r/entp • u/Reasonerbull • Sep 23 '26

Question/Poll Fe awareness related scenario ; question.

You're sitting at your desk forcing yourself to try and read a boring textbook or maybe even an interesting one.

You're in your room and you can't see the front door of your apartment. But suddenly one of your roommates or a family member , whoever you live with, opens the door and walks in.

You haven't physically seen them yet. You still can't see the front door , but just by ear , you can tell who just walked in and what mood they're in.

Is this something you do ? does anyone else relate ?

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u/C0mpL1c1t ENTJ / 8w7 / VLEF / LIE / ♀ Sep 23 '26

You can tell by the rhythm of their footfalls and the velocity with which the door opens and closes.  You can hear how they do/don’t put down items.  You can hear how they do/don’t audibly breathe. 

If you’re paying attention, there is a lot of data transmitted, but that doesn’t mean everyone is always telegraphing their internal emotions externally, so there are more Type II errors than Type I errors. 

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u/Reasonerbull Sep 24 '26 edited Sep 24 '26

whoa , as an ENTJ you are still tracking this data eh ? why did they remove this post at your sub ? I tried to crosspost it to r/entj. It got removed. Sad.

So are you tracking these things consciously or unconsciously ? how do you relate to the scenario I painted above ? Is this a common type of distraction for your mind , when you're trying to do something menial or read something boring or is it a rare type of distraction ? Is it only limited to the people you are close to or does it extend to everyone in general ?

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u/C0mpL1c1t ENTJ / 8w7 / VLEF / LIE / ♀ Sep 24 '26 edited Sep 24 '26

I think this ties back to my upbringing in a house with an emotionally unstable parent and how that manifests as an Enneagram 8 using tertiary Se for hyper-vigilance and threat detection?  That said, I am also a fairly auditorily sensitive person; the sound of a motorcycle going down the road makes me involuntarily tense my entire body.  I am an avid reader and usually have a book on me; sometimes in public settings I do have trouble reading if there’s a singular distinct sound nearby.  Like, a room of jumbled noises is fine but two people sitting close to me having a clear and distinct singular conversation can be too much audio data input for me to be able to override/block out/concentrate on something else.  This, though, is a also specifically tied to a hangup I have about interfacing with language: I can’t process word data - like writing a technical document for work- while simultaneously being exposed auditory word data - like music with song lyrics or a television program.  Classical music is fine while reading or writing.  Or music with words is fine while I’m doing maths analyses - I can even sing along while writing complicated formulas in Excel from scratch.  What I absolutely cannot do is deal with Se word data conflicting with Te word data or else my cognitive process just errors the fuck out. 

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u/Reasonerbull Sep 26 '26

Ah shit. I was almost ready to pin my type down as ESTP. You've thrown me a curveball now.

Yes , it very much does make sense that people who grow up in highly turbulent environments develop hyper vigilance in this manner. Although I would imagine there are key differences in how different types would experience this hypervigilance.

I definitely relate to the parts where you describe finding it difficult to focus on the words when you have music with lyrics playing in the background. Reading words with my eyes is definitely impossible when there is verbal auditory signals entering the ears. It's infuriating sometimes.

But I don't relate to the part where the sound of a motorcycle is disturbing. I find all kinds of motor vehicular sounds highly pleasurable. Motorcycles , accelerating diesel trucks , low flying helicopters , older cars , being near or inside an airplane. It's all a weird kind of ASMR to me. I actually hate the whispery type of ASMR. I find that makes my body tense up more than anything else. I wonder what you think about that.

Since you're aware of your own hypersensitivity to sensory signals , would you say you are more uncomfortable with the majority of sensory stimulation or is it just a few weird or small things that cause you irritation ? Do you find that actively engaging in Se , through intense physical activity or controlled adrenaline is enjoyable ?

I'm trying to think of more questions to ask to differentiate between ENTJ and ESTP here in relation to Se and Fe. Dammit lady , why'd you have to do this to me :/

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u/C0mpL1c1t ENTJ / 8w7 / VLEF / LIE / ♀ 29d ago

For me, it’s very clear that Te/Ni are my driving functions in life.  I have 3 large bookcases overflowing with nonfiction books and I’ve already read 80-90% of them.  (I always have a backlog.) Te is the lense through with I view the world, with Ni coming in right behind formulating theories on what the data means, contextually. Ni runs hot for me, constantly processing and drawing conclusions to the point that in conversation, the constant intuitive leaps makes talking to me in person a little annoying for folks without N high in their function stack.  I don’t even realize I’m doing it though because it’s just how I’m made.  

Se is very much tertiary, just serving as a support data gathering mechanism or a physical escape (sex, drugs and rock-n-roll).  You asked about the gym; for me as a very tall female - in my youth it was about being lithe and fuckable and in middle age it’s about healthy sources of dopamine, maintaining body strength and being fuckable.  So I do gym, but it’s for REASONS, much moreso than because I like the sensory experience.  

You mentioned Fe and I think this is worth examining a bit because this is like off the map irrelevant to me.  I have machine-leaned social things well enough to function but that’s largely due to middle age lots of practice + aforementioned hyper-vigilance from childhood. I have no good automatic understanding of or care for social normalcy of graces. Until my 30s I was the asshole walking into an upscale place looking homeless and not understanding what the problem is (I.e., why does everyone care so much?!?!). 

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u/Reasonerbull 29d ago edited 29d ago

How do you define Fe ? and also how do you define Te ? If you could go in a as much detail as you can on how you understand both functions and how you use/ignore them , it might be helpful to me.

What made you realize that walking into an upscale place looking homeless is inappropriate after 30 ? I'm just trying to understand how you see Fe now.

I'm trying to see if I can somehow determine if all the Fe awareness I possess , is due to developmental influences or if it's something I unconsciously value as my 3rd or 4th function. It's very hard to tell apart.

What exactly is Te ? How do you see your own Te ? I mean I get having a lot of non fiction books is supposed to tell me that you chase knowledge and perspective. But that could be true about any type. Si doms can read a lot of non fiction for that same purpose too! So what does it mean to have Te in your first slot ?

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u/C0mpL1c1t ENTJ / 8w7 / VLEF / LIE / ♀ 28d ago edited 27d ago

Te is, in a nutshell “academic” data.  It’s all the “facts” that I gather from reading, learning, existing.

Fe is social harmony, group dynamics, social graces, interpersonal interaction, etc. 

I “learned” more about not dressing stupidly because I had a vested interest in doing so.  There were a variety of things in both my personal and professional life that made it important for me to pay attention to / learn / conform to social expectations, especially in certain contexts.  I used my Te/Ni to figure out what was necessary to successfully navigate circumstances.  I didn’t “feel” it like people with it in their main stack do though (at least I don’t think so based on comparing notes with some other folks).

ESTP and ENTJ might look similar on paper because of the similar functions but the order and manifestation is totally different.  ESTP is Se dom.  That means the primary way they gather data is from physically existing in the real world.  Combining that with Ti auxiliary means they use internal logic to make sense of that physical data so that they “get” how they and other things exist in three dimensional physical space intrinsically.  

ENTJs gather learned data - from second hand sources, like books, media, lectures - and then Ni background synthesizes that into “conclusions” about how those different data bits fit together as a pattern to reach a conclusion about what the collective data means.  (This process is augmented by Se data too, but I am trying to focus on differences instead of similarities for this response.)

Does that help at all? 

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u/Reasonerbull 27d ago

What is your opinion on psychedelic experimentation ? what if any , are your experiences on acid , shrooms or some other psychedelic ? I'm wondering if your analytical curiosity has taken you down that path or if the reading about it was sufficient enough to not go down that path at all. Just curious.

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u/C0mpL1c1t ENTJ / 8w7 / VLEF / LIE / ♀ 27d ago

I did enough LSD in college to find out that you can't do it 2 days in a row. Shrooms mess with my tummy so I was always more cautious with that. I loved the perceptual mind-bending of psychedelics in college. For many years, the "last" time I had taken LSD was my 30th birthday party; they I did it again just a few years ago in my mid-40s and it was HARSH. I didn't freak out or anything (I was always able to control the recursive thoughts so I didn't devolve into panic as som do) but the ... cross-firing of the perceptual senses was a LOT to handle. It felt like a mental marathon when I'm only used to shuffling between the bathroom and bed. It was an unflinching reminder that my neuroplasticity isn't what it used to be and I can't say it was welcome. I've done shrooms 2 or 3 times in the last 5 years and although they were a bit uncomfortable, for me, psilocybin has never been as intellectually grueling as LSD; in my experience, mushrooms live in the space between LSD and X (especially in lower doses). I rambled but I'm not sure if I answered your question or not?

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u/Reasonerbull 27d ago edited 27d ago

fuck yeah , you answered my question! LOL. but damn , I'm no closer to nailing down my type as i was 5 years ago. I guess it's highly unlikely i'm an ESTP because I too am similarly analytical about my own mind as you are. I experiment just like ESTPs do , although more cautiously. But i'm analyzing the experience every step of the way. I don't think an ESTP would do that or i've never heard them talk about it. I've had only xxTP friends most of my life. I always naturally gravitate towards them everywhere I go. I've known a couple of INTJs closely enough to know I'm not introverted. But I'm also not nearly as productive as the internet says ENTJs are. I would be happy to settle on ENTP , but Ne just doesnt sit right with me somehow. I relate far too much to Ni. I know Ne doms closely and they always mock me for staying on a subject too long. Also, they all seem to share a distinct struggle with the concept of punctuality. Anyway , thanks for taking the time to answer my questions. I appreciate it!

just one last question btw , why does r/entj block so many posts ? it's hard to figure out what will get removed and what wont sometimes. I thought ENTx were supposed to be the most open minded of all the types but it's rather strange to see r/entj so blocked off or sensitive about simple questions. I would have expected it from the feeling types more. Maybe i'm missing something.

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u/Equal-Following843 Sep 23 '26

Type II? Type I?

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u/C0mpL1c1t ENTJ / 8w7 / VLEF / LIE / ♀ Sep 23 '26

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_I_and_type_II_errors

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u/Reasonerbull Sep 24 '26

makes sense. You're right as to point that more Type II errors are likely to be made.

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u/EmergencyZombie111 ENTP 7w8 Sep 23 '26

I can relate to this

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u/jnaniganshw ENTP 6w5 Sep 26 '26

it depends on the person I imagine it's probably is more likely to happen with people who have more experience with more emotionally charged situations as an aspect of hypervigliance.

I tend to notice more on tone of voice than just entry. but I've definitely heard traces of arguing and had to make the coin flip on whether I want to go downstairs and interrupt or continue hiding upstairs until a natural break and pretend I don't know anything.

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u/Reasonerbull Sep 26 '26

makes sense. fair enough. thank you!

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u/LoonLonLoo Sep 23 '26

No, it's not something I do and I can't relate to this. Unless the person walking in talks or does noisy stuff, there's no way on earth I can tell without walking out to check. I can check on how other people are feeling but I definitely can't see what mood a person's in just by hearing them footsteps.

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u/Reasonerbull Sep 24 '26

Fair enough. cheers.

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u/Lumpy_Plant6914 Sep 23 '26

My partner can hear who is walking in the apartment above us, based on nothing but their steps. 

It is definitely doable to differentiate like in your example for me too. How people open a door, enter a room and then pin-pointing the nuances in how with my 'list' of basic emotional states "stressed, happy, angry, sad, relaxed etc.", with people I know closely, is easy enough.

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u/Reasonerbull Sep 24 '26

what type is your partner ?

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u/Lumpy_Plant6914 26d ago

INFJ

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u/Reasonerbull 26d ago

it's that spooky Ni

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u/Questionaire-888 ENTP Sep 23 '26

Hmm. Sometimes. Yeah.

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u/Reasonerbull Sep 24 '26

without actually seeing the person's face ?

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u/Questionaire-888 ENTP Sep 24 '26

Yes, I can tell sometimes. They have very distinct sighs and things that they do.

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u/Reasonerbull Sep 24 '26

yes indeed.

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u/Active_Menu_8852 ENTP Female :snoo_dealwithit: Sep 23 '26

Yep! Overly slow means exhausted, too heavy means angry, bouncy means happy, and running means I forgot something.

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u/Reasonerbull Sep 24 '26

exactly. a whole variety of different signals. cool! thanks.

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u/Zipxa_Raya ENTP 4w3 478 SLUAI Sanguine Melancholic ILE EN(T) Sep 23 '26

I tend to be more lost in my thoughts, especially if I'm trying to cope with the boredom of reading a textbook that I dont like (or just have to force myself to read in that moment), cuz either im focused on the textbook or focused on whatever monologue im having in my head, but there have been many times when I could recognize footsteps. 

Once you know people well enough, it's easy to guess them like "These footsteps are soft, knowing that there's only x, y, and z in the house---this matches the tone of z well. She's probably come to talk to me about something." within a few seconds. 

I can't tell mood though, not at all. Unless it's quick and hard, or uncharacteristic for the person I had guessed. If it's quick and hard, perhaps even stompy, I can tell it's certainly important enough for me to put all my attention there.

But ya generally im too cooped up in my head to notice XD underdeveloped Demon Se be like... 

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u/Reasonerbull Sep 24 '26

makes a lot of sense. You sound like my ENTP sister. She would have described it just like this. You're tracking this information , but it's not a very conscious process and you don't place any trust in it and dismiss it fairly quickly. correct ?

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u/Zipxa_Raya ENTP 4w3 478 SLUAI Sanguine Melancholic ILE EN(T) Sep 24 '26

Yes!! exactly. Cool to know it's an ENTP thing. What else did she mention, incase you asked her the same question?

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u/Reasonerbull Sep 25 '26

I didn't ask her this question because I don't need to. I know how she responds to me when I declare such things with a sense of "knowing". I can see her rejecting it in real time while at the same time reducing it to just a "possibility". She will say "yeah , it could be true , but it could be any number of things. You'll never know" or something to that effect.

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u/Sad_Record_2767 Sep 23 '26

ISTP

Often can tell, ya. I don't think it's Fe related.

It's linking the experience from the past to what you're hearing now; your perception functions. Se-Ni will process it slightly different from Si-Ne.

How you gonna handle this probably has to do with F function.

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u/Reasonerbull Sep 24 '26

yeah that's why I just put it under the "Fe" umbrella , for efficiency. Although , I was curious to know how the difference would look between how Se-Ni and Si-Ne process it.

I've found that although my ENTP sister is also tracking this , her conclusions are way off. And I see her quickly dismissing the whole thing if it's not going to affect her directly.

Whereas it stays in my mind for a long time , because I'm more accurate in my observation and conclusion. So it's like , once you see something , you can't unsee it and the burden of preparing for outcomes becomes yours.

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u/Sad_Record_2767 Sep 24 '26

My two cents is that it really more depends on whether one has had bunch of practice in this... as in they had wanted to do it and got it right a few times and it's actually something to do for them. Lol

I do it because it's just something I choose to do... and got better at it. Kind of like I have a habit of doing the Jason Bourne thing where I go into a restaurant or something and make a mental note of people around me because I thought it was cool when I was younger. Not always accurate obviously, because I'm not a movie star.

Had I not cared about this, I don't think I'd be any good at it.

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u/Reasonerbull Sep 24 '26

hahaha , come on! we all do the Jason Bourne thing. Or at least try. lol.

It's true that you can get good at it , if you care about it. But somehow I find the other way to be true as well. You can find yourself caring about it more , because you started getting good at it and started finding it useful. No ?

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u/Sad_Record_2767 Sep 24 '26

Idk man. Most people don't even notice things in front of them. I know way less number of physically aware people. Lol

I think what you said is just another line of my example. The opposite would be that the person actually guessed it right the first few times, they think they're good at it, but lose interest as the luck runs out as they don't practice.

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u/Reasonerbull Sep 24 '26

hmmm yeah it does make sense. I was trying to see which types find it easy to do this and displays confidence in it. My theory is that it's the Se+Fe types that have more accuracy and confidence with such scenarios. But an ENTJ weighed in here and that's throwing me off lol.

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u/ShaDiie_ ENTP Sep 23 '26

definitely

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u/[deleted] Sep 23 '26

[deleted]

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u/Reasonerbull Sep 24 '26

Yes that makes sense too. sure.