garnered from this is that Laws is
another area of middling natural ability for Micah, but something which he has
taken seriously and is able to use competently in his chosen field. This is a
good fit for the Mobilising function.
Ignoring Function -
Ideas (I7)
It is clear that Micah’s chief interest is in
writing literature, and when asked what he would do if this were not an option,
he would still like to be in a career that is in close proximity to this field,
showing a passionate but singular devotion. While only able to learn that which
fires up his passion, it is also clear that Micah maintains a focused, even
narrow scope on what creates that passion, and does not seem to collect a broad
range of different interests. Nevertheless, Micah does showcase an ability and
confidence in analysing ambiguity and breadth of shifting perspectives,
particularly when applied to literature, with him enjoying how perception of a
story can shift depending on the viewpoint of each character in a story. What
this suggests is that Ideas is a limited, even suppressed area for Micah, but
which can be used powerfully in service of his Leading function. The Ignoring
function best fits this description.
Demonstrative Function –
Relations (R8)
A regularly occurring theme for Micah is his
focus on close attachments to certain individuals, and this can be seen in his
work, with him being “quite fond of… using couples” and love poems, but
normally as “metaphors” for deeper themes. This can also be seen in who
he identifies as heroes, being the individual people in his life that he “admire[s]”.
When feeling inadequate, it is notable that Micah focuses more on his
personal relationships and experiences strong feelings in this area. He may
begin to “question” his friendship with someone if the other person
reacts apathetically to him, causing him further anxiety. This can be quite
intense for Micah, with him temporarily abandoning poetry due to the pain of a
particular relationship, where he eventually wrote a poem for them. What we can
see from this is a consistent, dominant theme for Micah that runs alongside his
Leading and Creative functions. The strong focus in this area indicates that it
is a strong function. However, it does not appear to be valued, but rather
something Micah returns to when feeling inadequate. Furthermore, when given the
choice between focusing on personal character for its own sake and broader
themes, Micah will choose the latter. For these reasons, we can see Relations
as being very strong and prevalent for Micah, but unvalued and not used for its
own sake, while seen more when he is lower in confidence. This best fits the
Demonstrative function.
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