[ENFP] ENFP: Lack of Fear of Germs?

[Usehername]

Every ENFP I know is very laid back when it comes to eating stuff of the floor, washing their hands, etc.

Why do you not fear germs like a normal person? Is this just a trend in the small number of ENFPs I know?

 

[proteanmix]

 

[targobelle]

meh..... entp's are like this too even more so than enfp's

my children have been through quite the 'number' although as parents enfp tend to think about germs a lil more

 

[Vortex]

I'm not hysterical about germs, but I do use rubbing alcohol quite often. Toilet seats, switch plates, cellphones, remote controls, door phones (don't know what they're called), electrical appliances etc. etc. People usually seem to think that my place is messy, but not dirty as such.

On the other hand I'll eat raw meat and stuff like that (but never let anyone else eat something that might potentially upset their system) since I have the unshakeable belief that I won't get sick from it (and I never have). I don't eat or drink things I've left out; at one point I had a cup of coffee I didn't finish, went to school, got home, nuked it in the microwave, started drinking until a gigantic fried spider touched my lips (that incident put me off microwaves for a year or so).

I stopped eating things off the floor after one time I dropped a popcorn on it (right after vacuuming), but didn't realise I'd knocked over an ashtray...you tend to look at the things you eat after attempting to chew a cigarette butt, not just grasp things off the floor .

And I think I wash my hands relatively frequently - at least I never seem to keep hand moisturizer on for long.

All in all, I don't think I have natural inclination to fear germs or stuff like that, but experience has changed my perspective.

 

[lbloom]

They're still around, aren't they?

 

[Mempy]

I don't eat or drink things I've left out; at one point I had a cup of coffee I didn't finish, went to school, got home, nuked it in the microwave, started drinking until a gigantic fried spider touched my lips (that incident put me off microwaves for a year or so).

Hold up. FULL STOP. That is the most disgusting thing I've ever read on these boards. It made my throat muscles contract. LOL. I can see why it put you off microwaves! Jesus man, that is SICK.

 

[findthejake]

I don't really care much about germs. If I drop something in the dirt, i'll pour some water over it just cause I don't like the crunchy sound the dirt makes on my teeth... Else whatever goes!

 

[gretch]

Depends. I am not ally that hung up on germs. I wash my hands when I touch something germy. I shower when I'm dirty. But I think my immune system has been all the better for it.

 

[MerkW]

:horor: :horor: :horor:

I think I have lost my appetite, as well as my respect for most ENFPs.
Then again, I am quite the mysophobe (more so in the past than in the present, actually).

P.S. I wonder if there is in fact a correlation between phobias/hypochondriasis/OCD. I think I might go off and start a separate thread regarding this, perhaps with a poll included.

 

[Usehername]

I once walked out of a bathroom with an ENFP. we were in africa. africa, in case you did not know, is very dirty. i went to wash my hands, she went to walk out.

i called her on it. "aren't you going to wash your hands?!"

she shrugs, answers, "it's not like I peed all over them" and continues to walk out.


(at least if you get caught wash your hands. aarugh.)

 

[brazz]

Haha yeaaaaah. Iunno. Whatever. If something falls on the floor, it depends on the state of the floor and (honestly) the people there. And the type of food. If it's gum, hell no. But more because of the presence of actual dirt, hair, etc. Not because I think the germs stick to the gum any more than it would to a slice of bread or something.

 

[MerkW]

I once walked out of a bathroom with an ENFP. we were in africa. africa, in case you did not know, is very dirty. i went to wash my hands, she went to walk out.

i called her on it. "aren't you going to wash your hands?!"

she shrugs, answers, "it's not like I peed all over them" and continues to walk out.


(at least if you get caught wash your hands. aarugh.)

Egad! I am used to dealing with such behavior by now, though. It still sends shivers down my spine.
Precisely which African country was this? It's one thing to commit such a hygienic felony in, say, Morocco or Egypt, and yet another do the same thing in Malawi or Ethiopia.

 

[gretch]

:horor: :horor: :horor:

I think I have lost my appetite, as well as my respect for most ENFPs.
Then again, I am quite the mysophobe (more so in the past than in the present, actually).

P.S. I wonder if there is in fact a correlation between phobias/hypochondriasis/OCD. I think I might go off and start a separate thread regarding this, perhaps with a poll included.

the INFP I know intimately is a germophobe.


I wash when I need to, but don't think too terribly much about it when i don't.

 

[gretch]

I once walked out of a bathroom with an ENFP. we were in africa. africa, in case you did not know, is very dirty. i went to wash my hands, she went to walk out.

i called her on it. "aren't you going to wash your hands?!"

she shrugs, answers, "it's not like I peed all over them" and continues to walk out.


(at least if you get caught wash your hands. aarugh.)

There may have been more germs in the water then on her hands. I think of this in public bathrooms. If people need to wash their hands and touch the faucet... you then get germs on your hands that way... more other people germs. I have been living with my germs a lot longer. In Africa though I would think it would be useful to have hand sanitizer handy.

 

[Nocapszy]

Is it that ENFPs aren't scared enough or that everyone else is too scared?

Targo is correct in that ENTPs are as bad if not worse than them in this. I'm no exception, and I never get sick. Ever. Perhaps not washing your hands deprives your immune system of 'target practice' as it were, eliminating opportunity to develop and perfect a system of antibodies.

But, I'm not biologist.

 

[MerkW]

I, an INTP, was often ridiculed for my excessive fears of germs and illness/OCD. At school, people would touch my food, either in an attempt to "cure" me, or to blatantly irritate me. This would upset me, because I would never eat food that other people would touch. I remained quiet, but inside I was quite infuriated. I have contemplated drawing caricatures and comics of my classmates. In these drawings (in payment for mocking me for my fears) they would be crippled by devastating diseases, concluding with them rotting and withering away, while I laugh triumphantly in the foreground.

 

[gretch]

I, an INTP, was often ridiculed for my excessive fears of germs and illness. At school, people would touch my food, either in an attempt to "cure" me, or to blatantly irritate me. This would upset me, because I would never eat food that other people would touch. I remained quiet, but inside I was quite infuriated. I have contemplated drawing caricatures and comics of my classmates. In these drawings (in payment for mocking me for my fears) they would be crippled by devastating diseases, concluding with them rotting and withering away, while I laugh triumphantly in the foreground. :evil:

hahaha!
If only I could think of such a punishment for people who touch my face!

 

[MerkW]

hahaha!
If only I could think of such a punishment for people who touch my face!

Of course, there is always the option of what I like to refer to as "accidentally slipping" a few sleeping pills into their food, waiting for them to pass out, kidnapping them, and then hooking various electrodes to their bodies, and finally, letting the glorious electric current run through their nervous system, while victoriously playing Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture in the background.

 

[JivinJeffJones]

A few germs keeps the immune system on its toes. It's good for you. Suck it up.

 

[MerkW]

A few germs keeps the immune system on its toes. It's good for you. Suck it up.

If you are referring to me, then I suggest you take a look at this:

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

Obsessions are defined by:

1. Recurrent and persistent thoughts, impulses, or images that are experienced at some time during the disturbance, as intrusive and inappropriate and that cause marked anxiety or distress.
2. The thoughts, impulses, or images are not simply excessive worries about real-life problems.
3. The person attempts to ignore or suppress such thoughts, impulses, or images, or to neutralize them with some other thought or action.
4. The person recognizes that the obsessional thoughts, impulses, or images are a product of his or her own mind, and are not based in reality.
5. The tendency to haggle over small details that the viewer is unable to fix or change in any way. This begins a mental pre-occupation with that which is inevitable.

I am well aware that there is nothing rational in a fear of germs, but OCD is a biologically-based disorder, rather than purely psychological. It is not a choice or a decision that I came to through reason, but rather something I could not control. It is the result of a mis-balance of neurotransmitters. Simple phobias, on the other hand, are purely psychological. This is the reason why I was particularly infuriated at my classmates of mine. It would be the same as mockingly throwing peanuts at a child with a bad peanut allergy.
QED.

P.S. Another scheme I have concocted for these classmates is to subject them to their fears. Taking, for instance, one classmate who ridiculed me--and who also happened to have a fear of heights--and dangling him from the top of the Empire State Building, while listening to his squeels of utter fear. MWUAHAHA. After all, psychological torture is the most devastating.