Will someone explain the entire mood thing?

[Virtual ghost]

I as a person I am always pretty much "myself". I don't have those things that people call change of moods.
So I am wondering if people want to talk about this.



To me it is interesting to look at this in other people.

This is also one of the main reasons why I don't place too much weight on words of other people. Since they match their mood.


If they are in a good mode they say nice things to me and if they are in a bad one they are not so nice. But the thing is that nothing has really changed about me. The only thing that has really changed is mood of the other person.

This is interesting even from the perspective of a third person.

GOOD

Moody person : happy , friendly/accepting , talkative ...........
Me: reserved , cold and analytical


BAD

Moody person : unhappy , stressed , not so accepting , angry .............
Me: reserved , cold , analytical and a little bit more distand since I need time too think things through.



This is also main reason why I am high self monitoring and calculating person . Since I need to match the moods of other people..

Here is one example.
If someone is yelling at you it is good to turn somewhat hostile. If you don't the other person will be even more ofended. This way I at least allow other person to vent.

Also I have noticed that in the mood/picture thread Fs are more numerous that Ts.



What do you think is the biggest engine of mood swings in you?
How does it feel to have one of those swings?
Would you change this trait if you could or at least weaken it?

 

[EcK]

This is so going to bring out the whole PMSing theme.

IMO I'm pretty much in control of my moods, but I do have moods. What I notice the most are not change of moods but changes in energy levels, WHICH ISN'T THE SAME.
Even if I'm pissed off or whatever it's rarely to an extreme and I never really feel like being aggressive to other people, I'll just take some time alone and fix it in the worst cases. Otherwise it won't even bother me.

Moods can be called 'a flavor of conscience'.
Now the effect of moods is not really to change 'who\how you are'
It's more about changing the way you'll react to things, I know, you could say it's pretty much the same since we can be analyzed behavioraly but I think it's important to talk about the mood as a modification of the input\output relation, a 'filter' rather than a dramatic change of one's personality, because then we'd all be schyzo. That could be a problem.

 

[nonsequitur]

I have moods, and they're mostly dependent on my menstrual cycle and/or what I have to do for work.

I know that sometimes I act bitchy and annoyed and extra-distant... but it doesn't feel like I'm being "not me". It feels like I'm being me, except that I care more about things that are normally irrelevant and unimportant. Then a couple of days later I start bleeding and I know why. This happened for a few years before I finally figured it out, and took my anger and irritability as a sign to stock up on tampons.

I agree with Eck, it's more a change in how I react to things than who I actually am.

 

[EcK]

Males and females are pretty different on that level.

TO make it short men have a pretty stable flow of mood\behavior modifying hormons all year round while a girl's hormonal levels will vary more
But males aggression levels are higher on the other hand so they are more likely to 'externalize' their bad moods while a girl's issue will be rather focused on dealing with more or less sudden changes.

 

[NewEra]

IMO I'm pretty much in control of my moods, but I do have moods. What I notice the most are not change of moods but changes in energy levels, WHICH ISN'T THE SAME.

Yeah, same here. But if I do get angry, it will last for a very short time. Then I'll be pleased again.

 

[beyondaurora]

Although I know I can change or at least minimize one of my 'moods', I generally allow them to take over. It's almost like a Chinese finger trap; if I stop resisting the mood, I will come out of it more quickly.

I could also compare it to being swept up by a river, with all the turbulence, rush and wonder that comes with it. Again, if I resist, I will surely drown; if I relax and let it take me, I have better odds of coming out of it safely.

 

[Lady_X]

What do you think is the biggest engine of mood swings in you?
How does it feel to have one of those swings?
Would you change this trait if you could or at least weaken it?

well...the whole idea that you honestly don't understand is completely alien to me...like you're asking what ARE these things you call feelings?

something makes me feel a certain way which puts me in a certain mood.
to change it would be to be less affected by feelings which would make me someone else so..no.

 

[Virtual ghost]

well...the whole idea that you honestly don't understand is completely alien to me...like you're asking what ARE these things you call feelings?

something makes me feel a certain way which puts me in a certain mood.
to change it would be to be less affected by feelings which would make me someone else so..no.

That is why I ask. I can find some joy in doing some things but to actually tansform myself like that is not my thing. Same thing is with changing my opinions because of this. Since they are constant and they can only be changed by thinking. Get me excited is very hard.

 

[King sns]

Hm. Thats an interesting topic.
(I believe to say that we're not ourselves because of change of mood is false though. That's human nature.)

Anyways, I place some emphasis on my current emotion. I happen to be usually in a good mood, though, since that is what I strive for, and theres nothing to be in a bad mood about. A lot of work stress and responsibility can put me in a bad mood sometimes. But for me, I think that I almost always appear to be the same. I don't let my moods affect other people, or suddenly become unaccepting and volatile because I'm in a bad mood. In a good mood i'm just likely to laugh and smile more, and engage in conversation. In a bad mood I'm simply likely to be more reserved, cold, and distant, but always maintain an air of stability and amiability.
What does it feel like to change moods? Unnoticable.
Would I change it? No. I'm a pretty level headed feeler. I don't let emotions get the best of me. I have them, I acknowledge them and nurture them, but I don't let them control my life. I like being this way. It would be hard to live life as fully as I do without emotions and moods, I think.

 

[Gauche]

GOOD

Moody person : happy , friendly/accepting , talkative ...........
Me: reserved , cold and analytical


BAD

Moody person : unhappy , stressed , not so accepting , angry .............
Me: reserved , cold , analytical and a little bit more distand since I need time too think things through.

As I read these descriptions, I just recalled what I read recently.
It's within the "P-types" thing (another variant of MBTI); it's based on Kretschner's division:
It divides people onto two groups. It's analogous with sensing and intuiting, and here it is called cyclothymia and schizothymia. These two groups are measured by different meter:

Inside the two main groups there is a further dual division, according as the cyclothymic temperament is habitually more on the gay or sad side, and according as the schizothymic temperament tends towards the sensitive or the cold pole.

as far as cyclothymes are concerned, we have the empirical fact that the more gay are usually the more mobile, while those who belong to the moderate class with an inclination to depression, are usually more comfortable and slow. This we should expect from long clinical experience of the close connection between bright excitability, swift flights of ideas, and psychomotor facility as manic symptoms, and in melancholic symptomatology the connection of depression and inhibition of thought and will. And among healthy cyclothymic temperaments a certain mood-disposition usually goes with a certain psychic tempo, so that gayness and mobility are often bound up with the hypomanic type of temperament, and a tendency to depression and slowness with the melancholic type.

But on the other hand such fixed relations between psychaesthesia and definite psychic rhythms are not to be recognised in the schizothyme, in that with the tender hyperaesthetics we often find astonishing tenacity in feeling and will, and, vice versa, capricious instability with people of pronouncedly cold indolence. So that in the schizothymic circle we often meet with all four combinations: sensitive as well as cold tenacity, and jerky sensitivity as well as capricious indolence.

Cyclothymic psychomotility is distinguished by the natural quality of reaction and bodily movement, which is now quick, now slow, but (apart from severe pathological inhibitions) always rounded and adequate to the stimulus. While among schizothymes we often meet with psychomotor peculiarities, and particularly in the lack of adequate immediacy between psychic stimulus and motor reaction, in the form of aristocratic, reserved, very restrained, or affectively-lamed, or finally occasionally inhibited, stiff, or timid motility.

So basically, it says that cyclothymes are being measured on the continuum happines/sadness, optimism/pessimism.
Schizothymes, on the other hand, are being measured on the continuum sensitivity/unsensitivity, awareness/unawareness.

It is pretty interesting theory, and it might partially explain the problematic, or might not.
Nevermind, here's the link with full descriptions and information, if someone will be interested more deeply:
PTypes - The Four Temperaments

 

[Lady_X]

if that first bit was in response to what i said i meant that no i would not want to be someone without moods because that concept doesn't make sense to me...not that we are someone else when our mood changes.

but yeah...it's unnoticeable when it changes. i'm usually pretty mellow and happy but will occasionally have a burst of energy that makes me feel like being more social, occasionally feel sad, occasionally mad, sometimes silly ,sometimes feisty, sometimes serious...and they can all happen in one day or not but the negative emotions never last long. i prefer to be happy and stress free.

i'm sorry if my response up there sounded flip but i just can't conceive of the idea of someone being unsure about what they are. it really does not compute.

 

[Virtual ghost]

When I said that you are not you because of mood I didn't mean literally.



What I am saying is that I don't have ups and downs as other people.
This probably is the byproduct of the fact that I solve pretty much everything with logic and thinking. Also I think that I am not supressing something.

 

[Lady_X]

but are you saying you don't experience feelings? because i don't see the difference.

 

[redacted]

Here's the explanation. Everyone has moods. Moods affect behavior.

You may have less of a swing than most people, but you still have moods. And they still affect your behavior. And you do not just reason analytically through everything. You do more than average...but you're not on any sort of different plane.

I could look at 90% of the population and ask the same question...but...it's a pointless and unsatisfying answer. The people at the far ends of a Gaussian are more rare; the people in the middle are more common. lol.

 

[Virtual ghost]

Here's the explanation. Everyone has moods. Moods affect behavior.

You may have less of a swing than most people, but you still have moods. And they still affect your behavior. And you do not just reason analytically through everything. You do more than average...but you're not on any sort of different plane.

I could look at 90% of the population and ask the same question...but...it's a pointless and unsatisfying answer. The people at the far ends of a Gaussian are more rare; the people in the middle are more common. lol.

That is why I said " pretty much myself" I never claimed that I am 100%in this. I it is just that my ups and down are much more smaller than in other people.

For example I don't worry about things much in almost all cases.
I pay attention and I am trying to fix the problem(s) but I don't get stressed out because of it.


I know that everyone has mood but the question is aimed at their intensity.

What I am "exploring" here is the intensity since I look at people around me and now I am trying to see their picture on this.

Does this make sense?

 

[King sns]

I as a person I am always pretty much "myself". I don't have those things that people call change of moods.

GOOD
Me: reserved , cold and analytical


BAD
Me: reserved , cold , analytical and a little bit more distand since I need time too think things through.

Well not to be a smartass, but I guess if I had to compare myself to the OP then.

Good mood:
me: calm, amiable, relaxed
Bad mood:
me: calm, amiable, relaxed, but a little more reserved and distant since I need time to think things through.


I can experience my good moods and bad moods and still maintain some balance on the outside. In intense bad mood, (rare) I just sleep more.
In intense good mood, I laugh more.

Yes, I'm still experiencing the moods but, doesn't change how I act too much.

 

[BlackCat]

What do you think is the biggest engine of mood swings in you?

The influence from people I care deeply for, and somewhat the influence from people I am worried about that I am not as attached to. If someone I care about is in a mood and I'm around them, generally I'll shift to their mood. If they are in a "neutral mood" then I will remain neutral (this is why I highly enjoy people who are emotionally balanced, such as Thinking dominants). If I am with someone I am simply worried about then I will take in their emotions to understand how they are feeling so I can help them.

Mostly my swings come from an issue I have in my life or with someone I care about, I'm sure you can imagine these things, they are quite normal.

How does it feel to have one of those swings?

Well... I realize it's coming on and I can't do anything about it. Then I'm overcome by it and I have to wait it out or do what I can with my current mood. If I get in a bad mood I can easily express my anger toward people and things, if I get in a mood I can easily express how great something or another is. These opinions and feelings are always there, but most of the time I only express them when I am leaning in one of those directions, I am reluctant to express them in my neutral mood (takes effort if I don't want to do it, I like mental and emotional peace). But if I need to then I can express them, like giving encouragement to someone who needs it or express anger and annoyance when I need to. This is why you say people act differently when they are in different moods.

Would you change this trait if you could or at least weaken it?

No, I wouldn't feel like myself. I'd feel like something was missing, it would freak me out to be totally neutral all the time. I would lose most of my ability to help people too.

 

[527468]

But males aggression levels are higher on the other hand so they are more likely to 'externalize' their bad moods while a girl's issue will be rather focused on dealing with more or less sudden changes.

I wouldn't say men are more aggressive. Women tend to be more aggressive verbally.

 

[527468]

Functions are a bit responsible.

1st function - Prominent
2nd function - Positive Feedback
3rd function - Inadequate
4th function - Negative Feedback

INTJs 3rd function is Fi.

ESFPs 2nd function is Fi however.

Everyone probably already knew that.

 

[redacted]

Functions are a bit responsible.

1st function - Prominent
2nd function - Positive Feedback
3rd function - Inadequate
4th function - Negative Feedback

I hate this generalization.

My Ti is not inadequate and my Se is not negative feedback. This is way too prescriptive.