What comes first: the feeling or intuition?

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I've asked this question on various typology forums, and I still can't get a sensible and logical response as to how you discriminate between a "feeling" and a "hunch/intuition"?

When you gather information from the environment, do you respond between what you felt, or what you actually intuit? To me, (Fi) and (Ni) are quite the similar process and this has been one of those things that has made me doubt between being a dominant feeler or intuitive.

For example, whenever I get a premonition or a future-related revelation(don't freak out, most of them don't come true :P), I'm not sure if it's coming from a feeling that something is about to happen, or if it's my intuition that is telling me so.

What do you guys think?
 
This might seem odd, but I can tell by where it comes from physically. Feelings are in my chest or throat and intuition is in my head or back of my eyes. Sometimes intuition is in my whole body. Sometimes feelings are too but I'd say they feel a bit different like intuition is colder and feelings are warmer.
 
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Wyote said:
This might seem odd, but I can tell by where it comes from physically. Feelings are in my chest or throat and intuition is in my head or back of my eyes.
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I am actually quite similar to this. There is a physical component to it.

Really, I just can internally tell them apart. Ni stuff is very independent of feelings and thoughts. They are simply ideas and information that will appear out of nowhere with no promting or conscious thought. I also have very low/unused Fi so I often don't get internal feelings that would be similar to it (they are very Fe based), so because of it is easy for me to distinguish these processes.

I can't answer how you do internal process, only you know that. Although a good litmus to telling apart Fi and Ni is, to see if the thought or feeling is traceable (you can see where it came from, and fill the gaps). If you can fill the gaps it is likely Fi. Also to see if you know if the feeling or thought you had has some kind of moral or ethical judgement tied to it.
 
Wyote said:
This might seem odd, but I can tell by where it comes from physically. Feelings are in my chest or throat and intuition is in my head or back of my eyes. Sometimes intuition is in my whole body. Sometimes feelings are too but I'd say they feel a bit different like intuition is colder and feelings are warmer.
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Heh, me too, actually.

You've described these sensations almost perfectly. When I'm engaging my sense of how things should be, it's more located in the center of my chest and abdomen. When I have an 'aha' moment it's clearly between and behind my visual centers and forehead. When my hunches are about someone else, they're almost always in my chest and body. When my deductions are based on seeing patterns, I can feel them in my head.

Also, the feelings in my body are much more 'energetic' when they happen. There is a rather physical sensation of energy, heat, electricity, or whatever else you want to describe it as. My pattern recognition deductions always feel like the opposite of that in a way, as if the physical sensations give way to a clear airy feeling in my head, and when I realize the implications of how cool that was, the clear sensation often ripples into my body. The Ni sensations are usually quick puffs that fade fairly quickly, while the Fe sensations linger and can be intense in proportion to the emotions surrounding them.
 
Wyote said:
This might seem odd, but I can tell by where it comes from physically. Feelings are in my chest or throat and intuition is in my head or back of my eyes. Sometimes intuition is in my whole body. Sometimes feelings are too but I'd say they feel a bit different like intuition is colder and feelings are warmer.
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I don't really relate between "intuition being colder and feelings warm" stuff but I do get various types of intensities between these hunches. Sometimes they can get so overwhelming that the only way to make them stop is to write about them, or by meditating.
 
VH said:
Also, the feelings in my body are much more 'energetic' when they happen. There is a rather physical sensation of energy, heat, electricity, or whatever else you want to describe it as. My pattern recognition deductions always feel like the opposite of that in a way, as if the physical sensations give way to a clear airy feeling in my head, and when I realize the implications of how cool that was, the clear sensation often ripples into my body. The Ni sensations are usually quick puffs that fade fairly quickly, while the Fe sensations linger and can be intense in proportion to the emotions surrounding them.
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Describing things better than I ever could, as usual lol.

It's not really warm/cool but more electric/wavy.
 
IndigoSensor said:
I am actually quite similar to this. There is a physical component to it.

Really, I just can internally tell them apart. Ni stuff is very independent of feelings and thoughts. They are simply ideas and information that will appear out of nowhere with no promting or conscious thought. I also have very low/unused Fi so I often don't get internal feelings that would be similar to it (they are very Fe based), so because of it is easy for me to distinguish these processes.

I can't answer how you do internal process, only you know that. Although a good litmus to telling apart Fi and Ni is, to see if the thought or feeling is traceable (you can see where it came from, and fill the gaps). If you can fill the gaps it is likely Fi. Also to see if you know if the feeling or thought you had has some kind of moral or ethical judgement tied to it.
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This is the part that scares me a bit about myself. Most of the information that I gather is free of moral and ethical concerns. I can think of the most gruesome things and actually come to agree with some of the things that go by my mind because it makes logical sense, in despite that it might contradict with any moral judgments.
 
Last Dawn said:
This is the part that scares me a bit about myself. Most of the information that I gather is free of moral and ethical concerns. I can think of the most gruesome things and actually come to agree with some of the things that go by my mind because it makes logical sense, in despite that it might contradict with any moral judgments.
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That would be Ni then, and that's not a bad thing. Ni in itself is a gathering function, a perceiving function. Of course it is going to be in absence of it. We all have our weak points on how we think we should be. For you this is where one of your "I should be this way" markers comes into effect. This is caused by Fe, and is actually one of the most common "shoulds" for INFJ's. This is why so many INFJ's tend to have strong Fi, because that is what will result from trying to create this should.
 
Last Dawn said:
I've asked this question on various typology forums, and I still can't get a sensible and logical response as to how you discriminate between a "feeling" and a "hunch/intuition"?

When you gather information from the environment, do you respond between what you felt, or what you actually intuit? To me, (Fi) and (Ni) are quite the similar process and this has been one of those things that has made me doubt between being a dominant feeler or intuitive.

For example, whenever I get a premonition or a future-related revelation(don't freak out, most of them don't come true :P), I'm not sure if it's coming from a feeling that something is about to happen, or if it's my intuition that is telling me so.

What do you guys think?
Click to expand...

I have asked myself this question too, because I usualy called my Fi intuition. But I think I use Fi and never Ni, I really can't tell what Ni would feel like but this is what Fi feels like for me:


Fi is present related, about feelings you have right now. It can be that you feel nervous only because the collegue next to you is feeling nervous. You can call it intuition but it is not Ni as far as I know. It is feeling based, you feel nervous first and than you can connect it to your collegue being nervous. Or it could be that you feel something strange in your belly, that something is going to happen, or you feel it in the air that spring is coming. But the feeling always comes first and it is only when you discovered that strange feeling that you can try to find out why you feel that way. I think Ni is more straight forward, it is something you just know and mostly future related?

Also Ni is a perceiving function, it is more about information coming to you, while with Fi you always make a judgement: I feel this way ... so .... this must be the meaning of that feeling

I think I feel Fi mostly in my belly. Especially when it is a feeling that is deep and true, a true value. When I make decisions based on Fi I have to feel the decision through in my belly. Only there I can know what the good decision is. In my chest I feel emotions related to people or resent events but I don't think they have much to do with Fi really... they don't really have a good fundation to base your judgements on.

well that is my humble opinion :D
 
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IndigoSensor said:
That would be Ni then, and that's not a bad thing. Ni in itself is a gathering function, a perceiving function. Of course it is going to be in absence of it. We all have our weak points on how we think we should be. For you this is where one of your "I should be this way" markers comes into effect. This is caused by Fe, and is actually one of the most common "shoulds" for INFJ's. This is why so many INFJ's tend to have strong Fi, because that is what will result from trying to create this should.
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So to summarize, you're saying that we use Fe to gain some kind of control of our Ni and to avoid from it to go overload of all the information that it gathers?
 
Morgain said:
what do you mean by this?
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When an INFJ feels distrusting or out of sync from their Ni. It bothers them that there is no feeling, or any kind of moral or ethical judgement tied to their thought. It is simply a thought, and then upon later processing through Fe, the can extrapolate it. It would bother them that they have to process it. They want it to be instantenous (or as close to it as possible). As a result, they develop Fi do a degree to aid in making the process faster (as Ni is the slowest function out of the 8).

Last Dawn said:
So to summarize, you're saying that we use Fe to gain some kind of control of our Ni and to avoid from it to go overload of all the information that it gathers?
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Pretty much.
 
I find I know the order of things pretty well. Like I'll just have something pop into my head, completely random, then once I "notice" it I go "WTF". I wouldn't be going WTF if I didn't have the thought first. Then again this might not be what you mean, as you always need stimulus before you can pass a judgment on it.

Then again, I have had situations where I just was listening to music then I think "This is shit" then I think "Thats not true/nice!" and then I have to think about why I thought that. Kinda Ni then Fe then Ti. Though, not liking something as a random first reaction is Fi, isn't it? Hmm...

Alright, how about this: I didn't actually "Feel" the idea "this music is shit", it was just a random phrase that popped into my head, which is why I felt offended at myself right after. How's that for a Ni to Fe example?
 
DoveAlexa said:
I find I know the order of things pretty well. Like I'll just have something pop into my head, completely random, then once I "notice" it I go "WTF". I wouldn't be going WTF if I didn't have the thought first. Then again this might not be what you mean, as you always need stimulus before you can pass a judgment on it.

Then again, I have had situations where I just was listening to music then I think "This is shit" then I think "Thats not true/nice!" and then I have to think about why I thought that. Kinda Ni then Fe then Ti. Though, not liking something as a random first reaction is Fi, isn't it? Hmm...

Alright, how about this: I didn't actually "Feel" the idea "this music is shit", it was just a random phrase that popped into my head, which is why I felt offended at myself right after. How's that for a Ni to Fe example?
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I think it sounds like a good Ni Fe example

I would be more like "my god I feel terrible all the sudden, why is that, ow it is the music because it gets better when I go out of the room" (Fi) - "I want to stay out because the music makes me sick but I have to stay because my friends want it (Fe)
 
Morgain said:
I think it sounds like a good Ni Fe example

I would be more like "my god I feel terrible all the sudden, why is that, ow it is the music because it gets better when I go out of the room" (Fi) - "I want to stay out because the music makes me sick but I have to stay because my friends want it (Fe)
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I think that is why Fi is sometimes considered a "selfish" function because it is really honest with what it wants. If you don't like the song, your Fi is going to be blunt and say "I hate this song, it sucks", while Fe will stay to listen to the whole song because your friend likes it.
 
DoveAlexa said:
It is?! That sucks!
I dun wanna be slow in da head D:!
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Well this is certainly not proven, but I believe it is. It takes a lot of information, time, and input for Ni to be activated. As it is largely unpredicable. I am a slow thinker, I have to process details and information my head for a long time before I am "done". From what I have seen this is pretty universal with INFJ's. There is just a lot of volume to go through.
 
IndigoSensor said:
Well this is certainly not proven, but I believe it is. It takes a lot of information, time, and input for Ni to be activated. As it is largely unpredicable. I am a slow thinker, I have to process details and information my head for a long time before I am "done". From what I have seen this is pretty universal with INFJ's. There is just a lot of volume to go through.
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hehe this makes me laugh because sometimes I'm seen as uptight when it comes to beliefs and knowledge. It takes me a looong time for me to process information and to place a solid framework inside of my mind, when someone comes and adds or challenges my beliefs and ideas, I have to take that framework and work on it from scratch again. So that's why I tend to take a lot of "shortcuts".
 
IndigoSensor said:
Well this is certainly not proven, but I believe it is. It takes a lot of information, time, and input for Ni to be activated. As it is largely unpredicable. I am a slow thinker, I have to process details and information my head for a long time before I am "done". From what I have seen this is pretty universal with INFJ's. There is just a lot of volume to go through.
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Uhg... So how do I speed it all up?
 
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