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Are personality differences accentuated in an online context?

Thalassa

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How pitifully stupid. As thought there's some sort of secret N language that only Ns can use or recognize. Get over yourself.

You react like I'm calling you bad words. All I said is that you aren't N.
 

OrangeAppled

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My personal theory is that Introverted functions tend to show up more in writing, while Extraverted functions tend to show up more in person.

All of the functions can of course appear, but I believe that being online accentuates the Introverted functions, while interacting in person accentuates the Extraverted functions.

I think this is true also.

In regards to the OP's example of any supposed Fi/Fe clash (although, I find more discussion of it than actual incidents of it), it could possibly be that Fi is far less visible in person. You're going to get more of the Pe flexibility. So I don't think personalities are accentuated less, but you see them from a different angle. I would definitely say I am a bit different in person, in most contexts, unless you were to replicate a similar style of discussion as online.

One reason for me is similar to Mask's below, which is that the topics discussed and the depth of their discussion often go a bit deeper online than in person, which is the kind of discussion that suits my thought process better. Introverts often need time to mull over a topic as the E functions do better with instant processing, and online forums allow for the time delay and thus encourage participation from someone who might otherwise stay quiet in a briskly moving in-person discussion.

Both this and the anonymous aspect makes me more open about my feelings and opinions than I might be in person. Really, my Fi is more clearly outlined, whereas in person the mere existence of my feelings has been questioned.

I think it really depends on the individual. My thoughts are the same in either context, but I am much less willing to share them offline. For one, I am introverted and more reflective than engaging. I don't assume that people want to hear my thoughts so I usually keep them to myself. A forum is a little different. The topics that are discussed here are less likely to come up in casual conversation to the depth that they do online. A lot of times, words are overlooked by expressions and other external factors that don't come into play via text. When I'm in a social setting, my mind takes in a lot of information that may not be pertinent to the conversation and I am apt to lose focus if it doesn't interest me.
 

rav3n

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In my opinion, the online medium allows introverts time to gather thoughts and express them without the external pressure of real life interactions. If I recall correctly, the average verbal conversation requires a response within 10 seconds or the other person will either lose interest or start to speak again to fill the silence.
 
A

A window to the soul

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It's anyone's guess. I'm saving up my finely tuned social skills for offline.
hmmv.gif
 

Patches

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I was just thinking about this thread in the context of some of my professors... since my first interaction with them tends to be by reading their syllabus and getting emails from them about what to have prepared for the first class. I got worried because one of my professors came off as a huge prick in the 3 emails he sent the class. While all professors tend to write emails with an authoritarian 'tone', his just seemed dripping with an extra dose of douchebaggery.

I got to class and he was all smiles... Kind of a goofy guy. He kept making really lame jokes and puns about science. It really set a pretty laid-back tone for the class. (Thank god, because it's a 3 hour lecture.) A lot of professors come across very differently via email than they do in person.
 

Thalassa

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You know, I want to throw in here that my ex once said that he couldn't believe how much different and smarter that I seem in writing. He said the difference was so pronounced that he almost felt like he was insulting me by saying so.

I've noticed that when I talk out I tend to, you know, talk out. I can have foot-in-mouth syndrome, even worse than I would on the Intertardz. In writing I can collect my thoughts.

And I also think it's because he was judging me from the perspective of being an ESFJ, too. They have different standards of what appears "smart" or "clever" or "with it."

I fail as a sensor, apparently. That's actually what I get out of this. Whatever I am, it don't translate well in the SJ world.
 

Amethyst

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I think it depends on the person...maybe if you're more open with yourself in real life as you are on the internet, there wouldn't be as much of a difference, but I'm not sure.

What I write is what I am and for the most part how I express myself towards others. There are very subtle differences, but I basically stamp whatever I write with my personality. :yes:
 

Orangey

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You react like I'm calling you bad words. All I said is that you aren't N.

I react like you're suggesting that being an S makes one less capable of recognizing N functions in writing...which is what you were suggesting in response to my statement that it was doubtful that N functions are easily identifiable in writing (don't try and backtrack.) And to say something like that is stupid on multiple levels: (1) no one definitively knows what it means for there to be N functions in a sample of writing, (2) even if we did know, and could recognize N functions in writing, that still wouldn't be enough to type the author, and (3) if N functions could be definitively recognized in writing, that would mean that anyone (no matter their personal type) could recognize them.
 

Southern Kross

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Athenian200 said:
My personal theory is that Introverted functions tend to show up more in writing, while Extraverted functions tend to show up more in person.

All of the functions can of course appear, but I believe that being online accentuates the Introverted functions, while interacting in person accentuates the Extraverted functions.
I think it really depends on the individual. My thoughts are the same regardless, but I am much less willing to share them offline. For one, I am introverted and more reflective than engaging. I don't assume that people want to hear my thoughts so I usually keep them to myself. A forum is a little different. The topics that are discussed here are less likely to come up in casual conversation to the depth that they do online. A lot of times, words are overlooked by expressions and other external factors that don't come into play via text. When I'm in a social setting, my mind takes in a lot of information that may not be pertinent to the conversation and I am apt to lose focus if it doesn't interest me. Some people hide behind personas. My username would imply that I do, but I chose that more in regards to my life offline because of the difficulties I've faced having a personality that conflicts with cultural ideals. I've shared some personal details in this forum that I haven't with friends in my daily life. Perhaps, it is because there's safety in anonymity, although I find that I still trust some people too easily.
In regards to the OP's example of any supposed Fi/Fe clash (although, I find more discussion of it than actual incidents of it), it could possibly be that Fi is far less visible in person. You're going to get more of the Pe flexibility. So I don't think personalities are accentuated less, but you see them from a different angle. I would definitely say I am a bit different in person, in most contexts, unless you were to replicate a similar style of discussion as online.

One reason for me is similar to Mask's below, which is that the topics discussed and the depth of their discussion often go a bit deeper online than in person, which is the kind of discussion that suits my thought process better. Introverts often need time to mull over a topic as the E functions do better with instant processing, and online forums allow for the time delay and thus encourage participation from someone who might otherwise stay quiet in a briskly moving in-person discussion.

Both this and the anonymous aspect makes me more open about my feelings and opinions than I might be in person. Really, my Fi is more clearly outlined, whereas in person the mere existence of my feelings has been questioned.
I definitely agree with these statements.

From my perspective this forum is the opportunity for me to cease de-emphasizing, and instead explore, my functions that are considered somewhat irrelevant and/or out of place in ordinary social situations; namely Fi and Ne. A strong combined expression of the two IRL conversation often seems to result in baffled looks and rolling-tumbleweed-like pregnant pauses - so I usually dilute or tone down the expression of these functions. Also here I have more time to think these expressions out and write them in a form closer to what is going through my head.

As I said before in a previous thread, a factor could be that some introverted types are behaving here in a deceptively and uncharacteristically more open/decisive manner than they usually do in conversation. This then makes their behaviour harder to read and misunderstandings will naturally occur.
 

Tallulah

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Having just read the OP so far, I would say this: in online matters where we're discussing the functions themselves, I think we feel like it's more a matter of being understood. In real life, we'd work a little harder to figure out where the other is coming from, but here, we're thinking about how we most naturally react. They are preferences after all, and wouldn't we usually prefer to react in ways that make the most effortless sense to us? So maybe deep down, in these discussions, we're hoping that it might make as much sense to others, once they know where we're really coming from.

In those Fe/Fi discussions, I always feel like I mostly relate to the Fe side, and there are others who much more naturally relate to Fi. It seems like it's more useful to be able to see what each side looks like if it were able to run rampant instead of compromising, than it would for each poster to say what it thinks the other side wants to hear. After all, when do we ever get to do that in real life? I think an unfettered look at each approach is much more useful in understanding how each function approaches a situation. So, yeah, I think it's much more pronounced here than it would be if we interacted with each other in a normal social or work setting.
 

Synapse

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A reasonable gap there is. I am nowhere near as expressive in person as I am online, this has changed where I am starting to be more expressive in person recently and my friends were surprised. Then again I'm still nowhere near as expressive a person online as I can be. ;)
This in every sense of the word has much to do with energy, when it is flowing for me I am an intensely passionate person, to the point I could have a big mouth, to the point where I am a mystery to the friends who once knew me from high school in every way, shape and form.

Would that be a repressed Fe/Fi, disconnected personalty, stress?
 
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