Competitiveness - are you?

Are you competitive?

  • Hell yeah

    Votes: 12 25.0%

  • Yes but only with select activities (ex. athletics, academics, etc.)

    Votes: 18 37.5%

  • No, I rarely feel competitive

    Votes: 12 25.0%

  • I don't have a competitive bone in my body

    Votes: 6 12.5%
  • Total voters
    48
Goatman455 said:
Are you kidding me, humans love to be proved wrong.


Seriously though, no one likes to be proved wrong, find me a person who likes that.
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I understand what you mean here, no one likes to be proved wrong, it alway's comes as a negative shock but some ppl instead of being like "oh" and admitting their error will get defensive, not admit to being wrong and find other ways in which to make the other person feel wrong. Like if your arguing with someone and you keep going after you've been proved wrong andthe initial subject matter is resolved because you want to "win." I know what I said wasn't perfect, there not exactly the same but hopefully there's a grain of truth or more to what I said.
Man, reading that over I realise how weak my statement was. I could of sworn it made more sense than that. I guess maybe what I meant is how if you do prove an INFJ wrong or try to prove them wrong it brings out their hyper competitive side, but your right that's probably true for all people to some extent.
:)
yeah, the INFJs I know are super competive, at least when provoked.
 
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foureyes said:
I consider the way INFJs hate being proved wrong a form of competiveness.
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I think to the extent that their ideas are connected to ego, then being right is a competition. There is another thing that can happen with a Feeling approach to debate. The idea you are defending is not your own so to speak, but a way of viewing the world that is not entirely hopeless.

For example, someone could fiercely debate that animals have feelings because they are afraid that if the other person doesn't think so, that animals will end up suffering. This has nothing to do with competition. Some might debate the question of God this way. If they are proven wrong, it means the universe is hopeless, there is no compassionate Being or justice, etc. (That topic can be debated from ego as well). They can hold a position for the purpose of avoiding hopelessness or a negative feeling or idea. When unreasonable or wrong, this would be more akin to denial than competition.
 
Never in my life have I felt the need to compete.

I don't get why people do it.
 
Julia said:
I think to the extent that their ideas are connected to ego, then being right is a competition. There is another thing that can happen with a Feeling approach to debate. The idea you are defending is not your own so to speak, but a way of viewing the world that is not entirely hopeless.

For example, someone could fiercely debate that animals have feelings because they are afraid that if the other person doesn't think so, that animals will end up suffering. This has nothing to do with competition. Some might debate the question of God this way. If they are proven wrong, it means the universe is hopeless, there is no compassionate Being or justice, etc. (That topic can be debated from ego as well). They can hold a position for the purpose of avoiding hopelessness or a negative feeling or idea. When unreasonable or wrong, this would be more akin to denial than competition.
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Actually, from my expirience people who argue the moral, phillanthropic side of issues usually tend to have logic on their side, as well as acess to emotional appeals. The only time I know in which that wasn't the case is using animals for testing in medical research. (It's sad but we can't use humans and animals are treated horribly regardless, might as well have their suffering be worth something. Oh yeah, maybe my before statement was slightly bias because I'm usually the one arguing that side of issues :p But anyhow, I agree. :)
 
Goatman455 said:
Seriously though, no one likes to be proved wrong, find me a person who likes that.
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I don't mind being proven wrong. Prove me wrong, I learn something new. If I'm right, I learn nothing new.

But, I'm an INTP. We don't argue to win. We argue to learn.

The only times I really cared about being right was on exams, but that was long ago.
 
I'm not competitive. I bet there isn't a single person less competitive than me on this forum.








*ahem*


Yes. Yes, I am.
 
Hey, about debating:

Argue for your limitations, and sure enough they're yours.
 
well.. i'm very :m155:very competitive if I know that i have a chance of winning and IF AND ONLY IF I know that I am :m052:confident about whatever thing i am competing in.

if i'm not 90% confident with myself, then :m049:no because i don't want to lose.
 
Rudy said:
I'm not competitive. I bet there isn't a single person less competitive than me on this forum.








*ahem*


Yes. Yes, I am.
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I was gonna say that I am, but I dont like competing so i'll let you win the less competitive person contest. Enjoy your victory.

MUAHAHAHA
 
foureyes said:
I understand what you mean here, no one likes to be proved wrong, it alway's comes as a negative shock but some ppl instead of being like "oh" and admitting their error will get defensive, not admit to being wrong and find other ways in which to make the other person feel wrong. Like if your arguing with someone and you keep going after you've been proved wrong andthe initial subject matter is resolved because you want to "win." I know what I said wasn't perfect, there not exactly the same but hopefully there's a grain of truth or more to what I said.
Man, reading that over I realise how weak my statement was. I could of sworn it made more sense than that. I guess maybe what I meant is how if you do prove an INFJ wrong or try to prove them wrong it brings out their hyper competitive side, but your right that's probably true for all people to some extent.
:)
yeah, the INFJs I know are super competive, at least when provoked.
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I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you doubt your original idea. I think what you mean was that some people are more willing to concede an argument, some are not, and this is a form of competitiveness.

You are right to an extent, but I think not just with INFJs. People don't like to be proven wrong because they are mentally competitive. There are many types of competition, mental, physical, emotional etc.
 
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Rudy said:
Yep; this sums it up best. :) Competitiveness is inherent to us. It's like saying "I don't understand why people have a drive to reproduce."
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Yeah well, you got me on that one, I don't understand sex drive OR comeptititveness. Maybe they are linked.
 
Man, I don't even remember the last time I felt really competitive.

It's not due to carelessness or apathy. Maybe it has a lil bit to do with lack of faith in my abilities. I'm not becoming a mathlete anytime soon. And I'm a spaz on the basketball court.

Anytime I've had to compete for the object of my affection's attentions, I have lost interest in him. (Whoever he happened to be at the time.)

I submitted a poem into a contest and then totally forgot about it until I got a letter saying that I won first place for Undergraduate. For that, I sort of shrugged and said, "Well, duh."

If I had lost, I would have simply said, "These fuckers don't know anything about free verse" and meant it.
 
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For those of you saying that you have no competitiveness. Did you ever consider you may be repressing it. That it exists but is unconscious and you are not aware of it? I think us NFs are so used to seeing and understanding our subconcious that sometimes unconcious things can sideswipe us.
 
Hey thats possible but if it's unconcious than there isn't anything I can do about it, much like I keep sneezing and I can't do anything about it and it's terrible.
 
Competition often separates us... It creates winners and losers which I am not morally comfortable with...

I do not not like competitive sports at all. It annoys me and always has.

I don't mind being wrong, when it comes to life in general I try to be very fluid and easy going when it comes to working with other people. I tend to be hardest on myself.
 
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I'm not normally competitive. I dont care about winning or losing or being better or worse than others at something. Sometimes I feel bad when I win if the other person takes losing badly. Sometimes I let others win, if it means a lot to them. I never pick sides in sports teams etc. I only really compete against myself, i like to improve on what Ive done in the past and I can be perfectionist with my work. On occasion, when Ive had to deal with very arrogant people that think they are better than others, I have thoroughly enjoyed beating them and taking them down a notch. Thats just me being a bitch though, not really competition.

I understand competition to be an integral driving force in evolution and natural selection. It can drive progress, encourage cooperation and bring people together. It can serve as a goal to work towards and can create benchmarks in human achievement. Ultimately, however, I believe competiton also prevents us from truly evolving. Collaboration and openess allow true progress for all humanity, not just a select few. I love cooperation and everything open source for that reason. I think when we work together we can have an almost infinite pool of information and knowledge. We dont have to live in a dog eat dog world.

Also- I dont mind being proven wrong. I appreciate it someone ever takes the time and effort to show me how I may be incorrect in something I believe. The only way to really test the strength and truth of your beliefs is to put them up for scrutiny.
 
I'm competative even if I am not outwardly showing that I am. I am not very ambitious though. Or perhaps I am ambitious to be the least ambitious?
 
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