A Theory About Intuition

Makes sense, I suck at knowing what others are thinking/feeling, I usually assume it's something negative in regards to me, stupid paranoid tertiary Ni. :doh:

 

That is a great realization. It is amazing that parts of the brain are reused for seemingly very different processes, and as such things get muttled together.

This makes alot of sense to me because that ties into alot of how I use my intuition to "read" people, I sort of project myself into them. And this brain discovery just further confirms that.

 

Do we actually feel their emotions? Or do we just pick up subconsciously on what they are feeling and understand what may or may not be being said? I never feel what the other person is feeling, I always maintain my own emotional stance in a situation.

For example, at my work a woman came in who was forced into prostitution and she was very timid and teary eyed. I did my best to cheerfully offer her all the best soap products I could find for her when she asked for some. As soon as I handed them to her, she began crying. I had to try really hard not to cry myself, but it wasn't because I felt what she was feeling, I was more outraged at what had been done to her and her feelings of what I perceived to be shame for what had been done to her. That's the most intense emotional interaction I'd had in a few weeks.

So, do we literally feel what they're feeling, or identify with it from our own stance?

 

That doesn't really apply to me. I will pick up what someone is feeling and apply it to myself, and feel how they feel. I usually can seperate my own emotional feelings from those of others, but not always. They still effect me all the same though.

 

there's a distinction between "sympathy" -- which is maybe the outrage you felt merry trees -- versus "empathy" -- which is feeling what someone else's feeling. or it sounds as if it was a combination of the two, since you felt her shame. i think poetic justice is describing pure empathy.

 

Yeah. I'm confused... emotions.. confuse me.

 

Maybe because I'm pretty much right inbetween F/T I try to rationalize them all. Anyway!

 

Sounds like a crazy experience tho. I don't get the soap?

 

Yeah, she came to the office window to ask for some soap and hair care products etc.. to clean up. We get so many donations for all that kind of stuff and more, being a shelter...

Other staff said this girl was really rude to them when she first came in, real stand-offish. So when she came to the window I went out to get the stuff for her, knowing her situation. I tried to overcome her standoffishness by being cheerful and offering her the best we had. It was weird because she waited patiently and as soon as I handed the stuff off to her she started crying. I just thought, "She must feel ashamed", or maybe she feels grateful that someone's being nice to her after what happened, but mostly I thought she felt ashamed. But I didn't feel shame in myself from the interaction, just outrage but at the same time this quieting sadness. Yeah, I'm prob. an INTJ with a well developed F. Or an INFJ with a well developed T. Who knows.

 

Poetic, I believe you are referring to the limbic system of the brain. It allows us to 'tune' into others via things by reading things like eye expressions, body language and vocal intonations. It is represented abstractly as 'energy'. Autists, lack activity of the limbic system, compared to dogs which rely quite a bit on their limbic system to 'read' the energy levels of their owners. If you ever watch the Dog Whisperer, you can realize that the best way to win a dog over is to exert calm and forceful energy -- if you exert hyper or tense energy the dog reacts by mirroring your state. Humans are very much the same due to their reliance on the limbic system -- since, after all, humans are social animals.

 

That's why dogs are such good judge of characters and why they love me.

 

Just one thing. I do not think that this operation is sub-conscious.

The process would be pre-conscious (active prior to conscious awareness), subordinate to conscious processing. Then again, I can hear alarm bells for impetuous "No" or "WTF" statements coming from such a minute fact-check, so...:bolt:

 

Functions of the Limbic System, from the most readily available source.
Where are you having trouble with?
It is a system of different parts that operate together.