As with all the cognitive functions. extroverted intuition (Ne), plays one of eight different roles in the personality depending on which of the 16 personality types you have. This is per Jungian analyst John Beebe’s 8 function personality type model.
First we’ll take a look at Ne in general terms.
Intuition is like a sixth sense and can see aspects of the world beneath the surface and is a perception by the way of the unconscious per Carl Jung. Extroverted intuition sees through the outer layer. It lives in the world of ideas.
Carl Jung said the following about Ne in Psychological Types:
Because extraverted intuition is oriented by the object, there is a marked dependence on external situations, but it is altogether different from the dependence of the sensation type. The intuitive is never to be found in the world of accepted reality-values, but he has a keen nose for anything new and in the making. Because he is always seeking out new possibilities, stable conditions suffocate him …. So long as a new possibility is in the offing, the intuitive is bound to it with the shackles of fate.
Below is the infographic I made that describes all 8 archetypal roles of Ne. All personality types have Ne and it behaves differently depending where it is. Half of the 16 personalities have it in the top four functions where it is more conscious. The other half have it in shadow: :
These archetypes descriptions are just sketches and aren’t meant to be literal. The shadow functions in particular are highly qualitative.
Remember that no function ever acts separately from the other functions. Jung said we almost never see a pure form of a function. We consider a function only in order to better understand the whole of the personality.
This is part 3 of 8 in the series. Part four is about Introverted Intuition (Ni).
My other articles in this series:
The 8 archetypes of Extroverted Sensation
The 8 archetypes of Introverted Sensation
