Thinkers vs. Feelers
15 Jul 2005 (Fri)
ATTENDED a Teaching, Learning & MBTI workshop two days ago. A good revision. Still same profile. But the mode of learning was fun. The workshop leader L. divided us into different ‘camps’ at certain points in time. For example, ‘Extraverts’ versus ‘Intraverts’, and ‘Thinkers’ versus ‘Feelers’. We were asked to list the strengths and weaknesses of the people in the other camps. Had a ball laughing at the positive and negative attributes. Some said thinkers are cold and merciless. Others said feelers, though compassionate and caring, can be quite illogical and unjust.
AS THE RECENT NKF saga unfolded, was rather surprised at my own actions, thoughts and feelings. Two nights ago, upon finding an online petition posting in the ChannelNewsAsia forum, i felt angry and outraged enough to go there immediately and enter my details for the petition for the resignation of TTD. A few hours later, i thought that i should be more merciful. “Who has never sinned?” So, i emailed the petition author to cancel my online signature. (This he did and informed me via email promptly.)
Come to think of this: Thinkers aren’t always cold and merciless; and Feelers aren’t always compassionate and caring. In following my feelings, i had called for ‘blood’. In following my thoughts, however, i had chosen to be more merciful.
More and more, it seems to me that Thinkers only seem cold and merciless to Feelers. Actually, both Thinkers and Feelers can be positive or negative, depending on the situation. And it seems to me that Thinkers are often positive or negative on an issue level while Feelers are often positive or negative on a personal level.
Are there research studies to confirm or negate these inferences of mine?
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Posted by J.K. in Cognitive, Emotive, Psychology, Types (Profiles) | 3 Comments |
April 1st, 2009 at 6:05 am
I feel like it’s good to always have a middle ground, as both “thinking” and “feeling” can be taken to the extreme. I guess it’s just more common to associate “thinking” with cold and robotic and “feeling” with Romeo and Juliet, heart on the sleeve.
There’s this article in the New York Times called The Moral Instinct that you might find really interesting. It talks about how people respond differently to moral situations that are, logically, extremely similar. For instance, people were more calculating in situations where they were removed from the problem (pulling a switch), but more “feeling” in situations where they were directly involved (manhandling an innocent man off a bridge to stop a train.)
XD I guess it sounds a bit scrambled when I’m trying to explain it. But the article also mentioned that people with damaged frontal lobes have a lot of difficulty in making “basic moral decisions.” The example that the article used was that they couldn’t figure out if they should steal a vaccine from a hospital in order to save their wife’s life.
Anyways, the article cites a couple scientific studies that have been done on all of this.
I’m naturally a kind of irritable person, very likely to vehemently sign an online petition in a fit of rage, so I feel like adding elements of “thinking” to elements of “feeling” can help me be more compassionate and understanding.
April 10th, 2009 at 8:59 pm
Excellent points, Lytyson! Thanks too for the NYT article reference.
Agree with you that “both “thinking” and “feeling” can be taken to the extreme.”
What do you do at Care2.com? A very interesting site with over 10 million members! Reminds me of an old friend now. She’s a member and has gone to Mongolia to do some volunteer work.
April 22nd, 2009 at 6:54 am
Thanks.
It’d be interesting to meet someone who’s able to find a complete balance between the two though…and kind of scary.
I work with the web marketing, not any volunteer work overseas. Care2 mainly tries to fund various causes using some sort of ecard system. The petition segment of their site is fairly new.
Mongolia sounds pretty exciting.
I’ve heard of people often going with church groups to help build homes, but they never go quite that far away.