# what types are more likely to go off on tangents?



## Top chisel (Sep 25, 2013)

I often go off on tangents, both when explaining something, and when thinking about something, and a brief explanation of something can turn into a long-winded lecture about an a different, but relevant closely related topic that usually has an important bearing on the subject.

I beseech thee to answer the question: What types are the most likely to go off on tangents like that?


----------



## knahmean (Mar 26, 2014)

I think N types because they have the big picture in mind where what seems like a tangent to others is not a tangent to them at all because according to the big picture they can see how they are connected.
It seems like going off on a tangent because the listener doesn't necessarily have the same big picture in mind as the N type that is describing whatever they are describing, therefore they don't see the connection.


----------



## 66393 (Oct 17, 2013)

I dunno but when I talk I see a different idea, get excited and just start talking about that. I love tangents, I hope someone gets back to this thread cause I go off on an ungodly amount of tangents when I talk.


----------



## dinkytown (Dec 28, 2013)

knahmean said:


> I think N types because they have the big picture in mind where what seems like a tangent to others is not a tangent to them at all because according to the big picture they can see how they are connected.
> It seems like going off on a tangent because the listener doesn't necessarily have the same big picture in mind as the N type that is describing whatever they are describing, therefore they don't see the connection.


Good lord. How many times do people need to repeat that N does not mean you are better at seeing the big picture or ideas? Please stop repeating this nonsense.

To get to the question asked, I would say Ne and Te are the functions most responsible for tangents. As such, NFPs and STJs would be most guilty of long winded tangents. I know I personally am. 

Types with neither, so the STPs and NFJs, are the most concise. STPs are notorious for short, curt replies. NFJs are incredibly peircing with their words and seem to say more with less than any other type. One of the quickest way to know an "xNFJ" isn't really an xNFJ is if they go off on tangents and talk their heads off. That's just not what NFJs do, in real life nor online. Listen to a speech by any famous NFJ (i.e. Martin Luther King). Every word is jammed packed with meaning. But the total amount of words said is very sparse.



kev said:


> *I dunno but when I talk I see a different idea, get excited and just start talking about that. I love tangents*, I hope someone gets back to this thread cause I go off on an ungodly amount of tangents when I talk.


See what I wrote above. You don't sound like an INFJ at all. The bolded part in particular sounds very much like Ne.


----------



## Entropic (Jun 15, 2012)

benchwarmer said:


> Good lord. How many times do people need to repeat that N does not mean you are better at seeing the big picture or ideas? Please stop repeating this nonsense.
> 
> To get to the question asked, I would say Ne and Te are the functions most responsible for tangents. As such, NFPs and STJs would be most guilty of long winded tangents. I know I personally am.
> 
> Types with neither, so the STPs and NFJs, are the most concise. STPs are notorious for short, curt replies. NFJs are incredibly peircing with their words and seem to say more with less than any other type. One of the quickest way to know an "xNFJ" isn't really an xNFJ is if they go off on tangents and talk their heads off. That's just not what NFJs do, in real life nor online. Listen to a speech by any famous NFJ (i.e. Martin Luther King). Every word is jammed packed with meaning. But the total amount of words said is very sparse.


I think xNFJs can be very wordy. ENFJs in particular, are quite inclined to go on FeNi speeches/diatribes. I actually think the OP's question may relate to the socionics Reinin dichotomy of negativist-positivist. I think negativist types are more likely to go off tangents because as Viktor Gulenko describes in his cognitive styles article, negativists seek to complexify through the expansion of deductive reasoning. Positivist thinking is more inclined to state what things are.

For example, I have a tendency to do what the OP describes and I'm a socionics negativist type.


----------



## 66393 (Oct 17, 2013)

benchwarmer said:


> See what I wrote above. You don't sound like an INFJ at all. The bolded part in particular sounds very much like Ne.


I would love to know my actual type, I was typed in one of these threads and am still skeptical. If you could help me I would be grateful


----------



## BrokenSunset (Mar 28, 2014)

ENFPs Can I'm living proof. Only when I feel it is necessary to help others understand my thought process on a giving issue and or situation.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk


----------



## StunnedFox (Dec 20, 2013)

I wouldn't think any one type is more prone to going off on tangents during discussion than another - probably of more relation to type is the content of the tangent itself, whether you link back to the previous discussion or follow a chain of tangents, what the cause of your going off on a tangent is, etc.


----------

