# ESTP vs ISTP: Which is more fearless?



## Mysteryman (Apr 21, 2012)

Which type is more fearless?


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## LiquidLight (Oct 14, 2011)

I doubt it would matter because the fearlessness probably isn't type related (we'd have to conclude all ISTPs and ESTPs were fearless and I'm not sure this bears true). But I would probably give the edge to the Se-dom since at the end of the day the ISTP is a thinking type.


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## zynthaxx (Aug 12, 2009)

Ti-Se vs Se-Ti. 
ESTP stereotypically would go "hold my beer and watch this."
As an ISTP, I would only do a "risky" thing if I'd assessed the situation and considered it to lie within my ability to handle without seriously damaging myself or others. It's not a matter of fearlessness to me, but of understanding the available safety margins and hating to limit myself.


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## Cheesecoffee (Mar 22, 2012)

This is a tough one. I don't think i have ever seen a not-fearless ISTP in my life, they don't seem to reveal themselves too much.
When i have witnessed cowardness in ESTPs it's mostly becuase of the estp being proved wrong in some area and having his beliefs turned upside down. 
Then again ESTPs are more common and the ones i have seen typically attract alot more attention than ISTPs so i probably haven't noticed enough ISTPs in real life to be able to compare them.


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## MyName (Oct 23, 2009)

The one that's drunk and/or has a gun.


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## Raichu (Aug 24, 2012)

This is the kind of stuff that makes me want to rethink my type. I'm not at all fearless. Not at _all_. I've never been on a roller coaster because I'm terrified of them. I used to be scared of dogs. I'm still sometimes scared of the dark.  I used to be so scared of heights that I didn't even like swinging on the park swings too high. I like feeling excited, but I don't like feeling like I'm in danger. And I don't know, maybe it's because I have anxiety problems, or maybe it's the 6 in me, but I just don't like taking risks like that. Not when I think I could actually get hurt. And yes, I know I wouldn't _actually_ get hurt from riding a roller coaster, but it feels like I could. And half of me thinks if I could actually get myself on one without throwing up, that I'd actually like it, but the I remember that I went on this ride once







and all it does is swing back and forth, and I sat next to my mommy and sat right in the middle so it wouldn't go as high, and I was _still_ scared and never did it again. Fast rides, spinning rides, all those I can handle. I just can't do falling rides. I guess there's always the possibility that I'm mistyped, though.


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## Mysteryman (Apr 21, 2012)

I'm fearless. I've been unsure of my type. I know I'm xSTP. I've gone as far as laughing into the face of death, so to speak. I was slowly dieing in July. I refused a hospital on my last day. Someone had to call it after I said no. Stubbornful & fearless is a dangerous pair.


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## Iridescent (Dec 30, 2011)

Raichu said:


> This is the kind of stuff that makes me want to rethink my type. I'm not at all fearless. Not at _all_. I've never been on a roller coaster because I'm terrified of them. I used to be scared of dogs. I'm still sometimes scared of the dark.  I used to be so scared of heights that I didn't even like swinging on the park swings too high. I like feeling excited, but I don't like feeling like I'm in danger. And I don't know, maybe it's because I have anxiety problems, or maybe it's the 6 in me, but I just don't like taking risks like that. Not when I think I could actually get hurt. And yes, I know I wouldn't _actually_ get hurt from riding a roller coaster, but it feels like I could. And half of me thinks if I could actually get myself on one without throwing up, that I'd actually like it, but the I remember that I went on this ride once
> View attachment 58739
> 
> and all it does is swing back and forth, and I sat next to my mommy and sat right in the middle so it wouldn't go as high, and I was _still_ scared and never did it again. Fast rides, spinning rides, all those I can handle. I just can't do falling rides. I guess there's always the possibility that I'm mistyped, though.


As an ISTP (Probably), I have a confession to make. I was too scared to go on Sonic Spinball. I made it to the end of the line, and I was about to get into the car when I said I didn't want to do it and walked away. I couldn't cope with the fact that I had no idea how they were going to spin the car, and which drops I'd go down sitting backwards. I can't even sit backwards on a bus, I end up feeling sick in five minutes.






(This is the ride I was referring to.)

Anyway, if you feel bad in the middle of a ride, the best thing to do is to close your eyes and familiarize yourself with the rhythm of the motion. And hold on to the bar tight, that can calm you down pretty quickly.

There are two types of sensation induced fear in this world. The fear of the rush itself, is something not many people have. That's why the majority of people in this world love roller coasters. The guarantee of a brilliant feeling afterwards (This is the reason why some people, myself included, are scared of the rush; because they feel there is no guarantee that they'll get that brilliant feeling, and if their body reacts, which with the increased fear and an increased reaction to any sensory experience ups the chance of their body doing so, they'll be unable to escape from the situation.) and the reassuring notion that they're held down by a bar or a harness (Again, this is thought of as a negative thing by people who have this fear, because they can't get out.), preventing injury, overall energizing them.

The second fear? The fear of pain. The fear of death. Something, unlike the previous fear, I don't have. I love extreme sports because they require more than strapping in and being unable to get out. They require commitment. Imagine getting on a roller coaster where, right when it gets to the top of the first drop, it stops. You're asked whether you want to return to the start point, or go down. I bet you anything that the majority of people who strapped in at the start would choose to return to the start, if they had that choice.

Real life scenario: Me and my friend are out mountain biking, when we reached a stairset about 5-6 metres high, 32 stairs. We both wanted to attempt it. My friend rolls up, stops before the first step. He rides up again, skids to a stop. Again and again he does this, until on the fifth attempt he managed to go down two steps before slamming his feet down, braking and somehow stopping dead. 

(As far as technique goes, this is dangerous as fuck. I once did this halfway down an even steeper 16 set after losing my footing. My left foot slipped off the pedal and I twisted sideways, nearly breaking both my ankle (After it snapped nearly a full 90 degrees and back again.) and my shoulder (Which I smashed against concrete after falling over a meter, backwards.). I'm still unsure whether my shoulder needs surgery, because judging by how long it's been hard to move it without intense pain, it might be a Category 3 sprain. The thought of falling an extra 3 meters (I would have probably rolled backwards with the momentum.) down another 16 stairs, after taking BOTH my feet off the pedals? ...On second thoughts, I don't want to think about it.)

Anyway, my turn. I ride up and stop before the first step. Second attempt, I roll up and drop in. I make it 75% of the way down before I fall sideways, relatively unhurt. I didn't brake once. (This might seem counterproductive, but braking is something that takes a lot of practice, which I didn't, at that moment, have under my belt. Applying 10% more pressure than needed can be the difference between slowing down slightly and completely losing control of either your front and/or back end. And that doesn't usually end up too well.)

*TL;DR.*

Fear can be very good. Fear can also be very bad. Being afraid of one thing doesn't mean you're afraid of everything, and sometimes feeling afraid of going too far out of your comfort zone doesn't mean you're not an ESTP (Personally I think you're an ESFP, but that doesn't mean that you're any less brave, ESFPs are crazy mofos too.), but that most ESTPs might have a bigger comfort zone. If you really want to conquer your fear of rollercoasters, you just need to work on increasing the boundaries of that comfort zone. Remember that it's doable, and the more things you ride, the more you'll get a feel for your limits, the particular motions that make you feel alive/terrified (E.g Rotation/speed/acceleration/drops/loop the loops etc) and get closer to finding those rides that makes you feel totally fucking awesome inside.


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## Raichu (Aug 24, 2012)

IridescentDream said:


> Personally I think you're an ESFP


UGH I KNOW I KEEP THINKING THIS but then I'm like "waaah I'm so sick of changing my typeeee" so I don't.

And I'm not scared of all rides. I like spinning rides. And I love the Zipper.


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## Sinthemoon (Jan 9, 2013)

Raichu said:


> UGH I KNOW I KEEP THINKING THIS but then I'm like "waaah I'm so sick of changing my typeeee" so I don't.[/IMG]


If your sense of self worth depends on what you feel you can or can't do, it would sound like Fi, but that's very little information.

I chose ISTP because they would be more likely to miss some circumstancial evidence of the fact that they can't, in fact, do what they are about to do. That would be because Se is second and less attentive. ESTP would be more impulsive, but ISTP more reckless.


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## tanstaafl28 (Sep 10, 2012)

Not Type Related. Besides, being fearless is abject stupidity. Everyone is afraid, anyone who isn't is psychotic. Courage isn't the absence of fear, it is doing what needs done despite being afraid.


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## Mysteryman (Apr 21, 2012)

tanstaafl28 said:


> Not Type Related. Besides, being fearless is abject stupidity. Everyone is afraid, anyone who isn't is psychotic. Courage isn't the absence of fear, it is doing what needs done despite being afraid.


 After my childhood, fear isn't even considered. I do what needs to be done. No hesitation. If only you knew what I endured.


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## Sinthemoon (Jan 9, 2013)

Mysteryman said:


> After my childhood, fear isn't even considered. I do what needs to be done. No hesitation. If only you knew what I endured.


That's so mysterious, Mysteryman.


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## tanstaafl28 (Sep 10, 2012)

Mysteryman said:


> After my childhood, fear isn't even considered. I do what needs to be done. No hesitation. If only you knew what I endured.


No matter how bad it was, someone else had it worse. Not worth competing over either.


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## WarriorDreamer (Dec 14, 2011)

I would say they are both fearless but I would think ISTP's perhaps have less to lose. ESTP's are people person's and their friends and family are really important to them. Not that they aren't to the ISTP, but they are probably less likely to consider their friends and family, therefore more likely to do something dangerous. 

They are both capeable to doing something fearless however. Although when I think of daredevils, I normally think of ISTP's for some reason.


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## Qaellech (Dec 6, 2013)

theoretically, with MBTI functions, I'd say ESTP. And from experience, I'd still say ESTP. As an ISTP, I'll say that our fearlessness comes from the presence of control of something, the environment, or our own bodies. But that is very true also with ESTP. I'd rather take out 2-3 bullies at the same time than go skydiving.


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## Travalanche (Dec 7, 2010)

I'm supposedly an ESTP and I'm not even scared of taking on half a dozen guys if I get mad, I've been thrown out of bars, and have had a fair amount of injuries. I would carry my handgun around with me at work and flashed it in public until I lost my job. I also rolled my vehicle like 4 times while drunk driving and walked out of it laughing hysterically before I bought a new one with the insurance check and I sport a buzzcut to top it off.

I'd say I'm probably the most fearless person I know and it doesn't matter because YOLO.


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## ISTPish (Apr 4, 2014)

My best friend is an ESTP and I am an ISTP. She usually comes up with the stupid/fearless idea and I evaluate wether we should do it or not. Then after a conclusion has been reached we ignore it and do it anyways. I think we both do an equal share of unsafe activities but she decides to do them faster!


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## Lucky Luciano (Nov 28, 2013)

I am not fearless and gladly so, otherwise I would not enjoy skydiving and other adrenaline sports roud:


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## Blazy (Oct 30, 2010)

I'm work in law enforcement at a metropolitan city, so being fearless is the bare minimum to work. There's a lot of ESTPs in my department (though a bunch more ESTJs and ISTJs from my observation), especially in the S.W.A.T. specialization, whereas ISTPs are found in the investigative/bomb squad areas. Bomb squad attracts ISTPs, and they are the most fearless, so props to ISTPs. I still am newly trained, still a lot to learn, but in the mean time I'm taking in plenty of experiences simultaneously. I have a night shift, and every time you approach a suspicious person/object of interest, you don't know if you will come out with your life or not. Sanely said, putting my life on the line is fun for some reason. It's just confidence you need and you'll be fine. And it seems that ESTPs generally have more confidence than ISTPs, whereas ISTPs don't abuse their confidence but rather reserve it for something they find worthy of.


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## Zeus (Oct 8, 2011)

Cheesecoffee said:


> This is a tough one. I don't think i have ever seen a not-fearless ISTP in my life, they don't seem to reveal themselves too much.
> When i have witnessed cowardness in ESTPs it's mostly becuase of the estp being proved wrong in some area and having his beliefs turned upside down.
> Then again ESTPs are more common and the ones i have seen typically attract alot more attention than ISTPs so i probably haven't noticed enough ISTPs in real life to be able to compare them.


Not so sure about that. I'm a ESTP and one my best friends in high school was a ISTP, both us were well liked by our peers. Sometimes it just takes introverts to be around extroverts to get out of their shells at times.


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## monemi (Jun 24, 2013)

No fear.
Just stupidity. 

Fear is good. Fear keeps you alive. As long as you don't let it take control, fear is what will keep you alive. Fearlessness isn't a good thing in my opinion. Yes, I love rollercoasters and I've enjoyed more than my fair amount of extreme sports and managed to find myself in enough pickles to be extremely worried. But I'm absolutely freaking scared in the moment. I just happen to enjoy it. Now, I do do a risk evaluation. Some things after a risk benefit evaluation aren't worth it. Sure, base jumping looks cool but it has a high fatality rate. I don't want to try that. When my kids are older, I want to try skydiving. I'm a little nervous because me and a friend crashed small plane once. I haven't tried flying anything but commercial jets or jumping from heights that required equipment since. I don't fancy spending weeks in hospital again. 

I don't think ESTP or ISTP are more fearless because I see fearlessness as a very negative thing. Fear has its place and deserves a healthy dose of respect. When you experience the fear response, your body is telling you something, your body is putting you on high alert. It's time to listen. It doesn't necessarily mean stop what you're doing, but you should absolutely listen to it and not ignore it.


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## ChaosEpsilon (Apr 1, 2014)

I don't think either ISTPs or ESTPs are "fearless" in the intuitive sense of the word. <generalizations> From my understanding, ESTPs just do it: there's no time for fear; ISTPs think about how not-dead they'd be after doing it, so there's no fear involved. </generalizations>

What I'm saying is basically what numerous people have already said, that type and ability to fear are mutually exclusive.



Qaellech said:


> I'd rather take out 2-3 bullies at the same time than go skydiving.


Hell, I'd take on 2-3 bullies at the same time WHILE skydiving. Dammit, I wish life was more interesting so I could get an opportunity to do something like that.


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## KraChZiMan (Mar 23, 2013)

Mysteryman said:


> Which type is more fearless?


It depends on the context


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## Van Meter (Sep 28, 2012)

Depends on what they are fearful of. Estp are extroverts and in some sense fear what is within, and Istps in some way fear what is external.


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## OrdinarinessIsAFWTD (Jun 28, 2011)

ESTPs don't know fear.
ISTPs don't show it.


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