Yes, Thinkers feel and yes, Feelers think

Yes, Thinkers have feelings and yes, Feelers use critical thinking. Seems like two pretty obvious statements, right? Well, they are, but it sometimes seems like people lose sight of this when they go to type someone. They tend to go into ‘typing mode’ and every emotion suddenly turns into evidence for someone being a feeling type, and every statement of thought or critical opinion is evidence for being a thinker. Even worse is when someone makes a statement like: “he is too nice to be a T, or she is too smart to be an F.” Stepping back and thinking about what you are really saying, though, it all starts to sound pretty ridiculous.

Every type has both a thinking and a feeling function in their top four. Some may lead with a thinking or feeling function, while others have the two sandwiched in the middle right next to each other. What you have to realize is that you must separate the idea that all emotions are purely going to come from your feeling function and all your thoughts are going to come from your thinking function. We are immensely complicated beings, and all the cognitive functions play a part in both our thoughts and our emotions. Now, this is not to say that noting someone is particularly emotional or emotionless can’t point you in a certain direction when typing them; however, that piece of information alone should not be the entire basis for your conclusion. You need to delve into the cognitive functions and identify what they do, but that is a topic for another time.

The real difference between Thinkers and Feelers is what they are putting value in. For example, people who fall on the thinking side of the spectrum tend to have less of a handle on their own emotions and struggle to sort them out. Not having a good understanding of their feelings causes them to not trust them. In turn, they deem their feelings as not suitable for making decisions. Internally, thinkers are frequently more emotionally turbulent than their feeling counterparts, which can make them insecure about their emotions. They will not share them with others and will often repress them. In the end, you are left with someone who places a high value on what logically makes sense to them and little value on their own emotions or the emotions of others.

Feelers, on the other side of the spectrum, place high value in their ideals, and ideals invoke emotions. Thus, feelers tend to be much more comfortable with their feelings. They have a better understanding of how they or others are feeling and how it impacts them. On the other hand, they are unsure about concepts and logic that are completely removed from emotion or their ideals. They will often be more concerned with the ethical impact of a decision more so than its cold, hard rationality. The consideration of emotion can extend even into tactical decisions that don’t affect real humans. (I’ve watched a feeler refuse the best tactical decision in a game because it required the sacrificing of in game troops.)

This is not to say that a T won’t ever take emotions into account when making a decision, but they will value more what they have deemed as fair. If what is fair hurts someone’s feelings, too bad. In contrast, F’s will make decisions based more off of logic than feelings when it is considered to be in the best interest of all. In the end, both Ts and Fs will have moments where they will make a decision based off of pure logic, or will go with the choice that is in the emotional best interest of others or themselves. The real question is: which way do they usually lean?

It doesn’t make any sense to think that Ts are incapable of having compassion on others and will only make decisions off of what is deemed logical. It also makes no sense to think that Fs are incapable of making a decision that they know will hurt the feelings of others. We all have the capacity to feel and extend compassion to others. We also all have the capability to make hard decisions that we know will hurt those around us, whether selfishly or for the greater good. Sometimes the right thing will hurt others. There is no way around that. So that’s just something to keep in mind when separating people by whether they are a thinker or feeler. It doesn’t mean one is devoid of emotion and the other can’t have logical thought. Don’t fall into that trap.