The Opposing Relationship

Opposing relationships have the same quality as each other like feeling, thinking, sensing, or intuition but have different attitudes. The effect is a little like conjoined twins trying to go in opposite directions. If you’re on one end of the relationship, the other might seem inauthentic, beside the point, and misdirected. Yet at the same time, there’s a core of shared values and way of doing things that can’t be ignored.

Oppositional Relationships
E. Feeling: “How can I create social harmony?”	vs.	I. Feeling: “How can I maintain personal authenticity?”
E. Thinking: “How can I get tasks done?”	vs.	I. Thinking: “How do things really work?”
E. Sensing: “What is happening now?”	vs.	I. Sensing: “What is the precedent?”
E. Intuition: “What are the possibilities?”	vs.	I. Intuition: “What is the deeper meaning?”

Examples:

Both Introverted and Extraverted Feeling are personal, reference emotions, and are empathetic by nature. However Introverted Feeling is abstract, depth-oriented, analytical, and individual while Extraverted Feeling is systemic, action-oriented,  breadth-oriented, and regulatory.

Both Introverted and Extraverted Thinking are impersonal, mechanistic, critical, reference logic, and strive to be impartial. However Introverted Thinking is web-like, outside of space & time and personal, while Extraverted Thinking seeks to control space, time, and people, and is regulatory by nature.

Both Introverted and Extraverted Sensing are concrete, verifiable, particular, and experiential, but Introverted Sensing looks to the past and for routine, while Extraverted Sensing focuses on the present moment and is spontaneous in nature.

Both Introverted and Extraverted Intuition are pattern-connecting, theoretical, conceptual, interpretive, and mostly future oriented. However, Introverted Intuition is convergent, depth-oriented, and takes cues from internal sources, while Extraverted Intuition is divergent, breadth-oriented, and takes cues from the outside world.

As you can see from the examples above, the two parties in opposing relationships are highly related, but also very different in the way they process information.

Primary & Opposing Relationships by Type

Type	Ist (Primary)	5th (Opposing)
ENFJ	Extraverted Feeling	Introverted Feeling
ESFJ	Extraverted Feeling	Introverted Feeling
ENTJ	Extraverted Thinking	Introverted Thinking
ESTJ	Extraverted Thinking	Introverted Thinking
INFJ	Introverted Intuition	Extraverted Intuition
INTJ	Introverted Intuition	Extraverted Intuition
ISFJ	Introverted Sensing	Extraverted Sensing
ISTJ	Introverted Sensing	Extraverted Sensing
ENFP	Extraverted Intuition	Introverted Intuition
ENTP	Extraverted Intuition	Introverted Intuition
ESFP	Extraverted Sensing	Introverted Sensing
ESTP	Extraverted Sensing	Introverted Sensing
INFP	Introverted Feeling	Extraverted Feeling
ISFP	Introverted Feeling	Extraverted Feeling
INTP	Introverted Thinking	Extraverted Thinking
ISTP	Introverted Thinking	Extraverted Thinking