Psychotechnical Recommendations for Conducting a Diagnostic Interview

An interview is a frequently used technique in socionic diagnostics. It can be conducted as an open test or as a method for obtaining verbal and non-verbal material for semantic analysis.

In any case, psychological interaction between the interviewee and the interviewer inevitably occurs during the interview, and the psychological state and mood of the participants are important factors for the accuracy of the typing results.

Dive into our interactive tool and see the magic unfold. Explore the tool!

1. The Interviewee

The diagnostic value and accuracy of the indicators obtained will be higher the more relaxed and free the interviewee feels. This state is influenced by the amount of attention they feel they are receiving during the interview, non-verbal interaction, the choice of topics for dialogue, and the duration of the diagnosis.

1.1. Attention

A very important factor. It is easy to strip the interview of its diagnostic meaning if the interviewee feels abandoned. This happens when the interviewer is constantly distracted, talking with colleagues (if typing as a group), not looking at the interviewee, continuously writing in a notebook, etc.

The interviewee begins to feel unnecessary, closes up, shortens their answers, and responds monosyllabically. In the worst case, they get offended and go on the defensive, which can activate the Id block and distort diagnostic indicators.

Throughout the interview, the interviewee should feel at the center of attention, understanding that every word they say is important, and every detail is considered. Such attention allows the person to relax and open up, which positively reflects on the quantity and value of the diagnostic material received.

There are several techniques used in psychological counseling practice that can be safely applied within the framework of socionic diagnostics.

• Eye Contact: The first sign that the interlocutor is listening attentively is constant eye contact. The interviewee may look away, but when they return their gaze to the interviewer, they should see an attentive, interested look, eye to eye. This creates the feeling that their monologue is being addressed and is significant and interesting to the interviewer. This makes the interviewee feel important to the listener. This relaxes the interviewee and stimulates the flow of diagnostic material. However, this technique requires skill and sensitivity to avoid turning eye contact into a staring contest. The interviewer's gaze should be calm, looking but not staring into the speaker's eyes.
• "Uh-huh": Quite often in our everyday life, we periodically make sounds like "uh-huh" to show we are listening. If we skip a "uh-huh," the person on the other end starts to worry, asking if we are still listening or if the connection was lost. The same should be done during the interview. Each "uh-huh" means to the interviewee that they are being listened to, that the connection is there, and has not been interrupted. This gives the interviewee a sense of importance, calms, and relaxes them.
• Paraphrasing: A technique that requires certain skill, especially useful when the interviewee finds it difficult to give long monologues, and the diagnostic method requires them. Paraphrasing is repeating the last spoken word in the same intonation it was said. It is important that the paraphrase is spoken without a pause, in the same breath, repeating the interviewee's style. This should be the last word of the final phrase. It is important not to repeat a word from the middle of the monologue, which could just interrupt the flow of material. A successful paraphrase stimulates the interviewee's thoughts and further develops the topic, enriching the diagnostic material. These techniques require skill to avoid the interviewer looking like a nodding clown with bulging eyes. It is better to practice these skills in conversations with close people who also want to be listened to attentively.

1.2. Non-Verbal Interaction and Impact

Remember that for accurate diagnostics, it is important for the interviewee to feel free and calm. A closed, tense posture, crossed arms – signal that the person is tense and ready to defend. The simplest non-verbal way to relieve this tension is to give the interviewee something to hold (a pen, a cup of tea). Of course, this needs to be explained: "You might want to write something down..." An object in the hands serves as an emotional lightning rod, on which the person can discharge anxiety or tension. It is easier for a person to calm down if they can twirl a pen, tap it on the table, etc. Besides, the object opens up their hands, and open hands signal the body to the psyche that it can open up.

This technique is good for relieving initial tension, which usually occurs when a person enters a new environment. And a diagnostic interview is just such a new environment.

However, if the interviewee continues or resumes fidgeting with the object during the interview, it signals that the psychological environment needs to be corrected using attentive listening techniques or changing the topic of conversation, as will be discussed further.

Moreover, the interviewer's non-verbal behavior affects the interviewee's psychological state. A closed posture of the interviewer increases psychological distance and disrupts contact. Conversely, an open posture (arms uncrossed, ideally palms up, body slightly leaning towards the interviewee) promotes mutual liking, relieves tension, and calms the interviewee.

NLP practitioners often use the technique of non-verbal mirroring to establish constructive psychological contact with the interlocutor, which involves repeating the interlocutor's poses and movements. This technique gives the interviewee the feeling that they are not only being listened to but also understood correctly. This makes it easier for the person to talk, which again contributes to obtaining valuable diagnostic material.

1.3. Interview Topics

The main condition for obtaining accurate and sufficient material for diagnostics is the interviewee's positive attitude towards talking about a specific topic and their calm and balanced state.

This condition is easier to fulfill when the interview is conducted to gather textual material for subsequent semantic analysis rather than as oral testing with specific questions.

To avoid tension that adversely affects diagnostics, it is better not to touch on painful or intimate topics that require special frankness from the person. Of course, such topics can vary for different people, and representatives of different TIMs show different readiness for frankness. But here, the interviewer's state should be taken care of, as too personal information rapidly reduces the psychological distance between the interlocutors, destroys the research working mood, involves the interviewer in the interviewee's personality, distracts from analyzing diagnostic indicators, and ultimately negatively affects the typing process. Therefore, if the interviewee themselves crosses the bounds of permissible frankness (this is easily traced by the feeling of awkwardness that immediately arises in the interviewer), it is better to interrupt them and suggest talking about more neutral topics, justifying this move with the benefits for diagnostics.

Based on socionic diagnostics and psychological counseling experience, several topics can be identified as the most dangerous in terms of causing tension: the interviewee's childhood, family life, and work. The topics are listed in decreasing order of potential anxiety.

For most people, fears and causes of complexes are hidden in childhood. Asking about this period risks returning the interviewee to negative experiences. If the question accidentally hits a very painful point, it will be difficult to bring the interviewee out of their childhood experiences, especially if the interviewer does not have a psychological education and relevant psychological work skills. In a mild variant, the person will close up and ask to leave the painful topic, which should be done immediately.

Family life is also not always favorable for everyone or is too intimate to disclose. However, there is an exception here. Parents often willingly talk about their children, especially if they have something to be proud of. Such a story can provide rich material for diagnostics.

Work can be liked or be a drudgery. A person can be an outcast in the work collective or its leader. These circumstances will definitely affect both the interviewee's willingness to discuss the topic and their state. The best option is if the person likes their job and is proud of it. However, if there is tension at work, but the interviewee looks at it constructively – this is also a good option for diagnostics. The topic of work should be avoided if things are frankly bad there, the person cannot cope with it psychologically, is depressed, and dejected. These circumstances are easily clarified from the interviewee's story.

The most favorable topics in terms of positive mood and desire to discuss are those about rest and trips, stories about cities and countries the person has visited.

As a rule, rest is associated with positive impressions and a joyful state, which the interviewee likes to remember and talk about.

For the interviewer, this means receiving a large amount of accurate verbal and non-verbal material.

1.4. Interview Duration

Quite often, there are proud stories from both interviewees and interviewers about multi-hour diagnostic interview processes or disdainful disappointment that everything ended in half an hour, as it is impossible to fully know a person in that time.

It is worth reminding both sides that the task of socionic diagnostics is to determine the TIM, not to study the person's personality in all its depth. In the diagnostic process, certain information metabolism indicators are tracked, and for accurate results, it is necessary to obtain the required amount of diagnostic material. This process takes time, depending on the speed of obtaining the necessary amount of data (literally – the speed of the interviewee's speech and willingness to talk), the specifics of the diagnostic method (whether it allows only sequential collection of indicators or parallel collection is possible), and the interviewer's skill and thinking speed.

And there is another important factor that is almost never considered in socionic practice – the accumulating psychological fatigue of the interviewee and interviewer.

In psychological counseling practice, the session duration (working with a client) is strictly regulated – 50 minutes. This time is balanced in the interests of both sides. During these 50 minutes, a person can stay in a state of active thinking and maintaining contact, after which the accumulating mental and psychological fatigue begins to affect the clarity of thought expression and the ability to conduct adequate analysis of the obtained information.

A diagnostic interview is a two-way active mental and emotional process that inevitably leads to overstrain and fatigue. This process should be completed before fatigue begins to affect the accuracy of diagnostics.

50 minutes is the duration threshold for an interview to aim for. It can shift slightly (by 10-15 minutes) towards an increase if extroverted ethicists are involved, who can more easily endure direct contact with people. If the interviewee or interviewer is an introverted logician, it is highly undesirable to exceed the 50-minute threshold.

During the first 10 minutes, initial acquaintance and contact establishment take place, and the remaining 40 minutes are spent directly on diagnostics. Another 10-15 minutes are used for TIM version determination and justification if this is part of the typing procedure.

These time limits place special demands on typing methods. Preferred methods in this situation are those that involve parallel tracking of several diagnostic indicators and are more resistant to the interviewee's reluctance to talk about certain topics or difficulties in presenting textual material.

2. The Interviewer

The interviewer's state, their readiness to work, and establishing contact with the interviewee are other important factors affecting the process and result of the diagnostic interview.

It is important to initially develop the correct, appropriate position and maintain this position throughout the work.

During the interview, the interviewer acts as a researcher. It is worth emphasizing again: a researcher, not an educator, psychotherapist, or friend.

A calm and balanced psychological state is the interviewer's working tool along with the typing method.

2.1. Researcher Position

It should be noted that the researcher's position is initially neutral, impartial, and non-judgmental. Such a position sets the psychological safety necessary for the interviewee's comfortable emotional state and their relaxation.

Non-judgment distinguishes the researcher from the educator. This means that during the interview, it is unacceptable to judge the interviewee's actions, preach, or moralize in any form.

Otherwise, the interview may turn into a confrontation and lose its diagnostic value.

2.2. Not Getting Involved in the Story Content

As a rule, decoding diagnostic indicators occurs alongside the interviewee's story. This is a rather tense process that requires attention and concentration. This process is interrupted as soon as the interviewer gets involved in the interviewee's narrative, starting to empathize with the misadventures being described, or clarifying the technique of a snowboard flip, or hurrying to write down the name of the wine that the interviewee says pairs particularly well with fish dishes, etc.

Any involvement in the story is essentially a fall-out from the diagnostic process, which will certainly affect the result.

2.3. Not Getting Involved in the Personality

Some sort of relationship always arises between people. Unconsciously, unintentionally, just by human nature.

Strong sympathy or strong antipathy can affect the interview process and the interviewer's conclusions.

In the case of strong sympathy for the interviewee, the interviewer often unconsciously strives to suggest a TIM version that implies comfortable intertype relations with their own TIM. This especially often happens with those who are just beginning to practice socionic typing. Experienced interviewers usually know how to abstract from their feelings. Beginners can be advised to double-check the TIM version to exclude the sympathy factor.

In case of strong antipathy, it is worth using the approach of practicing psychologists who do not recommend any psychological work in such a case. It is extremely difficult, practically impossible, for the interviewer to stay in a non-judgmental research position. It is very hard to maintain calm eye contact, etc. The negative attitude towards the interviewee inevitably affects the overall atmosphere, is sensed by the interviewee, creates psychological discomfort, and casts doubt on the diagnostic value of the interview.

In short: if you like the person – type with a correction for the sympathy factor, if you don't like the person – don't type.

Summary

These recommendations will help novice socionists to more easily and quickly master the technique of conducting diagnostic interviews, learn to better understand the state and reactions of the interviewee, and obtain more valuable diagnostic material for analysis.