Shadow Personalities

We have seen ALOT information out there revolving around shadow personalities. We went back and forth on the subject for a long time, but didn’t start to settle on any kind of opinion until we started getting emails asking about the shadow functions. (Basically, we felt like we had to. Ha!) Anyhow, in this article, we’re going to cover the theory in brief and then share what makes the most sense to us. Obviously, you’re all welcome to hold a different opinion.

WHAT IS A SHADOW PERSONALITY?

If you’re new to the concept, we’ll begin by explaining what we’re talking about. Basically, in times of extreme stress, any type may begin to display the extreme negative or immature tendencies of another personality type. That personality type is typically an opposite of their current type. So, for instance, an introvert would suddenly start acting like an extravert. Obviously, anyone stuck in shadow mode will be very unhealthy and possibly self-destructive.

THE SHADOW FUNCTIONS THEORY

In order to understand shadow functions, the first thing you need to understand is that every personality type is theorized to have all 8 functions in their stack. If you’ve been dabbling in the 16 types personality theory for any length of time, you probably have a decent grasp on which functions are your primary 4. However, in the case of the shadow functions, it’s functions 5-8 that become relevant, since those are the 4 that you’re going to fall back on. For reference sake and ease of understanding, we’ll go ahead and list out every type with all 8 functions in order, but we’ll pair each with their shadow so you can see the contrast.

ISTP: Ti-Se-Ni-Fe-Te-Si-Ne-Fi
ESTJ: Te-Si-Ne-Fi-Ti-Se-Ni-Se

INTP: Ti-Ne-Si-Fe-Te-Ni-Se-Fi
ENTJ: Te-Ni-Se-Fi-Ti-Ne-Si-Fe

ISFP: Fi-Se-Ni-Te-Fe-Si-Ne-Ti
ESFJ: Fe-Si-Ne-Ti-Fi-Se-Ni-Te

INFP: Fi-Ne-Si-Te-Fe-Ni-Se-Ti
ENFJ: Fe-Ni-Se-Ti-Fi-Ne-Si-Te

ESTP: Se-Ti-Fe-Ni-Si-Te-Fi-Ne
ISTJ: Si-Te-Fi-Ne-Se-Ti-Fe-Ni

ESFP: Se-Fi-Te-Ni-Si-Fe-Ti-Ne
ISFJ: Si-Fe-Ti-Ne-Se-Fi-Te-Ni

ENTP: Ne-Ti-Fe-Si-Ni-Te-Fi-Se
INTJ: Ni-Te-Fi-Se-Ne-Ti-Fe-Si

ENFP: Ne-Fi-Te-Si-Ni-Fe-Ti-Se
INFJ: Ni-Fe-Ti-Se-Ne-Fi-Te-Si

A few things to notice here:
1. One’s shadow personality is essentially their top 4 functions inverted… meaning, change what’s introverted to extraverted and what’s extraverted to introverted. Leave them in the same order, and you’ll have your shadow personality based on the shadow functions theory.

2. A thinking dominant in shadow mode will still be a thinking dominant, just the other type of thinking dominant. IE: an ISTP with dom Ti turns into an ESTJ with dom Te. This principle holds true for every other type. The order of your function types do not change, just the orientation.

3. A shortcut to determining your shadow personality is simply to switch your E/I to the opposite, and your J/P to the opposite. IE: An ST remains an ST. An NF remains an NF. Etctera.

Now, if we actually subscribed to this theory, right around here is when we’d start talking about the 5th or “opposing” function, the 6th or “critical parent”, etc. However, we do not really see value in this theory, and we will explain why. Once again, we’re not trying to criticize anyone who does. To each his own.

OUR STRUGGLE

Basically, we view the shadow functions theory as an over complication of personality theory. Everytime someone pulls in shadow functions to explain an unhealthy behavior, we usually don’t find it difficult to account for that same behavior with their top 4 functions, which ultimately suggests to us that reaching down to the shadows functions is pointless. We believe that people essentially mimic the roles of the 4 functions that they lack via combinations of their main 4, and that ultimately we do NOT each have all 8 functions. If you wish to inquire about this further, feel free to comment or shoot us an email.

WHAT FORM OF SHADOW THEORY DO WE SUBSCRIBE TO?

What we see as making the most sense is that in shadow mode, we display the personality type of our top 4 functions in reverse order. Meaning, an ISTP (Ti-Se-Ni-Fe) reversed would be an Fe-Ni-Se-Ti or an ENFJ. Think about it this way. We already know that every personality type can fall into the grip of their inferior functions. Someone stuck in shadow mode is typically just in a more extreme or long term version of a grip. An ISTP that’s stuck in the grip of inferior Fe will start to look like an extremely unhealthy or immature Fe dominant. He/she will start displaying unhealthy Ni along with unhealthy Fe, while simultaneously shoving dominant Ti to the wayside. You’re going to see explosive and inappropriate emotional outbursts, fear of an impending negative future, and possibly controlling or manipulative behavior. Sure, an extremely clumsy and angry Fe function could look similar to Te (8 function model puts ESTJ as an ISTP’s shadow), but ultimately it will just be bad Fe. (Fe and Te dominants can be more similar than some people realize.)

The same would be true for any other type doing this as well. They would essentially reverse their stack, becoming their opposite. So for reference:

ISTP: Ti-Se-Ni-Fe
ENFJ: Fe-Ni-Se-Ti

INTP: Ti-Ne-Si-Fe
ESFJ: Fe-Si-Ne-Ti

ISFP: Fi-Se-Ni-Te
ENTJ: Te-Ni-Se-Fi

INFP: Fi-Ne-Si-Te
ESTJ: Te-Si-Ne-Fi

ESTP: Se-Ti-Fe-Ni
INFJ: Ni-Fe-Ti-Se

ESFP: Se-Fi-Te-Ni
INTJ: Ni-Te-Fi-Se

ENTP: Ne-Ti-Fe-Si
ISFJ: Si-Fe-Ti-Ne

ENFP: Ne-Fi-Te-Si
ISTJ: Si-Te-Fi-Ne

We feel that this more accurately accounts for ‘shadow’ behavior as it also falls in line with the more well known modes of gripping and looping. To break it down systematically, we tend to believe there are stages of unhealthy behavior. In most cases, looping will be the mildest version, which can descend into grip behavior, and the most extreme would be falling back into a shadow state. It just makes more sense to us as a whole that you would fall back on your lesser developed functions in an unhealthy state rather than completely replace the way your brain cognitively reasons. Even though ENFJ and ISTP are worlds apart when it comes to world views, at the end of the day, they are still reasoning with the same function set which allows for cross over in reasoning. An ESTJ and ISTP, however, will have completely different cognitive outlooks based on completely different mental processing. In other words, even in their most unhealthy state ISTPs will always see logic the way Ti sees it and never the way Te does.