Impulsivity

[say what]

Lately I've been thinking about impulsivity and how given certain situations, individuals are more prone to be impulsive. However, I've been wondering if there is also a difference between impulsive behaviours and the context - is it associated with a behaviour, an object, and emotion, etc.

As an INFJ I feel I may be prone, at times, to emotional impulsivity - in that I will quickly react to a situation or emotion in order to gain relief/satisfaction/gratification. Just curious to see what others think about this, their experiences, and/or their comments on impulsive emotions and MBTI.

 

[Somewhereelse]

I confess, I feel ashamed to have the impulse of jumping to the end of a story / film / tv series if I find the characters loveable and couldn't bear the thought that they are in danger or would get hurt... I hate the feeling of suspense...

 

[BrokenDaniel]

I consider myself someone impulsive, maybe not at first sight, but people who know me well say that is one of the most striking sides of my personality. Under emotional stress, my top function will get on red alert, suddenly all kinds of reflections and impressions goes directly to the toilet, and Se will kick my Ni's butt and ask for results, action, movement, relief, fresh air, whatever, there's anger, i would get desperate, see that i'm losing my chance to just jump in, so i jump, and i'll do something crazy or just plain stupid, go wild with my feelings, then exhaustion and back to the limbo again... In a nutshell btw.


On a side note, i recently knew that i had moon in Aries opposing sun, it doesn't have anything to do with this, but it was interesting to see how well it described that side of my personality too.

 

[Radiantshadow]

Attachments vary from person to person and can provoke impulsive behavior, yes.

My only impulsivities are the creation of Japanese landscapes and the purchase of philosophy books.

 

[sassafras]

Life for me is a constant struggle between control and impulse. I'm either perfectly composed or I'm a ball of chaotic energy. There is no in between. Where impulse is concerned, I express it by having trouble finishing what I start, I flit from one task to the next, I'm indecisive or, when I do get an idea in my head, I go the whole nine yards and I'm impatient to get started.

Then again, I'm no INFJ.

 

[Nixie]

I tend to be very mercurial in a lot of segments of my life. Outside of forming close attachments, I will act out of whim or whimsy if I want to. I will create chaos or foster dissent if I feel devilish. I try to contain my more impulsive nature and have more success as I get older. I still however make life changing decisions rather abruptly, like deciding to quit my job and move across to the coast, but I'm better at planning on how to accomplish that now that I'm older. I am more grasshopper than ant but I can mimic an ant if I want to. I can rock the SJ vibe for long periods of time but I don't really enjoy doing that. I like flying by the seat of my pants, procrastinating for as long as possible, pulling it off at the last minute and still doing a bang up "oh my god that's great" job. I am very impulsive in too many ways to count.

 

[La Sagna]

'Impulsive' is not a word that would describe me at all. Even my 'impulsive' shopping is analysed carefully in my head before actually happening. I live with impulsive people and it leads to chaos. I am not comfortable with chaos.

I think though that what you are saying about impulsive emotions is something that I used to do but that I have learned is not helpful and better off controlled. I never looked at it as impulsivity though. If you're speaking of the overwhelming emotional urge to try to make somebody understand or to fix a misconception or to just have your message heard when you are feeling like it 'has to be heard right now or I will feel terrible forever', then I used to do that all the time. I have learned to control it because it is not helpful and would lead to more misunderstandings or to people thinking I was crazy because I just had a big emotional outburst when usually I am mild-mannered.

 

[say what]

I think though that what you are saying about impulsive emotions is something that I used to do but that I have learned is not helpful and better off controlled. I never looked at it as impulsivity though. If you're speaking of the overwhelming emotional urge to try to make somebody understand or to fix a misconception or to just have your message heard when you are feeling like it 'has to be heard right now or I will feel terrible forever', then I used to do that all the time. I have learned to control it because it is not helpful and would lead to more misunderstandings or to people thinking I was crazy because I just had a big emotional outburst when usually I am mild-mannered.

This is exactly how I feel my impulsivity occurs! But as the others said, there's a line of chaos and whim to it. It can happen out of the blue and the results are a spiral of emotional frazzlement! I try to distance myself in the moment, but it's almost like nothing will make me feel better than acting on the emotion. Typically though, this leads me to feel shitty later.

I actually feel crazy in the moment. I know what I'm feeling and what I want to do is implusive...but I can't help myself!

 

[j654dgj7]

Great thread!

I tend to go through long stretches of structure and sudden bursts of impulsivity. For example I once went a year and a half being perfectly happy in a busy work schedule, and planning my life after my work. Suddenly one morning, I just felt like traveling and spending a lot of money. I immediately booked a week-or-so off and bought stuff. I have no clue if it has anything to do with me being an INFJ, but I don't mind being that way. I don't see impulsivity as a bad thing, you just need to make sure that it's working for you.

 

[Keirouen]

Great thread!

I tend to go through long stretches of structure and sudden bursts of impulsivity. For example I once went a year and a half being perfectly happy in a busy work schedule, and planning my life after my work. Suddenly one morning, I just felt like traveling and spending a lot of money. I immediately booked a week-or-so off and bought stuff. I have no clue if it has anything to do with me being an INFJ, but I don't mind being that way. I don't see impulsivity as a bad thing, you just need to make sure that it's working for you.

That's exactly it. I save and save then spend a bunch in a short time.

I can't seem to travel in a planned way either. I just HATE planning a trip in detail. I know it would save more money, but in my situation there's a high possibility I'll have to replan the whole thing over and over. I have an unpredictable life right now

It's probably my ADD. I'm a strange kind of impulsive. If it's something big I have self control. But for smaller things and situations, I just let myself be impulsive. intj with ADD is a problematic combination.