Se · Extraverted sensing
Read this function theme, its four original prompts, reverse key, examples, nearby distinctions and limits.
Three direct ratings and one reverse rating (6 − response), excluding unscored. At least three numeric ratings for a one-decimal mean; no ranking or stack.
Attending to what is available now
- Se is the outwardly oriented sensing term. This edition uses it to discuss attention to concrete information and direct experience in the immediate environment. The prompts concern noticing and responding, including safely trying an optional material or activity. They do not test sensory acuity, coordination, reaction time, physical courage or athletic performance.
- An outward reference does not mean that someone must enjoy crowds, loud places or risk. Direct attention can be quiet: examining a piece of paper, listening to an ordinary sound or noticing a changed arrangement. Access needs and environmental conditions affect what is available, so the questionnaire should never be used to compare people’s sensory abilities.
Four prompts, one descriptive mean
- The first three prompts contribute the selected number from 1 to 5. The fourth is reverse keyed: its contribution is 6 minus the selected number, so 1 becomes 5, 2 becomes 4 and 3 stays 3. An unscored answer contributes nothing and is excluded from the denominator. All 32 prompts need a response before any personal summaries appear.
- For responses 4, 3, 5 and 2, the keyed contributions are 4, 3, 5 and 4: sum 16, count 4, mean 4.0. For 4, unscored, 5 and 2, the sum is 13, count 3 and mean 4.3. With fewer than three numeric ratings, no mean is calculated. The minimum and one-decimal rounding are website conventions, not reliability or certainty thresholds.
Working with an unfamiliar material
- A fictional person, Rui, is offered two safe craft materials. Rui examines their present texture and tries a small permitted sample before deciding which to use. This illustrates relying on direct experience. It does not imply that the eventual choice is better, that Rui learns faster, or that another person who prefers instructions has a weaker function.
- If the material is unfamiliar or potentially hazardous, instructions and relevant expertise come first; a preference is not permission to experiment. The item explicitly concerns safe, optional opportunities. A person with no such opportunity can leave it unscored, and all the public readings remain available without completing the questionnaire.
The scene, a memory and a possible use
- Se emphasizes the available scene, whereas Si compares present impressions with personal remembered experience. Examining a new tool now and recalling a previous tool can occur together. A higher displayed mean on one topic is not proof that the other process is suppressed or undeveloped. The website does not infer a psychological hierarchy from those numbers.
- Ne asks about possible connections or alternative uses prompted by what is encountered. Noticing the actual shape of an object and imagining three uses are different parts of an activity. Neither description is a measure of creativity or practical competence. Keep the distinction specific to the examples rather than labeling one person practical and another abstract.
Endorsement is separate from performance
- A mean nearer 5 indicates more keyed endorsement of direct present-scene attention in this bank. Nearer 1 indicates less endorsement in the chosen month. It cannot establish attention disorder, absent-mindedness, lower awareness or a need for more stimulation. You may use deliberate reflection in one setting and direct observation in another.
- The reverse statement asks about staying with ideas instead of noticing changes in the immediate scene. Disagreeing raises its keyed contribution, but this is an arithmetic convention, not evidence that disagreement is better. If the distinction feels unclear, the unscored option can be more faithful than guessing what an ideal attentive person would say.
Notice without grading yourself
- For a safe ordinary activity, pause briefly to describe three concrete features currently available to you. Use any accessible sense or source; there is no requirement to see, hear or touch in a particular way. Then decide whether those observations are relevant to what you want to do. This is optional observation, not a sensory test.
- Do not use the exercise in traffic, with dangerous equipment or where attention is already needed for safety. You do not need to seek stronger experiences or change your lifestyle to match a result. The useful question is whether a different source of information helps this particular task, not whether you can become a certain type.
What this edition can and cannot conclude
- These original items and the English and Chinese versions have not established psychometric validity, reliability, population norms or measurement equivalence. The framework source explains terminology; it did not supply, approve or validate this bank. Means summarize keyed endorsement of different sets of statements. They are not calibrated against one another and do not establish a dominant, auxiliary or inferior function.
- No overall score, ordered function stack, four-letter type, diagnosis or decision about work or relationships is produced. Exact display ties remain ties; small gaps have no validated interpretation. All eight complete guides are available regardless of your ratings. Public guides contain no personal answers, and optional sharing includes only the test title and entry link.