Emotions: Good or Bad?

[Fedayeen]

Emotions: Good or Bad? (My Questions have been answered)

INTPs are generally more detached from their emotions then other people. Do you think over all it is better to have emotions to interfere with thought process or not?

I try hard to detach myself from my emotions even more then they already are. I figure since I always will have underdeveloped feeling I could make better use of it if I could do everything without the interference of emotions then by doing things by trying to use emotions to help.

That being said I don't think it is possible to be c100% devoid of emotions. And only get close with out some sort of extreme external force. (something happening to you out of your control)

EDIT: I've gotten all the answer I was seeking from this thread.

 

[Astrodirt]

I think it would be impossible and undesirable to be devoid of emotion for people with normally functioning brains and bodies. Emotions inform our decisions, and the fact that we (and other animals) have evolved WITH emotions says to me that they must be of great survival value. If you don't get angry when someone wrongs you, will you ever be motivated to work to make things better? Emotions are integral to the thought process, even for people like us who don't always feel things so intensely as others. Hmm, it occurs to me that perhaps emotions and motivation are linked closely...

In any case, I think emotions are our bodies way of communicating information to our conscious selves. They serve as an important feedback mechanism. Has anyone read "I am a Strange Loop"? A fascinating book about the emergence of consciousness from seemingly inert matter. He describes the brain as a sort of complex of feedback loops. It's the kind of book that defies quick description, but I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the science of thought.

Some days I do wish I could "throw the switch" and turn off emotions. On those days I try to stay home with a good book.

 

[Decaf]

I agree completely with Astrodirt.

I don't think its a coincidence that INTPs are both the most emotionally detached, and the most socially detached of the types. I think it is imperative that we integrate feeling into our lives in a healthy way because it allows us to develop the function past the immaturity we naturally express with it, and it keeps us engaged with other people. We aren't telepathic, so its easy to think of yourself as the only "mind", but sharing emotions allows us to understand where somewhere is mentally. Anger can allow the creation of activist groups. Sadness, support groups.

Just like the concept of 0, apathy is also an emotional state. It helps us stay objective. It also keeps us from investing ourselves, and nothing good happens without investment.

 

[Fedayeen]

I think it would be impossible and undesirable to be devoid of emotion for people with normally functioning brains and bodies. Emotions inform our decisions, and the fact that we (and other animals) have evolved WITH emotions says to me that they must be of great survival value. If you don't get angry when someone wrongs you, will you ever be motivated to work to make things better? Emotions are integral to the thought process, even for people like us who don't always feel things so intensely as others. Hmm, it occurs to me that perhaps emotions and motivation are linked closely...

In any case, I think emotions are our bodies way of communicating information to our conscious selves. They serve as an important feedback mechanism. Has anyone read "I am a Strange Loop"? A fascinating book about the emergence of consciousness from seemingly inert matter. He describes the brain as a sort of complex of feedback loops. It's the kind of book that defies quick description, but I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the science of thought.

Some days I do wish I could "throw the switch" and turn off emotions. On those days I try to stay home with a good book.

Like I said I don't think it is possible to be 100% devoid of emotion, but having less then usual.

Also emotions aren't the only thing that are related to motive. What about logical reasoning? Without emotion people can still be driven to do things. There are 2 things that bring people to action. One is Emotion, and the other is reason.

I agree completely with Astrodirt.

I don't think its a coincidence that INTPs are both the most emotionally detached, and the most socially detached of the types. I think it is imperative that we integrate feeling into our lives in a healthy way because it allows us to develop the function past the immaturity we naturally express with it, and it keeps us engaged with other people. We aren't telepathic, so its easy to think of yourself as the only "mind", but sharing emotions allows us to understand where somewhere is mentally. Anger can allow the creation of activist groups. Sadness, support groups.

Just like the concept of 0, apathy is also an emotional state. It helps us stay objective. It also keeps us from investing ourselves, and nothing good happens without investment.

I've given up on the concept of fitting in with society. It may have something with my not trusting anyone at all any more no matter what.

Also I've spoken to you before about my personalities. My emotional side and unemotional side are very distinct. I can clearly see the difference emotions have on actions.

 

[Agent Intellect]

i don't think i'd want to get rid of emotions so much as i'd want to just have a complete understanding of them.

 

[Decaf]

I've given up on the concept of fitting in with society. It may have something with my not trusting anyone at all any more no matter what.

Also I've spoken to you before about my personalities. My emotional side and unemotional side are very distinct. I can clearly see the difference emotions have on actions.

I still have a gut feeling that the feeling of distinctiveness in the expression of each of your sides is related to your feeling of non-acceptance. The mind is an incredibly adaptive tool and will tend to find a way through any circumstance, even if it has to chew off its own leg.

 

[Auburn]

INTPs are generally more detached from their emotions then other people. Do you think over all it is better to have emotions to interfere with thought process or not?

I try hard to detach myself from my emotions even more then they already are. I figure since I always will have underdeveloped feeling I could make better use of it if I could do everything without the interference of emotions then by doing things by trying to use emotions to help.

I see...

If I understand you correctly...

...your point is not so much that you're saying "it's better to be void of emotions", instead you're moreso asking "for me, as an INTP, do you think it'd be better to stay clear of emotions - since I don't really use them anyhow?"

If so. I would say yes . (for the purpose of strictly analytical/theoretical/philosophical exploration). Since you're truly not bothered by not fitting into society, and you have no intention of doing so, then you don't really have a need to develop feeling. Society does need both feeling and thinking to operate, but we're not concerned with society's needs right now.

I do believe theoretical/philosophical exploration is maximized when focusing solely on reasoning. It works at optimum efficiency.

I do, however, think that it is possible for INTPs to have fairly developed feeling - without compromising their logical soundness. An INTP, fairly developed in feeling, will still possess the quality of "detachment", still being able remove all his/her feeling from the equation and analyze something strictly on reasoning. The key is to keep them separate when pertaining to matters of logic.

But combining the two when pertaining to matters of people, yields a much more rich understanding of them - moreso that pure logic could understand. So in this sense, perhaps pure logic may have a blind spot in this matter.

 

[Ermine]

We are human, therefore we have emotions. Either we can deal with them and use them to our advantage, or view them as a constant nuisance and not make any progress in that area.

I have a feeling that interpersonal relationships and my emotions will be the foremost struggle in my life. According to people who don't know about my emotional woes, I'm pretty successful, so here goes... my inner struggle for the rest of my life...

 

[Fedayeen]

I still have a gut feeling that the feeling of distinctiveness in the expression of each of your sides is related to your feeling of non-acceptance. The mind is an incredibly adaptive tool and will tend to find a way through any circumstance, even if it has to chew off its own leg.

Either way It allows me to distinctly see the difference.

I see...

If I understand you correctly...

...your point is not so much that you're saying "it's better to be void of emotions", instead you're moreso asking "for me, as an INTP, do you think it'd be better to stay clear of emotions - since I don't really use them anyhow?"

Very close.

There are things emotions are good for and there are things emotions are bad for.

Instead of having "weak" emotions, and try to build it up to the point of other people, why not work with less and make use of it.

 

[kaririloto]

I have little to no emotions any more. At least not anything below the neck.

Let's put it this way:
Brain@kaririloto.com>> *sends email EMOTION* to Body@kaririloto.com
Brain@kaririloto.com has received one new email
Email contents:
UNDELIVERED MAIL RETURNED TO SENDER.

I have to say, with them gone ( I used to be an extrovert..*shudder* ), my judgment and logic are clear as...to use a cliche...crystal. I just don't see the point in being biased and opinionated about things I don't even really believe in/ feel the need to fight for.

I say; whatever your choice is, go for it.

I personally prefer the more intriguing life of the emotionless[ish].

 

[gregarian]

Emotion is essential to cognition. There is no pure reason. Descartes fooled us all. Rationality, unfortunately, is a myth.

 

[snafupants]

The emotions that rankle me are the ones associated with evolution. Like when you hear a loud noise and you get nervous/scared and your sympathetic nervous system goes berserk for an hour, releasing cortisol and this nonsense. Emotions which feel more voluntary - e.g., being moved by music - are more acceptable to me.

 

[EditorOne]

If we accept that we are not as good processing emotional input as we are rational input, then it becomes clear that we are not feeling less, we are simply not acting on what we do feel. Until you can rationally recognize emotional input, containing emotions makes some sense. But it's not like we're complete idiots emotionally; I mean, when you see someone crying, it's a safe bet they are unhappy.

Except for the ones who say "I'm crying because I'm happy."

Then I have to start all over again.

We're no better with our own emotions than with input coming from outside. It's good to embrace them sometimes and accept the consequences, though. Sooner or later some really big emotional event is going to rock your world, touch off an eruption. When it does you'll either be glad you learned the basics of swimming in emotional currents, or drown in the undertow.

 

[Ermine]

I'm glad this thread has been revived. I thought I'd throw another 2 cents in there that I've learned from a science class I've been taking. A while ago, we were learning about the thalamus: emotions central. I gathered a few things from that.

1. Emotions are critical to thinking properly. My teacher cited a case of a guy who was damaged in a part of his brain dealing with emotions. I forget which one. When he came home from the hospital, he seemed fine, and could perform tasks just fine. The trouble came whenever he had to make a decision or prioritize something. He had no way of giving importance to one thing over another. The most mundane task was as "important" as the most important tasks. Scary thought. So emotions are definitely necessary.

2. Thinking and feelings are just different forms of thinking. Feeling is really just super fast thinking, which is critical for making snap decisions based on previous knowledge. This is very useful because there are plenty of processes that you don't want to have to think about. Thinking is a similar process, but slowed down to the point that we can figure out what's going on as we think.

And really, are we not "feeling" when we think that something is logical? It's all based on value judgments, and constructs we have made for ourselves.

Descartes was definitely kidding himself.

 

[Fallenman]

As I was reading the posts I was thinking EXACTLY what Ermine posted above, that feeling is crucial to the thinking process, and in fact that it is a thinking process itself. At least that was my reaction to the extreme forms of trying to abandon 'emotions'. Emotions is only one side of the complex creature we've deemed homosapien. It is absurd to try and rid yourself of what makes us us, it is almost the equivalent of cutting off your left arm because you are right handed. I realize that emotions may be a little more foreign to us, naturally, but to exterminate it completely is to exterminate your humanity.

I mean why even live this life if we didn't have the ability to appreciate it.

 

[aracaris]

Like I said I don't think it is possible to be 100% devoid of emotion, but having less then usual.

Also emotions aren't the only thing that are related to motive. What about logical reasoning? Without emotion people can still be driven to do things. There are 2 things that bring people to action. One is Emotion, and the other is reason.

However while we ideally have sound logical reasons for doing things, the only thing that can make us give enough of a crap to actually bother doing anything is emotion.

Emotions fuel our drive to get things done, whether drive is fueled by desire, or fear etc...

Emotion is both good and bad, but to a certain degree necessary.

Watch Serenity sometime, granted it's sci-fi, there's a scene that I think does a very good job of showing what being devoid of emotion can do to people (in this case the potentially aggressive emotions, which are definitely linked to motivation).

 

[Jackooboy]

I used to try to supress my emotions, but then I came to the conclusion that we will only truly understand our humanity and ourselves if we embrace who we are; this includes emotions. Even though we may experience them differently than some other myersbriggs types, try to understand them and validate them as equal to or even in some instances superior to our thought process-- it will help you grow and understand others, yourself, and society.