In contrast to the generally accepted views in personality psychology on age-related variability of the human psyche,[12][13] socionics distinguishes 16 psychophysiological types (sociotypes) which it claims go unchanged throughout a person's life.[14] The existence of personality types is extremely controversial in modern personality psychology.[13]
Socionics was developed in the 1970s and 1980s, primarily by the Lithuanian researcher Aušra Augustinavičiūtė.[15] The name "socionics" is derived from the word "society", because Augustinavičiūtė believed that each sociotype has a distinct purpose in society.[16][17][18]
The central idea of socionics is that information is intuitively divisible into eight categories, called information elements, which a person's psyche processes using eight psychological functions.[19] Each sociotype has a different correspondence between functions and information elements, which it posits results in different ways of handling information and distinct thinking patterns. One prevalent idea in socionics is the theory of intertype relations, which is based on the interaction of these functions between types.[17][19][20]
Independent authors point to the insufficient empirical validity of socionics both in its basis and in its further development, as well as the practical absence of studies on socionics outside the former USSR. The Commission on Pseudoscience of the Russian Academy of Sciences has placed socionics among such well-known pseudosciences as astrology and homeopathy.[2]
^Mineev, V. V. (2014). Введение в историю и философию науки [Introduction to the history and philosophy of science] (in Russian). Directmedia. p. 84. ISBN978-5-4458-7511-6. [The long list of pseudoscientific concepts today includes: theory of torsion fields, cold fusion projects, wave genetics, japhetic theory, the theory of "living matter", "new chronology", eugenics, dianetics, cryonics, socionics...]
^ abSergeev, A. G. (2017). "Синекдоха отвечания, или Защита гомеопатическая" [Synecdoche of Answering, or Homeopatic Defence] (PDF). В защиту науки [In defense of science] (in Russian) (19): 90. Archived from the original(PDF) on 2019-11-24. Retrieved 2020-07-14. [...there are dozens of true pseudosciences, such as astrology and palmistry, ESP and parapsychology, cryptobiology and bioenergetics, bioresonance and iridology, creationism and telegonia, UFOlogy and paleoastronautics, eniology and dianetics, numerology and socionics...]
^Sokol'chik, V. N. (2017). "Феномен паранауки и проблема демаркации знания в постнеклассической науке" [The phenomenon of parascience and the problem of demarcation of knowledge in post-nonclassical science]. Труды БГТУ. Сер. 6, История, философия [Proceedings of BSTU (Belarus) Ser.6, History, philosophy] (in Russian). 1 (107): 113–117.
^Zhilina V. A.; Nevelev A. B.; Kamaletdinova A. Ya. (2017). "Философия, наука, лженаука и наукообразность" [Philosophy, science, pseudoscience and sciolism]. Вестник Челябинского государственного университета [Bulletin of the Chelyabinsk state University] (in Russian). 4 (400) Философские науки (44): 89–94. [An example of pseudoscience is ... socionics (the idea of Lithuanian economist and psychologist A. Augustinavichiute about the existence of 16 sociotypes, which can be identified with well-known personalities)...]
^Podymov L. I. (2018). Псевдонаука. Разоблачение обмана и заблуждений [Pseudoscience. The Disclosure of Deception and Delusion] (in Russian). Litres. p. 478. ISBN978-5-17-100781-2. [There are also pure pseudosciences in the field of personal predictions that pretend to be serious theories. For example, socionics. Socionics is the concept of personality types and relationships between them. Based on Jung's teaching, socionics deduces the existence of 16 socionic types ... we will refer socionics to the category of pseudoscience, because, having a science-like form, it positions itself as an effective concept, in addition it earns money from its unconfirmed ideas.]
^Volkov E. N. (2008). Воздействие психолога: принципы выбора мировоззренческой позиции и профессионального поведения [Influence of a psychologist: principles of choosing a worldview position and professional behavior]. Практическая психология в междисциплинарном аспекте: проблемы и перспективы. Материалы Первой Международной научно-практической конференции, 15-16 октября 2008 г., Днепропетровск [Practical psychology in an interdisciplinary aspect: problems and prospects. Materials of the First International scientific and practical conference, October 15–16, 2008, Dnepropetrovsk] (in Russian). [These concepts and discoveries of the human sciences, oddly enough, are still largely ignored by one part of the practicing psychological community, while another, even more numerous, is exploited exclusively in the form of pseudo-scientific or semi-occult mythological methods (such as NLP, "positive thinking", socionics, etc...)]
^ abGerlach, M.; Farb, B.; Revelle, W.; Nunes Amaral, L. A. (2018). [h2ttps://amaral.northwestern.edu/media/publication_pdfs/2018_NHB_Personality-types.pdf "A robust data-driven approach identifies four personality types across four large data sets"] (PDF). Nature Human Behaviour. 2 (2): 735–742. doi:10.1038/s41562-018-0419-z. PMID31406291. S2CID52290166.
^Никандров, В. В. (2009). Психология: учебник. Wolters Kluwer. p. 779. ISBN978-5-466-00413-7.
^Horwood, J; Maw, A (1 March 2012). "Theatre Teams Assembled Using Personality Profiles Can Improve Predicted Teamworking Scores". The Bulletin of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. 94 (3). Royal College of Surgeons of England: 1–6. doi:10.1308/147363512x13189526439791. ISSN1473-6357.
^ abAugustinavichiute A. (1996). "Социон, или Основы соционики" [The Socion, or Socionics Basics]. Соционика, ментология и психология личности [Socionics, mentology and personality psychology] (in Russian) (4–5). International Institute of Socionics.
^Bukalov A.V. The potential of the individual and the mysteries of human relationships. – Moscow, International Institute of Socionics, PG "Black Squirrel", 2009. ISBN978-5-91827-004-2