10 Things That Terrify ENTPs – According to 300 ENTPs
Ever wondered what the biggest ENTP fears are? Do these dauntless, innovative types seem impossible to startle or worry? In this article, we take a look at what they have to say!
While some fears are universal (things like spiders, heights, and cockroaches) there were certain fears that came up considerably more often among each unique personality type. For example, NT types nearly always mentioned mediocrity as a major fear, whereas this was hardly ever mentioned by the other types. NF types were more afraid of their own moral corruption, which would make sense because their values are so important to them. SJ types were afraid of a loss of security far more than any other temperament group, and SPs hated the idea of losing physical freedom or control.
Today we’re going to talk specifically about ENTP fears. I spoke with 300 ENTPs to determine if there were any fears that were particularly relevant to their type. While some ENTPs said they had no fear, or others simply joked around with me instead of giving me any actual answers, I finally was able to get 300 responses by self-confirmed ENTPs.
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A Disclaimer:
Before I get a bunch of ENTPs mad at me, I have to say that just because you’re an ENTP this does not mean you will automatically be terrified of all these things. These fears just got the most votes; far more than any other fears that were mentioned. For every 10 ENTPs who mentioned fear of being controlled, there was probably one ENTP who said they didn’t fear anything at all. There will be variations from person to person within any personality type.
The Top 10 Things That Terrify ENTPs
1 – Being Controlled or Trapped
Although ENTPs often enjoy many relationships and friendships, they are also very independent individuals. They love the freedom to explore numerous ideas and possibilities and the ability to investigate the outer world for inspiration. Their masterful Extraverted Intuition is always pulling concepts and innovative thoughts from the outside world; to be trapped, controlled, or stifled in any way can make them feel anxious and extremely agitated.
2 – Never Feeling Truly Connected to Another Person
This fear actually tied with being controlled or trapped. ENTPs love a meeting of the minds to discuss exciting ideas and innovations. They love the camaraderie and comfort of close friendships and relationships where they can bounce ideas back and forth. Never feeling connected or free to share ideas with another person can make the ENTP feel like their life is shallow and meaningless.
3 – Mediocrity
ENTPs have great ambitions and innovative ideas that they long to see come to life. They pride themselves on having unique conceptual insights and independent ways of viewing the world. They hate the idea of being stuck in an ‘ordinary’ life and living the 9-5 grind day in and day out.
4 – Not Meeting Their Potential
This concern goes hand in hand with mediocrity because it stems from the same fear. ENTPs want their lives to have meant something, and they want to have made a difference in the world in some way. This could mean inventing something, expanding human knowledge, improving systems, or any other number of things. Many ENTPs mentioned wanting to leave a legacy behind when they get to the end of their life.
5 – Boredom
ENTPs are constantly searching for new ideas and possibilities to explore. They hate to be stifled or have to focus on mundane daily routines. The ENTP wants to be stimulated by new creative options and ideas to think about and discuss and experiment with.
6 – Commitment
While many ENTPs mentioned that they wanted to settle down and find true love at some point in their lifetime, many more mentioned a terrible fear of commitment. ENTPs love to keep their options open, and prefer to keep things open-ended. They like decisions that can be easily changed, so major commitments can cause the ENTP quite a bit more anxiety than they would a Judging (J) personality type.
7 – Stupidity
ENTPs find much of their significance and identity in their ingenious and innovative way of viewing the world and thinking. They have an incredible knack for figuring out new theories and concepts. The mind is of such importance to the ENTP, that they hate the idea of finding out someday that they are stupid or were making irrational decisions.
8 – Loss of A Loved One
Every personality type I’ve surveyed so far has mentioned loss of loved ones in some for another as a major fear. However, there have been differences in how each type has mentioned the fear. INTPs and ENTPs usually mentioned a specific person instead of just ‘loved ones’ in general. Most other personality types mentioned loved ones or friends and family, or INFJs mentioned loss of children specifically.
9 – Incompetence or Inadequacy
ENTPs pride themselves on their ability to be original, inventive and capable. They greatly fear being incompetent, or unable to quickly access their normally ingenious thought process. They also fear being seen as inadequate or stupid.
10 – Insanity
If you look at all of the ENTP fears mentioned so far, you might notice a common thread. Many of their fears have to do with losing mental independence, freedom, and coherence. They long to be original, to stand out, to leave a legacy, and to explore numerous ideas and mental pathways. The idea of losing rational use of their mind is a terrifying prospect for them.
What Do You Think?
Do you agree or disagree with these fears? What are your experiences? Let me know in the comments!
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I am an ENTP. I agree with all of these “fears” and can see where they have played out in my life. Currently I am the caretaker for my husband who has Alzheimer’s. His preferences are INTP, so he has even more issues about being controlled than I do. We have given each other lots of freedom in our 50 years of marriage, but now my life is controlled by his needs and he resents that I am in control of his life. Dealing with day to day routine is difficult and conversing with someone who no longer thinks rationally brings up my fear that I will lose my ability to think creatively–that I will become incompetent and uninteresting. My ISFJ daughter lives close and is very helpful–as you can imagine. Sometimes we struggle with our different styles of caretaking. Do you have references for ways in which people prefer to be taken care of and also how they tend to take care of other people? I can extrapolate from general type information, but it would be helpful for couples in the early stages of Alzheimer’s to have a conversation about how they can navigate the journey more easily.
This list of fears doesn’t really match me. 1 and 2 definitely do, not 3, 4, 5, or 7, yes number 8, number 9 yes to a certain extent, and also 10 to some extent. Number 6 has made me a much better man than I would have been, via my marriage to my wife and best friend of 28 years. I’ll admit that I USED to be scared by it though. So I count 5 hits, and I’m not sure I could come up with 5 truly scary things to replace the misses. One for-sure hit would be living with a tyrannical dictatorship government like North Korea, but that one is actually a version of number 1, so I’m back to 5. Good article though.
Agree.
I am an ENTP who happens to have a fearful-Avoidant attatchment style. I know there is some at least slight coreelation between this type and the thomas edison adhd type people. I mean i took helen fishers anatomy of love/work test and my two role models it gave me where “Steve Jobs” and “John Kennedy” put them together you kinda have thomas edison. one thing i have wondered alot about these personalities are similarities in upbringing. i know for instance i woke up to having two parents with like zero affective empathy and at least confirmed heavy narcissistic traits. (its not the narcissism thats the problem, its the inter generational trauma that distorts the heck out of it that is.) I know too that in people who have fallen into adhd type spectrum somewhere, we often attachment style wise are either anxious-preoccupied or fearful(anxious)-Avoidant. (for anyone reading this, there are some overlap, but i do know its not a clear cut line between any label i drop in this post)
Ive kinda learned that all real fears tend to take place in the context of our attachments.
Ive made sense of my Fearful-Avodiatn attatchment style as such:
Fearful avoidant = Fearfully preoccupied with Failure Rejection Criticism Humiliation in the context of attatchments and by Subconsciously suppressing emotions, identification, judgments thoughts – dismisivley avoidant of the vulnerability it brings as a result of fears of abandonment due to a shaky emotional object constancy. —– To any of these fears we must expect the EGO to jump in to identify/protect us from the resulting shame based identification in the form of a pride based counter identification. we must see both to step out of either one.
hope this helps perhaps a person or two.
OMFG!! Hooooow do they know me so well???!!!! This is why im leaving the freaking south! Ugh! All this bravado around following rules? Ugh! Rules smules!