Ethics description

Ethics, sometimes erroneously called feeling (an analogous dimension in MBTI and Keirsey Type Theory) is a rational information in socionics. It is expressed in the categories of extroverted ethics or introverted ethics, symbolically depicted as and , respectively.

In broad terms, ethics deals with information that is emotional in nature. This includes attitudes towards others, emotional expression and excitation, and social cues. Formally, describes exterior emotional space; the emotional information contained in the observable space in and around someone. By contrast, describes the information in the interior emotional space, which is the emotional information inside a person and not observable to the outside. More generally, deals with information that is communicable and visible in the surrounding environment, while information concerns a more inner-directed, private and individual flavor of emotional experience and personally held emotions and values. One might describe as taking a perspective that emotions are extraindividual and publicly visible, while takes the perspective that emotions are personally held. Note that the locus of being interior does not mean that they are more focused on their own emotions rather than those of others -- merely that in attending to the emotions of others, they will pay attention to those emotions that are in others' interior emotional space.

As an anecdotal application, consider two individual at a party or other social gathering of some kind. The type at the party may be more openly expressive or more openly contributing to or constructing the nature of the mood. This individual probably is interacting loudly, boisterously, or promoting positive modal affect in a large group. The type may also be interacting freely and expressively with anyone; they are unlikely to bear enduring judgments or attitudes towards others but rather are more focused on whether others are actively contributing to the emotional situation at hand. Sometimes, if the type is not immediately in the proximity of someone else who might affect the mood or is around people who are emotionally unresponsive, they may suddenly become significantly less exuberant and sometimes even unresponsive. The type, by contrast, is more likely to be introspective, private, and somewhat more standoffish and unresponsive to the emotional mood. If the type is concerned with the emotional ambience surrounding the situation, the type has a greater emotional attunement to the participants of the situation, and is not freely expressive, but rather inclined to interact in a calm, friendly, direct and more intimate manner.

As always, the example is stupid and ridiculously simplistic; all people have some degree of and in all situations that they interact in. Naturally, an type will not be exclusively standoffish (and in fact are very often personable and friendly) and do possess the ability to express their feelings and maintain a subdued attitude of joviality and group excitement, and types similarly are not exclusively focused on the emotional mood to the utter exclusion of their feelings towards other individuals. Additionally, neither intimacy nor love are exclusively themes. Rather, dispositions towards others and private sentiments is the primary focus of types, and their attention to the emotional mood is usually in deference to their attitudes towards others; similarly, the emotional mood of a situation is the primary focus of types and their attitudes and behaviors towards other individuals and are commonly a reflection of the broader context of that person's influence on the situational mood. In actuality, both of these elements necessarily work together in producing the rather intricate customs and behaviors involved in any kind of social interactions.

Extroverted Ethics

is most often associated with vibrancy and involvement of emotional expression, excitability, free and uninhibited expression, and attentiveness to the emotional mood or environment. types are most strongly attuned to the visible, outward expression of emotional states, and dominant types usually have a wide emotional range which they express spontaneously. Their interpretation of their emotional experiences as well as their opinions of others can tend to be somewhat transient and dependent on others' involvement in the situation, which can lead dominants to sometimes feel that their emotional world is chaotic and moody and to mistake themselves as irrational types for this reason (most commonly among EIEs). In addition, types have a tendency to be projective of the motivations of others; since is focused on information relating to transient emotional states which cannot be observed directly, making implicit assumptions about the emotional drives that motivate others is a normal modus operandum for types, especially dominants. Put another way, the exterior emotional space is constantly changing and assumptions must be made on the fly in order to correctly interpret it, which is the attitude types bring to their lived experiences even if the content they are reasoning about is not explicitly emotional.

is a rational element, and dominants (and particularly ESEs, who often feel a responsibility to serve the needs of those around them) can often be driven towards particular goals, and may take their assumptions about others as a starting point for addressing these goals (for example, an ESE observing another person quiet and unresponsive may spontaneously -- and incorrectly -- infer that the person is bored because he or she has insufficient video games, and might immediately go to the store and buy additional video games). ESEs and SEIs, with valued , may exhibit an emotionality that is somewhat immediate in terms of emotional environment and largely positive and upbeat; by contrast, EIEs and IEIs can tend to be somewhat more melodramatic and are often somewhat more tolerant of negative affect.

Introverted Ethics

is typically associated with a private, internal, and introspective experience of one's emotional states, friendly and mild emotional atmospheres, stable interpersonal dispositions and relational bonds, moral judgments, and moral conscience. Naturally, moral judgments and moral conscience are not specific to but tend to be associated with primarily because many types, especially dominants, can tend to be highly morally conscious and sometimes morally judgmental (most typically, ESIs). Most dominants tend to be conscientious and somewhat perdurable in their emotional attitudes; creatives are also strongly attuned to their internal dispositions, but may tend to be somewhat flakier or more volatile in their attitudes. In general, types may focus more on intimacy and shared experience with others than on socializing based on excitation or group-centered affect, and may tend to prefer interacting in smaller groups. types also often tend to be rather personable and value very highly their close relationships.

In contrast to , the interior emotional space changes from time to time, but on the whole is not rapidly fluctuating. Rather, the character of an individual is, while changeable in the long term, relatively stable in the short term. types are not likely to make assumptions about what is driving someone's emotional state, but they may more easily make assumptions about what is driving someone's character.