Socionics relations chart

This is a relations chart: all sixteen socionics intertype relations, drawn for every ordered pair of the sixteen types. Find your type in the left column and read across. A cell's wash says which family the relation belongs to — easy, equals, hard, one-way — and at wider widths a two-letter code names it. Click a cell to see what that type is to you, then open the full page for the pair from there.

Two of the relations have a direction. Supervision and benefit read differently depending on which side of them you stand. The other twelve are symmetric: the cell above the diagonal and the cell below it say the same thing.

A relation describes what two stacks do to each other — what comes free, what takes work, and what neither of you will cover.

notation:

§1 The 16×16 matrix

ILESEIESELIIEIELSISLEIEISEEILILIEESILSEEIIIEESLI

ILEID DU AC MI BN▸SV▸BU MG SE EX QI CF ◂BN ◂SV KN SD

SEIDU ID MI AC SV▸BN▸MG BU EX SE CF QI ◂SV ◂BN SD KN

ESEAC MI ID DU KN SD ◂BN ◂SV QI CF SE EX BU MG BN▸SV▸

LIIMI AC DU ID SD KN ◂SV ◂BN CF QI EX SE MG BU SV▸BN▸

EIE◂BN ◂SV KN SD ID DU AC MI BN▸SV▸BU MG SE EX QI CF

LSI◂SV ◂BN SD KN DU ID MI AC SV▸BN▸MG BU EX SE CF QI

SLEBU MG BN▸SV▸AC MI ID DU KN SD ◂BN ◂SV QI CF SE EX

IEIMG BU SV▸BN▸MI AC DU ID SD KN ◂SV ◂BN CF QI EX SE

SEESE EX QI CF ◂BN ◂SV KN SD ID DU AC MI BN▸SV▸BU MG

ILIEX SE CF QI ◂SV ◂BN SD KN DU ID MI AC SV▸BN▸MG BU

LIEQI CF SE EX BU MG BN▸SV▸AC MI ID DU KN SD ◂BN ◂SV

ESICF QI EX SE MG BU SV▸BN▸MI AC DU ID SD KN ◂SV ◂BN

LSEBN▸SV▸BU MG SE EX QI CF ◂BN ◂SV KN SD ID DU AC MI

EIISV▸BN▸MG BU EX SE CF QI ◂SV ◂BN SD KN DU ID MI AC

IEEKN SD ◂BN ◂SV QI CF SE EX BU MG BN▸SV▸AC MI ID DU

SLISD KN ◂SV ◂BN CF QI EX SE MG BU SV▸BN▸MI AC DU ID

easyattractionequalsparityhardtensionone-wayasymmetricidentitya type meeting itself

ID identity · DU duality · AC activation · SD semi-duality · MG mirage · MI mirror · KN kindred · BU business · SE super-ego · QI quasi-identity · EX extinguishment · CF conflict · SV supervision · BN benefit — the arrow points at the receiving side: SV▸ you supervise them, ◂SV they supervise you

§2 The fourteen relations, one line each

Duality DU
Easy. The one. Each of you leads with the thing the other most wants handed to them. The claim is narrow: coverage, not chemistry. Duals make each other's lives easier, not more exciting.
example: ILE and SEI →
Activation AC
Fun fast, tiring long. Each of you leads with what the other is trying to grow. Energizing on contact, exhausting over a long weekend. Your rhythms never quite sync.
example: ILE and ESE →
Mirror MI
Same work, opposite order. Your base and creative functions are swapped. Same interests, reversed seriousness — each of you treats as craft what the other treats as calling.
example: ILE and LII →
Identity ID
You, again. Two people who process the world in the same order. Talking is effortless. Trading isn't — neither of you has what the other is missing.
example: ILE and ILE →
Kindred KN
Same lead, different bet. Same lead function, different creative. You start from the same place and reliably arrive somewhere different.
example: ILE and IEE →
Business BU
Same move, different reason. Same creative function, different lead. Capable colleagues who solve with the same instrument, for different ends.
example: ILE and SLE →
Semi-duality SD
Almost easy. Your lead functions cover each other exactly like duality. Your support functions don't. Strong starts, weak rescues.
example: ILE and SLI →
Mirage MG
Easy to rest with. Hard to work with. Each of you casually covers what the other aspires to, while your lead functions talk past each other. Great for vacations. Famously bad for businesses.
example: ILE and IEI →
Super-ego SE
Respect, at a distance. Your strengths land on the slots the other works hardest to perform, and theirs land on yours. Admiration from across the room that curdles up close.
example: ILE and SEE →
Quasi-identity QI
Looks like you. Isn't. Same topics, methods that don't mix. Everything about them is familiar, and none of it is usable.
example: ILE and LIE →
Extinguishment EX
Same interests, opposite take. Identical elements with every attitude flipped. Drawn to the same subjects, facing opposite directions — public where the other is private.
example: ILE and ILI →
Conflict CF
Hardest. Don't force it. Your lead function presses squarely on their sorest spot, and theirs on yours. Intriguing from a distance. Up close, it wears you both down.
example: ILE and ESI →
Supervision SV
The watched feeling. ILE leads with the thing LSI is weakest at — and presses on it constantly, without effort and without meaning to. This relation has a direction.
example: ILE and LSI →
Benefit BN
Admiration that flows one way. ILE leads with the thing EIE is trying to grow. EIE watches, absorbs, imitates. ILE enjoys the audience and gets little back.
example: ILE and EIE →

Sixteen relations, fourteen names: supervision and benefit each count twice, once from either end.

Take the free test