Understanding the Inferior Personality Function – Everyday Fulfillment
No Vacation Required
Have you ever had one of those moments where extreme stress makes you act like a completely different person? Maybe you suddenly become hyper-focused on the tiniest details, or you find yourself melting down over something that usually wouldn't bother you at all.
We’ve been there. In fact, we still catch ourselves doing it.
This week, we are wrapping up our personality stack series by talking about the inferior function – or as it's often called, "the grip." This is the fourth position in your personality stack, and it is often likened to a toddler. While the metaphor is a bit clumsy, we use it because it is very easy to understand: When the toddler is happy, everything’s peaceful. But when the toddler is overtired and stressed? It can be total chaos.
The good news is that once you know it's there, it stops being something that happens to you and starts being something you can actually work with. That’s what we want for you.
Onward and Inward,
COMMON QUESTIONS ANSWERED IN THIS EPISODE
❓What is the inferior personality trait? Your inferior trait is the fourth function in your personality stack. It is the least developed part of your personality, often compared to a toddler. It develops late in life and tends to stay behind the scenes until extreme stress brings it out.
❓What happens when I am in "the grip"? When you are under severe stress, your inferior function can completely take over, which is why it is often called “the grip.” When someone is in “the grip,” they may act completely out of character. For example, the logical strategist is overtaken by emotional hypersensitivity, or the empathetic idealist becomes hyper-focused on cold data.
❓How can I use my inferior trait in a healthy way? When you are healthy and aligned, your inferior trait can serve you beautifully. By bringing awareness and intention to your inferior trait, you allow it to be a grounding force and a helpful balance in your personality stack.
❓Why does the personality industry focus so much on rigid types? Much of the self-help industry relies on quick answers and easily digestible content for clicks. True personality work requires nuance and a willingness to explore the gray areas, which takes more time but ultimately leads to a much deeper understanding of yourself.
CHAPTERS
(00:00) Mind Share: The New Siri AI
(01:18) Understanding your inferior personality trait (The Grip)
(04:15) What "the grip" looks like in real life
(07:00) How severe stress triggers your inferior personality function
(10:30) Why the grip demands attention
(15:30) Using your inferior personality trait for good
(19:36) Mailbag: Why is the personality industry so obsessed with rigid boxes?
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TRANSCRIPT
Caanan (00:01)
Ever wonder why extreme stress makes you act like a completely different person? Well in our final installment we're talking about how your inferior personality function can serve you or can turn you into an unrecognizable stress case.
Caanan (00:19)
Kent, I'm going dominate this mind share because I'm excited to talk about something that I don't think a lot of people have experienced yet. And that is the new Siri AI. Did that sound like an Apple presentation?
Kent (00:33)
That actually works.
Caanan (00:34)
The new Siri AI. we've been running the public beta of OS 27, and after many years, many, many years of a
Caanan (00:46)
poorly functioning, if not just pure maddening Siri. I am very excited to tell you that the new Siri AI actually works and works really well. And I can't tell you as people who are all in in the Apple ecosphere, what a relief this is.
Kent (01:17)
Okay, we love talking about the inferior position. I love it. Fourth position in your personality stack. This is week four. Go back and listen to weeks one, two, and three on dominant personality function, auxiliary personality function, and tertiary personality function. this, the interior function
Caanan (01:42)
inferior.
Kent (01:43)
Yeah.
Kent (01:45)
inferior function, the fourth function
Kent (01:48)
It's so funny, and in in a way, it's really interesting because it's so undeveloped. we refer to it and it's referred to often as sort of a a toddler. it develops so late in life that if you know about it, it's just a young 'un to contend with. so thus, once you know your personality and you know
Kent (02:11)
What your inferior function is, then you can recognize it. And much like tertiary that we talked about last week, it can be used for good in such a powerful way. But oftentimes it takes recognizing the rough part of it to know, okay, wait, now I know my personality. First step. Now I know how all these functions
Kent (02:37)
First, second, third, and fourth show up. So you can see this inferior function and how it shows up. And for me, it totally makes me laugh because in a negative sense, it will show up in the most obvious un-you way So when my least effective function has entered the room in an unproductive way, it gets very tasky
Kent (03:06)
Plain and simple. I do not operate well in that mode. I like to keep things ordered, all that stuff. But getting very here and now, very tasky is very not me. So th you know, thinking about say the stress of travel, which we used to do a ton of and we still do quite a bit of, a perfect example is if I'm not
Kent (03:34)
in a good headspace, using my whole personality during that stressful transition to travel, I can immediately go into tasky mode. oh no, what about this? oh no, what about that? oh no, what about this? Yeah. And knowing my personality, I can catch it
Kent (03:52)
very quickly. but I think of if I didn't have that knowledge, you know, I've I've known my personality so long now that it's not accurate to say
Kent (04:04)
I haven't spent a lot of time not knowing my personality. So I can recognize this, but we can see – kind of opening up the conversation – we can see when people are in this inferior position, also known as the grip, because that's what happens. If you are not tuned up, if you are not aligned, you go into the grip and you can see people
Kent (04:31)
at their most stressful in their grip if you see a personality emerging that feels very awkward and clunky and forceful high
Caanan (04:46)
Yeah.
Kent (04:47)
drama so it appears that can present as kind of sad and kind of pathetic and kind of no, look at so and so melting down, right? Doesn't that come to mind?
Caanan (05:00)
Melting down.
Kent (05:01)
When
Kent (05:01)
the grip or the inferior has taken over in an unaware way,
Caanan (05:07)
Yeah.
Kent (05:07)
those are those moments. And oftentimes like somebody thinks it's easier to see in other people than it is in yourself. But
Caanan (05:14)
Yes.
Kent (05:15)
rest assured when somebody f seems to be breaking down in a very ungraceful way, they are in their grip.
Caanan (05:25)
For me, the grip... Kent both you and I are external sensors. So we get very focused if we're in our grip on the outside world. And we
Kent (05:39)
Tasky stuff.
Caanan (05:40)
very tasky. But for me, that shows up – and I laugh at this because I used to think this was a strength. And that's kind of how the grip works, A lot of times you you might think it's a strength –
Caanan (05:53)
but I get very, very hyper attuned to the external world. And to the point where if I'm really in my grip, which I'm glad to say doesn't happen very much anymore, and I can recognize it when it does, I can barely function unless my surroundings are perfect. Otherwise, I'm like that lights off, that
Caanan (06:20)
Bowl is in the wrong place and I look like a total monster. Like I I completely can't function.
Caanan (06:28)
If my external surroundings aren't serving me, but that in fact is the grip.
Caanan (06:37)
Thanks for listening. We'd be honored if you'd subscribe, like, and share. It means the world to us.
Kent (06:45)
there's something really interesting here because when you're getting training in this, when you're learning about this, you learn about people who not only don't know their personality, but people who are under prolonged stress, as so many people are in especially today's world, and we talk about this a lot. Like there is an increasing need for knowledge about personality and who you are.
Kent (07:08)
As again, as we always say, it's like we have to say it at least once in every four pack of episodes. No special anything, no pills, no whatever. Just
Kent (07:19)
Go deeper into the examination, knowledge of who you are. Because the sad truth is
Kent (07:28)
There are so many people that are so stressed out that they're operating completely in their inferior function. Or they're not completely in their inferior. They're operating from their inferior function. And it's it's
Kent (07:47)
You know, they say when the grip takes over, you can feel completely out of character, hypersensitive, tunnel visioned... and when you're observing it, this is how it can feel in people.
Kent (07:59)
It's when you look at people, that person on the street or that loved one going through something or that friend making mistake after mistake after mistake, where you say, What is wrong with this person?
Kent (08:14)
This inferior
Kent (08:15)
Position can rise to the top under extreme stress. And we've talked about the opposite of running smoothly. Yeah. During I think two of the three episodes so far. When you have mild stress, you can tend to
Kent (08:37)
lean way too much into your dominant, making you this kind of unbearable know it all. When you have high, mild, or moderate stress, you can lean into your dominant and tertiary functions, which are going to be either both
Kent (08:55)
introverted or both extroverted, making you get into your own private world of introversion and extroversion and kind of thinking you've got things figured out, but under more severe stress – plain and simple – this inferior position or the grip can take over. So again, in me it can look like
Kent (09:22)
getting super tasky from the jump, having this
Kent (09:26)
Opposite reaction to what is authentic and natural for me, which is being in a world of possibilities and envisioning and a kind of unspoken knowing when I go into the exact opposite world of being very here and now five senses oriented.
Kent (09:52)
If I start there without the balance of the other personality positions, it can get really, really intense. So this is the thing. Watch out for severe stress, prolonged stress, mental exhaustion, when you're feeling depleted, which again, so many of you are right now,
Kent (10:17)
This inferior function can pop up and say, I'm here. to run your personality.
Caanan (10:24)
Yeah. To
Caanan (10:27)
to make myself your entire personality. you said two things that I think are really helpful. One is that the grip is kind of a toddler, Yeah. And it makes me think that, you know, like having a toddler in your life or just in a space you're in, if that toddler is happy and preoccupied.
Caanan (10:52)
Entertaining his or herself, everything's great. It's adorable. But if that toddler is having a meltdown, everything stops to pay attention to the toddler. It sucks up all the air in the room. And that is the grip. when you are under severe stress, it completely takes over. And
Caanan (11:17)
when you were talking about Kent the the way these are positioned, I just wanna say that the grip, you can look at it almost like sitting opposite your dominant. And
Kent (11:28)
Yes.
Caanan (11:29)
when it takes over, what's so fascinating about it is it really does shut down everything else. Yes. So instead of those places you go with your your low level stress where you're really in your dominant
Caanan (11:47)
Function, but it which is not a great thing, but it's still your dominant function. It's a strength. Or you're in that middle level stress where you're in the dominant tertiary loop, your own little world. Also not great, but you're still calling on different parts of your personality. When you're in the grip, you're in your most immature and siloed state, and it can be completely
Caanan (12:16)
completely debilitating.
Kent (12:19)
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Kent (12:48)
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Kent (13:03)
So this is such a strange one and it it's always mind blowing to me. You know, we're helping a friend going through a really, really tough time, and it just never ceases to amaze me how
Kent (13:19)
When things are really tough, and when you are quote unquote, and our friend says this, I'm not feeling myself. How many times have you heard? How many times have you said that yourself? Have you said that yourself or heard loved ones go through that at different points? I'm not feeling myself. And this friend will really not be being themselves. They will be acting out of their
Kent (13:46)
inferior function and it's the most bizarre thing about how when you're in the most – Caanan you said that so beautifully in the last segment – the most severe kind of stress
Kent (14:00)
Something pulls you right down into your greatest weakness and not from a place of empowerment, from a place of feeling stuck. So when I get all tasky, I can do it, I can pull it off. But when it's not coming from a embodied place of my entire personality stack.
Kent (14:23)
It can feel just debilitating. So I think of this friend who always wants to be operating out of their inferior personality place. And literally like the stress is so severe that something is overcoming them. Yeah. Where when we have these beautiful talks, it's like, don't forget, like, here's a great place to be
Kent (14:53)
Coming from, yeah, gosh, I need to, I need to be doing that because it feels so right. And every time I do that, that feels so right. And for us, the learning is always this is why you know yourself and you hone this and you're practicing this, so that in these moments of great stress, the knowledge is already within you. Yeah, so you are working the system
Kent (15:20)
properly. So for like Caanan and I, it's like feeling a little stressed, stay far away from
Kent (15:28)
that inferior function.
Caanan (15:32)
Yeah.
Caanan (15:32)
Cause when you know yourself, you can recognize these things. Without knowing your personality type, the grip, although it feels terrible, can feel kind of natural, right? So if you don't know what the grip is and you don't know what your grip, what your inferior function is, you can't recognize it. When you do, you can. But I wanna make sure that
Caanan (16:00)
y'all understand that the grip is not inherently bad. Because it
Caanan (16:07)
it does get talked about. I mean, even the term the grip is so yeah kind of negative. But there is a beautiful way that the grip plays, I should say the inferior plays into your whole personality stack. And I told you before, like when I'm in my grip, I get very hyper
Caanan (16:29)
Attuned, hypersensitive to my surroundings, and it can shut down my ability to function, you know, as a fully realized adult. I I get really stuck, right?
Kent (16:42)
Yeah.
Caanan (16:43)
But when everything's going well, and I'm glad to say that's most of the time, my grip serves me, my inferior serves me in a really wonderful way.
Kent (16:57)
Do you
Kent (16:58)
make it serve you?
Caanan (16:59)
Yeah.
Caanan (17:00)
It it makes me very aware of our surroundings in a way that allows me to appreciate the beauty around me and that allows me to make sure our surroundings are in a place that promotes
Kent (17:16)
Yeah.
Caanan (17:16)
my intuition and allows me to rest and relax into my dominant characteristics.
Caanan (17:24)
i it can serve you, as long as you know what it is and what it does and how it can serve you, it can serve a really beautiful part of your personality.
Kent (17:34)
Yeah, and that's I think the theme, right, of these four weeks is it's like I was just having a conversation with a relative the other day about this. It's like if you know anything
Kent (17:48)
You're better off because you have the knowledge and then you have choice and agency and efficacy in what you do. So the same holds true with personality. This thing that you don't have to know, that you're not required to know. But if you know it within yourself, then you know how you're wired and you know how to use all the parts of you from the most dominant to the most un.
Kent (18:17)
What unmature?
Caanan (18:18)
The most immature
Kent (18:19)
The most immature inferior, you make all of those work for you. And the great thing is, you know, we had a question a week or two ago about what do you do about weaknesses? When you view things through the lens of a) knowledge and b) your strengths, then you can put a spotlight on your weaknesses. And when you're coming from a place of that knowledge,
Kent (18:43)
Those weaknesses, those tertiary and in this case inferior personality traits, just get lifted right up. So I know the work that we do and we encourage clients to do to with this knowledge, you've got this awareness of what is in this fourth dreaded
Caanan (19:05)
Yeah.
Kent (19:06)
spot. And it is no longer an enemy of you. It's this
Kent (19:13)
fun little thing that you know about that you're then able to stay on top of and incorporate into your personality, who you are, in a way that is completely empowering.
Kent (19:37)
Okay, our final mailbag from this four-pack. we just got this email yesterday. And by the way, please email questions. We love doing mailbag. this person says, I love the nuance that you've brought to these two personality series you've done. Why is the personality industry so obsessed with putting people in rigid boxes instead of
Kent (20:02)
showing this kind of range and nuance.
Caanan (20:08)
I'm raising my hand. I'm raising my hand. I could talk about this all day long. And first off, thanks for that compliment because we do try to bring the nuance. It's a big part of what we're doing here. And it's just a big part of our personality. we don't mind living in the gray and holding lots of competing ideas and digging into something. We love that. So
Caanan (20:34)
When it comes to personality, I could say lots of things, but I'll say a few. You know, a lot of this industry, the self-help industry, which, I guess we fall into, is really about quick answers and clicks and monetizing content. And so there isn't a lot of room for
Caanan (20:57)
Nuance. For nuance. Yeah. There isn't a lot of room for nuance. It you know, it doesn't pay. People don't want to go that deep.
Kent (21:04)
Yes, that's what I thought too. Yeah. Not to interrupt you completely, but people also have been trained to want quick fixes. Yeah.
Caanan (21:10)
Yeah. So, there's a lot out there to provide you with the quick fix you think you want. Fortunately, we understand that people like you and a lot of people want more nuance. They want deeper answers. They want to feel like they're being like they're being cared for and they're being told what's actually going on because there's so much power in that.
Kent (21:34)
Because they're being seen in a deeper way. Yes. This is what I got from that question. Like some of those cursory things feel kind of good, but they don't feel like they're the whole me.
Caanan (21:46)
no, that it's like eating styrofoam. you feel full. Yeah. But it's lacking any nutrients.
Kent (21:52)
Yeah, I mean I think of like I think of this person who probably had one of the quick things from a magazine. Yeah. It's like you're a bull or you're a horse or you're a turtle or you're a snail these things that give you these traits where you're like,
Kent (22:11)
That is like me. I'm very strong headed when I enter a room. Yeah. Right, but then that's the end of your story. That's the end of your story according to a majority of the personality tests.
Caanan (22:21)
Yeah,
Caanan (22:21)
and I really appreciate that question, this question, because what you're saying, Kent, those really are those are parlor tricks. Those are fun. That's entertainment. And that's okay. there's a spot for that. It I don't hate that. But it isn't answers, it isn't a deep dive into personality, and it isn't ultimately helpful. It can actually be a little more harmful than anything. So
Kent (22:45)
You're such
Kent (22:45)
a Miranda.
Caanan (22:49)
And I'm being
Caanan (22:49)
so slithering right now.
Kent (22:52)
Yeah.
Caanan (22:53)
I'm really such a cappuccino in this moment. But again, I appreciate that question and I hope you listening appreciate that we try to go a little bit deeper and it may be confusing at times and maybe it's too much and maybe it's too little at times, but our goal is to go beyond
Caanan (23:13)
The algorithm and the clicks and the monetization of content and all of those things that are so prevalent, and just tell you what we know to be true and our experience, and we hope it helps you ultimately figure out your personality and have that serve you in a really beautiful, joyful way.