The Many Faces of LII — Rigidity, Charm, and the Inner Backbone

It is a common misconception that people of the exact same personality type behave identically. In reality, a person's environment and life stages can drastically alter how their traits surface, even while their internal psychological structure remains unchanged.

The following real-life examples offer a glimpse into how different LII people are perceived from the outside—not as a rigid judgment, but to understand the ways this personality architecture can manifest in daily life.

Example One: The Neighbor from the New Building

So, we moved into a new building. Down on the bottom floor lived a man roughly my age. I’m a positive, friendly, cheerful person who finds joy in everything and has basically lived my whole life for the world. One day I was at the mailboxes when he walked out — thin, straight-backed, with a stone-cold face. He gave the clear impression that he didn’t see me or anything else around him. He just walked straight past and out the door like a total “cold unit.”

For someone like me, who needs at least a nod or a small courteous gesture, that first encounter stuck with me for life. And we lived in the same building for about 45 years. He eventually moved to America, but for roughly 40 of those years we were neighbors. We only started exchanging a few words after about 35 years!

For all that time, the picture was the same: an utterly emotionless mask of deep inner focus. He walked past everyone like that — not just me. His wife and mother-in-law, by contrast, are very charming and warm. They’d happily chat or offer advice. Sometimes when his mother-in-law was standing with the neighborhood grandmothers and he walked by, she would look visibly pained, as if saying, “Well, what can you do… that’s just how he is.”

The first function is their rich inner world, while the second gives a powerful burst of outward confidence. When well-developed, this creates a deep, natural sense of their own uniqueness. Such people can walk down the street and not even say hello. Others may not fully understand what they are, but inside, their sense of uniqueness is colossal.

But we’re not diving into inner models here — just looking at the outward manifestations.

Example Two: The Boss of LII Descent

Moving on. In the office that handled technical maintenance and repairs for our building, the crew was headed by a LII lady with an all-male team under her.

She always walked around the site looking irritated, as if constantly thinking, “What is going on here? What on earth is going on here?!” When residents came with complaints — “When will this end? When are you going to fix that?” — she would sometimes dig her heels in completely. If she took a spite to someone, she could delay repairs for five years or more. Water leaking for five years! She would come up with endless excuses, pick fights, and growl at people.

Eventually, none of the residents would even approach her. Everyone knew that getting into a spat with her would lead to absolutely mind-blowing drama. Meanwhile, her subordinates — the technicians who actually did the work — would quietly complain to residents: “Come on, what is she doing? Why won’t she just let us get this done?” Only to have her bark back at them: “Don’t you growl at me! Get out of here!”

Example Three: The Accountant from the Soviet Past

This reminds me of a story from my early youth, when I worked as a coordinator in an office that answered to a regional administration. Back in Soviet times, you could graduate from university, sit at a desk shuffling papers, and earn your 120–130 rubles a month — that was the system.

What stuck with me was this: while I was quietly writing manuals, my boss had constant dealings with the chief accountant in the administration office over material assets and paperwork. She was an incredibly rigid lady — you literally couldn’t budge her an inch. She stayed in my memory as a real drama queen and brawler. Looking back now, I see it as a classic example of extraverted sensing in the vulnerable PoLR function: a boiling point where certain principles simply could not be compromised.

My boss was an EIE, and the battles between them were something else. Every time a report was due, even over the phone, the tension was insane. Total stubbornness over nothing — everything was wrong, nothing met her standards. I remember completely ridiculous grievances being brought up just for the sake of fault-finding.

Example Four: The Pet Store Clerk

I was walking with my dog to a nearby pet store to buy a muzzle. The vets had put him on a diet and banned him from picking up garbage on walks, so a muzzle was necessary. I knew nothing about them.

There was a young woman behind the counter — lean, upright, completely wrapped up in herself. I asked her in my usual positive, friendly way:

“Excuse me, could you please help? My dog needs a muzzle.”

She read something entirely different into it and snapped, “Can’t you see anything? Everything is right in front of you!”

I picked one by guesswork, but it was way too big. I asked if they had smaller mesh ones. Tuzik and I looked at her — her face was stone. Through clenched teeth she muttered, “Over there, in the branch on the next street — they have it.” The tone was so unpleasant that I’ve never stepped foot in that store again.

This is one of the typical outward manifestations. I’ve noticed these exact ones especially in LII women. With men, nothing similar immediately comes to mind — they seem to have slightly different quirks.

The Male Version: LII Boys and Type Traits

Now, let’s look at the male version. A boy is brought in to me for a consultation. He is completely wrapped up in himself — incredibly quiet, straight-backed, slender, almost as if he isn’t even there. The parents didn’t actually come because of him, but because of his sister, a lively SEE type who was bouncing off the walls of the entire office.

While talking about the sister, I asked about the boy. “Is his father the same way?” The mother glanced at her son and said, “No matter what you ask him, he takes forever to think about it.”

Bingo! That slow internal pace is typical for the LII’s program of introverted logic. I’ve observed this trait much more often in men and children. Teenage LII boys, for example, are often glued to their computers in some corner, as if they aren’t even in the room. There’s a lot of that.

These kids can struggle to find common ground with educators. Some even drop out of university despite being highly intelligent and studying well. The aloofness, the “I don’t even know how or what to say to them,” and the general attitude of “it’s better not to deal with people at all” — many of them have that.

Rigidity and Stubbornness

Now, how do extraverted sensing (volitional sensing) and introverted logic interact in LIIs? This brings me to a more challenging topic: the manifestation of cruelty. In my view, the combination of volitional sensing with introverted logic can sometimes produce extreme coldness. I once saw a LII grab a cat and violently hurl it onto the floor just to vent accumulated energy.

There was also that TV segment about a family that moved to live in nature with a farm. The household ran on very rigid, old-fashioned, patriarchal discipline. The father punished the children quite harshly.

Now, let me emphasize — this is by no means typical of all LIIs. Absolutely not.

Although in my personal experience, I’ve observed how LIIs raise young children. Quite often, everything is on a strict, precise schedule: when to sleep, when to eat, what to do and when. There’s a certain coldness and mechanical quality to it. From my limited experience, I didn’t often see that deep responsiveness, tenderness, or shared field of unconditional love. It felt more like “here is a child, and this is what needs to be done for it.”

For an LII, it is critically important to be part of some kind of system. Sometimes a man enters the system of family relations and unconditionally does everything his wife says. He salutes and becomes fully absorbed in it. At that point, even his parents no longer matter. He might even marry out of spite if they were against it.

This classic LII stubbornness — if he digs his heels in, he goes all the way. He locks up tightly inside and stands his ground until the bitter end. This trait manifests frequently in both men and women.

The Need for Love

Let’s shift to something a bit warmer and softer. Let’s talk about their creative zone (Ne-Fi). First and foremost, they need love, they need feelings, and they need relationships.

If you recall me talking about it before, Anton Chekhov was a LII. Think of The Lady with the Dog — the characters walk around Yalta, and then he returns home and endlessly replays those memories in his mind. That’s a classic example of the inner world of an LII.

Both LII women and men need love more than anything else. Yet there’s an interesting variability to their feelings. As one person insightfully wrote to me: “When I have an object of adoration, I am completely consumed by them, I breathe them, I live for them. But once I’ve had my fill — it all fades away, and I need a new object of adoration.” Many of them live this way, at least in their imagination. I won’t judge how it plays out in real life, but one thing is indisputable: their system simply cannot function without love, relationships, and some kind of personal adventures.

The Magic of Charm: “A Whisper in the Ear”

Chekhov also has a short story (the title escapes me right now) where a young man rides down a sledding hill with a girl and whispers a warm confession right into her ear. She flushes all over, and from that moment both of them start watching each other, trying to read what’s happening inside.

This “whispering in the ear” is rather characteristic of them. I once experienced it myself while waiting by the lobby for my friend’s son to bring me a houseplant. Suddenly, someone murmurs tender, warm words right into my ear. I turn around — and there he stands, this LII, with such a sweet, charming look that it made my head spin. He had simply brought a plant, but the way he did it felt like he was weaving some kind of intrigue. It was mind-blowing.

In general, their suggestive and activating functions (Si-Fe, like the SEI type) shape their self-esteem. When a LII has strong self-esteem, they know how to initiate relationships, make connections, and be incredibly charming — especially when they need to or when it’s advantageous. Their creative function, extraverted intuition (intuition of possibilities), helps them sense what’s beneficial. In that state, they might hold you by the elbow, offer a hand as you step off the bus, open the window if you’re hot, or close it if you’re cold. They’re ready to do whatever it takes.

Young LII women are exactly the same. If they’re interested in a man or need to “dazzle” someone for a goal, they can bend over backward, show warmth in every possible way, and become absolute sweethearts — looking just like a natural SEI.

It absolutely blows my mind. But you must remember: if you suddenly displease them or go against their opinion, their rigid side can wake up in a heartbeat. They can smash and destroy everything in a single second. I’ve seen such situations, I’ve been present during them, and I was left in quiet shock.

Strict Principles and Stormy Emotions

Moving on, things get really interesting with LIIs. Maybe this lady will hear my lectures — she once wrote to me about her son who refuses to be typed. But he has this peculiarity: when you ask him to do something he doesn’t want to do, you have to ask for a very long time. If he’s uninterested, you might never get him to do it at all. But if you finally force the issue, he can unleash such emotions — veritable suffering!

This is very typical. I once had to travel a long distance with an LII out of extreme necessity, completely outside his plans. When I made it clear it really had to be done, he cried out with such pain and bitterness… I certainly didn’t expect that from this dry logician with his severe introversion and aloofness. Those sudden emotional outbursts are a purely LII trait.

Another time, I asked a LII who was quite close to me for a small, reasonable household favor. He just cut me off: “No. I don’t see why I need to do that.” I was completely speechless.

A girl once confessed to me, “We LIIs are just like that. We can’t lie; we always tell the absolute truth.” And that really is their truth. On one hand, you always know where you stand with them. On the other, they’ll bend over backward where it’s advantageous or needed, but where there’s no benefit to them — they can simply ignore you, turn around, and do things their own way.

This is exactly what spills out through the vulnerable PoLR function. It pushes a person from behind in every type, which is why you get these sudden boiling points, stubbornness, and the classic “drop it and walk away” attitude that comes with the LII package.

Two Extremes: The Soldier and The Actor

Remember the LII in our building who walked past everyone for forty years like a stiff “little soldier” with a stone face? Well, another LII moved in who is the complete opposite — the definition of outward charm! He deliberately beams with smiles at people he wants to impress. He used to hand out holiday gifts around the building and everything.

But with those he had no use for at that moment, he could turn his face away in the very same second and walk right past. You couldn’t even tell if he nodded or not. In short, they can be quite the actors!

Attitude Toward Material Resources

We also haven’t touched on their attitude toward material resources. This summer I observed something telling. Two LIIs own neighboring dachas. The tomatoes had ripened. During an evening walk, I saw one LII coming out of his greenhouse with a neat, tidy basket of tomatoes (even if he hadn’t done much of the planting himself) and carefully carrying it to his car.

Right next door, a LII lady had arrived. The first thing she did was go into the greenhouse, pick the tomatoes, and place the full basket right next to her shoes. Visually, both baskets looked almost identical — tomatoes packed tightly, one to one.

This perfectly illustrates how they never let a material resource pass them by. Their creative function — extraverted intuition (intuition of possibilities) — instantly “snaps up” any opportunity and puts it to use.

A Most Delightful Architect and Her Pets

Let me tell you something more wonderful. Every day, next to the building where I live, I would see a huge old ginger dog lying on a mat in the yard — it could barely walk. Then I noticed its owner: a thin, frail woman with glasses.

It turned out she had the warmest, most charming and gentle soul. The local guys helped her carry the dog outside every day. She fed stray cats in the yard and had five cats living in her apartment — she genuinely worried about every paw and tail. That disabled dog lived with her for about two years, and I saw them bring it out for two summers in a row.

Fate brought us together on a tram. We rode together and started talking — she was the warmest, most delightful person! She works as an architect doing design work, always busy, and has ruined her eyesight from it. I saw no malice or negativity in her at all. And there are many people like that among LIIs.

In reality, their home is usually perfectly organized — a calm, cozy atmosphere with lots of books. In some areas they can be stubborn, while in others they’ve learned to agree.

Conclusion

Forgive me, LIIs, if I have offended or hurt you in any way. I truly did not mean to wound your personal qualities, and I absolutely do not want to create the impression that I hold any unfair bias against you or dislike LIIs as a whole. Of course not—there are many wonderful, brilliant, and decent people among you.

It’s simply that the more extreme or polarized examples tend to stand out and stick in memory, which can unintentionally paint an overly cold or rigid picture. In fact, these traits may not apply to you personally at all. In real life, external conditions, upbringing, and individual experiences play a huge role, so everything can look quite different from one person to another.

I offer these patterns only as approximations. My main goal is to highlight how important it is for all of us to study the structure of the human psyche. This understanding helps us better know ourselves and our loved ones, practice forgiveness and acceptance, and avoid unnecessary conflict—simply by maintaining the right distance and respecting each person’s unique traits.

Source: O. Mikhevnina