Mistyping the ISFP

Initially, when typing characters or people, I tend to rely on what I can best describe as a radar or gut typing. I grab my initial impression of them and see if it fits. I think it’s the result of having Se/Ni in the middle. I don’t lean too heavily on observation or impression. I need both working together to come up with a solid theory. It honestly feels like both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, my Se/Ni can work together so seamlessly, with what feels like the perfect combination of intuitive and sensing data, that my Ti can weave together an extremely clear picture of one’s personality type. On the other hand, sometimes I turn up completely blank, with both functions seeming to fail me, because I can’t lean incredibly hard into either function. Ryan (ISTJ) can lean into his dominant sensing function and seems to just pull evidence from everywhere, but I can’t quite do that.

So, with all that being said, there have been certain characters in the past that seemed to possess a sort of cloaking when it came to my typing radar. (This is also why I prefer to work with someone else, to back check myself and ensure we can produce a well-rounded, logical theory.) The ISFP personality type, until this recent epiphany, is one example of this happening.

This is going to sound terrible, but I had a tendency to whine about certain ISFP characters, thinking that they were badly written or something because I couldn’t get a real clear read on them. In the end, I usually pegged them (with the help of Ryan) as ISFPs, but it felt like I was proving their type by the lack of evidence for other functions versus evidence for their actual functions. Looking back now, I can clearly see why I struggled to peg them, and what it all means about their type. Hopefully this will make sense. I’m gonna do my best to tie it all together in a linear, non-garbled way, but that can be incredibly difficult at times given my Ti jumbled mind.

The ISFP function stack is Fi-Se-Ni-Te. If you’re new to the 16 personalities, it’s important for you to try to get a basic grasp of the functions and what each means. ISFPs do not have Ne/Si like the INFPs. This creates a bunch of differences, but what’s most relevant to my current epiphany is that it makes ISFPs on average less verbal than INFPs.

ISFPs and Sharing Values

You know how ISTPs are known for being quiet, brief, and to the point? Something similar can be said about the ISFPs. The healthy, non-jaded ISFP will tend to seem calm, collected, and perhaps even mysterious. Their internal dialogue won’t be as often shared with the external world. They’ll tend to speak through their actions (in other words, through their Se). This will make their Fi appear to give them more of a quiet confidence, rather than a tendency to verbalize their standards to you and the rest of the world. Obviously, it can happen. They might get Fi preachy, but they also might remain quiet instead and choose to not often share their values except through their actions.

This where ISFPs can be mistaken as ISTPs, or perhaps even Fe users. The Fi personal standards are suddenly less obvious, less verbalized. They’re acting in conjunction with their internal world, but if you aren’t close enough to them to ever hear it verbalized or if the character in the show is not getting their internal dialogue shared, the Fi may seem more hidden or muted. If they’re prone to appearing more emotional, they might be mistakenly pegged as an Fe user. If they mask their feelings more, or if they’re the more jaded sort, they might be mistaken as a thinker. I see jaded Fi users often get mistyped as Ti users because they appear more blunt and cynical, but you need to look for a certain style of logic or approach to one’s cynical nature, not a cynical nature in and of itself. Any type can be cynical. Unpopular opinion incoming, but Emma Swan from Once Upon a Time is an example of this. From what I’ve seen, she displays Fi/Te reasoning, not Ti/Fe. She appears to be an ISFP heroine, rather than the ISTP that she’s commonly believed to be.

So, I would be spending all this time subconsciously looking for obvious Fi and would just be unable to find it. I would see feeler, but was it Fe or Fi? Eventually, if given enough screen time, I would start seeing some more obvious Fi identity or Te abrasiveness start surfacing in certain reactions to give my radar a clue, but it sometimes would take a while. I’m extremely cautious about pegging an Se/Ni user off of physical capabilities, just like I’m extremely cautious about pegging a thinker off of a cynical nature. I want clear cut cognitive function evidence/reasoning, not stereotypes.

ISFPs and Plans

The next major thing I noticed about the ISFP is that they tend to be more plan oriented than the ISTP. I’m specifically contrasting to the ISTP here because you’d think they’d be about the same. I thought they’d be about the same. Se/Ni is in the same position in both types. Why should one be more impulsive than the other? Well, ISFPs have Te. ISTPs do not. I tend to see both Si and Te as structure functions, in a sense. Si creates consistency or a desire for consistency/predictability, and Te wants to order the external world. Te wants clear, achievable milestones to define progress or success. ISTPs lack both of Si and Te. They are more prone to leaping into action on instinct, and working toward a general idea. Plans are overall less valued and don’t always need to be so clearly defined, unless really seen as necessary.

If you directly compare an ISFP to an ISTP or another high perceiver type, you may instinctively want to peg them as a judger, because they might verbalize more of a desire for a plan. Perhaps you’ll think that the ISFP is actually an ISFJ, because you can see general sensor tendencies, general feeler tendencies (but you’re struggling to see specific Fi per the earlier explained reasons), and general introverted tendencies. However, the important thing to note here is that this is relative to the other type. If you take that same ISFP and compare him/her to an actual judger, they will likely go back to seeming like a much more obvious perceiver. The ISFP personality type exists in a sort of middle ground here. They’ll most certainly have a spontaneous aspect about them, but when things get serious, they may rely on that inferior Te more than one might anticipate. Obviously, this can vary from person to person.

In summary…

As usual, please don’t take anything I say to an extreme. The ISFPs like every other type aren’t exactly the same from person to person. I try my best to explain context and nuance, but I can’t account for every situation. We each have different balances within our function stack depending on where we’re at in our development.

I hope this was at least somewhat helpful. My aim is to accurately represent the varying types, so feel free to share anything in the comments that you feel is relevant!