# Introverted Thinking & suddenly laughing by yourself



## kius (Mar 30, 2013)

*Background:* You probably all know that feeling when you think about something to yourself and start laughing, without any external cues to that. Other people staring at you in wonder and/or you feeling ashamed may or may not follow.

I once saw, somewhere, some day, a remark, that if you see someone laughing by themselves, it's likely Ti at work.

I personally recognize some sort of INFJness going on in myself when I suddenly am fighting to keep myself from giggling uncontrollably. Usually I've been in an intense Ni-Ti loop, having vivid visualizations of things and being totally immersed in something. (Bus rides never passed by so fast!) Then I can remember or imagine something very acutely, a certain tone of voice, a facial expression, and have it replay in my head over and over again, being amused of it like of a song that I never get tired of.

Similarly, I remember a certain math lesson in high school where the teacher was talking about multiple functions and drew them one by one on the blackboard. Then she suddenly stopped and noticed "ah, they look like cow boobs" and I just couldn't stop laughing for the next sixty minutes while everyone else seemed to be able to cope with it after a short while. I have this "problem" very often. 

In John Beebe's model, the INFJ's tertiary Ti is connected to the Eternal Child archetype - causing Ti, for one thing, to often show up as strong attachment to a single idea or thought. I can definitely recognize some childlike qualities in my Ti, and a whole lot of analysis, looking for "precise words" and fixating on one idea or perspective.  I know being immersed in my thoughts can sway me and my emotions either way, causing me to cry and laugh easily, like a child.

*Questions:* What kind of experiences do you have? Do you think the cause of internal cracking up can be derived from a certain cognitive function, say, Ti? If not universally, can it be a certain function for one person - like, the tertiary function, regardless of what it is? Or is it all completely random, or better explained through other means?


----------



## Kizuna (Jul 30, 2011)

I do that a lot, but I've never connected it with any function in particular, except Ni of course. Ni takes the literal Se input and distorts it to great degrees, which results in vivid, realistic and incredibly funny "visions". I refrain myself from going into this mode because once I'm there, every Se stimulus deforms into sth bizarre and funny, and I have to grin or even laugh to myself like a crazy woman.

Could you elaborate on how the whole phenomenon relates to tert Ti? Are you familiar with Eric Berne's theory on Parent-Adult-Child? Is his Child = Eternal Child archetype you're talking about?


----------



## Naama (Dec 5, 2010)

I do that too and so does my INFP friend, so i dont think its neither Ni or Ti related.


----------



## LadyO.W.BernieBro (Sep 4, 2010)

We probably think about the most lulzy things 

That's a very literal interpretation though, An inner thought process isn't Ti simply because it's ''internal thinking'', that would apply non Ti users don't have inner monologue at all.


----------



## aj1023 (Aug 21, 2012)

I think any INxx type as well as perhaps Ne-doms are the most likely to do this. Can't see how it would have anything to do with Ti specifically.


----------



## RandomNote (Apr 10, 2013)

I do it too but never thought of it in that way......its just something i do.


----------



## EmileeArsenic (Jun 8, 2012)

It isn't just you lot... I was watching The Conjuring last night with my friend and during the mirror part, he expressed disappointment about how the character was "just standing there" - mostly about how the cinematography was carried out, and I said "what would you rather he be doing? Dancing?" and I got this really vivid mental picture of what that would've looked like if he'd been doing the running man and couldn't stop giggling because it just kept forcing itself into my mind, and each time he'd be doing different silly dances and just gettin' down with his bad, ghostly self. About 15 minutes later my friend asked me if I was still giggling about the dancing thing... I was.

Same thing happened when the girl said what was in the corner was staring at them (it was in the trailer, so don't even start!) because in my mind she phrased it like that because they couldn't tell which one of them it was looking at because it had a lazy eye, and I just about died trying not to laugh part because of the extremely vivid mental image, partially because that was such a terrible thing to be laughing at, so I had the combo of *vivid mental image* *you're kind of a bitch for laughing at that...* and *this is a serious moment, you shouldn't be laughing right now!* which, of course, makes everything funnier. 

That kept happening to me. I swear, horror flicks are funnier to me than comedies...

What can I say? I'm easily amused XD


----------



## kius (Mar 30, 2013)

miyachanfan said:


> Could you elaborate on how the whole phenomenon relates to tert Ti? Are you familiar with Eric Berne's theory on Parent-Adult-Child? Is his Child = Eternal Child archetype you're talking about?


Not much more than what I did in the original post. I am mostly talking about what I read here: INFJ Archetypes (which also mentions Eric Berne, but I had completely missed that, ha) and started wondering if the whole bit about "_... He posits that fixating on one relatively valid idea which needs to be further unpacked is typical of introverted thinking in the third position..._" could be related to fixating on one funny idea also.

Or something. 



OMG WTF BRO; said:


> That's a very literal interpretation though, An inner thought process isn't Ti simply because it's ''internal thinking'', that would apply non Ti users don't have inner monologue at all.


I know, not getting at that. I didn't mean to imply that the higher you have Ti in your functional staff, the more you think inside your head and laugh at things. Uh, no.  But maybe, in the case of INFJs and ISFJs, who have tertiary Ti (which can show up as fixating on an idea, quoted above), can get "stuck" in a joke like that.

Or maybe it's the Ni and Ne generating funny ideas. Or Ni-Se, like miyachanfan mentioned. Maybe it's not the function, maybe it's how you use it. Maybe it's not one function, maybe it's a dynamic interaction in the head between several functions. Maybe it's just sense of humor or low blood-sugar. Too many options! 

So I wonder if anyone knows any established theory on it. 


But yeah, I mean, I'm pretty sure every person on the planet has experienced this type of amusement at some point in their lives. I just wonder if there's any correlation to anything, any reason behind it. Some people seem more predisposed to it than others. I don't know if these are just individual differences, or if actually some general characteristics could account to it.


----------



## Swede (Apr 2, 2013)

I used to do this all the time, but it's been a long while. I miss it! Hopefully it'll come back one day...


----------



## Entropic (Jun 15, 2012)

Ti has nothing to do with laughing by yourself. Ti as a function has to do with logical evaluation solely, and only plays in human interaction in the sense that a Ti type draws logical conclusions based on Fe data e.g. emotional environment and so on. However, finding that laughing by oneself in public being odd/weird behavior can be the result of Fe evaluation based on the idea that laughing in public is for instance something that one does not do because it is considered inappropriate based on that others find it inappropriate. An Fi type can of course come to similar conclusions but for their own independent reasons. 

I however hypothesize that laughing by oneself could part be caused by psychological introversion in that one is more likely to spend and focus on one's internal mind content rather than focusing on what is outside oneself. If too much focus is spent on the internal then it is possible to experience something that can be considered somewhat of a lapse being connected to extroverted reality and may, in particular in the mind of the extrovert, result in behavior, thoughts or attitudes that seem strange or inappropriate because it does not align with the general idea of how the extrovert perceives the world.

By the way, I laugh by myself all the time a lot, but I am clearly not a Ti type. It is wrong to ascribe too much behavior to functions. That's missing the point of what the functions are all about.

Last but not least, to the OP, did you ever consider yourself an Ne type? I think the chance is very likely that you are some kind of NeFe. Perhaps Ne dominant and if so ENTP, if not, then ESFJ.


----------



## PaladinX (Feb 20, 2013)

Is that what they're calling weed nowadays, "introverted thinking?"


----------



## LadyO.W.BernieBro (Sep 4, 2010)

PaladinX said:


> Is that what they're calling weed nowadays, "introverted thinking?"


l'm gonna have a new emoticon made for the face l made when l read this. Let's just say it was lulzy.


----------



## Ellis Bell (Mar 16, 2012)

PaladinX said:


> Is that what they're calling weed nowadays, "introverted thinking?"


Oooh, we're all high, then!


----------



## QueenofEagles (Sep 19, 2011)

kius said:


> *Background:* You probably all know that feeling when you think about something to yourself and start laughing, without any external cues to that. Other people staring at you in wonder and/or you feeling ashamed may or may not follow.
> 
> I once saw, somewhere, some day, a remark, that if you see someone laughing by themselves, it's likely Ti at work.


I don't think you're an idiot. Laughing to one's self because of internal play-back, "without any external cues to that" which is being rehearsed, verses laughing to one's self because of something you just saw or experienced (itself or as a trigger) seems different to me. Maybe it is parsing hairs, but isn't that what we're doing here? And, there are certain types whom I don't ever recall exhibiting this behavior, like estj and enfp who happen to have the same functions. [I hate to even say that.] So, yeah, it probably could be linked to functions in some way,.. or weed, but I don't have any data to back that up. 

In other news, why is _one_ spelled o-n-e?


----------



## Entropic (Jun 15, 2012)

SeedofDavid said:


> In other news, does anyone know why one is spelled o-n-e? wth


Online Etymology Dictionary


----------



## orni (Sep 19, 2012)

Maybe it's something to do with intuition. You make some funny connection and laugh (seemingly random)


----------



## deftonePassenger (Jun 18, 2012)

I always thought that this was Ne. I find myself doing this pretty often lol


----------



## Ellis Bell (Mar 16, 2012)

To be honest, though, this probably happens to a lot of people, regardless of type or function preference (it happens to me, too, but I don't think this is related to Ti or Ni specifically. Maybe introverts in general?).


----------



## Quernus (Dec 8, 2011)

I am an INFP and I do this ALL the time. So does my INFP friend. We don't have Ni or Ti. Most of the time it's about funny memories, or funny realizations about memories, but sometimes it's because I'll just... think about something that COULD happen and laugh about it. Or I'll think "What would it be like if all of a sudden... -some crazy thing here-". And I'll imagine reactions and start cracking up.

I have an ENFJ friend and he hates when I do this... like every time, he'll be like What? What?! What is it?! And I'm like dude by now you should just stop asking. But I think introverts in general are more likely to do this than extroverts, since extroverts just blurt stuff out and don't spend as much time ruminating or reminiscing probably.

My INTJ roommate does this sometimes but not nearly as often.

My INTJ ex almost never did this BUT he would OFTEN replay scenarios in his mind, repeating them out loud while talking to himself. Like things he was embarrassed about having said... lol. It seems different but somewhat related.


----------



## Crunchtime (Sep 6, 2013)

Putting in my own two cents, I do this frequently. Enough to the point that my wife knows to ask me what's funny as she knows I'm going to tell her anyways. I do think it's the Introverted side playing a big part. I think we understand ourselves better than most anyone else. We know what's funny to us. We analyze something and maybe are tired of being serious and make a silly connection or potential outcome. We're able to take that something to an extreme and make it just absurd. At some point it kicks in, 'how funny could this be?' and we take it further until we can't hold back anymore.


----------



## ficsci (May 4, 2011)

kius said:


> I once saw, somewhere, some day, a remark, that if you see someone laughing by themselves, it's likely Ti at work.


Well it could also be an Fi-Ne loop. I mean dang, the other day I really couldn't stop laughing by myself because the Ne kept ruthlessly feeding it.

Or it could also be an Si thing if I happen to relive something funny. Or if that Si experience is connected to an Ne thing, like what if something funnier had happened instead in the past. That's how I got stared at by a passing neighbor today (.__.) I just pretended I was sneezing.


----------



## kius (Mar 30, 2013)

ephemereality said:


> Ti has nothing to do with laughing by yourself.


Fair enough.



ephemereality said:


> Last but not least, to the OP, did you ever consider yourself an Ne type? I think the chance is very likely that you are some kind of NeFe. Perhaps Ne dominant and if so ENTP, if not, then ESFJ.


Not sure how that relates to anything and where you got that intuition from? But yes, I have considered it, and Ne is not something I much resonate with.

If I was an ENTP, I would have probably been bored already, and wouldn't mull over stuff forever. A certain INTP friend of mine loves to throw (repulsive) ideas at me in an effort to "make me more open-minded". All NTs in my life express infatuation with my "mysticality" and frustration with me "not making sense", "sharing my thoughts" or "revealing where I'm getting at". Hrumph. I also have two ENTP friends and one idea-generator-friend whose type I can't nail down, and they're all a little confusing and totally heart-warming with their randomness. Mostly we enjoy the exchange of ideas (= they talk and I listen), but sometimes, when I talk, I get frustrated with them changing the topic every three sentences and they get impatient with me drilling on something.

Also, like I mentioned in an earlier post on this thread, I feel kind of choked and frustrated with too many options. Instead, I want to come to a conclusion. Ne takes off and generates possibilites, Ni lands and wants to pick the best outcome. And I definitely want to land, tolerating incertainty is an exercise in meditation and acceptance for me. 

Gah, I could go on forever.

(... And I definitely am not an extrovert.)


----------



## Entropic (Jun 15, 2012)

Because being mystical or appearing as such has nothing to do with Ni. Do I seem mystical to you? 

I'm asking because it seemed like a reasonable conclusion about your type. The OP question itself, I think that's more in line with Ne logic than Ni. Ni would try to look for more hidden meanings. 

Also, not extroverted but in what way? Social? In the original Jungian definition, extroversion just defines one's mind focus. Is it inside or outside oneself? Social introversion doesn't have much to do with it necessarily. Anyway, it was just a question I wondered if you've considered.


----------



## Swede (Apr 2, 2013)

All righty - this is one of these things that will pop up in my head and I'll just start laughing to myself. I mean, until I almost cry... When people ask me what I'm laughing at, I really can't explain. :blushed:


----------

