INTP Emotions
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In my experience their thoughts are often not as deep as I imagine them to be. Something deeper is often not there to be had especially if it's about emotional stuff. They often don't know how they feel and don't care. I think I'm similar in this way but I have greater social needs so it isn't as apparent.
After hours of silence, an INTP once looked up from a laptop to me and said, "Did you know pineapples are as old as the dinosaurs?" I smiled and said, "That's why I love you." Intellectual curiosity is an awesome trait to me and I don't mind if it's a bit quirky. Those hours of silence had been spent on a wild tangent in Wikipedia.
I don't think INTPs are very good about giving acknowledgment and reassurance and this was the biggest problem I had. After an argument especially, I would often suspect they were upset with me. The truth was that whether they were upset at me or not, they weren't thinking about it. Emotional stuff can get paused, put on the shelf, and got back out later after they've finished thinking about things far more important to their immediate attention... like the evolutionary development of Ananas comosus (pineapples).
The phrase, "Don't take it personally," is never more true than when speaking of an INTP. When they're off doing their thing, it is unlikely that it has anything to do with you. Be patient. Let them go off to sulk and get back to whatever they're into. After some time, make a peace offering by bringing them something they like or offering to go get dinner at one of their favorite places. Do this even if you think they were in the wrong.
INTP Emotional Side & My Findings
The Feeling in their stack is inferior. Therefore, they will have a strong dislike, and strong craving for, Fe. What is Fe? It is Extroverted Feeling. It is a Judging function. It will judge, put in its place, matters of Feeling which include people, socialization, personal tastes and preferences, emotions, etc. Fe is directed outwardly, to the external world. The Feeling is extroverted. So a love of culture, people and social activities is such as this. But it is still Judging, not simply to perceive and absorb. It establishes taboos and unspoken codes of conduct and ethics and other people's personal life. It creates structure. Don't forget about the individual now though. With Fe, this is the only Feeling outlet INTPs have, so for it to be taken care of maturely, it must be expressed appropriately. Feeling expressed. Fe.
But...this is inferior. So they are very unaware of the Feeling structure. Just simply...not in tune to it. INTJs, on the other hand, may have a better idea of them due to Fi who recognizes and resists Fe control. But nothing more.
But what about the second part of Fe? It was once said, and validated in other terms by other sources, that INTPs have two emotional drives: low and warp 9. They'd be just fine if it weren't for Fe being so low. It's extremely childish and immature. They have difficulty expressing themselves and feel quite vulnerable doing so.
That is precisely the case with INTPs in a moment of emotion. They can hold it, and hold it, and they do superbly at such but then they will explode. But an emotional INTP will be spilling everywhere. They will be in hard drive.
Here's a contrast between INTJ and INTP. This will also help answer your question.
Focus on the Judging pair in each. Ti-Fe with INTP. Te-Fi in the INTJ. There is the external world that has it's own laws of logistics (Te) and ethics/etiquette (Fe). Now, there's the internal standards set by the individual. They individual with a Ji will recognize and resist control from the same verison of Je. But if they have that Je, they are fine with working in line with it and maybe implement it themselves.
That's the theory. Here's the application. And this site (I'll find the link later but it's a compare/contrast of INTJ and INTP) explains it more concisely than I can.
"INTJs' thinking can be swayed by external data and other peoples' input, but INTPs thoughts will operate independently of outside facts. In a similar manner, INTJs will tend to use observable facts and accepted standards to convince others. INTPs apply their own standards.
Fe and Fi are about emotional atmospheres. INTJs are more aware of their own emotions and resistant to outside emotional pressure. Other peoples' feelings are more likely to affect the INTP's emotional state. Even though Feeling is last in the INTPs' functions, because they have Fe, they're going to be more expressive than INTJs, and you'll see this in their body language and facial expressions. For this reason, INTPs' emotions are easier to read. When upset or stressed, they will have an explosion of Feeling; INTJs would just say they're fine and withdraw."
Disclaimer: I know that INTPs are emotional. And in no way, shape or form do they act like an EFJ when it comes to emotions. They pride themselves on not being such (I've noticed some INTJs do as well). But they are more expressive than their J counterpart. And whether you INTPs like it or not...you're human and you do, yes, have emotions.
*Duh-duh-DUUUHHH*
The Feeling in their stack is inferior. Therefore, they will have a strong dislike, and strong craving for, Fe. What is Fe? It is Extroverted Feeling. It is a Judging function. It will judge, put in its place, matters of Feeling which include people, socialization, personal tastes and preferences, emotions, etc. Fe is directed outwardly, to the external world. The Feeling is extroverted. So a love of culture, people and social activities is such as this. But it is still Judging, not simply to perceive and absorb. It establishes taboos and unspoken codes of conduct and ethics and other people's personal life. It creates structure. Don't forget about the individual now though. With Fe, this is the only Feeling outlet INTPs have, so for it to be taken care of maturely, it must be expressed appropriately. Feeling expressed. Fe.
But...this is inferior. So they are very unaware of the Feeling structure. Just simply...not in tune to it. INTJs, on the other hand, may have a better idea of them due to Fi who recognizes and resists Fe control. But nothing more.
But what about the second part of Fe? It was once said, and validated in other terms by other sources, that INTPs have two emotional drives: low and warp 9. They'd be just fine if it weren't for Fe being so low. It's extremely childish and immature. They have difficulty expressing themselves and feel quite vulnerable doing so.
That is precisely the case with INTPs in a moment of emotion. They can hold it, and hold it, and they do superbly at such but then they will explode. But an emotional INTP will be spilling everywhere. They will be in hard drive.
Here's a contrast between INTJ and INTP. This will also help answer your question.
Focus on the Judging pair in each. Ti-Fe with INTP. Te-Fi in the INTJ. There is the external world that has it's own laws of logistics (Te) and ethics/etiquette (Fe). Now, there's the internal standards set by the individual. They individual with a Ji will recognize and resist control from the same verison of Je. But if they have that Je, they are fine with working in line with it and maybe implement it themselves.
That's the theory. Here's the application. And this site (I'll find the link later but it's a compare/contrast of INTJ and INTP) explains it more concisely than I can.
"INTJs' thinking can be swayed by external data and other peoples' input, but INTPs thoughts will operate independently of outside facts. In a similar manner, INTJs will tend to use observable facts and accepted standards to convince others. INTPs apply their own standards.
Fe and Fi are about emotional atmospheres. INTJs are more aware of their own emotions and resistant to outside emotional pressure. Other peoples' feelings are more likely to affect the INTP's emotional state. Even though Feeling is last in the INTPs' functions, because they have Fe, they're going to be more expressive than INTJs, and you'll see this in their body language and facial expressions. For this reason, INTPs' emotions are easier to read. When upset or stressed, they will have an explosion of Feeling; INTJs would just say they're fine and withdraw."
Disclaimer: I know that INTPs are emotional. And in no way, shape or form do they act like an EFJ when it comes to emotions. They pride themselves on not being such (I've noticed some INTJs do as well). But they are more expressive than their J counterpart. And whether you INTPs like it or not...you're human and you do, yes, have emotions.
*Duh-duh-DUUUHHH*
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I thought I was an INTP for the longest time, but one thing is for sure, I share both randomness and nerdiness with them. I was at work looking out at a tree just outside the window and thought to myself, "what type of tree is that?" I couldn't stop thinking about that question until I had an answer. I pulled up information on wikipedia and horticulture websites, went outside to look at the fruit and leaves and took mental notes, did some more research, and concluded that it was a cherry plum tree. When the house keeper came by I said to her, "Did you know that is a cherry plum tree?" She looked at me awkwardly, snickered, and said, "that was random." I guess she just didn't care as much as I did
I thought I was an INTP for the longest time, but one thing is for sure, I share both randomness and nerdiness with them. I was at work looking out at a tree just outside the window and thought to myself, "what type of tree is that?" I couldn't stop thinking about that question until I had an answer. I pulled up information on wikipedia and horticulture websites, went outside to look at the fruit and leaves and took mental notes, did some more research, and concluded that it was a cherry plum tree. When the house keeper came by I said to her, "Did you know that is a cherry plum tree?" She looked at me awkwardly, snickered, and said, "that was random." I guess she just didn't care as much as I did
You must be INFP because this post is all about you lol
The INTP emotional explosions I have witnessed and been victim to have been as mentioned earlier... immature. My parenting mode came out in full force. There were other psychological issues at play so the extreme nature of these explosions is probably (hopefully) not representative of other INTPs. In my case, there was an odd response to the parenting thing. It was met with great rebellion while it was happening then later seemed to create respect. I don't have actual kids so I can only imagine that this must be similar to how actual parenting works.
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It's like... your own emotional life when you were 5 years old. But in compromise, they have a better conceptual understanding of what is personally fair/unfair, if they are willing to direct some of their mental attention to the world of emotions. It seems more pure and less convoluted to me than an average person's personal emotional life. Sometimes they can lose sight of what things make others upset, which is when you will need to help them out.
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Tin Man
"a respectable amount of screaming"
Hehe, yeah. But recently I've learned my mortality...A sad, sad day in the stream of Time. Do I see the benefits? No. Do I like them in any way, shape or form? No. But we're...*heavy exhale* forced to work together for the preservation of the organism. Taken advantage of? No. I've simply acknowledged their presence within my system. A few irrational lines of quibits in this supercomputer that only works with 1s and 0s. Because once you find the virus, you can watch it. And when you watch it, its ways are made known and it's no longer insidious. It has no power. You see, it is much more rational to accept this current flaw in our NT design. We'll work it out eventually but for now, we have to deal with it.
And don't concern yourself on my nature, my fellow INTJ. My clone army is 99.873% emotionless currently. I'll have them fixed before said apocalypse. There's just a kink in the hindbrain...*mumbles indistinctly* But then I'll apply it to myself. I'm assuming you'd want the completed solution? Ha! You must prove yourself interesting to preserve alive first. But then again...should I create a society of flesh-and-blood "robots"?...No, I'll discover immortality first. But I still need a few subordinates to do my work when the aliens come and somehow capture me. My defenses will be too high for them...but I must always be prepared. I have 10 lairs complete and self-sufficient currently. A little behind schedule but, Minecraft and indie horror games does that to a person.
I know one thing about INTPs and emotion, and that is that they can get extremely emotional when they get the idea in their heads you are being irrational, even when you are not being irrational at all. It's a strange phenomenon.
I can imagine an INTP getting emotional purely on the fact that you are completely blind as to how irrational you are. If you couldn't be reasoned with, we'd have no ability to set right the ideal of truth in its purity. It's like the perfect weapon: we can't fight it.
lol
I love INTPs but I get irritated and emotional when everytime there are INTP emotions involved I end up having to draw up a chart with bullet points and walk the INTP through the miscommunication/exchange step by step and in as few words as possible to try and explain to them what the fuck just happened.
And then get even more irritated when the INTP has their light bulb moment and goes "Oh. Ok I get that." And then moves on while I'm still sitting in the dark. Gotta love em!
I love INTPs but I get irritated and emotional when everytime there are INTP emotions involved I end up having to draw up a chart with bullet points and walk the INTP through the miscommunication/exchange step by step and in as few words as possible to try and explain to them what the fuck just happened.
And then get even more irritated when the INTP has their light bulb moment and goes "Oh. Ok I get that." And then moves on while I'm still sitting in the dark. Gotta love em!
Exactly. Fe is their only Feeling function, and being inferior, it's so underdeveloped.
On the same token, when they are feeling a little bit, it may be immature but it's so innocent and child-like in its purity. The INTP and ISTP I know can be so affectionate and cute at times.
Kinda annoying.
But cute.