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Are feelers sensitive to all people's problems or mostly just to their own?

brown bear

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The reason I ask is because I've seen a lot of literature on how feelers are very sensitive and caring but I've also read that they are very sensitive to criticism directed at them in particular. So idk if they are sensitive to all people or if they are mostly just sensitive towards themselves as I've seen literature saying boy things. And if you react strongly to criticism directed at yourself, chances are you aren't being very sensitive to other people or to the situation as a whole. So I just don't know what to believe on the matter as I've heard/read so many contradictory things. Can you guys tell me what you think so I can gain a better understanding of feeling types? Thanks in advance yall
 

Yama

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I can't speak for other feelers, but I care about my own problems more than I do others'. This doesn't mean that I'm incapable of being sympathetic. How much I care about your problems depends entirely on how much I personally care about you tbh. I don't care much about random strangers' problems but I do care about my friends'. I think this is true of everyone to some extent.
 

Pionart

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The point is moot, Feeling is about connection to others.
 

Norrsken

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Being sensitive has nothing to do with empathy + compassion.
 

ceecee

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What I have found is that feelers tend to take on the emotion of people around them. Issues arise when someone tries to tell them it would be more healthy and less stressful for them if they made an effort to not soak that crap up. Most of the time I hear - I can't do that - so they keep on with it and the cycle continues. What the fuck do I know, right?

Feelers can be fine with constructive criticism but it's all in the way that's delivered. Sometimes they make me so tired.
 

Forever

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Feeling is a preference, not a sentence.

I've seen a lot of thinkers get very offended too.
 

brown bear

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What I have found is that feelers tend to take on the emotion of people around them. Issues arise when someone tries to tell them it would be more healthy and less stressful for them if they made an effort to not soak that crap up. Most of the time I hear - I can't do that - so they keep on with it and the cycle continues.

Sometimes they make me so tired.
Amen to that.
 

Lady_X

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Feeling is a preference, not a sentence.

I've seen a lot of thinkers get very offended too.

oh hell yeah, you ever disagree with an intps logic? haha

some nfs are crazy sensitive. i often feel like a non feeler compared to my infp bf holy shiz. but...honestly same is true in reverse but about different things so i guess that was a pointless point. :/
 

Forever

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oh hell yeah, you ever disagree with an intps logic? haha

some nfs are crazy sensitive. i often feel like a non feeler compared to my infp bf holy shiz. but...honestly same is true in reverse but about different things so i guess that was a pointless point. :/

Lol, their logic = supreme, aka proved by iq. :wink:

Just diversity of where the tonality of our feelings lie. Not a bad point really. It's really frustrating.
 

Bush

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I dunno. Sensitivity is sensitivity.

Sensitivity, to an extent, means feeling as though you have a personal stake in life. Things affect you.

Sensitivity doesn't need to have a subject, really. If someone is sensitive to criticism, it doesn't follow that they're not sensitive to others or to other things.
 

Poki

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my enfp is sensitive to her feelings about my problems until she realizes i am not feeling it. so she is not that sensitive to my problems anymore.
 

Mal12345

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The reason I ask is because I've seen a lot of literature on how feelers are very sensitive and caring but I've also read that they are very sensitive to criticism directed at them in particular. So idk if they are sensitive to all people or if they are mostly just sensitive towards themselves as I've seen literature saying boy things. And if you react strongly to criticism directed at yourself, chances are you aren't being very sensitive to other people or to the situation as a whole. So I just don't know what to believe on the matter as I've heard/read so many contradictory things. Can you guys tell me what you think so I can gain a better understanding of feeling types? Thanks in advance yall

I agree that this "sensitivity" or empathy thing is not coherent with other feelings and behaviors. But it's not like such people can't turn it on and off. Empathy and sensitivity don't expand out to all things but only to those things 'deserving' of it according to a simple set of rules. These rules determine when sensitivity is warranted and when it is not. A good sign that this sensitivity is not altruistic but is entirely selfish is the fact that the person is "sensitive" to criticism from others. This person is likely to be very self-critical as it is. They tend to have an underlying chronic feeling of irritation and so they can be irritable at times due to not wanting to express anger at others and risk their disapproval. Criticism only serves to set them off, and the result can sometimes be aggression. The reason they feel irritable is that there is an ideal moral self which generates an inner critic that is often at odds with the real self of every day life. Producing feelings of empathy, compassion, or any sensitive feeling is a mirror for that which they desire from others. The source of this desire is the personal moral struggle that follows them throughout their lives. So criticism is the last thing this Feeling type wants.

If the Feeling type is sufficiently introverted, then there is also the desire for independence and to eschew being controlled by others. So criticism can also be seen as a form of control and an attempt to control the Feeler.
 

brown bear

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I agree that this "sensitivity" or empathy thing is not coherent with other feelings and behaviors. But it's not like such people can't turn it on and off. Empathy and sensitivity don't expand out to all things but only to those things 'deserving' of it according to a simple set of rules. These rules determine when sensitivity is warranted and when it is not. A good sign that this sensitivity is not altruistic but is entirely selfish is the fact that the person is "sensitive" to criticism from others. This person is likely to be very self-critical as it is. They tend to have an underlying chronic feeling of irritation and so they can be irritable at times due to not wanting to express anger at others and risk their disapproval. Criticism only serves to set them off, and the result can sometimes be aggression. The reason they feel irritable is that there is an ideal moral self which generates an inner critic that is often at odds with the real self of every day life. Producing feelings of empathy, compassion, or any sensitive feeling is a mirror for that which they desire from others. The source of this desire is the personal moral struggle that follows them throughout their lives. So criticism is the last thing this Feeling type wants.

If the Feeling type is sufficiently introverted, then there is also the desire for independence and to eschew being controlled by others. So criticism can also be seen as a form of control and an attempt to control the Feeler.

Well said m8.
 

Norrsken

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Gonna have to disagree with that

Believe me, I've met plenty of so called sensitive souls who are still only out for themselves and don't really care for other people's point of view.
That's just me, of course, your experiences may vary.
 

brown bear

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Believe me, I've met plenty of so called sensitive souls who are still only out for themselves and don't really care for other people's point of view.
That's just me, of course, your experiences may vary.

I'm not talking about so-called sensitive souls. I'm talking about genuinely sensitive souls.
 

Norrsken

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I'm not talking about so-called sensitive souls. I'm talking about genuinely sensitive souls.

Then yes, generally speaking, they do have empathy as sensitivity can cause a person to take on another person's emotions as their own through absorption.
HSP (Highly Sensitive People) reading materials also pointed this out to me. Sorry for being confused. '-'
 

brown bear

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Then yes, generally speaking, they do have empathy as sensitivity can cause a person to take on another person's emotions as their own through absorption.
HSP (Highly Sensitive People) reading materials also pointed this out to me. Sorry for being confused. '-'

It's all good man. Here's some Dennis Brown for easy listening.

Dennis Brown - Revolution - YouTube
 
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