Humanitarian Socionics

Rationals and irrationals. The rationality / irrationality dichotomy in socionics

In physical terms, the trait rationality / irrationality is manifested through the muscle tone of a person, that is, the relaxation / tightness of their body and organs. The rational type is always more tense in the body than the irrational type. The constant tone of the body makes the movements of the rational to appear mechanical, angular. To achieve complete body relaxation for them is not a small problem. Some rationals cannot relax their bodies even in their sleep.

The irrational type is somewhat relaxed more than it is necessary for a stable-rhythmic activity. Their problem is to keep the muscle tone at the same level for longer periods of time. For this reason, irrationals tend to take spontaneous, emergent actions. They are well spurred by an extreme situation.

Psychologically, rationals are characterized by a stable mood (it is either elevated, lowered, or neutral). Changes in their mood occur under the influence of visible reasons. The mood of the rational is quite manageable - it can get artificially amused or saddened.

Irrationals manage their mental state poorly. It is better for them to try and not to improve their mood, but to simply to wait it out, until a new spontaneous emotional change takes place. However, after an upswing in mood, a downswing inevitably follows. Uncertainty and randomness determine the mood swings of irrationals.

On the social level, rationals provide stability, adherence to traditions, or, conversely, persistent rejection of them. These people who follow a routine (which could be either constructive or destructive), without changing it fundamentally. The power of the rational type in society is to show regularity of action. Irrationals, on the other hand, create an unstable, everchanging society. Rigid discipline constraints them, but they also get tired of long-term freedoms. These are the types who feel bad if their state of affairs does not change for a long time. They need alternatives, constant switching, and variability.

Intellectually, rational types are distinguished by the fact that they make decisions easily, quickly, and categorically in a familiar situation. When situation is unusual or uncertain, they begin to doubt themselves, become nervous. They need some time to think things through.

In addition, rationals have a very good command of speech and auditory communication channels. These are the verbal types. They clearly formulate and consistently unfold their thoughts in speech or on paper. Internally, however, they switch to visual images.

Irrationals delay their final decisions in a standard situation, but with sudden changes in the situation, the choices are made quite quickly. The uncertainty, the probabilistic nature of a situation activates their thinking, makes them more resourceful and savvy. Therefore, they are more decisive precisely when the rationals tend to falter.

The external speech is a weak point for the irrationals. It is less clear and consistent, with jumps and losses of the main line of thought. Irrational children are more likely to have poor diction. Their main channel of information is visual. Thanks to this, they perceive the world more holistically, synthetically. They process perceived visual information internally in a verbal way.