[TheHappyMinority]

Are some people incapable of learning to love something more than themselves? Do they have a sense of what love even feels like in order to tell?
Do they even understand the reason that most people have pets is because of the love they can share with that animal, and not because that animal can serve them in a practical, non-emotional way. Eg. Helping the human get exercise due to a sense of practical obligation to health needs of a dog, training a dog to do tricks for amusement of self and others, etc.

Does anyone have a deadened sense of emotion to the point where they can't relate when other people try to explain their own feelings?

Do you just want to win in the game of life? Do you use emotional mimicry to fit in or use for your own goals?

Do such people experience any sense of loss because of inability to feel things as others do? What could loss feel like to these people? Is it a logical conclusion instead of an emotional one? What is the drive to succeed without emotions?

Do you think the behavior of emotional response can be learned or unlearned?

Lots of questions, but do please discuss. Particularly if you feel that you can identify with having much less of an emotional response to your peer group.

[Zulban]

I love my cats more than I could ever love most people. I have trouble relating. There was a test I took that scored how concerned you are with the three levels of people: community, country and world. I scored extremely below average on the first two and very high on the last. I guess I love humanity, I just hate people :o

I don't use emotional mimicry.

Emotional responses can be minimized or maximized. If your brain is allowed or disallowed from using emotions then it grows in that fashion.

This is relevant, from another one of my posts:

It has been brought to my attention that I should bring something to everyone's attention. There is a large segment of the brain associated with desires and emotions. Surgical removal of this part, or an injury that kills this part, has an interesting result. The people do not become cold, rational, decision making robots. Instead whenever faced with any sort of arbitrary decision, they are paralyzed. This is because finding a purely logical reason for some of the silly choices in life is actually extremely difficult. Sometimes it is nicer and quicker just to have desires, emotions and instinct.

I really think a 100% T type can have a developed emotional side, and thus not have this problem.

I know I have this problem though. If I'm ever faced with a very stupid, simple choice, I am sometimes frozen for up to several minutes, just wondering what I should do. Yep I just stand there. For instance getting out of the shower. I often times cannot decide if I want to stop my shower or desire to make it longer, so I just stand there until the decision is obviously made for me. Isn't that so sad? :P

I figure when I get older, my Si will develop as the INTP trend says and I'll snap out of this.

[gOpheR]

I don't think it's right to quantify emotions and feelings, I see it like temperature or a circle. There are infinate temperatures between 1C and 2C and infinate angles on the curve from any 2 points on a circle. I think everyone has the full spectrum of emotion just maybe the points they recognise are farther apart. You're not wrong for not getting the same emotional responses, and they aren't wrong for having theirs.

[TheHappyMinority]

I love my cats more than I could ever love most people. I have trouble relating. There was a test I took that scored how concerned you are with the three levels of people: community, country and world. I scored extremely below average on the first two and very high on the last. I guess I love humanity, I just hate people :o

I don't use emotional mimicry.

Emotional responses can be minimized or maximized. If your brain is allowed or disallowed from using emotions then it grows in that fashion.

This is relevant, from another one of my posts:



I figure when I get older, my Si will develop as the INTP trend says and I'll snap out of this.

Thanks Zulan, and very intereting info on brain function too!
Got to love the brain! Interesting that you believe the brain can grow depending on whether emotions are allowed and disallowed. I'm inclined to agree based on learning to drive a car... Doesn't really compare, but it's still al learned behavior that became automatic because my physical brain had grown pathways to accommodate it whence there was none.

[TheHappyMinority]

I don't think it's right to quantify emotions and feelings, I see it like temperature or a circle. There are infinate temperatures between 1C and 2C and infinate angles on the curve from any 2 points on a circle. I think everyone has the full spectrum of emotion just maybe the points they recognise are farther apart. You're not wrong for not getting the same emotional responses, and they aren't wrong for having theirs.

Except in some people there is literally no emotional response at all. It's an extreme, but there are full blown sociopaths out there. There's many different degrees of sociopath but in general they see other people more as objects than actual beings like themselves.

It struck me that a lot of people get labeled with this and the term 'sociopath' has a really bad stigma for something that is essentially out of the person's control. While it is scary to think about people who would have no qualms throwing you to the wolves for personal gain, I would like to get a clue as to where they're coming from. Not that being a sociopath they would give a fig what the hell I thought, but I have read that it seems to be a problem with the frontal lobe and there is research going on as to whether in can be corrected. Which begs the question, would a sociopath want to be given emotions after a lifetime of never having them? I'm not anywhere near suggesting anyone I've interracted with is a sociopath, I probably wouldn't pick up on it easily given that they often come across as incredibly charming people. How many of us would really know the difference? People that readily admit they don't have the same emotional responses to me, don't seem to fit the bill of sociopath. A full blown sociopath doesn't tend show his hand.

Also an interesting stat for the general public, 1 in 25 people are said to be sociopaths, of which there are varying degrees, but only a tiny percentage of sociopaths ever turn out to be crazys who murder people.

I feel that learning more about people who experience shades less in degree of emotional response than the average can go some way to piecing a puzzle together about true sociopaths. A small lessening of emotional response can give answers. These people clearly still have have an emotional reservoir capable of relating to others given a bit of effort on their part. This may turn out to be the key as to whether sociopathic behaviors are learned (and the brain responds accordingly) or an unchangeable development issue.

If an early childhood learned behavior, perhaps a sociopath experiences the similar destructive trigger in their upbringing but to a more extreme degree? Who knows for sure?.. My current belief is perhaps it's like a muscle that can grow if effort is put in in the form of some sort of regular emotional stimulus or workout. It would be interesting if those with less an emotional response (but not sociopath, thus still relating to emotions and having motivation for change) attempted to 'learn' a heightened response in order to test this.

[Xeraii]

Some people are just idiots.

On the other hand, obviously, temperament has a large bearing on how a person feels in different situations. While I don't know for sure since I'm not in the least an expert on the subject, I'm guessing a person's emotional inclination is somewhat dictated from birth. Some people are just naturally more emotional than others.

I don't think these inherent traits are permanent however. Like Zulban said and quoted, I believe people can learn - to an extent - to use parts of their brain they don't normally use as much. At the same time though, it can be argued whether the emotion seemingly displayed is actually genuine, or just the result of how the person thinks he or she should be feeling at a given time.

[snail]

I have had very strong emotions for as long as I can remember. Having feelings wasn't a learned behavior for me, and regardless of the negative consequences for having them, I was never able to "unlearn" them. My first memory is of a feeling. I think how emotional or unemotional a person is might be innate in most cases, but being severely psychologically damaged early in life can also lead to detachment from the emotions in some cases. In other cases, extreme childhood trauma may lead to different kinds of problems. I wonder if severely damaged T types turn into psychopaths or sociopaths while F types might be more likely to end up with multiple personalities or use other coping mechanisms. I would be interested to see if any research has been done on this subject.

[Zulban]

I learned to minimize emotions from my mom being insane. My siblings got the worse of it, but in the past emotions would only feed the flames during conflicts. Cold logic didn't stop anything but it's a safe haven to know when someone is insane :o
But I'd like to point out that this doesn't mean my emotions are dead. As I've said before, that community, country and world test, I care far more about humans on a world scale, so you might say my emotions are just placed elsewhere.

If you take a look at my OLPC thread you'll see the sort of thing that actually makes me happy for others :o

[mcgooglian]

I don't think it's so much of some people having more emotions than others as it is about how people react to their emotions. Obviously feelers are morel likely to make decisions based on how doing something would make them feel while thinkers are more likely to make decisions based on what their sense of logic tells them. People also respond differently to their emotions, for example, some people might show an emotional outburst while angry making it obvious how they feel while others may isolate themselves and might not make it so obvious. Just because you don't see it doesn't mean it's not there.

[shanoxilt]

It struck me that a lot of people get labeled with this and the term 'sociopath' has a really bad stigma for something that is essentially out of the person's control. While it is scary to think about people who would have no qualms throwing you to the wolves for personal gain, I would like to get a clue as to where they're coming from. Not that being a sociopath they would give a fig what the hell I thought, but I have read that it seems to be a problem with the frontal lobe and there is research going on as to whether in can be corrected. Which begs the question, would a sociopath want to be given emotions after a lifetime of never having them?

Sociopaths do have emotions like you and I. They feel happy, sad, angry, bored, and horny like everyone else. They simply lack empathy and they have a diminished fear response.

This means that they are self-centered, impulsive, and less afraid of consequences.

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