Are Emotions Unnatural?

[Warm]

For almost two months I have been talking to someone I thought is an INTP but tested as an INTJ. This morning he called (rare occurrence because he doesn't like human interaction) and I asked him if he slept well. He said that he doesn't understand the concept of sleeping well, that there is just sleep. He went on to ask why someone wouldn't sleep well and I told him that people could toss and turn because of some problem like home issues or sadness. That's when he started to lecture me about the irrationality of emotions, that they are taught and not natural, so people can just choose to be happy and never have a problem sleeping because of some issue.
I just let him go on because he believes that he is right no matter what.

[Coriolis]

Good grief. This fellow must lead a charmed nocturnal existence. Even without emotions, sleep can be disrupted by physical symptoms like pain or sinus congestion, or by external stimuli like loud noises, or the motion of a bed partner or pet.

[Caribelle]

Emotions are very natural. We're not robots, after all. I know some thinker types who pretend they don't exist, though. Either that or they don't consider them important enough to dwell on.

[Coriolis]

Emotions are very natural. We're not robots, after all. I know some thinker types who pretend they don't exist, though. Either that or they don't consider them important enough to dwell on.

It's more the latter, in my experience. Relieving ourselves is quite natural, too, but I prefer not to dwell on that, either.

[Warm]

Emotions are very natural. We're not robots, after all. I know some thinker types who pretend they don't exist, though. Either that or they don't consider them important enough to dwell on.

I think this INTJ doesn't dwell on feelings and sees this as something that others should be able to do as quickly as he does. I told him that others are not like him, so they must work through their emotions and he did not accept that AT ALL. So stubborn!

[Jaguar]

He sounds like an idiot. Btw, emotions are not used to categorize type. Nor is type used to draw conclusions about one's emotions. There are plenty of type models to access.

[GoggleGirl17]

Logic is just a tool to achieve an end. What makes logical sense depends on your objective. What is a human's objective? It's to feel a particular way, otherwise there would be nothing to motivate us to action and we would wither away. It seems because he can't personally relate to others' experiences, he can't understand why certain emotions or even physical pains would arise, but it doesn't mean these things don't exist, or that they exist for no reason.

[Lexicon]

The limbic system is an organic set of structures within the human brain that support/process emotion (among other things like memory, etc). I’d probably ask him to explain how a concrete aspect of human anatomy is ‘unnatural.’ That’s just silly.

Human emotion serves an array of natural functions (survival of the self, survival & proliferation of the species, threat detection & response, learning, list goes on). The regulation/reactions to those emotions are multidimensionally influenced by bio/psycho/social factors. Some of it is directly related to individual inborn brain structure; some is learned. Emotions in the most basic core sense are not learned, though. And that said, it should be noted that learning & conditioning are also natural processes.



Emotion plays a key role in learning & memory on both physical & cognitive levels. Mind-body connection. It’s perfectly reasonable for various experiences we have to impact the quality of our sleep, going off the OP example. For instance, a combat veteran with PTSD will have conditioned overactive startle-responses that make them wake easily from deep sleep in an alert, defensive state. This is not a voluntary act they can simply choose not to have. They are literally unconscious when it takes place.



I sense some projection/repression on his part, & perhaps a lack of general education about that big hunk of matter that occupies the top half of his head...

[Mole]

The limbic system is an organic set of structures within the human brain that support/process emotion (among other things like memory, etc). I’d probably ask him to explain how a concrete aspect of human anatomy is ‘unnatural.’ That’s just silly.

Human emotion serves an array of natural functions (survival of the self, survival & proliferation of the species, threat detection & response, learning, list goes on). The regulation/reactions to those emotions are multidimensionally influenced by bio/psycho/social factors. Some of it is directly related to individual inborn brain structure; some is learned. Emotions in the most basic core sense are not learned, though. And that said, it should be noted that learning & conditioning are also natural processes.


I sense some projection/repression on his part, & perhaps a lack of general education about that big hunk of matter that occupies the top half of his head...

What a lovely post by a lovely person.

[Indigo Rodent]

Sounds like a case of stunted development of further functions.