• You are currently viewing our forum as a guest, which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community, you will have access to additional post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), view blogs, respond to polls, upload content, and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free, so please join our community today! Just click here to register. You should turn your Ad Blocker off for this site or certain features may not work properly. If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us by clicking here.

[Other/Multiple Temperaments] Fi v Fe on Expressing Emotion

SkyborneVeggies

New member
Joined
Nov 18, 2014
Messages
7
MBTI Type
INFJ
Enneagram
5w4
Lately I've been questioning the notion that Fi users keep their feelings to themselves, and Fe users need to talk about their feelings. It's said that since Fi is introverted, it is more concerned with internal feelings AND keeps those feelings to itself.
Since Fe is extroverted, it's more concerned with others' feelings AND emotes outwardly.
However, I don't see why whose emotions we understand better has anything to do with whether we need to share our feelings or not. To me it seems like two unrelated characteristics. Actually in my experience, I feel like the opposite has been true. All the Fi users I know (INFP Father, ESFP Sister, ENFP Best Friend) are much more apt to express their feelings because they don't worry that they might burden someone or potentially make them feel awkward.
I think it would be more accurate to say, instead, that when an Fi user tends to keep their emotions to themselves, it's usually for X reason. When they tend to express it, it's usually for Y reason. And the same for Fe users. Rather than say Fi users don't emote & Fe users do.
What do you guys think?

On a more general note, I've noticed that when Fi and Fe users do talk about their feelings, the resulting conversation is very different. When a Fi user expresses their emotions, they're very precise & can describe exactly what they're feeling, & could probably talk about them at length if they wanted to. When a Fe user expresses emotion, it's in a much more generic way & requires another person's input to understand more deeply. The conversation would contain a lot more back and forth than with a Fi user. It's significantly less taxing for an Fe to analyze & discuss someone else's emotions than their own. I've haven't seen an Fi user try to analyze someone else's emotions aloud before that I can remember, but I assume the opposite is true.
Thoughts?
 

Red Memories

Haunted Echoes
Joined
Jun 3, 2017
Messages
6,315
MBTI Type
ESFP
Enneagram
215
Instinctual Variant
sx/so
I think you're on to something.

Either type is capable of expressing their emotions. It is more about how they handle ethics.

Fe is not necessarily needing to express emotion, but needs an externalized opinion on its personal beliefs. They want to know if their ethic system is right or wrong based on the external view of those closest to them. Fe also has an "outer peace" mentality, which causes it to associate closely with people of like-minded ideas but not as much with different others, otherwise conflict in their group or ethics may arise. To them, beliefs and such are more objective and relate to the whole.

Fi is also not necessarily needing to express emotion, but takes an internalized approach to their ethics. Because they do internalize it, they may not be as open about their POV. It may also make them more firm and sure of their POV. They also have a more "inner peace" mentality so they are more likely to associate themselves with people of a completely different POV because beliefs and such are more subjective and personalized to them.
 

OrangeAppled

Sugar Hiccup
Joined
Mar 20, 2009
Messages
7,626
MBTI Type
INFP
Enneagram
4w5
Instinctual Variant
sp/sx
All the Fi users I know (INFP Father, ESFP Sister, ENFP Best Friend) are much more apt to express their feelings because they don't worry that they might burden someone or potentially make them feel awkward.

Doesn’t jive with my experience or observations. I rarely discuss or express my emotions with people IRL precisely because I don’t want to burden them with it. I also anticipate misunderstanding and invalidation....so why bother.

The reason people say this about Fi and Fe is because it’s part of how Jung described the types. However, he described pure types, and most people aren’t a pure type.

I've haven't seen an Fi user try to analyze someone else's emotions aloud before that I can remember, but I assume the opposite is true.

I’m pretty comfortable with other people’s emotions. I only get uncomfortable when they expect me to mirror them and seem to judge me if I don’t respond in the way they think everyone should respond.

Friends and even strangers come to me for advice or as a listening ear because I’m calm and empathetic.
Not the biggest fan of Keirsey, but he has some insights. He called INFPs “harmonizer clarifiers” because we have a tendency to use our own method of analyzing and clarifying our own emotions to develop value concepts so we can harmonize our emotions, feelings, actions etc, to help others analyze and clarify their emotions so they can bring their different parts into harmony too.

Anyhow I think it’s important to note that ExFPs are first and foremost extroverts and perceiving types. Openness of expression is most associated with extroversion. So ExFPs can be very expressive, and the impetus for it is often tied more to their extroverted perceiving preference, which often seeks to affect or be affected by its environment. They tend to respond more, er, impulsively, basically. And although IxFJs may prefer Fe as an auxiliary function, they still may be quite reserved with expression of emotion. Extroverted Feeling is in service of their dominant introverted perceiving ego.

Emotions and feeling aren’t the same thing either, not in this theory. Feeling tends to use emotion as relevant data. Experience of emotion isn’t tied to any psychological type. Expression of it can occur or not occur for many reasons. For example, thinking types tend to have outbursts because they may ignore emotion since it’s not relevant to their main focus the way it is for Feeling types.
 
Last edited:

Eric B

ⒺⓉⒷ
Joined
Mar 29, 2008
Messages
3,621
MBTI Type
INTP
Enneagram
548
Instinctual Variant
sp/sx
It’ s a wide misconception that the attitude of the function is necessarily “where it’s ‘used’” or "sharing/expressing it vs keeping it in". The attitude is the individual or environmental location you turn to to make the perception or judgment. It will often end up more applicable in the domain it was derived from, but that’s not what makes it introverted or extraverted. For instance, Ji types will naturally want their judgments applied in the real world. They simply rationalized it in their own minds rather than simply turn to external authority or consensus. And like OrangeAppled said, I/E will determine more how "expressive" they are of it.
 
Top