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WHY are we interested in that?

Snow Turtle

New member
Joined
May 28, 2007
Messages
1,335
Right. I haven't thought this through completely so forgive me if the answer seems obvious.

For example: I know I'm interested in psychology and ethics. With certain things, it really comes down to a "I just am"

There are times when I feel that my interests are too specific and I need to expand. So I'll head over to the library to pick up some history books, start reading and fall asleep. Why aren't we interested?

Any thoughts?
 
G

garbage

Guest
For me, lack of interest means a lack of practical application. I used to try to study things just for the sake of doing so, but I found that I just couldn't. So, I typically read up on psychology, economics, business, logistics, programming.. anything that I can actually use. And I'll only read up on it to the extent that I find it useful, and no more.

In the case of MBTI, I read a bunch of type descriptions trying to find myself first. Once I did, I read up on ENTJ to get to know that type a bit better. Then, I started branching out and learning more about other types, temperaments, personality classifications, and so on.

I do, however, try reading new things (or trying new experiences in general) just to see if I'm interested or if I can use it. I may or may not be. If I don't have a use for it, I'll discard it, and I'll keep it if it's worthwhile.

As a specific example, I'll say that my interest in religion centers around practicality, too. To me, there are a lot of valuable life lessons in some of these religious texts. So I go to church and participate in the discussions not because I actually believe them verbatim (I'm not Christian), but because I find it useful. (The comradery certainly helps, too, but that's a bit off-subject.) My friends don't seem to be able to fully grasp my mindset on this one.

An xNTP would probably be more prone than I to read up on more "random" things.. possibly for the sake of doing so, and possibly because their functions allow them to apply and interconnect information from completely different contexts.
 

FDG

pathwise dependent
Joined
Aug 13, 2007
Messages
5,903
MBTI Type
ENTJ
Enneagram
7w8
I do things because I like doing them. The only other reason is: because I need money to survive.

I don't think that we can easily trace "liking" to something specific. It's often way too visceral.
 

Athenian200

Protocol Droid
Joined
Jul 1, 2007
Messages
8,828
MBTI Type
INFJ
Enneagram
4w5
Right. I haven't thought this through completely so forgive me if the answer seems obvious.

For example: I know I'm interested in psychology and ethics. With certain things, it really comes down to a "I just am"

There are times when I feel that my interests are too specific and I need to expand. So I'll head over to the library to pick up some history books, start reading and fall asleep. Why aren't we interested?

Any thoughts?

I don't have a certain answer, but I can offer a few hypotheses:

1. Exposure to an interest or something related to it at a critical development stage.

2. Certain interests have qualities that "click" with a person's way of processing reality.

3. A combination of 1 and 2, which would explain why people often have such narrow interests. Because it has to "click" with how they naturally tend to see reality, and they have to have been exposed to it during certain points in their development for it to take root deeply enough to stay for a long time.

Of course, a person who took up a totally new, previously foreign interest later in life and become entranced with it would completely tear this theory apart.

What do you think?
 
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