I said turn them off. I tried suicide a few times. It didn't work very well.
I really like this nugget of insight and have often noticed that INTP's seem especially drawn when I display very positive, authentic emotions in a confidant manner. But then I've also seen them get really cranky or sarcastic in responce, too.
INTP's.. do you find yourself drawn to emotional people? Do you just pretend to be disturbed by what some might deem irrational mumbo-jumbo while secretly eating it up? And what is your emotional state usually like in that rich inner world? Flat? Underlying? *pokes INTP robot with stick* I've seen more than a few INTP's come across as rather apathetic, and wonder if you really DO like people that can invoke strong emotions.. but am I wrong? Is it always uncomfortable for you?
1)
Drawn to emotional people: it depends on how you define emotional people. My romantic interests are usually F types. INFx, most frequently. I prefer people who can be of average mentality most of the time but be emotional when it's warranted. What I like about the INFx types in specific is how they have a rich emotional inner world, but they tend to keep this emotional world to themselves unless they consider you ready for it. Even then, it comes out in ordered bits in pieces as opposed to the undirected emotional projectile vomit ESFJs are
sometimes capable of. INFx types understand how to draw positive emotions out of me as a balance to my negative, and I tend to draw their rational sides out (sometimes just "more", depending on how rational they are to begin with). It's a nice balance, but I do detest undirected emotional projectile vomit. (As a side note, ESFJs aren't the only type capable of it. I would assume every type is, but ESFJs are the most frequent I've observed it in due to having a great level of experience with ESFJs. I know ENFx types are capable of it as well, but the ENFx types I've known are a lot better at restraining it, even the really emotional ones.)
2)
Irrational mumbo-jumbo: on one hand, there are many occasions in life where I can 'enjoy' a very deep cringe at something someone is saying. Especially when someone I've considered smart says something incomprehensibly retarded. (i.e. George W. Bush is smarter than Barack Obama... I'll admit neither are geniuses, but
goddamn.) There are times when I get enjoyment out of irrational mumbo-jumbo. When I went to the
Creation Museum in 2009 with over 250 atheists and agnostics, I
ran around taking pictures like a kid with an all you can eat ticket in the world's largest candy store. Certain types of ridiculous statements are cringe-worthy and make me take a step back (being ill-informed, for instance), whereas other types of ridiculous statements amuse me to a great degree on an overall level, but make me
desperate to explain things.
3)
Emotional state: approximately
zero. People readily assume me to be depressed, angry, or a whole plethora of other things that
I'm just not feeling. Aside from moments of intense despair or mild happiness, over 90% of my time is spent at a state of
emotional nothingness. Even things I 'enjoy', I 'enjoy' from an intellectual basis rather than an emotional one. Listening to Entombed or Dismember makes me 'happy', but only so far as I enjoy the technicality of the music, the high level of patterns and structure, the unique sounds present, and the insane sounds of the vocals. That is to say, when I listen to music, I'm
analyzing it, not so much
listening to it. My enjoyment, then, is quite a bit different than someone else's enjoyment. I've heard people say "this song makes me happy" and they start to smile, get dreamy eyes, and seem to get lost in themselves. When I think "this song makes me happy" what I'm really saying is, "this song has a good structure, nice instrumentals, passing vocals or above average vocals, and deserves some form of respect." Most of the time, even when 'enjoying' myself, I feel the same thing I do when I'm sitting alone in a dark room doing nothing:
nothing!
4)
Apathetic: we may show no interest, enthusiasm, or concern, but we often feel them. I rarely feel anything near "concern" because I don't have any reason to care. Interest is frequent. I can be interested in a lot of things. I am interested in a lot of things. I could never just focus on a few things in specific... jack of all trades, master of none? As for enthusiasm, even if I'm enthusiastic, I'm fairly good at keeping it to myself. I can occasionally feel this rising feeling that makes me want to smile, but I just keep my average devil may care expression plastered on. I'm very much afraid to show anything similar to 'enthusiasm', because I view it as a sign of weakness. Even more so than 'fear' itself. I also keep my fears to myself, generally, in part because I have very few.
5)
Invoking emotions: look, I don't know about anyone else here, but if I were around someone and they
constantly evoked a strong emotional response, or
anywhere near constantly, I would get very unnerved and probably try to distance myself or back off as soon as possible. I'm OK with feeling things as long as they don't impact analysis, but feelings very often impact analysis and cause various forms of bias. In case you were wondering, yes, bias is a bad thing when trying to do objective analysis. I have distanced myself from my parents over the years specifically
because they attempt to evoke strong emotions in me. The things they say
can't, but I still don't want to be subjected to it.
Anyways, this is all me and may not apply for anyone else. So yeah, take it as whatever.
(As a side note, I would suppose the counterpoint to 'emotional vomit' would be 'intellectual dribble'. Extreme ESFs like my mom and dad have no need for any form of intellectual pursuit and – honestly, not even making fun of them – they don't. I hear 'emotional vomit' from them, and they hear, in what I would imagine to be a counterpoint, 'intellectual dribble' from me. It's all about perspective, I have fallen in love with emotional people, it's just the emotional vomit that goes beyond the point of semi-rational emotions which bothers me...)
