Hello! Happy holidays my valued council. As you can see in the caption, this is part 2 of our cognitive function series. We’re going over the cognitive functions of the ENTP (if you couldn’t tell). Below, you will see the most ENTP to ever ENTP in his natural ENTP habitat. Now lets get started.
Dominant Function: Ne
Extraverted intuition is the dominant, or most used function for the ENTP. Any intuitive function equals finding connections/patterns. The difference is the “range” in which they are used. Because Ne is extraverted, ENTPs find connections from a larger view point. Think of Ne as a sponge being used as a water source for a plant (which is a weird ass analogy just humor me). You don’t want the sponge to dry out or else the flower won’t have a water source. If the flower doesn’t have a water source, then the flower will die. It doesn’t matter where the water is from, the sponge just needs water so that it can fuel the flower. Ne is the sponge in this scenario and ideas (which can be learning topics, people, anything mental) are the water. You have to keep Ne (the sponge) filled with new ideas (water) to keep the flower (the entire person) from dying (becoming stressed/unhealthy).
The reason why the source of the water (ideas) doesn’t matter isn’t because the source genuinely doesn’t matter. It’s because Ne allows the ENTP to find commonalities in every idea. A flower sees water as water. This is also fueled by a Fe child placement, but I’ll elaborate on that more when we get there. This is what finding connections looks like for the ENTP. It is not necessarily seeing where a situation will lead, but more of understanding how many ideas connect and understanding the “why” behind how those ideas connect. This is also why it is shallow of people to think that ENTPs are inherently always looking to contradict everything around them. ENTPs, when healthy, can understand just about anything thrown at them. To the ENTP, everything is connected and everything is similar, and if they don’t understand how, they’ll ask about it.
The issue with having so many different ideas and this “water is water” mentality is that it’s going to be hard to come to a conclusion about anything. If you see everything around you, how can you adjust to seeing nothing/only one object? Or better said, if you see the potential in everything, why would you want to give up anything? This can make it hard for ENTPs to set boundaries with themselves as it’s easy for them to become carried away with new ideas. They see the potential, so they’re going to focus on that potential. This is where ENTPs can develop their own form of “narrow-mindedness” and may have a hard time understanding how their ideas will actually play out until they implement them in real life.
Example: So what does this look like? For the ENTP I’ll be using our friend Jack Skellington (from Nightmare Before Christmas):
When in need for creativity, he grew bored/felt trapped by Halloweentown, which is shown in the scene where he discovers the trees/doors to the other holidays)
Jack used traditions from a completely different holiday (Christmas) to fuel his ideas for his own celebrations
The first example shows Ne through Jack’s need to find new ideas to fuel his creativity. Remember the flower and sponge analogy? This is what a dried out Ne (sponge) looks like. ENTPs have to have some form of outside factor to help them make decisions. In Jack’s case it was finding Christmas-town. Without other ideas coming into play, the ENTP will grow bored, feel trapped, begin to grow restless, and then fall down a hole of unhealthy coping mechanisms. Jack alleviated his boredom by walking, which allowed him to interact with the world and led to him finding Christmas-town.
However, Jack’s need to understand Christmas-town lead to him “ruining” Christmas (which is seen in the scene where he’s shot down by the government in the sleigh). This shows how ENTPs can have their own sort of stubbornness/ short-mindedness. They sort of have to jump in and figure things out as they go to understand their ideas completely (and they see it as fun). When allowed to let their ideas go too far, they can forget to think. Jack literally sang a whole song about this guys.
Auxiliary Function: Ti
Introverted Thinking is the second most used function for the ENTP. In this position, Ti acts like a sorter of information. If Ne is a drop off for letters, then Ti is the workers who filter out if those letters can actually be sent. This is to help the ENTP come to conclusions/decisions.
The way Ti does this is by using personal logic. A lot of the time this may look like:
“What this person is saying doesn’t make sense because they already said point A and point B, which should equal point C according to what I’ve experienced/see. However, they’re saying it equals point D. That doesn’t make sense.”
For ENTPs this will probably look more like “Hey! This thing I see reminds me of this thing I read 6 years ago that I can’t remember the name of because of ____ and ____ and ____!”
Ti is partially influenced by Si, which has previously been given information through the chain of command started with Ne. Si stores the information the Ne has absorbed and this information is what fuels how ENTPs view the world. This view/opinion of the world is their usage of Ti. This is another spot where the ENTP can appear as biased, especially if the ENTP has only heard one narrative from multiple people. However, this isn’t typically a huge issue for ENTPs due to their dominant Ne. When in a grip however, ENTPs begin to rely on their Si, which we’ll talk about when we get to it.
Tertiary: Fe
The third function is Extraverted Feeling. This is function placement lives up to its name as it is pretty similar to a child. We tend to not take our third functions too seriously; they can be impulsive. If we don’t keep a close eye on them, however, they can become carried away and end up in a dangerous spot. Think of a child distracted by a butterfly who ends up out in the middle of a busy street.
I’m going to kind of divide this section up by how tert. Fe can be used, as the development of this function can really change how type as a whole is perceived.
For one side of the ENTP, Fe can be a source of playfulness. Fe allows the ENTP to be aware of social boundaries, social systems (which helps fuel the Ne), read the room, and potentially be aware of how others are feeling. The catch, however, is that ENTPs aren’t great at reacting to these social “ideas.” Immature ENTPs can be very pushy regarding boundaries as they see these boundaries in a funny, lighthearted way. You know, because their Fe is in the child placement.
On the another side of the ENTP, Fe can be a source of insecurity. Do you remember earlier under Ne when I said that without others it can be hard for ENTPs to make decisions? Yeah that’s because of their Fe. Fe places emphasis on other people and being aware of other people. This is where a Fe user’s sense of morality is based off of. Paired with Ne, ENTPs can find themselves falling in a loop of relying on other people. They also have the tendency to lack a form of identity (which is also because of their trickster Fi). ENTPs may feel judged quite often because of how their Fe can present as them “pushing boundaries” and try to fit themselves into what they think others think of them. Emphasizing the word “can.” Not everyone does this.
No one asked to ever be a catalyst for change. The only ones who say they like change is because they’ve grown used to living in it. When you can’t control anything in your life, it teaches you to not grab onto anything. It teaches you to lack responsibility.
The third way Fe can be used is for growth. In no way will anyone’s tertiary placement ever be “great.” Matter of fact, if you use it too much it can be a sign of a loop (where the dominant and tertiary functions work side by side, completely ignoring the auxiliary function). However, you can grow on the placement. Fe can help the ENTP look deeper into themselves and recognize their own faulty patterns.
ENTPs typically will incorporate each of these into their personality in some way.
Inferior: Si
Inferior Si (introverted sensing) is like that one old ass grandpa at a family gathering that has no clue about anything anyone is talking about, so to make up for their lack of understanding, throws in a memory from their childhood that has nothing to do with the actual conversation.
While this is funny to think about, this is how Si presents itself for ENTPs. Si can help Ne and Ti fuel ideas. A lot of people say it feels like a well of ideas. However, I prefer to think of it more as a messy room that a person just throws their stuff into. The person doesn’t really know what all is in the room until they start rummaging through it, or until someone says something that reminds the person of an object they threw into that room.
This can honestly be useful as the person might find a wrench, screw, something to help them cook a dish, etc. However, there are also objects in that room that might remind the person of someone who hurt them, a situation that was hurtful, etc. This is why ENTPs suppress their Si. Si, in most cases, can be useful. However, when the ENTP is stressed, ENTPs can fall into moments of emotional nostalgia. This can cause the ENTP to detach from the world around them, become unmotivated, become harsh to themselves, and even become somewhat of a hypochondriac. These moments are what we call a grip. It, quite literally, feels like being gripped by something you can’t escape from.
In reaction to these moments, ENTPs may feel out of control, so they begin to look for things that they can control. This typically comes in the form of impulsively cleaning, going to the doctor because they “feel off,” or blaming themselves for situations that couldn’t have actually been changed. For some ENTPs, this might come in the form of impulsively ending a relationship or pissing someone off on purpose (immature/unhealthy ENTPs).
The best way to get out of these “funks” is by reinforcing Ne. Get outside and do something. ENTPs, you’ll probably feel too damn tired to want to get out, but it’ll help you get your mind away from the past and yourself. Go for a short walk. Go to a new coffee shop you’ve been wanting to go to. Scroll through the news and find an article about a recent psychological study. Write out what you think of that study, or maybe yap to someone you trust about it. Just get your mind out instead of in.
Conclusion
ENTPs are defined by Ne-Ti-Fe-Si. All functions are useful for the ENTP, however some are more suppressed than others. “Outside thinking” is required for the ENTP, for if they do not have “outside thinking,” they could think themselves to death. Time spent with Si is important, however too much time with it can cause the ENTP to spiral into self-blame, low energy, and nostalgia. To combat this, get the ENTP out of their head.
Part 1- intro
Part 3: INTJ
This was it for part 2 of our “Why Are You So ____” series. I can’t decide if I should go ahead and do ENFP (as ENTP and ENFP share the same dominant and inferior functions) or if I should do a Ni dominant type to show how the intuition functions compare. I guess we’ll have to see. Part 3 probably won’t be posted until some time next week. Happy holidays for whatever you celebrate and I’ll see y’all next time!
Funny haha christmas video
I found this video of Christmas Eve and it reminds me of ENTPs, so sort of related ig
completely off-topic but PLEASE I NEED SOMEONE SMARTER THAN ME TO TELL ME IF ITS POSSIBLE TO BE ENFP 4w5 sx/so 458 cause it just feels like a big dumb joke rn
Ne doms: will open their mouths and it’s suddenly like I’m reading an article and watching a video at the same time but then half way through this process I realize that the video is on the same topic as the article and everything comes together and clicks and makes so much sense but how the heck did I get here why am I reading an article and watching a video at the same time and none of this should make sense but it just does
My friend would also like to add: They talk and it’s like the world just goes vibrancy 400%, everything looks more solid and clear but at the same time colours and shapes begin to gush together like ink in water, nothing should fit anywhere and it yet it all slots together perfectly and you feel like you could listen to them talk about something as simple as shoelaces for the rest of time you would never wish for anything more It’s like they talk with all their sentences inverted and it should make absolutely no sense but it does and for a a few seconds you no longer exist outside this moment
