# Too empathetic to be a Thinker?



## ardentauthor (Jul 7, 2011)

Please don't take offense from this question, but I'm wondering if Thinkers can be empathetic? (I know everyone can display empathy; I just mean in general.) I know the Feelers are generally more empathetic, but can there be a very empathetic Thinker?


----------



## Finagle (Jun 4, 2011)

Yup
As far as I know, being a thinker is more about how you take decisions than the amount of empathy you display.
If you can use your thinking function, we certainly can use our feeling one.

The average feeler is more empathetic than the average thinker though.


----------



## dejavu (Jun 23, 2010)

Of course. I think that this is especially true of older Thinkers who are emotionally healthy and have developed their Feeling function well.


----------



## AbioticPrime (Sep 1, 2011)

It really depends on how you define empathetic.

I'd say many thinkers are equally capable of understanding how others feel (through use of the following functions: Si, Ne, Ni, Fi, Fe), though when it comes to acting upon that understanding or displaying that understanding, not so much (notice, the 2 things which require making a decision -- T is a decision function).


----------



## BKYoops (Jul 21, 2011)

I'd say feelers don't have more empathy than thinkers. It's just that feelers tap into their empathy when they make decisions while thinkers tend to stick with their logic.


----------



## Tad Cooper (Apr 10, 2010)

I agree with the above post, that Thinkers will feel the same, or can do, but are less likely to act on the feeling without a logical reason.


----------



## Cryoshakespeare (Dec 7, 2011)

No INFP post?!

Yes, thinkers can be empathetic. Look at ENTJ's, a lot of them are actually quite caring people below their "world-face". Empathy is just taking a step back and picturing how others are looking at a situation, so in some cases T's might be better at it if they have a good understanding of how other people work.


----------



## Worriedfunction (Jun 2, 2011)

I dont think you can ever be TOO empathetic. Empathy doesnt mean you have to conform to someone else afterall, merely that you possess an understanding of how they feel.

Anyhow as others have stated it's not too clear cut. I would say this sums it up best:



BKYoops said:


> I'd say feelers don't have more empathy than thinkers. It's just that feelers tap into their empathy when they make decisions while thinkers tend to stick with their logic.


This seems right to me, since everyone has thinking and feeling somewhere in their functional lineup, it's just that you tend more towards one than the other.

Also ive noticed that many Te doms in particular do have a special sort of caring for those around them. Their sometimes critical nature is in fact a type of caring in that they may not want someone they care about to go along with an obviously flawed idea or plan that might risk their life.
This also extends to the way some Te doms, (not all do this so it shouldn't be considered a specific Te trait), tend to want strict adherence to rules or regulations that make logical and factual sense, they want others to watch what they are doing for their own safety and they understand the need for such rules in the first place. This is only a problem in a negative personality with an imbalanced perspective, otherwise it can actually be very beneficial.

As for Ti doms, well that's one ill have to think, (ho ho ho bad joke), about for a bit.


----------



## Jennywocky (Aug 7, 2009)

Finagle said:


> As far as I know, being a thinker is more about how you make decisions than the amount of empathy you display. If you can use your thinking function, we certainly can use our feeling one.


Both are good points.

Reducing people to just their prefered part of the binary ignores a lot of who an individual might be. It's just really the priority chosen/prefered in decision-making, regarding T/F, and what kind of situations seem valid.

I usually can empathize a great deal with individuals, where I can feel pain on their behalf; but it doesn't change how I process the decision, I still come to similar answers that I would have arrived at even if I didn't feel anything. My intuition and experience (not necessarily emotions) also play into this, where I've learned how people feel in various situations and can also read what they are feeling...


----------



## SuperunknownVortex (Dec 4, 2009)

ardentauthor said:


> Please don't take offense from this question, but I'm wondering if Thinkers can be empathetic? (I know everyone can display empathy; I just mean in general.) I know the Feelers are generally more empathetic, but can there be a very empathetic Thinker?


Studies have shown that empathy is hard-wired into our brains. So, yes, 'Thinkers' can be empathetic. 

And it is a misnomer that "...Feelers are generally more empathetic...". 

"Feeling is a process of making evaluations based on what is important, where personal, interpersonal, or universal values serve as guideposts. Using the cognitive process of Feeling, situations and information are assessed subjectively." 1

1 Jungian Function Theory


----------



## Cat King Cole (Mar 11, 2012)

Feeling as Jung defined it isn't about empathy, it's about value. As such, Extraverted Feeling is about matters of taste and propriety, while Introverted Feeling is about your feelings about things. Just remember that Feeling would be more adequately translated as Valuation.

Curiously, paranoia is a manifestation of hyperactive empathy (either through "mind reading" malice into other people, or by assuming there's a willful agent behind events, or a little bit of both as in conspiracy theories). This kind of paranoia is also seen in all manner of schizotypes, who in addition can have a very "Ti" outlook (I suspect Jung and the people he studied to produce his Introverted Thinker were all schizotypal to some extent). A contemporary example is John Nash, who was both a full-blown schizophrenic, but a brilliant theorist.

Is that meaningful? I don't know, but common cause or not, it's a correlation.


----------



## Mizmar (Aug 12, 2009)

Jennywocky said:


> I usually can empathize a great deal with individuals, where I can feel pain on their behalf; but it doesn't change how I process the decision, I still come to similar answers that I would have arrived at even if I didn't feel anything. My intuition and experience (not necessarily emotions) also play into this, where I've learned how people feel in various situations and can also read what they are feeling...


I'm the same way. I can feel others' emotions pretty intensely but it doesn't necessarily sway me when it comes to making a decision. The feeling states are there but it's like I think through them rather than factor them in much.


----------



## JungyesMBTIno (Jul 22, 2011)

> Feeling as Jung defined it isn't about empathy, it's about value. As such, Extraverted Feeling is about matters of taste and propriety, while Introverted Feeling is about your feelings about things. Just remember that Feeling would be more adequately translated as Valuation.


Completely correct!


----------



## cyamitide (Jul 8, 2010)

ardentauthor said:


> Please don't take offense from this question, but I'm wondering if Thinkers can be empathetic? (I know everyone can display empathy; I just mean in general.) I know the Feelers are generally more empathetic, but can there be a very empathetic Thinker?


 Thinkers can be very empathetic, but they often have trouble expressing it, especially Te-thinkers. 

One of my friends is ISTP girl and she is often unsure of when it is appropriate to express affection or the methods, the how she should do express it (inferior Fe), so she errs on side of caution and expresses none! Then other people start to think that she lacks in empathy.


----------



## JungyesMBTIno (Jul 22, 2011)

> Thinkers can be very empathetic, but they often have trouble expressing it, especially Te-thinkers.


The difficulty here comes from Fi, since the feelings are introverted and the higher Te types might feel vulnerable showing them - like it's hard to control them to produce a desired outcome, since they don't have Fe, which is more controlled for this kind of external display.


----------



## koalaroo (Nov 25, 2011)

Yes, like people have said, thinkers most certainly can be empathetic.  

Personally, I have a strong empathy for people who are being ridiculed in an unjust/unfair manner. I also can't enjoy comedy movies where the movie has too many embarrassing situations for a character -- these movies make me feel more upset than amused.


----------



## JungyesMBTIno (Jul 22, 2011)

Very sincere-looking crying scenes (in other words, good acting, lol) have a way of getting me like no other - I get the "lump in your throat" feeling that feels like it extends to my whole body, interestingly enough!


----------



## bowieownsmysoul (Feb 26, 2012)

Maybe we have a different kind of empathy. What is best for someone isn't always what feels best--things like detoxing from drugs, taking unpleasant medicine, or walking away from a fight.


----------



## Functianalyst (Jul 23, 2009)

I would like to commend everyone on giving such excellent responses, and by remaining consistent with the principles of type. From just my initial observation, it appears that the word empathy is possibly being used out of context for sympathy. The definition of empathy is:


> : the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner;


, then can go inward:[/quote]Based on the principles of type, only two function-attitudes can do what is being described above (Se/Ne), since it entails taking in information with no thought of judging it. The second definition on the other hand:


> the imaginative projection of a subjective state into an object so that the object appears to be infused with it


appears to refer to an introverted perceiving function (Si/Ni) since it’s projecting onto the object, not the other way around. 

So to answer the question, it appears that EP and IJs may be the most empathetic types since they both dominate with the function-attitudes that require one to be empathetic or at least project an empathetic view from a subjective perception. EFJs however may be the most sympathetic.


----------



## L (Aug 12, 2011)

deleted on the principle of being beaten to the usage of a definition.... now I look dumb...


----------

