# Easily-angered, temperamental people: Low or high Fi?



## MD_analyst (Jan 29, 2018)

I can see how a dominant Fi would mean the person is very in touch with their emotions and their feelings are very important to them and therefore feelings can be easily hurt. But also, an inferior Fi would mean the person is less in touch with their emotions and therefore less able to control them. 
So for people whose feelings are easily hurt and are quick to react, are their overly-emotional tendencies due to having a high or low Fi? Or is it something else?


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## Sparky (Mar 15, 2010)

I think it has more to do with having a fear of losing their loved ones, or being abandoned. You can read more about it here: https://www.erinpavlina.com/blog/2006/08/fear-based-guides/


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## Aluminum Frost (Oct 1, 2017)

Lol I remember when I used to think Fi meant that you're emotionally tormented and angry.


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## Soul Kitchen (May 15, 2016)

More like high Neuroticism according to the Big Five model. Fi hardly has anything to do with it.

*Neuroticism*
Neuroticism is the tendency to experience negative emotions, such as anger, anxiety, or depression. It is sometimes called emotional instability, or is reversed and referred to as emotional stability. According to Eysenck's (1967) theory of personality, neuroticism is interlinked with low tolerance for stress or aversive stimuli. Neuroticism is a classic temperament trait that has been studied in temperament research for decades, before it was adapted by the FFM. Since main properties of temperament traits are stability in life time and its neurophysiological basis, the FFM researchers used these properties of Neuroticism to support their model. Those who score high in neuroticism are emotionally reactive and vulnerable to stress, they also tend to be flippant in the way they express emotion. They are more likely to interpret ordinary situations as threatening, and minor frustrations as hopelessly difficult. Their negative emotional reactions tend to persist for unusually long periods of time, which means they are often in a bad mood. For instance, neuroticism is connected to a pessimistic approach toward work, confidence that work impedes personal relationships, and apparent anxiety linked with work. Furthermore, those who score high on neuroticism may display more skin-conductance reactivity than those who score low on neuroticism. These problems in emotional regulation can diminish the ability of a person scoring high on neuroticism to think clearly, make decisions, and cope effectively with stress. Lacking contentment in one's life achievements can correlate with high neuroticism scores and increase one's likelihood of falling into clinical depression. Moreover, individuals high in neuroticism tend to experience more negative life events, but neuroticism also changes in response to positive and negative life experiences.

At the other end of the scale, individuals who score low in neuroticism are less easily upset and are less emotionally reactive. They tend to be calm, emotionally stable, and free from persistent negative feelings. Freedom from negative feelings does not mean that low-scorers experience a lot of positive feelings.

Neuroticism is similar but not identical to being neurotic in the Freudian sense (i.e., neurosis.) Some psychologists prefer to call neuroticism by the term emotional instability to differentiate it from the term neurotic in a career test.


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## Falling Foxes (Oct 19, 2016)

I know easily angered people of all types... *rolls eyes at another thread attempting to link emotions to functions*


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## Turi (May 9, 2017)

Inferior Fi = fight like hell to never, _ever_, let anybody know what's going on inside.

The notion that Te dominants are less able to control their emotions is absurd, this is one of their greatest assets.

Its their 'thing'.


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## DOGSOUP (Jan 29, 2016)

I agree this is best labelled as neuroticism. I am a Fe type raised by a two thinkers, and we were all like that, neuroticism is the best psychological descriptor of it that I have come across so far.


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## Daiz (Jan 4, 2017)

Soul Kitchen said:


> More like high Neuroticism according to the Big Five model. Fi hardly has anything to do with it.
> 
> *Neuroticism*
> Neuroticism is the tendency to experience negative emotions, such as anger, anxiety, or depression. It is sometimes called emotional instability, or is reversed and referred to as emotional stability. According to Eysenck's (1967) theory of personality, neuroticism is interlinked with low tolerance for stress or aversive stimuli. Neuroticism is a classic temperament trait that has been studied in temperament research for decades, before it was adapted by the FFM. Since main properties of temperament traits are stability in life time and its neurophysiological basis, the FFM researchers used these properties of Neuroticism to support their model. Those who score high in neuroticism are emotionally reactive and vulnerable to stress, they also tend to be flippant in the way they express emotion. They are more likely to interpret ordinary situations as threatening, and minor frustrations as hopelessly difficult. Their negative emotional reactions tend to persist for unusually long periods of time, which means they are often in a bad mood. For instance, neuroticism is connected to a pessimistic approach toward work, confidence that work impedes personal relationships, and apparent anxiety linked with work. Furthermore, those who score high on neuroticism may display more skin-conductance reactivity than those who score low on neuroticism. These problems in emotional regulation can diminish the ability of a person scoring high on neuroticism to think clearly, make decisions, and cope effectively with stress. Lacking contentment in one's life achievements can correlate with high neuroticism scores and increase one's likelihood of falling into clinical depression. Moreover, individuals high in neuroticism tend to experience more negative life events, but neuroticism also changes in response to positive and negative life experiences.
> ...


Yeah, this. Fe user with high neuroticism here and I'm pretty easy to anger. I won't always show it but I'll definitely feel it.


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## Kizuna (Jul 30, 2011)

Angriest people I've personally known are the two Ni-doms. I agree it seems to stem from neuroticism than any "function", and also... narcissism (even in small doses). And narcissism apparently stems from some traumatic childhood stuff, which makes your brain less masterful at regulating the feels. Need to research this one day.

Keeping one's anger in check is really an admirable trait.


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## ENIGMA2019 (Jun 1, 2015)

Kizuna said:


> Angriest people I've personally known are the two Ni-doms. I agree it seems to stem from neuroticism than any "function", and also... narcissism (even in small doses). And narcissism apparently stems from some traumatic childhood stuff, which makes your brain less masterful at regulating the feels. Need to research this one day.
> 
> Keeping one's anger in check is really an admirable trait.


*grins* One of the angriest closet types I know is an INFJ...which, is 90% of the time self induced because, she bottles instead of actually, communicating like an adult and then explodes...


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## Saira (Feb 2, 2012)

I don't think it's connected to any function. I'm Ti-dom, Fe-inf and I have the shortest fuse ever. I blame it on my enneagram 8. :tongue:


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## Red Panda (Aug 18, 2010)

I'm not convinced it's related to type, I think any type can repress emotional needs enough for them to come out in a bad way, depending on life circumstances and probably childhood.


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## Sylas (Jul 23, 2016)

It's a combination of factors really. Big 5 Neuroticism measure, also called "Emotional Stability", might be contributing to this. People with high N scores are more likely to notice threats and experience negative emotions, which makes them hyper-vigilant and emotionally reactive. 

In MBTI it's usually the ExxJ temperament that's the most temperamental. EJs want to guide things a certain way as per their dominant Te or Fe and as extroverted they don't mind putting external pressure on people to get them moving.

One of the most temperamental people I've met has been an ESFJ (ESE) 2w1 with a strong disintegration line to pt 8. Her daughter said that living with her was like living on a fuming volcano. Another temperamental person was ENTJ 8w7.


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## Paradox07 (Dec 30, 2015)

Turi said:


> Inferior Fi = fight like hell to never, _ever_, let anybody know what's going on inside.
> 
> The notion that Te dominants are less able to control their emotions is absurd, this is one of their greatest assets.
> 
> Its their 'thing'.


I actually disagree with this, and I stand more behind what the original poster had stated. The ability to deny ones feelings (at least openly) is not the same thing as having control over ones feelings. What I mean by _control_, is the ability to reflect on, and to make use of feelings consciously that leads to beneficial value, which is not the same as making _logical jugements_ of what one should do.

To make this a little less abstract in thought, ExTJs often have a hard time understanding exactly how they should feel when dealing with rather complicated situations that require feeling judgements, and return often struggle to make valued judgements that result in bringing themselves closer to the self (ideally the goal of what Fi dominants attempt to do consciously).

This can result in ExTJs having moments in their life where they feel that their feelings are out of their control, and they begin to take over the ExTJ in negative ways such as becoming hyper sensitive in this area for example (sudden bursts of feelings). Because they don't have that conscious control over their feelings like an Fi dominant, they will be at lost of how to solve valued judgements within the realm of feelings, because their usual logical self (dominant Te) cannot solve this problem for them.

You have a couple of ways in which ExTJs handle this:

1) They reach a point in their life where they begin to realize that their lack of valued judgements with Fi actually hinders them more than helps them, and they go through a phase where they try to discover the self.
2) You have the type who will see this aspect of their personality as being completely useless, and never truly develop themselves.

The inferior function is not completely denied, but rather it's the opposite of our dominant function in which we often struggle to accept completely.

Some other examples:

*Ni/Se:* The external world is rather shallow, and it doesn't compare to my mental world. Why should I care about what's right in front of me, when I can see more than what is?
*Fi/Te:* Logic is rather cold in comparison to this deep inner world that I have, so why would I do what's logical rather than doing what feels right?

In some ways, Carl Jung hinted that a healthy individual learns to become whole. That hints at a lot of things, but it really speaks on the nature of someone learning to balance their strengths and weaknesses. For example, ExTJ's learning that both Te and Fi are important aspects of their nature, not just Te. To not deny what feel foreign to them, but rather to learn to either a) make use of it themselves or B) to learn to appreciate that in others (this is where I think Socionics began to build their duality model, such as ISFPs being the dual of ENTJ's, but that's for another discussion).


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## Turi (May 9, 2017)

Paradox07 said:


> I actually disagree with this, and I stand more behind what the original poster had stated. The ability to deny ones feelings (at least openly) is not the same thing as having control over ones feelings. What I mean by _control_, is the ability to reflect on, and to make use of feelings consciously that leads to beneficial value, which is not the same as making _logical jugements_ of what one should do.


Cool, you think that, I'll think this: _The ability to deny, or repress ones feelings, is not possible without controlling them into position in the first place._



> In some ways, Carl Jung hinted that a healthy individual learns to become whole.


If we're defining 'some ways' as "definitely wrote about and" and 'hinted' as "practically dedicated an entire life to" then yes, Jung in 'some ways' 'hinted' at such a thing - individuation.


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## Paradox07 (Dec 30, 2015)

Turi said:


> Cool, you think that, I'll think this: _The ability to deny, or repress ones feelings, is not possible without controlling them into position in the first place._.


You missed my point when I had said, "What I mean by control, is the ability to reflect on, and to make use of feelings consciously that leads to beneficial value, which is not the same as making logical judgements of what one should do."

I understand the point that you're making when you state their ability to control their expression of feelings, but I don't think expression and actual felt feelings are one of the same thing. I'm speaking of levels of consciousnesses, and how that manifest in the inferior position. In other words, the further away something is in our psyche (the less understanding we have it), the more it actually controls us than we control it.

However, it depends on where we go with with "control", as one would argue that we don't have control over our mind at all—whether it's consciousness or not. Although, we could probably agree that the more conscious you are of something, the better you are at handling that aspect of your mind.


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## Turi (May 9, 2017)

Paradox07 said:


> You missed my point when I had said, "What I mean by control, is the ability to reflect on, and to make use of feelings consciously that leads to beneficial value, which is not the same as making logical judgements of what one should do."
> 
> I understand the point that you're making when you state their ability to control their expression of feelings, but I don't think expression and actual felt feelings are one of the same thing. In other words, I'm speaking of levels of consciousnesses, and how that manifest in the inferior position. In other words, the further away something is in our psyche (the less understanding we have it), the more it actually controls us than we control it.
> 
> However, it depends on where we go with with "control", as one would argue that we don't have control over our mind at all—whether it's consciousness or not. Although, we could probably agree that the more consciousness you are of something, the better you are at handling that aspect of your mind.


No, I didn't miss your point - you're essentially stating the differences between a differentiated Fi and an undifferentiated Fi - the more differentiated it is, the wider the spectrum of Fi - more likes, dislikes, more personal values, more F in general and more understandings of all of this - perhaps 'flexible' is a better word to use here than 'control' - as 'control' simply implies being able to influence or direct it - in which case, Te dominants have absolutely no problem doing so, with regards to their inferior Fi.

In fact I'd argue they spend a whole lot of their life 'controlling' their inferior Fi. They likely possess a better 'control' over it, than the dominant Fi types do.

I would absolutely agree with you, however, if we're looking at it as more along the lines of levels of differentiation - whereby the Te dominant undoubtedly possesses less of an Fi spectrum than the Fi dominant, no two ways about it - and this provides the Fi type the flexibility to be able to reflect on more than say, one thing or one aspect of their Fi.

Likely just an miscommunication here - I think we're on the same page.

I see Te dominants as having more 'control' over their Fi - because it's less differentiated, it's less all-encompassing, makes it something they can repress or deny essentially at will - though I absolutely, in no way shape or form, believe the inferior Fi of a Te dominant is anywhere near as flexible, expansive or all-encompassing as the dominant Fi type - I think it's basically a black and white Fi, they like this or they don't, and that's it (this is the heart of their Fi, imo, all of the emotions and feelings etc the whole F spectrum, expands out from this simple understanding) - and, I believe this is what they have absolutely no trouble controlling, repressing or denying, however we want to look at it.

I don't believe they have as much 'control' or flexibility over their own inner world of Fi reflections or values or whatnot - the whole reason they're a Te dominant, is because they don't put any time into this, lol.


EDIT: It just struck me - if an inferior Fi is undifferentiated, so, narrow, shittier than a more differentiated one - wouldn't this then lead to the dominant Te type essentially being full of - though perhaps completely oblivious to - innate bias with regards to their own likes, dislikes and personal values?

It's not as thought out, not as much reflection occurs - they 'control' their Fi away into some little corner anywhere else but the present moment, this means they're not exploring their Fi to the extent Fi dominants do - and are therefore, maybe, hypothetically, prone to a lot of subjective bias with regards to their Feelings - as they're undifferentiated, they'd simply see them as the honest truth, like, almost as if they're regarding their own subjective opinions, as facts.

Viewing inferior Fi from this perspective - I can honestly see it being less understanding than any other function, when it perceives a slight against it's own personal values, likes and dislikes.
There is no differentiation. There is no consideration of other peoples likes, values and dislikes, attacks in this region would target their Achilles Heel - I don't imagine this would be something they'd take lightly, though for the most part due to repressing and controlling their Fi, they're probably able to keep their own subjective opinions out of sight for the most part.

I don't know.


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## brightflashes (Oct 27, 2015)

Sometimes people are impatient in certain situations. Like at work, when there is pressure to perform or deadlines to meet, etc... That can cause people to be edgy like that. Or, when people are sick or in pain. However, I don't think this corresponds to specific types. I think all types are capable of being this way.

Maybe this is more Type A personality stuff.


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## heavydirtysoul (Jan 13, 2012)

High Te, in my opinion :laughing:


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## MusiCago (Jan 3, 2017)

Statistics show strong Te users actually possess high emotional intelligence, however functions don't relate to emotions. Some types are said to be more emotional than others (stereotype NFs for example), but the tendency to experience "negative" emotions frequently and intensely is correlated to Neuroticism.


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## SilentScream (Mar 31, 2011)

I'm very low on neuroticism but I'm also a diagnosed BPD therefore anger for me is a mental illness issue. 

When I'm under no BPD related stress I simply cannot and will not get angry at all. 

I fake anger and pretend to be angry because it's kinda fun and I know how to act like I'm angry but I'm pretty much not.


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