So, I have a few interesting ideas on Introverted Thinking (Ti). Primarily Ti is your framework of classifications and categorizations. It is essentially your dictionary and thesaurus. When you see something, you look it up. If you want to know how two things relate, you use a thesaurus. Most people understand this much, the real question is how do you use it?
I primarily use my Introverted Thinking in close association with my Extraverted Intuition. I will attempt to excise the one from the other as much as possible, but I can't make any promises. I am, after all, a tad biased. Introverted Thinking is a series of Filters, Archetypes and Templates. These pieces are related to one another. These pieces, together with the threads of logic form the complete framework. This logic tends to be as objective as any person can truly be internally. We will start with the Filters.
Filters
Filters sit on the precipice of the unconscious. They decide if something is important enough to pass into the framework or if it is simply detritus that should be discarded. These filters tend to adjust and rearrange themselves, essentially forming sets, depending upon what kind of situation I'm in. If I'm driving a car, I pay attention to the signs along the road. If I'm reading a book, I ignore most of the world around me. As an aside, this is, hopefully, as close to the Perception side of my Ti-Ne complex as I get, as this is where the information is generally passed between the membranes. From these initial filters, the information then goes through hundreds of subconscious filters. The role of these filters is to categorize the data; each filter narrows the final location of the information until it has passed through every relevant filter and finally settles at its location in the framework.
At this point, I think you can see one of the two major distinguishing factors in how 'developed' Ti is in a person. With people who have a substantially lower preference for Ti than those that do, I suspect that these filters tend to either not always be accurate or they tend to have far fewer and thus do a much worse job of categorization. For instance, say you see the color purple but have a filter which decides 'red' or 'blue'. This could cause an issue and wind up misplacing 'purple' in the overall framework. That is, of course, a grossly simplistic comparison, but I feel it is one that makes the point. These filters generally can be anything from simple boolean ordeals to massive logic gates that have dozens of requirements and exclusions.
Archetypes
An archetype is defined as the original from which others are copied. In this instance, Archetypes define how you frame your world. They are the scaffolds of the mental framework. From my own history, Archetypes tend to be represented by articles in the real world. Each place in my framework is derived from the interaction of these Archetypes. The interesting thing about these is that as we gather empirical data and build the framework, we eventually 'evolve' new archetypes from our knowledge. The end result tends to be that once the Introverted Thinking has received enough evidence, it will build a new niche for a given bit of knowledge.
These units exist because we need something to base the rest of our knowledge from. They are, effectually, the seeds that have grown our tree of knowledge. In most instances, one of the largest differences between two people seems to derive from the conflict between completely different perspectives. These perspectives can be defined by the archetypes a person has chosen to use in his or her rational framework. Archetypes tend to govern how we truly view the world around us. As near as I can tell, all things we perceive and internalize are defined within ourselves as a set of differences and relations with our Archetypes. When we meet a person that cannot fit within an Archetype, they appear to be entirely alien and almost impossible to truly understand.
Templates
Now, to refine the view from Archetype to Real Information, the Filters aren't just enough. Templates are created by Ti as packages of Filters and Relationships. A template has a set of requirements to fit into it, which are based from its core filters. But once those requirements are realized, the mind extrapolates the rest of the information and fills in the details, essentially bypassing a portion of the filtering system. The second major function of these templates is relational. These templates are compound differences from archetypes and other templates. For instance, the template for 'human' is part of 'mammal' but distinct from 'fish'.
Let's say that I have an apple. When I first view this apple, my mind is collecting the discrete details of it, gathering its shape, skin, and color. These details all flow into my mind and pool, ready for the functions to take over. It is at this point that the Introverted Thinking snaps up these details and starts to place them into the framework. It takes the templates and realizes that this object is an apple. Now, because it's an apple, it then realizes that it is also a fruit, a plant, edible, and numerous other categorical and relational details.
These templates and archetypes are the second major signifying factor between people who strongly prefer Introverted Thinking and those who don't. The more a person uses and interacts with this category and relation framework, the more templates and archetypes they build up. Additionally, they become far more accurate and altogether quicker at working.
Final Thoughts
In some sense, this accuracy is the same as tasting a million bananas so you know for certain what just one will taste like. As this whole framework gathers its data, it refines each point until it can start guessing other points more effectively. It’s a very continuous, self-correcting process. In terms of communication, it also likes to cause the largest problems. When you’ve learned to define a given word with a given concept or abstraction, you generally assume that most people will have similar definitions. You certainly can’t assume they’re identical, but that they’re at least similar enough to function coherently together. Unfortunately, this is what causes a frequent breakdown. Definitions often vary wildly, where three people may use the same word in three complete different and dynamic ways. This can cause conflict, as while the definitions are rarely opposite, they are different enough to cause severe confusion.
Finally, there needs to be awareness that Introverted Thinking simply handles how the knowledge is processed inside the mind. It builds the framework, and it provides the details for the current subject. Unfortunately, it has no direct connection to observing the either the exterior or interior worlds, and as such its uses are only as good as the information it is fed. So, perhaps another time, I might delve into the recesses of the perceptual half of the complex that is Ti-Ne. Unfortunately, for now, this is what I have for you.
Contemplations of a Tainted Mind