Explaining Introverted Intuition (Ni) Tunnel Vision

People throw around the comments about how a weakness of Ni, or Introverted Intuition, is tunnel vision, but do you ever wonder why that is? Well, explaining the logic or theory behind the common MBTI stereotypes is something this blog is about, so I’m going to explain. I’m sure I’ve mentioned it briefly in other articles, but perhaps not explicitly or in enough depth.

To clarify, what exactly is “tunnel vision?”

Well, to break down the metaphor, imagine being in a dark, dank old railroad tunnel. It’s long enough so that most of what you see before you is pitch black… all but that small dot of white light at the very end. Tunnel vision is basically when someone gets so focused on one thing that they are unable to see any opposing information. They may even miss obvious or blatant contradictions, preferring to focus and believe in that one vision that they see at the end of the tunnel. Have you met anyone who does that? Honestly, I’m sure we all do from time to time, but tunnel vision is specifically a stumbling block for the high Ni users, like the INXJs and the ENXJs. (The INXJs will struggle with it the most since Ni is, in fact, their dominant function. )

Why does Ni have this problem?

In many articles, we’ve discussed that Ne, or Extraverted Intuition, is about seeing as many options or possibilities as… well, possible. Some people explain Ne as the unfiltered patterns that someone notices in the external world, and that certainly isn’t a bad description. So, with that in mind, what is Ni? Logically, you could say that Ni is a subjective, filtered subset of the patterns one observes in the external world, but don’t worry, I’ll try to explain it better than that.

Ni is not interested in all of the possibilities. Ni is interested in what is going to happen next. Ni wants to understand the big picture, or the grand pattern overlaying everything. Ergo, Ni is going to naturally narrow their focus in their effort to understand and predict. Ni observes the patterns surrounding it via Se and then internalizes these patterns in the form of an overarching impression of what happened, a template of sorts. As they internalize more and more patterns via life experience, these templates will subconsciously be fine tuned to the extent that as they approach a situation, they will automatically recognize it based on these subconsciously memorized patterns of events and behaviors. Remember, the Ni users are not aware that they are doing this – They oftentimes walk into a situation and just “understand” without ever consciously accessing their memory banks. From an Ni user’s standpoint, there are acting off of little to no information and just reacting based on their gut, instincts, or intuition.

Due to their abstract memory, Ni users don’t feel a need to rely on concrete information. They will do what their intuition tells them to do… which means that they are prone to making leaps or jumping to conclusions. Of course, these leaps may or may not actually be accurate. It’s going to be dependent on a multitude of factors like intelligence and life experience (whether the Ni user realizes it or not). After all, we don’t “magically” know anything. Everyone derives their knowledge from somewhere, whether it be concrete or abstract.

The Logic Behind Ni Tunnel Vision

One’s dominant functions is the function that they utilize the most. You prefer your dominant above all other functions. All other functions tend to serve the dominant function, and in an unhealthy state, become slave to it. When it comes right down to it, our lower functions will nearly always yield to our dominant. (Which, on a side note, is a tip for determining your dominant function – which function usually wins?)

Remember what I said about Ne? Well, Ne’s primary function is to pull in as many patterns as possible, but Ni is not like that. Ni is looking for the underlying scheme, the bones, the root, the structures… the key concept. Ni is not interested in anything that it has deemed irrelevant, frivolous, or not useful. Ni does not like to deal in details. Ni is a perception function that is not necessarily interested in gathering a bunch of information, but rather, the important information. The obvious flaw in that way of thinking is that sometimes what one deems unimportant now somehow becomes important later.

So, how does dominant Ni lead to tunnel vision? (Bear in mind, that I’m going to describe this state, but I’m in no way saying that Ni users always do this – that would be ridiculous and incredibly unhealthy. It’s just a tendency.) Anyways, as I mentioned earlier, Ni has a tendency to jump to a conclusion based on a hunch, and then once that happens, Ni users may have to reverse engineer that hunch in order to rationalize it.  What do I mean? Well, I have tertiary Ni, so let me give you a simplistic example. When someone asks me to determine the personality type of a fictional character in a show that I’ve seen before, usually a 4 letter type leaps instantly to my mind. I won’t know why that type came to mind, but even so, there it is. I’ll then have to work backwards from my “conclusion” to find the evidence to support the 4 letter type. That is basically how Ni works. Of course, the danger in that way of thinking is pretty clear: what if the evidence for the type doesn’t actually exist? What if I fail to open myself up to other options?

I’ve seen Ni users on several occasions get an idea in their head. Sometimes I can tell how that idea got there, and other times, I can’t. Maybe they get the idea because it’s backed by some subconscious memory (unbeknownst to them), or perhaps it fits neatly into some big picture perspective that they’ve derived or deduced. Regardless, they get the idea, and their intuition tells them that it’s true, so they believe it and cling to it. When questioned, the Ni user’s lower functions will begin grasping for information to prove that their vision, instinct, or derived concept is indeed correct. The lower functions will then funnel any supporting information to the dominant Ni to validate the idea, meanwhile Ni is stuck in the railroad tunnel, unable to see through the darkness on all sides. Contradicting opinions may get ignored or tossed aside in favor of their Ni vision… because as I mentioned, in an all out function battle, the dominant usually wins.

In conclusion…

Just to be clear: I am in no way picking on the Ni users! They can obviously be very insightful, as many descriptions state. I’m certainly not going to argue that. The purpose of this article was just explain what people mean when they throw around the term “tunnel vision” in reference to the Ni users. I hope you found this article helpful in some way.