# Fi vs. inferior Fe



## WitKnee (May 22, 2013)

To me it seems hard to determine if you're seeing Fi or an inferior Fe-user in their hyper-emotional (primitive) state, especially a female. As a female, I am usually expected to be able to handle emotional situations. If there if too much negative feeling thrown at me (like yesterday when a friend went off on me for 20 minutes straight about how crappy I treated her) or I suppress my Fe for too long however (as I believe I am an ISTP) it comes boiling out and I have no idea how to control it. I may start crying, but usually I just close off and try to clear my head. This may appear kind of Fi-like, in the sense that I am closing off my emotions and keeping them to myself or just the fact that I may appear very emotional in that moment. However, if you REALLY knew me, you'd know that that is only like 5% of the time. Anyways, I was wondering what other people's experiences were with this. Keep in mind this is purely from an objective functional standpoint.


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## rwm4768 (Sep 9, 2011)

Fi and Fe, according to theory, are ways you make decisions. A feeling function doesn't necessarily equate to emotions, though feelers tend to be more emotional. This reaction might have something to do with inferior Fe, but it might just be an emotional response to what your friend said.


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## Inveniet (Aug 21, 2009)

That Fe always shows emotions/affect is wrong.
Fe isn't the emotions themself, but are the guidelines for when they are activated.
So Fe imports most values from the external world, while Fi custom makes most values inside.
Now Fe and Fi are not on and off, but on a continuum so each can import and custom make to a degree.
Only when all subjectivity or objectivity have been differentiated away do you get pure anything.
And pure any function is just unhealty as there is zero balance.

Fe being guided from outside can manifest in a myrriad of ways depending on the outside dictates.
Fi being guided from within can manifest in a myrriad of ways depending on the outside dictates it has to rebel against.
Both are reactive in their own way.
In cultures where feeling is okay, Fe pours it on thick, in cultures where it is not okay, Fe hides it very well.
I wonder how many run around mistyping due to cultural stereotypes?!
Like the emo Fi user who is soooo feely as a rebellion against feeling suppression
or the cold Fi user who rebells against "fake" emotion.


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

l don't know how Fi ''feels'', having Fi could lead one to think in a way that'd eventually lead to the actual emotion but what you're saying about being reactive to other's emotions sounds Feish.

l'm reactive in that way, l usually only experience that as anxiety or feeling drained. Unless l actually want to use Fe to be empathetic and then l do so, l wouldn't say it's made me naturally empathetic and that's probably because it's a lower order function.

But the way it manifests in me is still pretty different from Fi.


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## Ellis Bell (Mar 16, 2012)

For me the difference between Fi and inferior Fe is that Fi, when dominant (as with all dominant functions) is sophisticated; Fe is sort of all or nothing, where I totally don't pay attention to the needs or others or I'm hypersensitive to human relationships (but it has a negative slant, such as making negative comments about people and their actions or, coupled with Ni, questioning their motives or analyzing, with Ti, every little thing people say). 

Feeling probably isn't related to expressing emotions; both strong Fi and strong Fe have the ability to hide them, in fact (usually, in the case of dominant Fe, you'll see someone repress negative emotion so that they won't disturb the vibe of the group, whereas Fi will do it from a more personal stance). Both types of feeling, however, have an incredible knack for recognizing emotions in the moment; whereas, with an ITP, we can't really recognize it right away (and even if we do we analyze it to death), so we let it build up until it explodes later on. The internalization process of Ti looks like Fi (they both are, after all, introverted judging; they have the same process, even though the endpoint is different). So it sounds like inferior Fe is what you're experiencing.


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## JungyesMBTIno (Jul 22, 2011)

I think all outward displays of emotion are essentially Fe in nature (when displaying an emotion becomes an aim for action, not just a primitive hormonal form or relief or a culturally-accepted form of behavior). This doesn't mean Fi types don't come outward with their emotions, but when they do, they're essentially completely real and do not show any consideration for what the outer atmosphere is promoting from a feelings perspective (it's not what it sound like - outer atmosphere is kind of an Fe concept of feeling standards of expression that are accepted at face value as the way to go for some reason or other that creates a traditional atmosphere in which feeling issues can exist). Inferior Fe might superficially seem like Fi because it is genuine, but unlike Fi, it has no basis in the inner ideals of a person or any kind of inner narcissism or self-righteousness (I mean, Jung seemed to imply that you probably will get archaic displays of Fi in Ti doms under stress, but they're just primitive defenses that emerge, not anything the person would place any ego value in).


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## JungyesMBTIno (Jul 22, 2011)

Inferior Fe would be the epitome of the feeling that evaluates at face value (heavy emphasis only on the qualities of the object and not the inner experiences of the person in relation to the object). This might sometimes makes for awkward social relationships where they get overly influenced by only the other person's feeling values and struggle to fall back on their own feeling values to sort of create a buffer against too much influence by other people's feelings.


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