Table of Contents
This guide will be merely an introductory tutorial for those who wish to learn the theory. This will be made so that one may learn socionics without ANY prior knowledge about the theory or what it entails. Everything will be properly explained and sourced so that people can form their own opinions and disagree with anything I write here. Nothing I write here is meant to be absolute, and edits are to be expected. I am not an expert on socionics but I believe I know enough about the theory to write as to disprove many myths about the theory as well as to help others get started.
Without further ado, socionics is a theory founded by Lithuanian sociologist Aušra Augustinavičiūtė due to her inspiration of Jung and Myer-Briggs and her wish to create her own deviation of the more mainstream personality theories. Socionics was developed in Russia (and corresponding territories such as Ukraine) during the age of the Soviet Union and therefore acted as a means to measure one's role in society. Therefore, one's ideology, beliefs, inclinations, and motivations are all important to consider due the context by which the theory was used.
"Socionics is the same as MBTI" - This is generally one of the most appalling things for anyone who has studied socionics to any level of depth. This notion is easily disprovable and those who continue to tout this idea in face of all the evidence in relation to the logic and evidence must either be crippled, foolish, or a malicious troll. There are various methods and examples to disprove this horrendous claim, and I have made a separate page for this here. Also check out my page on common, uncommon, rare, and (mostly) impossible MBTI + Enneagram/Socionics combinations here.
J/P Switch - This myth is similar to the "socionics=MBTI" myth which is founded on the idea that introverts in MBTI simply have to switch their J/P to get their sociotype. Hence these people believe for instance that all INTPs are LII (Ti base) in socionics. This is an absurdity, and most of the arguments on the link above will help remedy this.
Visual Identification - Believe it or not, this is actually a controversial thing to claim, as many people utilize visual identification to type people in a serious manner (it is called 'vultology' in some communities). However I think it is important to debunk visual identification because otherwise people will inquire about it. Some of the counterarguments seem rather obvious, but here we go:
Plastic Surgery: If someone has had any kind of plastic surgery, this can easily affect their typing in an artificial manner. It is also important to note that a typist might type someone without the foreknowledge that the subject has had a face-lift, nose-job, etc.
Culture: Socionics VI has generally been geared towards Russian people; hence cultures, different races and ethnicities should have varying results. I remember I have spoken to a person who deals with VI who has struggled typing Asian people; perhaps this should hint towards a greater problem in this regard.
Websites to Avoid -
Sociotype.com - This site incorrectly translates information, misuses information, posts misleading information, has a horrible test, and types people horrendously. This is generally the first site people see when they look up 'socionics', but this is a trap.
Socionics.com - This site is legitimately worse than sociotype. Not only does it erroneously combine MBTI and Socionics, it stereotypes both systems by claiming things such as sensors "see everyone and sense everything" and intuitives "often have doubts". Despite the name of the site, it is not an official socionics site and must be discarded.
Reddit - People on Reddit generally mishandle sources, believe in the "J/P switch", and purport other wacky, insane notions. If a redditor posts something made by a legitimate socionist, feel free to delve in, but I would ignore any personal commentary from the OP or the comments.
Tumblr - This is often worse than Reddit because people do not list their resources most of the time.
I think it is generally important to insert yourself into the framework of socionics, as it increases one's interest in the topic when they are personally involved.
Best Test: Aimtoknow's Test is the best available socionics test I have ever seen. Detailed results, decent questions, thorough and long. The 3 page PDF result tells you your type, how close you are to other types, your reinins, and the average preferences for people who score the same type as you. It was created by the socionist Victor Talanov, who is very well-received in the community. You don't really have to worry about the specifics of your results yet, as that will all be covered later in the guide. I should note that you should not take the #1 result as definitive, and that your type is most likely within the top 3-4 results, but even that might be incorrect, too.
Backup Test: Only take this test if aimtoknow is down. I would argue this test is semi-acceptable as a backup because of the questions consisting of direct socionics descriptions and simply asking which is more accurate to the subject. However, I highly discourage taking this test as a replacement for aimtoknow, as the results are not detailed enough for any observer to take note of. I personally refuse to acknowledge the results of this test unless aimtoknow is down.
Tests to Avoid:
Sociotype.com's Test: This test factors in visual identification, and asks you to pick out which of two faces are 'more compatible' as part of the results. Also, the results are not very specific and do not tell you your reinin preferences or exactly how close you are to another type. This test is the 16personalities test of socionics.
There are 16 types in socionics, which are divided into 4 quadra. Within each quadra, each type values the name 4 elements. The types are:
Alpha: ILE, LII, ESE, SEI (Value Ne, Ti, Fe, Si)
Beta: EIE, IEI, SLE, LSI (Value Fe, Ni, Se, Ti)
Gamma: LIE, ILI, SEE, ESI (Value Te, Ni, Se, Fi)
Delta: IEE, EII, LSE, SLI (Value Ne, Fi, Te, Si)
The abbreviations consist of 3 letters, which stand for:
The axis of their base element (I=Intuitive, S=Sensory, L=Logical, E=Ethical)
The axis of their creative element (Same as above)
Introvert or Extrovert (Intrarim or Extrarim); also indicates the orientation of the first element
For example, an ILI would be an Intuitive Logical Intrarim, while a SEE would be a Sensory Ethical Extrarim.
When looking at the home page on Wikisocion (the best site for studying socionics as a beginner), you can click any of the types to see its elements, reinins, and nicknames. There will also be a long link of hyperlinks to click on to see further, in-depth descriptions. I strongly suggest looking at Stratiyevskaya's or Gulenko's descriptions first, as Stratiyevskaya's descriptions tend to be the most relatable and accurate to subjects (from experience), while Gulenko seems to be the best to describe types in an externalized and analytical manner (easy to understand). Both Stratiyevskaya and Gulenko are excellent socionists with demonstrable ethos. However, the other descriptions should also be fine, but I have not read all of them for every type so I cannot really offer my own opinion on them as of now.
"Functions" in socionics are called elements, and this is likely to differentiate between MBTI's cognitive functions. That being said, these are the basic building blocks of each type.
If you click here, you can see quick definitions of the information elements in socionics.
For more in-depth view of each element within its placement within each sociotype, you can check these hyperlinks:
Model A is the most accepted manner of classifying subjects in socionics. The model takes all 8 elements and assigns values to them for every single type. For each element, it is either valued or unvalued, then placed into a priority of 1D to 4D (lowest to highest in strength). Wikisocion shows a wonderful chart here that explains the importance of Model A, as well as the names and blocks of each element in a type. Looking at the base page for any specific socionics type on wikisocion (SEI for example), you should be able to see the Model A table for each type, as well as the blocks.
I would like to note than the 1st element is also called base, the 4th as point of least resistance (PoLR), and the 6th as hidden agenda (HA).
As stated above, every type falls into 1 of 4 quadra: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta. While it is already known that the 4 types in each quadra share the 4 valued and unvalued elements, there are also certain characteristics of each quadra that keep the 4 types closer together. After all, types in the same quadra are much more likely to get along, and some of the best intertype relations are within the same quadra.
If you scroll down to the end of this page, there are pretty good quadra descriptions.
One of my teachers, FG, made excellent quadra descriptions that are also worth checking out here.
I have noticed that there are generally certain types of each quadra that may not perfectly relate to the general descriptions. I made my own theory on why this is, and you can read about it here. Even if you are not one of the types mentioned in my personal theory, quadra is not definitive in socionics, but it is very important in classification either way.
In MBTI, you get 4 dichotomies of Introversion/Extroversion, Intuition/Sensing, Thinking/Feeling, and Judging/Perceiving. However, in socionics, you get 15 dichotomies, in which every type has its own preference, and no 2 types have the same preferences for all 15 dichotomies. By personal experience, some dichotomies are a lot more important than others, like rational/irrational, static/dynamic, aristocratic/democratic, process/result and positivist/negativist. People will likely disagree with degrees of importance as they go through them, but many communities and figures agree that the dichotomies I mentioned above are some of the most important factors that correlate very well to the specific descriptions of types and quadra.
Here are quick links to each of the reinin dichotomies of socionics (not in any order of priority):
Yielding/Obstinate (Resource-Protecting/Interest-Protecting)
Carefree/Farsighted (Incidental/Cautious)
Merry/Serious (Subjectivist/Objectivist or Ascending/Descending)
Judicious/Decisive (Reasonable/Resolute or Peripheral/Central)
Process/Result (Right/Left or Evolutory/Involutory)
Asking/Declaring (Questim/Declarim or Interrogative/Declarative)
Remember not to take any single dichotomy as absolute or indicative of a type/not a type. It's very unlikely (from experience) that a person will relate to all 15 dichotomies of their sociotype.
One significant aspect of socionics that is unique to theory is its idea of intertype relations. In essence, there are functional relations between almost any combination of 2 types in socionics. There are 14 combinations, in which there are 12 symmetrical and 2 asymmetrical (one-sided) categories.
At the top of this page, you can see brief descriptions of each relation as well as all the possible combinations of such.
Here are quick links to each of the specific combinations of intertype relations:
Symmetrical
Identity (Identical)
Quasi-Identity (Quasi-Identical)
Semi-Duality (Partial-Duality)
Activation (Activity)
Kindred (Comparative or Congenerity)
Business (Look-a-Like or Cooperation)
Illusory (Mirage)
Extinguishment (Contrary)
Asymmetrical
Benefit (Benefactor>Beneficiary, Request, or Social Order)
Supervision (Supervisor>Supervisee, Audit, or Revision)
Important Note: These relations are not meant to be ranked chronologically in terms of priority or 'good vs bad' in terms of relationships, although duals, mirrors, and activation tend to go along very well, while extinguishment and conflict tend to end poorly. This is not to discourage people from attempting to befriend people of every single type though; just listing the theoretical patterns.
When typing others, you want to consider the person's mental patterns and behavior, as well as their ideology, motivations, and inclinations. This is why two mbti INTJs will be typed differently in socionics if say, one wants to actually fulfill their stereotype of world domination, while the other simply wants to do system synthesis and reformation. You want to be very careful when typing someone in socionics, as the sociotype is generally something that does not change in comparison to Jungian types or Enneagram. Personally, I do not type someone until I have spoken to them for at least 2-4 weeks, unless they are a stereotype of a certain sociotype. Even after that period of time, it can be extremely difficult for subjects, so patience is necessary from both sides to ensure an accurate typing.
You want to consider Model A/Elements > Quadra > Reinins > Intertype Relations when typing a subject. There should be that form of absolute priority when you are typing a subject (I.E. someone can fit all beta descriptions but if the elements do not match up, they are simply not a beta type). You want to know certain aspects of their raison d'être, as well as some background on their general political views on things. For instance, it's rare to find a gamma alt righter/antifa or a beta centrist (not absolutely indicative either). You do not need to look at every aspect of their life, or know their deepest darkest secrets, but you need to go beyond the surface level to have a better understanding of the individual.
Subtypes help give some further indication of one's type and can help establish intratype differences (same type relation). There are two common theories, both proposed by socionist Victor Gulenko.
The first is the common subtype you see in notation where the primary sociotype has a - at the end, then the abbreviation for either the base or creative element (ex: EIE-Fe vs EIE-Ni). You can only have a subtype with your base or creative, and the subtype helps indicate your orientation towards your other elements + a certain fixation of the subtype's element. A base subtype orients more to the 1st, 4th, 6th, and 7th elements (the inert elements), and a creative subtype orients more to the 2nd, 3rd, 5th, and 8th elements (the contact elements). You can read more about the inert/contact dichotomy here.
The second is DCNH, which is an additional subtype (wherein you can have the base or creative subtype in the first theory and still have another subtype here), which is either Dominant (D), Creative (C), Normalizing (N), or Harmonic (H). You can read more about it here.
Vital Note: Subtypes are often not considered as important as the rest of the theory, as indicated by my placement of this section last after literally everything else. Many people in the community will dismiss subtypes (including myself most of the time), but it is still important to know. Additionally, in terms of typing, never try to figure out your subtype before your core sociotype. For instance, never consider between something ILI-Te & LIE-Ni, but rather between ILI and LIE, then -Te or -Ni subtype.
Most resources have been hyper-linked whenever relevant to the topic at hand, but anything I did not otherwise embed into the text will be listed here.
Introduction:
Socionics Pages:
Other:
FG's Site (he helped teach me socionics and I credit him with a lot of the knowledge I have pertaining to this subject)