However, as time went on and I thought about it some more, the Fe metaphor of "fog" started to feel less and less satisfying. It felt more like a Fi-valuer's description of Fe, for some inexplicable reason ( ). Anyway, long story short, I had an epiphany at work today, and have an idea for a better description of Fe.
Let us take Expat's excellent description of Fi as a starting point. Laser beams representing relationships connect everybody; when the relationship is good, the laser beam is blue, when it's bad, it's red.
Expat went on to describe Fe as a sort of coloured fog filling the spaces between people, emitted by the people themselves who 'smoke'. The fog reveals the lasers and helps them to be seen. I don't think this is quite accurate. Fe is described as "internal dynamics of objects", and this fog seems more like a description of some kind of dynamic field.
Here is how I would describe Fe:
While everyone is walking around with these laser beams connecting them, they also have another light source: a sort of internal 'glow', which is Fe. Like the laser beams, this glow can be different colours: blue for positive emotions, red for negative emotions, etc. Unlike the laser beams, however, this light is constantly shifting and changing: now I'm blue and happy, now I'm red and angry, etc.
For base Fe types, this light is very bright. You often hear ESEs, for example, described as "lighting up the room" when they enter (at least by those who value Fe ). Base Fe types are very good at revealing and controlling this light, hiding their unpleasant red light when necessary and revealing their fun blue light when appropriate. They're also very good at seeing the light emitted by others. When an Fe type enters a room, they see the combined glow emitted by everyone there; this is where the sense of Fe being the "mood of the room" comes from.
Fe valuing types love being around people emitting 'blue' light. The colour of the laser beams is not seen as being as important as the colour of a person's Fe glow. Being connected by blue laser beams with people simply means that those people will be more likely to emit blue light when they're around, which is all Fe valuers are really after anyway. When red light appears, they feel the cause of it should be rooted out with Ti, and dealt with. Then the fun blue light can return.
Types weak in Fe have a harder time seeing and displaying this light. They can't always tell the difference between genuine light and fake light. Fe-PoLR types find strong Fe light unpleasant, and avoid it ("It burns us!"). They also mask any light they might have inside, closing it off from the world. This confuses Fe base types, who assume that they must simply be hiding a bunch of angry red light.
Fi valuers see the Fe glow simply as one way to determine the status of the laser beam between them: if one person consistantly reacts to another person with genuine blue light, then the laser beam between them must be blue, and vice versa. However, the Fe light is fickle and ever-changing, so they don't find it to be very reliable.
I think you need to look at Fe doms. They are normally pretty adaptive and social, and tolerate a lot of ENFP banter . The ones I know are persistent without being pushy, and generally like to improve my skills at organisation and tidiness. They're very lovable. I'm actually a big fan.
With the topic question, at work I've found ENTJs organise, get things to work, are very social. ENFJs are similar, but they do it from a more social perspective than technical one. Both come and joke about killing me for not reading emails, though the ENTJs seem to go more into the descriptions of creative ways to do it.
Extroverted Feeling, or Fe, used primarily by ESFJ and ENFJ as a dominant function, and by ISFJ and INFJ as a secondary, is a natural understanding of and ability to play off the emotions of others.
It is similar to Te in that it is outwardly goal- and schedule-oriented, but it bases its strategy for completing these goals upon personal empathy/careful observance of local social and cultural standards (as opposed to Te's focus on impersonal/theoretical constructs) and is keenly aware of the emotional states/probable emotional strengths and weaknesses of others based on how they interact socially.
Fe makes friends very easily and, if used for malicious purposes, can and will use the emotions of others to manipulate them into participating in its plans. For healthy Fe users, though, it's usually just a strong sense of open, heavily emotional support for friends and loved ones--ExFJs are great people to go to when you want to feel better about yourself.
Fe differs from Fi because it changes with cultural surroundings. It gets its sense of morality from the social standards of its community (sense of community/fitting in is VERY important!), and so if an Fe user moves from one culture to another he may significantly change his standards in these areas in order to integrate into the new community/gain trust and emotional influence with others. (Fi, used by xxFP types, will rarely change its moral standards at all because they come from the inside.)
So people with good Fe are typically VERY charismatic because they know how to phrase everything in just the right way to appeal to the emotional/cultural sentiments and values of their audiences. You won't catch an FJ using coarse language or anything that could potentially be construed as offensive in important, public image-related situations very often at all--this is the kind of mistake they almost never make, and one that many NTs would do well to learn from.
And be careful of crossing the Fe doms, especially (ESFJ/ENFJ)--because some of them who don't have the restraint to behave otherwise will use the emotions of others to manipulate them into disliking you. Watch out.
And be careful of crossing the Fe doms, especially (ESFJ/ENFJ)--because some of them who don't have the restraint to behave otherwise will use the emotions of others to manipulate them into disliking you. Watch out.
Well, combined with a high amount Ni, it's the incapability to do anything wrong without an overactive conscience interfering.
I wish I could be like all those cool criminals...
Fe is my inferior function...but this stood out as a good description.