Chances are, if you know now that you are an ENFJ or an ENTP, either you were tested professionally, or you have mistyped at least a few times at various points in your life.
I will go into the mechanics behind ENTP first, as that is a much simpler situation. ENTPs often mistype as ENFPs. They share the primary and inferior functions (Extraverted Intuition – Ne, and Introverted Sensing – Si, respectively), and thus are similar types. However, ENFPs use Introverted Feeling (Fi) as their second function and Extroverted Thinking (Te) as their Tertiary and are extremely different from ENTPs. True ENFPs are soft-spoken and pragmatic, soft-hearted, emotional and surprisingly logical for “feelers”.
This is an ENFP archetype – Elizabeth from Pride and Prejudice
Often an ENTP will just be overloaded with Extraverted Feeling (Fe) and it will pass up the Introverted Thinking (Ti) to become the Secondary Cognitive Function, so that the ENTP’s cognitive stacking becomes Ne-Fe-Ti-Si. This is still an ENTP, but on a low-quality online test, it just shows up as Extrovert – Intuitive – Feeling – Prospecting, or ENFP. This ENTP would in actuality be nothing like an ENFP, but would in fact be super-outgoing, with a high degree of connection with both extraverted intuition and the general vibe of the group he or she is around at the time. Since introverted thinking is this type of ENTP’s tertiary function, he or she would not be pragmatic like an ENFP, but would be more of a Devil’s Advocate.
ENTP Sacha Baron Cohen seems to have a high level of Fe, which allows him to take his crowd-needling to unprecedented levels.
If you tested as ENFP and you just seem like more of a Sacha Baron Cohen than an Elizabeth (or the male equivalent), then it might be worth your time to take a cognitive test to double-check your personality type.
Two easy cognitive tests to find online are at the following websites:
Neither test is perfect, but they will give you a general idea of what is going on with your cognitive functions and let you know if you have Fi and Te or Fe and Ti as your middle functions.
ENFJs are Unique among the Sixteen Types
ENFJ Vivian Abbott and the Ya Yas
In theory, you’re pretty simple to type. Your functions are Fe-Ni-Se-Ti. You are a Type 2 Enneagram. If you are female, you are about one in twenty-two females; if you are male, you are about one in fifty males. Either way, you are a fairly rare personality type. You like to share information about yourself, learn about your new friends, fill in the gaps, and give things to your new friends. You love helping people – on your terms. Like ENFPs, you are soft-hearted and emotional, although if you are male, you try to hide this fact. You get physically ill when you are under stress, especially when you are lonely.
So why are ENFJs so unique among the personality types? The ENFJ has a very high level of Extraverted Feeling (Fe), which puts you in tune with the vibe of the crowd or group you are with, and your high level of Extraverted Sensing (Se) quite likely makes you a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP). This makes you doubly likely to pick up on all kinds of things from your environment, nuances in behavior of those around you, nuances in feeling and thought pattern, smells, odors, changes in discussion, everything. You pick up on it all. Male peer pressure to be logical will make them want to develop their Inferior Introverted Thinking (Ti) function. Females facing school and work pressure to be more logical will seek out logical peers in order to learn and develop your shadow Extraverted Thinking (Te).
A friend of mine initially tested as ESFP with Feeling, Sensing, Intuition and Thinking as her functions on the 16 Personalities Test (that would seem to be ISFP). I was baffled and suggested she take a cognitive test, which showed Fe through the roof, high Ni, an expected amount of Se, and a shockingly high amount of Te that rivaled her Ni. She was obviously an ENFJ, but what also came up was that she has a Te-dom relative.
In short, ENFJs absorb functions from the people around them.
If you think you might be an ENFJ, you might want to just skip the personality tests and go right over to one of the Cognitive Tests. Remember, ENFJs are almost always Type 2s on the Enneagram and usually get sick when under stress. Here are some other clues that you might be an ENFJ:
ENFJActual illness manifests itself and helpful Type 2 ENFJs can become Type 8 control freaks under stress
By now you have probably taken numerous Enneagrams and MBTI tests online and you probably hope you’re pretty special and unique. Of course you are a unique person. No one else has had the same life experiences that you have.
However, as far as personality types go, we all pretty much fall into sixteen categories, and then of course there are the gender sub-types within those sixteen categories. Everyone hopes that they have “the rarest type”. I have seen it over and over again in various personality type groups on Facebook, even among types that are fairly common. So in all seriousness, which types are the most common? Which are the most rare?
What you read before is most likely wrong
First of all, there is a lot of conflicting information out there. I had to sort through actual data, general data that I could not use, data that was endorsed by the actual Myers-Briggs Foundation, and on and on.
Then there are myths floating around. I myself am an ENTJ female. There is a persistent myth that we are tied with INTJ females as the very rarest type out there. I have always found this a bit difficult to believe as I have always had other ENTJ friends in school, growing up. We seem to be a common type on television shows and movies. If we are so rare, why do we show up so much in pop culture? Are we that much more visible than, say, ESTPs or ESTJs? Those types are equally extraverted and strong-willed. Could it be that someone invented a myth?
I collected data from about half a dozen websites, three of which proved to be usable for statistical purposes:
Three Sources of Data
When the averages from these sites were determined, they yielded some surprises. Although Rational females are rare, we are not nearly as rare as common myth says we are, nor are ISFJ females as common as everyone thinks, either – they are not even the most common personality type. This chart is not exactly as it seems because the earth is populated with a lot more females than males. Keep that in mind, because the list below will reflect the 53% female/47% male population balance, whereas the chart does not.
It turns out that ESFJ is the most common type among females and the rarest type is a male INFJ.
How Special is Your Snowflake?
Using the figure that females constitute 53% of the population and males constitute 47% of the population, here is the exact breakdown:
ESFJ Females – 16.1% of females and 8.5% of the entire population About one in six girls is an ESFJ.
If you are an ESFJ, you are the same MBTI type as Sarah Palin, the first woman to run for Vice President of the United States under the Republican Party.
ISFJ Females – 15.6% of females and 8.3% of the entire population About one in seven girls is an ISFJ.
ISFJ Mother Teresa won a Nobel Prize for her charity work with orphans in India.
ISTJ males – 14.5% of males and 6.8% of the entire population About one in seven boys is an ISTJ.
If you are ISTJ, you have the same MBTI type as George Washington, the First President of the USA.
ESTJ males – 12.7% of males and 6.0% of the entire population About one in eight boys is an ESTJ.
If you are ESTJ, you have the same MBTI type as famous evangelical crusader Billy Graham.
ESFP females – 10.9% of females and 5.8% of the entire population About one in nine girls is an ESFP.
If you are an ESFP, you have the same MBTI type as musician Katy Perry.
ENFP females – 8.9% of females and 4.7% of the entire population About one in eleven girls is an ENFP.
MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow is an ENFP.
ISFP females – 8.3% of females and 4.4% of the entire population About one in twelve girls is an ISFP.
Award-winning Celtic musician Enya is an ISFP.
ISTP males – 8.2% of males and 3.9% of the entire population About one in twelve boys is an ISTP.
ISTP actor Tom Cruise gravitates toward action movie roles that reflect his personality.
ESTJ females – 7.8% of females and 4.1% of the entire population About one in thirteen girls is an ESTJ.
ESTJ Dr. Condoleezza Rice managed the State Department for the Bush Administration while maintaining a passionate interest in sports and music. She is known as a highly logical and efficient administrator.
ISTJ females – 7.3% of females and 3.9% of the entire population About one in fourteen girls is an ISTJ.
ISTJ Queen Elizabeth II has held together the traditions of the British Monarchy longer than any of the other monarchs in history.
ESTP males – 7.9% of males and 3.7% of the entire population About one in thirteen boys is an ESTP.
ESTP George W. Bush liked to complete each day with a clean desk – mission accomplished!
ESFJ males – 7.0% of males and 3.3.% of the entire population About one in fourteen boys is an ESFJ.
ESFJ Vin Diesel tells people he is actually a really nice guy – ESFJs believe it is important to be liked and to make others around them feel comfortable.
ESFP males – 6.6% of males and 3.1% of the entire population About one in fifteen boys is an ESFP.
ESFP Leonardo Di Caprio can get inside many different personality types when he performs in movies, but usually plays strong extroverted characters with Gamma Quadra traits (ESFP or ENTJ).
ISFJ males – 6.4% of males and 3.0% of the entire population About one in fifteen boys is an ISFJ.
ISFJ Mitt Romney believes in donating to his church and keeping his family unit strong. He became very upset when allegations were made during a political campaign in 2012 that he mistreated his dog on a road trip.
ISFP males – 6.2% of males and 2.9% of the entire population About one in sixteen boys is an ISFP.
If you are a male ISFP, you probably have a unique sense of style like rock’n’roll legend Elvis Presley.
ENFP males – 6.1% of males and 2.9% of the entire population About one in sixteen boys is an ENFP.
ENFP men are known to be charming, creative, to have strange marital attractions to nerdy women, and are rather infamous for being promiscuous. I’ll leave it at that.
ESTP females – 4.9% of females and 2.6% of the entire population About one in twenty girls is an ESTP.
Anything for attention is the mantra of the ESTP, even though you are probably actually kind of a private person and don’t have a lot of close friends. Do what it takes to win.
ENTP males – 5.0% of males and 2.4% of the entire population About one in twenty boys is an ENTP.
ENTP men were often bad boys as teens, experimenting with juvenile delinquent behavior. They often take unconventional career paths, but ultimately find their way to success in life.
INTP males – 4.8% of males and 2.3% of the entire population About one in twenty-one boys is an INTP.
INTP Ben Stein revels in his geekiness. If you are an INTP male, you probably enjoy dazzling your friends with historical posts and trivia on social media.
ENFJ females – 4.4% of females and 2.3% of the entire population About one in twenty-two girls is an ENFJ.
ENFJ Reese Witherspoon isn’t afraid to explore her dark side by playing dark characters from time to time. She continues to exude her positive energy to remain a likeable actress.
INFP females – 4.2% of females and 2.2% of the entire population About one in twenty-four girls is an INFP.
Out of the imagination of INFP J.K. Rowling emerged a universe of witches and wizards and the Hogwarts Academy in the Harry Potter book series.
ENTJ males – 4.2% of males and 2.0% of the entire population About one in twenty-four boys is an ENTJ.
ENTJ Jack Welch thinks ahead of the curve to anticipate crises before they happen in the business world.
INTJ males – 3.3% of males and 1.6% of the entire population About one in thirty boys is an INTJ.
INTJ Mark Zuckerberg lives by his introverted intuition, and it has made him rich beyond his wildest dreams. Here he is with the INTJ death stare.
INFP males – 3.2% of males and 1.5% of the entire population About one in thirty-one boys is an INFP.
Out of the rich imagination of another INFP came the worlds of Westeros and Essos in the Game of Thrones. Who doesn’t love George R.R. Martin?
ISTP females – 2.8% of females and 1.5% of the entire population About one in thirty-six girls is an ISTP.
Diva and ISTP Cher has definitely been very aware of pushing the limits of her body over the decades.
ENTP females – 2.8% of females and 1.5% of the entire population About one in thirty-six girls is an ENTP.
ENTP Comedienne Amy Poehler loves to connect with her friends and fans as well as make people laugh.
INFJ females – 2.0% of females and 1.1% of the entire population About one in fifty girls is an INFJ.
INFJ Natalie Portman once announced in a press release that she put away her Oscars somewhere out of sight “because they were idols”.
ENTJ females – 2.0% of females and 1.1% of the entire population About one in fifty girls is an ENTJ.
ENTJ Adele is very serious about her music career and composes her own songs. Many ENTJs are very musical.
ENFJ males – 2.0% of males and 0.9% of the entire population About one in fifty boys is an ENFJ.
Neil DeGrasse Tyson loves teaching others about science, combining the ENFJ’s love for mentoring and tinkering.
INTP females – 1.6% of females and 0.8% of the entire population About one in sixty-two girls is an INTP.
Tina Fey melds her keen observations and her scathing INTP criticism into a very rapier wit when she does her SNL skits. You are equally likely to torment your friends with game requests on social media or haunt Comic Con in elaborate Batgirl costumes.
INTJ females – 1.5% of the female population and 0.8% of the entire population About one in sixty-six girls is an INTJ.
Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton is a female INTJ – doubly rare.
INFJ males – 1.1% of the male population and 0.5% of the entire population About one in ninety boys is an INFJ.
Mohandas Gandhi was the rarest of the rare – a male INFJ. So was Carl Jung, the psychologist who invented the personality typing system. So there you have it!
There are a few sites floating around speculating on this topic. This is a corrected list based on extensive discussions I have seen in various boards and discussion groups online. I shall keep it simple.
The DISC Assessment was developed in the 1920s by William Moulton Marston as a way of assessing a potential employee’s or buyer’s character traits and strengths and weaknesses. It was based on the much more ancient psychological character assessment called Humorism developed by Hippocrates in the Fourth and Fifth Centuries Before the Common Era (460-370 BCE).
Hippocrates (460-370 BCE), developer of Humorism
Humorism divides people into four categories, then assigns people in those four categories subtraits and third traits in order to give the person a fairly specific character assessment of the given person. Specifically, the four main traits are:
If psychologist William Moulton Marston‘s name sounds vaguely familiar, you might remember from psychology class, or some other source, that he invented the lie detector machine.
What would our lives be like without Lie Detectors?
Do you like Superheroes? Ohhhh…. maybe that’s where you remember that name William Moulton Marston. Yes, William Moulton Marston was the bigamist psychologist who invented the beloved Superhero, Wonder Woman.
Wonder Woman in an interesting predicament
The DISC Assessment itself is a very short test that works pretty much in the same method as Humorism. The Acronym stands for Dominance, Inducement, Submission and Compliance. The parallels can be summed up as follows:
DISC sample result – note the parallel between the “D” and the “Choleric” and the “C” and the “Phlegmatic” on the previous sample.
In fact, the simplicity is designed so that an assessment can be quickly made during job interviews or sales pitches. Salesmen love the DISC because of its simplicity for use, although many of the videos this author has viewed on how to use it seem to indicate that they do not grasp its purpose or function.
The test is deceptively simple. The test-taker is not being assessed based on the “Most” answers, but on the “Least” answers given as an afterthought. Therefore, potential employers who actually read the results (rather than salesmen who visually sum up “marks”) are basing hiring decisions on deep subconscious afterthoughts from the test-taker’s psyche, not actual thought-out answers. These results can be quite different from what the test-taker thought they might be.
Random DISC result I found online. As you can see, this person’s Natural and Adaptive Results were extremely different. A potential employer would raise an eyebrow over this result.
The concept behind this test is that a unit or team at a workplace has holes or needs that need to be filled, and a new employee has strengths that can fill those holes or weaknesses in the team. The DISC Assessment can show where the team’s weaknesses are and also which potential employees are best able to fill those weaknesses.
Strong Team with a Weak Link
In the aforementioned example, if a staff cut is needed, the second person would probably be the logical choice as he or she does not bring a significant strength to the table – #1 is a high D, #3 is a high S, and #4 is both a high I and high C.
Some Excellent Videos on the DISC (the second one has audio issues):
Problems with the DISC
There is a problem with this system, however, and anyone who has ever played (or played and been a leader in) team sports can recognize what that problem is. You can have a team full of strong players, but if no one on the team can get along, the team will still founder and fail. This is probably why most large corporations tend to favor a corporate culture over assembling individual teams of noncohesive units based on individual strengths and weaknesses of employees whose personalities might inherently clash and conflict. For example, placing an ENFJ (high I) and an INTJ (high C) together on a team might make sense according to the DISC model, but it is a recipe for disaster in the real world as those personality types have a history of conflict and even misunderstanding nonverbal communication to the point of interpreting what one type views as being friendly as what another type views as sexual harassment on the job.
This job assessment test seems to be more popular in Europe and the United Kingdom than in the United States. It was developed in the 1920s and has been around for close to a century. This author has been in the workforce in some form or another since the late 1980s in two different countries and has taken the MBTI a couple times for jobs, and in all honestly, does not ever remember taking the DISC for any job, ever. Maybe it has gone the way of bloodletting to drain the ill humors and black bile of melancholy from a person. That might not be such a bad thing.
This came up in discussion the other day, so I think it might be a good thing to discuss instead of the usual tests I like to analyze and link.
I am an ENTJ. Along with ESTJs, we are not known to be warm, feely types. In fact, when you think of an ENTJ female, this is probably the image that comes to mind:
In fact, there are two things going on in this rather cruel interaction, which is why I picked this particular video clip as an example.
On the surface, Dr. Yang engaged in a stereotypical brutalization against a subordinate employee that extraverted thinkers have become notorious for since… well, since Lucy first called Charlie Brown a blockhead in the first Peanuts special and probably quite a long time before that.
However, what was actually going on was that Dr. Yang was helping a new resident (“Little Grey”) develop her assertiveness skills with the interns through the use of empathy by combining Extraverted Thinking and Introverted Feeling. This is a special ability that ENTJs (Extraverted Intuitive Thinking Judging types) and ESTJs (Extraverted Sensing Thinking Judging types) have a particular talent for, even though we have a nasty reputation for being really low on the Feeling thing.
The Doctor Is In
Basically, what Cristina Yang did was use her results-driven dominant Extraverted Thinking to determine that ISTJ resident Lexie Grey was having a problem obtaining obedience and respect from her interns. Dr. Yang connected her Extraverted Thinking with her Introverted Feeling to recall a similar experience of how it felt not to feel respected by her interns and the shame that carried. That was the empathy. She then reconnected it with her Extraverted Thinking to find a solution, which was to randomly humiliate her interns and show Lexie Grey how to do so in a like fashion when the intern arrived at the station. This is called the Te-Fi loop.
So does this work for INTJs and ISTJs, who also have high Extraverted Thinking and even higher Introverted Feeling than ENTJs and ESTJs? In theory, it should. Introverts are not naturally drawn to reach out to mentoring roles like ExTJs, so they are less likely to find themselves in such positions; however, (these may need to be opened in separate windows) if movies are to believed, our introverted counterparts can be capable of incredibly heroic behavior when they do step up to leadership and mentoring roles.
Judging from the amount of IxTJs, particularly IxTJ parents, there are in the military, I would say there is some truth in this movie stereotype.
As Introverted Feeling becomes higher in the order of functions and Extraverted Thinking drops to a lower position (ExFPs), the Te-Fi loop becomes broken, even though ExFPs still come across as fairly logical for “feelers”. Finally, in IxFPs, Fi becomes the dominant function and Introverted Sensing Feelers and Introverted Intuitive Feelers tend to be fairly wrapped up in their own emotional experience, rather than that of others.
Extraverted Feeling (Fe) is an entirely different function and is paired with Introverted Thinking (Ti). Although Fe-users describe their experience as “empathy”, it is more of an energetic experience, rather than one involving the emotions of the other person. I have yet to have a Fe-user accurately describe what was going on inside my head. They are good at capturing the “vibe” of a room. An example of this might be that a Fe-user would not enjoy watching a talk show where the host and hostess are fighting (this has been in the news this month), whereas a Fi-user might tune in to watch the fight for entertainment value. An ExTJ boss might try to intervene to save the show’s ratings.
Here is an example of how I applied my own Te-Fi loop:
About a decade ago, I had some interns that needed to borrow a printer from another department for a project. A Fe-user among them complained to me that the people in that department were giving them dirty looks because they were younger and prettier than the women in that department. The intern was getting a bad vibe from the other department.
I allowed the intern to talk, but knew that they still needed to use the other department’s printer in order to get the project completed on time. I repeated what she said, that the others were probably jealous and even reinforced what she wanted to hear, suggesting that she and her friends have a business wear day (they really needed to dress more appropriately for work, anyway), kind of like the Junior Plastics on Mean Girls (I didn’t say that part).
Mean Girls Pink Day
She felt better and asked if they could use another printer.
I said no, but reinforced how lucky they were to be able to work together as friends, and how the bitter old ladies were probably not so lucky.
The intern calmed down, stopped complaining, used the printer, and the project was completed early.
Carl Jung, the founder of Cognitive Psychology, was an ardent believer in Astrology. He drew up detailed star charts on his patients and considered them equally valid with his files on their Feeling functions, Extraverted and Introverted Thinking functions, Intuitive and Sensing functions, and so on and so forth. So is there anything to Astrology?
To understand whether there is anything to it, first you have to understand what it is. I’m not talking about things like
How did they know?
I’m talking about the real star charts that tell you your Sun Sign, your Moon Sign, and your Ascending Sign, along with all those other houses and Pluto nodes and stuff.
Sample Star Chart
For the sample, I plugged in January 1, 1882 at 5:00 PM in New Orleans, Louisiana for the birth time. This was the result I got:
Name: King Cake January 1 1882 5:00 PM Time Zone is LMT New Orleans, LA
Rising Sign is in 09 Degrees Cancer Very sensitive by nature, you prefer to be in your own familiar surroundings. Cautious and conservative, you make changes in your life only very slowly, if at all. You do not open up easily to strangers. Friendships are made for life, however — once given, your trust is forever. Your mother, your home as a child and your early family life in general are very important to you. You are also very sentimental. When you feel self- confident, you are gentle, giving and protective of the needs of others. But when you feel insecure or threatened, you become overly sensitive to criticism, shy, withdrawn and moody. You have a strong need for security — in the sense that you are being loved, nourished and protected.
Sun is in 11 Degrees Capricorn. Extremely serious and mature, you are capable of accepting responsibilities and do so willingly. Others expect you to be dutiful as a matter of course. You tend to get angry when people get rewards after not having worked anywhere near as hard as you. You are goal-oriented and an achiever by nature — you’re a hard worker and are justifiably proud of the tangible results of your efforts. You tend to have “tunnel-vision” — this allows you to block out extraneous matters that might distract others and to concentrate totally on the matter at hand. As such, you are the ideal one to manage or administrate any ongoing project and to be practical and efficient at it. You are not a fast worker, but you are quite thorough. You are known for being totally persistent, tenacious and tireless in reaching your goals.
Moon is in 13 Degrees Gemini. Restless in the extreme, you are easily bored because of your short attention span. Your emotions change rapidly and you love to talk about your feelings. Generally, you have good judgment — your intellect controls your emotions and you do not overreact emotionally to things. A good jack-of-all-trades, you have many- sided interests and enjoy reasoning things through. With your mental agility and need for physical mobility, you are attracted to traveling and learning about other peoples and cultures. You have vivid powers of emotional self-expression – – you can be a nonstop talker. You love to share your ideas with anyone who will listen.
… (a lot of gobbledygook about planets in various houses)…
Pluto is in 27 Degrees Taurus. For your entire generation, this is a period of smug acceptance of commonplace values. Fashions are opulent and elaborate and simplicity is virtually unknown. Beauty is defined as the large, the comfortable and the well-stuffed.
N. Node is in 08 Degrees Sagittarius. You will probably have many different contacts and acquaintances throughout your life. You’re quite gregarious by nature and your natural curiosity about others lets you take the lead in forming new relationships. You’ll form close ties with those who have similarly idealistic ideas — especially those who can stimulate you intellectually in your chosen field of interest. Your enthusiasm for learning new things may also cause you to do quite a bit of traveling. Because you probably will have many wide-ranging interests and concerns, you most likely will have contacts and connections in various parts of the country (or world).
That is a star chart.
So we can see that according to this reading, King Cake was probably a slow, stubborn worker, who became more and more sensitive as he grew older. Family life in general became extremely important to King Cake. In other words, King Cake was probably an ISFJ. A Gemini Moon, he viewed his mother as being capable of rapid mood changes. (The retrospective generational description is rather amusing.)
Is there anything to it?
There is something to Sun Signs. Scientific studies have shown a correlation between the season of birth and incidence of certain types of mental illness. Babies born during winter months (Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius) are more likely to suffer from schizophrenia. Babies born during summer months (Gemini, Cancer, Leo) are more likely to suffer from depressive disorders. (http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0034866 )
Ascending Signs have held a fascination for me. In ancient times, before clocks were invented, they were a way of recording the time and exact geo-location of birth. My hypothesis was that there may have been a correlation between time and/or geo-location of birth and some influence (geomagnetism, geotropism, proximity to the Van Allen belts, or some other influential factor) during a crucial point at the infant’s birth that might have affected the newborn’s brain development and influenced the personality development.
The way to test this hypothesis was by using the Scientific Method.
The Scientific Method
The specific experiment I decided to run involved the Rising Sign of Gemini among a small sample of people with the ENTJ personality type.
According to Cafe Astrology, those with Gemini Rising have the following traits:
“Gemini is mostly interested in moving about in their social circles.These are people who love to ask questions, to move around freely, and to mingle. Definitely restless and often quick in physical expression, natives of the Gemini Ascendant exude an air of impatience even if they don’t mean it. In fact, there is a cleverness to Gemini Ascendants that can intimidate some, especially sensitive folk. Their facility with words can be a wonderful asset, although sometimes Gemini rising individuals identify too much with their mental agility and forget, in their personal interactions and communications, to nurture the people around them. A certain lack of warmth in presentation can be the result, and although this style is generally a facade, it is not immediately apparent to most. People with, for example, predominant Water signs may feel a little ill at ease with Gemini rising people (that is, before they get to know them more personally), while strong Air types more fully appreciate the fun and cleverness of these individuals.”
Compare this with Wikipedia’s description of the ENTJ:
“ENTJs focus on the most efficient and organized means of performing a task. This quality, along with their goal orientation, often makes ENTJs superior leaders, both realistic and visionary in implementing a long-term plan. ENTJs tend to be fiercely independent in their decision making, having a strong will that insulates them against external influence. Generally highly competent, ENTJs analyze and structure the world around them in a logical and rational way. Due to this straightforward way of thinking, ENTJs tend to have the greatest difficulty of all the types in applying subjective considerations and emotional values into the decision-making process. ENTJs often excel in business and other areas that require systems analysis, original thinking, and an economically savvy mind. They are dynamic and pragmatic problem solvers. They tend to have a high degree of confidence in their own abilities, making them assertive and outspoken. In their dealings with others, they are generally outgoing, charismatic, fair-minded, and unaffected by conflict or criticism. However, these qualities can make ENTJs appear arrogant, insensitive, and confrontational. They can overwhelm others with their energy and desire to order the world according to their own vision. As a result, they may seem intimidating, hasty, and controlling.”
According to both descriptions, it would seem reasonable that Gemini Risings would be overrepresented among those with the ENTJ personality type. I conducted a poll among a sample of 22 ENTJs with the following results:
Of the sample surveyed, Gemini Rising comprised 18% of the sample tested, rather than the statistical 4.5% average. In fact, Gemini Rising, Leo Rising and Scorpio Rising, just three of the twelve types, comprised 50% of the respondents.
Nonetheless, although higher than average, the amount was still statistically small and the responses were quite varied and spread out across the Zodiac. There did not seem to be any statistically significant correlation between the Ascendant Zodiac Sign and MBTI Type.
So in the previous blog, I analyzed a wartime drama to demonstrate the difference in how Sensors and Intuitives behave during wartime and peace. There are larger ramifications to this difference, especially with the upcoming elections, specifically in the United States. (I am focusing on those because I live in the USA and am most familiar with the candidates for President in the USA.)
Most of the candidates running for United States President in 2016 are ENTJs on the MBTI typing scale; however, realistically, they are not viable candidates and will probably drop out of the race soon. I will focus my discussion on the five frontrunners:
2016 USA Presidential Frontrunners – I tried to pick flattering photos of each!
As a full disclosure on this blog, I have signed up to volunteer with one of the campaigns.
However, I will not endorse any particular candidate on this blog and will attempt to explain why certain candidates are better under the general future trends for the United States than others, based on their personality types. As you can see, there are duplicates on several political stances, so there is actually some variety among the frontrunners based on personality as well as political stance.
To reiterate, one candidate is a far left intuitive, one candidate is an intuitive centrist, one candidate is a centrist sensor, on candidate is an intuitive conservative, and one is a conservative sensor. Unless your political preference is on the far left, you have duplication based on whether the candidate is a sensor or an intuitive.
Briefly, when has the United States been at war? Numerous times, but the major wars have been: The Revolutionary War: Commander in Chief: George Washington – ISTJ The War of 1812: Commander in Chief: James Madison – INTP The Mexican War: Commander in Chief: James Knox Polk – INTJ The Civil War: Commander in Chief: Abraham Lincoln – INTP The Spanish American War: Commander in Chief: William McKinley – ESFJ World War One: Commander in Chief: Woodrow Wilson – INTJ The Spanish Civil War: Commander in Chief: Franklin Delano Roosevelt – ESTP World War Two: Commander in Chief: Franklin Delano Roosevelt – ESTP, Harry S Truman – ISFJ The Korean War: Commander in Chief: Harry S Truman – ISFJ The Vietnam War: Commander in Chief: Lyndon Baines Johnson – ESTP, Richard Milhouse Nixon – INTJ The Gulf War: Commander in Chief: George Herbert Walker Bush – ISFJ Operation Enduring Freedom: Commander in Chief: George Walker Bush – ESTP, Barack Obama – ENTP
Each time America has been through a war, it has emerged victorious. However, sometimes it has gone through horrendous economic times immediately afterwards. Sometimes it has gone through periods of dynamic economic growth. I believe much of this has had to do with the type of leadership in the White House immediately after the war ended. Presidents set the economic style and policy for the nation by appointing Federal Reserve officers, Treasury Chairmen, and deciding how to deal with Congress when budgets are presented to them.
The Buck Stops Here
The period after the Revolutionary War was a period of terrible poverty and economic instability for the new United States under Sensor George Washington.
The period following the War of 1812 saw an economic boom in the United States, especially after the completion of the Erie Canal Project, which led to the explosion of growth in New York City. That was when Intuitive James Madison was in office.
During the period following the Mexican War, ISTP Zachary Taylor’s shortsighted policies led to short-term gold rushes and economic booms in the economy, but long-term economic instability and inequality that led to the civil war and the growth of huge tenements in urban areas. Few people benefited from the technological advances in telegraphy and railroads that were widely touted in the early 1850s.
Likewise, the period following the Civil War was a period of horrific poverty in the South for decades under the leadership of Sensor presidents like ISTJ Andrew Johnson and ISFP Ulysses Grant and even Benjamin Harrison (ISTJ) and Grover Cleveland (ESTJ).
Let’s fast-forward to the Roaring Twenties. Woodrow Wilson (INTJ) led the nation into an economic boom after World War One. There were a few rough bumps under Warren Harding’s (ISFP) scandal-ridden administration, but the party continued under Silent Cal (Calvin Coolidge – INFJ) through 1929.
Contrast this with the debacle that followed World War Two’s economic boom. ISFJ Harry S Truman nearly lost his reelection bid after a spectacular victory against Japan because of his phenomenal bungling of the economy on the homefront and horrific housing shortages for returning veterans and their brides.
That was close!
Does this sound familiar? Kind of like ISFJ George H.W. Bush’s landslide loss in 1992 immediately after his spectacular victory in the Gulf War only a year earlier?
Deja vu – It’s the ECONOMY stupid!
Almost immediately after Bush left office, Intuitive Bill Clinton led the economy into a boom cycle that lasted the duration of his presidency.
Let’s talk about Vietnam. Vietnam was a very unpopular war, but a lot of people became quite prosperous from that war.
The Graduate, 1968
Richard Nixon, to his credit, fulfilled his promise to the American people to withdraw American forces from that war. Sadly, his unscrupulous campaign tactics will be his enduring legacy and he left office under a cloud of suspicion and disgrace and an appointed Senate Whip was left to complete his term after his elected Vice President had already been removed from office before he was.
Gerald Ford was an ESFJ, and his successor, Jimmy Carter was an ISFJ. Both Presidents were Sensors and lacked the long-term vision necessary to set long-term goals for the economy. The country started a downward spiral of double-digit inflation and double-digit unemployment following the withdrawal from the Vietnam War. This was called malaise.
The Malaise drew to a close when ENFP Ronald Reagan was elected to office and the Reagan Era began.
Of course, not since 1929 has any President mismanaged the economy as badly as ESTP George Walker Bush did as Operation Enduring Freedom died down in 2007. To say that the economic meltdown was caused by war is a hideously gross oversimplification; however, the burgeoning domestic problems, especially the real estate market, needed to be addressed, while he was busy playing Generalissimo at a war that had really been won by 2004. Multiple unaddressed, neglected factors led to the epic economic meltdown in 2008. This is a direct result of having a President with no vision of the future in office.
Economic forecasters state we’re at the beginning of a thirteen year bull cycle in the stock market, which is expected to peak in the mid 2020s. Bin Ladin was neutralized in the Middle East in 2011. Most of the American troops were cleared out of Afghanistan and Iraq. Unemployment is at record lows not seen since the 1960s. President Obama is leaving a nice situation for his successor. Um… then again, so did Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1945. That is no guarantee for success. We, as a voting public, still have a responsibility to make a wise choice in leaders.
There is a clear pattern in history. After wars, Intuitive Presidents make better decisions in managing the economy than Sensor Presidents do.
We have three frontrunner candidates who are Intuitive personality types, and, fortunately for the public, they span the range of political views. There is someone for everyone, whether you are a Socialist, a Centrist, or a Far Right Conservative.
Intuitive Candidates
They would probably be better equipped psychologically for the economic challenges that lie in the future over the next nine years than the other two frontrunners.
While recuperating from an illness recently, I had time for marathon of a great 1980s series I haven’t seen since… well, the 1980s. It was a British series about female POWs in the Japanese concentration camps during World War Two. The series is called Tenko.
If you would like to read up on the series without watching it, please catch up here.
There were 31 episodes, including the five-year reunion episode, which are all worth watching. I would prefer that you watch them and read my blog afterwards, as this is a very important historical topic and this blog is loaded with spoilers.
REPEAT, THIS BLOG IS LOADED WITH SPOILERS. CONSIDER YOURSELF WARNED.
Before I go on, here is the series, starting with Season One.
When you have another ten hours of free time, go ahead with Season Two. Season Three deals with the end of the War and communist insurrections in Singapore and Malaysia. You will not want to miss it because you can find out who made it out of the camps alive.
THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE TO STOP BEFORE THE SPOILERS.
First, of course, let me divide the characters up into MBTI types.
The Sensors:
Guardians:
Dorothy Bennett ISFJ Unhealthy Enneagram Type 6Marion Jefferson ESFJ Unhealthy Enneagram Type 2Brigadier Clifford Jefferson ISTJ Healthy Enneagram Type 6Nellie Keene ESTJ Healthy Enneagram Type 6Verna Johnson ESTJ Unhealthy Enneagram Type 3Miss Hasan ESTJ Enneagram Type 8Captain Sato ESTJ Unhealthy Enneagram Type 6
Artisans:
Sister Ulrica ISFP Unhealthy Enneagram Type 4Colonel Yamauchi ESFP Unhealthy Enneagram Type 9Sylvia Ashburton ESTP Healthy Enneagram Type 8Blanche Simmons ESTP Unhealthy Enneagram Type 7
The Intuitives:
Idealists:
Lady Joss Holbrook INFJ Enneagram Type 1Domenica “Metro Goldwyn” Van Meyer ENFJ Extremely Unhealthy Enneagram Type 3Jake Haulter ENFJ Enneagram Type 2Shinya INFP Unhealthy Enneagram Type 9Stephen Wentworth INFP Enneagram Type 2Lillian Cartland ENFP Diabolical Enneagram Type 2
Rationals:
Dr. Beatrice Mason INTJ Unhealthy Enneagram Type 6Rose Millar ENTJ Unhealthy Enneagram Type 3Kate Norris ENTJ Healthy Enneagram Type 3Bernard Webster ENTJ Enneagram Type 8Dr. Natalie Trier INTP Healthy Enneagram Type 5Christina Campbell ENTP Very Unhealthy Enneagram Type 7
TURN AROUND NOW IF YOU DO NOT WANT ANY SPOILERS
You were warned.
I must say, Tenko succeeded in creating the most diabolical ENFP I think I have ever seen on camera in my life (other than a few Third World dictators on the evening news). I don’t think I have ever seen such a sweet personality type resort to such malice on film before. Only in a prison camp could The Helper become the arch-villain who sells out the life of The Fieldmarshal for a jar of jam and leave you feeling sorry for said Fieldmarshal in the process. Oh. My. God. And I’m not just saying that because I’m an ENTJ myself. Okay, maybe a little. But still.
Beyond the emotional reaction to this series, the first two seasons were devoted to the actual course of the war itself, and the last season took place during the months immediately following the war as the survivors settled back into their homes in Singapore and returned to England. And yes, the series does take place in Singapore and on a nearby island in Indonesia (Sumatra?). This is probably why there are so many ENTJ characters in the series – Singapore has the highest concentration of this personality type in the world at over 5%, compared to 1.5% worldwide. There were some other characters in the series as well, many “red sweaters” who died before their characters were fully developed, some who were not really much different than the others being discussed here.
Before the War:
Colonel Jefferson, Rose Millar and Bernard Webster bickering over petty matters at Raffles before the War.
Sensors:
The Guardians:
Dorothy Bennett lived a cloistered, sheltered life with her husband and infant daughter, Violet. She was invisible and essentially disappeared among her husband’s possessions. Marion and Clifford Jefferson had a very troubled marriage and were discussing a separation so that Marion could spend more time with their adolescent son in England. Clifford’s military career was stagnant as a Colonel. Nellie had a cryptic love life and a very promising nursing career. Verna ran a high end hotel. Not much is known about Captain Sato or Miss Hasan.
The Artisans:
Colonel Yamauchi’s daughter recently moved to Nagasaki to marry. Sylvia Ashburton lived a privileged life in a class-conscious society. Blanche Simmons did not.
Intuitives:
Idealists:
Lady Joss Holbrook was a Suffragette actively protesting around the world to earn the right to vote for women in England and North America. Domenica Van Meyer married an older man for money and the two despised each other because she could not bear a son for him. Jake Haulter had been kicked out of an exclusive school in England for having a tryst with a maid. Stephen Wentworth did volunteer work for the poor in Singapore. Lillian Cartland and Marion Jefferson had been roommates in private school as children – the popular Marion thought Lillian was a rather weird child.
Rationals:
Rose Millar had overcome her scholarship background to become a wealthy journalist. Her boyfriend, Bernard Webster, had a popular radio show in Singapore. Dr. Beatrice Mason was the chief of surgery in a hospital in Singapore and decided to throw herself into her work to compensate for her awkwardness with either gender in the dating world – and given enough alcohol, she shows definite proclivities toward both, it is clear. Kate Norris was looking forward to building a future with her boyfriend, Tom, while working hard at her nursing job. Dr. Natalie Trier moved to Indochina to escape her brother’s radical politics and do her medical research undisturbed. Christina Campbell was dealing with her mother’s recent death and starting to face the realities of being biracial in a very racist society.
War Sets In:
Torpedoed – the war just got real
Sensors:
Guardians:
Dorothy Bennett loses all of the relationships that hide her true self and discovers her own identity. She learns to become a businesswoman on her own, selling herself, literally, in the camps. Marion Jefferson has her chance to shine. She becomes the leader of the women in her camp and becomes the popular girl she has craved to be since she was a teenager, even though she just lost her best friend in a shipwreck. Colonel Jefferson jockeys for promotions and becomes Brigadier Jefferson by the end of the war. Nellie, Verna, Miss Hasan and Sato, however, lasted through most of the war by being other people’s henchmen and lackeys, but died by the end of the war.
Artisans:
Sister Ulrica and Colonel Yamauchi manage to survive the duration of the war, although they suffer internal conflicts because of their strong feelings and the horrors that are going on around them. Sylvia and Blanche are repeatedly punished for their stubbornness and eventually die in the camps.
Intuitives:
Idealists:
Lady Joss Holbrook is repeatedly punished for her passive resistance in the camps, but always manages to survive. She seems to understand her limits. Domenica Van Meyer complains incessantly throughout her incarceration. Shinya seems desperate to prove his bravery even though he is ill-suited for warfare, first by shooting and maiming a popular prisoner, then by taking a fatal wound during an Allied strafing of the camp shortly before he is scheduled to transfer out to a combat unit. Stephen Wentworth disappears. Lillian Cartland engages in one of the most evil informant acts I’ve ever seen in a concentration camp movie, as she sells out two prisoners for a jar of jam for her son, who is not even that hungry compared to the other prisoners.
Rationals:
Dr. Beatrice Mason must cope with a lack of medical supplies when treating her patients. She is humbled when she meets Dr. Natalie Trier, who has done a far better job under the same circumstances. Dr. Trier, however, is sent back to Vichy France and certain death under a repatriation program, and Dr. Mason must take over her research. As her eyesight deteriorates, Kate Norris begins to take over her duties as doctor and decides to pursue medical school after the war ends. Meanwhile, Rose Millar mourns the loss of everything she has acquired as her life deteriorates from bad to worse. As she and Bernard sneak out of the camps for a rendezvous in the wilderness, they are caught and he is killed and she is severely wounded. Her spirit broken, she never recovers and eventually dies a few months later. Christina Campbell has a privileged status among the prisoners as Colonel Yamouchi’s personal assistant and translator because of her mixed race. She begins to discover her biracial identity.
After the War:
Tom’s funeral – Kate is free to pursue medical school.
Guardians:
Marion Jefferson drifts into alcoholism as her friends drift their separate ways. She feels like “everything is uncertain” and no longer knows what meaning her life has. Brigadier Jefferson feels overwhelming guilt that his wife suffered the brunt of the war while he was in an office behind the lines. After some initial setbacks, Dorothy Bennett’s career skyrockets.
Artisans:
Sister Ulrica reunites with her friends while recuperating from the war. Colonel Yamouchi is visited while awaiting trial for war crimes. It is implied by the final episode that both are killed as society returns to normal.
Intuitives:
Idealists:
Jake Haulter meets up with the group and helps the ladies adjust to life in Singapore. Stephen Wentworth runs a welfare society for the poor in the Chinese section of town and recruits Lady Joss Holbrook, Dr. Mason and Christina Campbell to help. Lady Joss Holbrook is accidentally killed during a mugging after surviving so much throughout the war. Domenica Van Meyer returns to her home and is eventually widowed and remarried to a British officer in Malaysia.
Rationals:
Dr. Beatrice Mason copes with her deteriorating eyesight by volunteering at the clinic at the welfare society. Kate Norris begins medical school. Christina Campbell teaches English to Chinese students at the welfare society, but eventually becomes enraptured by communism and destroys her life by becoming a militant radical and ends up in prison after her friends probably killed Sister Ulrica.
The Universal Conclusion:
Sensors seemed to do better during the war up to a certain critical point, at which everyone’s life began to deteriorate. During crisis situations, Sensors seemed to come out ahead. When the crisis passed, the Sensors seemed at a loss what to do, and Intuitives once again regained the advantage in life. There were certain personality types that just did not seem to do well under any circumstances. Enneagram Type 8s seemed to fare the worst under POW camp circumstances, followed by Type 3s.
As our society adjusts to peace after an extended war in the Middle East and hundreds of thousands of Millennials return and readjust to civilian life, shows like Tenko (which was based on the wartime memoirs of a POW camp survivor) offer a mini-paradigm of what to expect in the next few years. Some personality types that did very well under wartime conditions might not fare so well in civilian society, whereas those who were least successful under battlefield conditions might shine when they return home.
By far, the most confusing of all the personality tests is The Enneagram Test. ( *Try this link if the other link does not work.) Most likely, you have run across one or more of these at some point and read the description afterward and were probably just as confused after reading the description as you were before you took it. But now you know you’re a 1 or a 4 or a 5w4 or whatever. And you have no idea what all of that means, or how it relates to other psychology tests.
First of all, it kind of doesn’t.
Now that we have that messy little problem out of the way, let’s get on with things. The Enneagram was designed by the Roman Catholic Church as a way of learning which of the Seven Deadly Sins is your weakness.
Oscar Ichazo and Claudio Naranjo developed the concept in the 1960s, based on much older psycho-religious concepts from the 1800s. There are nine types, and each type can have two wings.
Despite the resemblance, this is not the star from Game of Thrones. It is the Enneagram Figure.
After taking the test, the test-taker should use the highest result and the highest result next to it as the type and wing. For example, if a test-taker scored highest on 5 and the second highest score was a 1 and the third highest score was a 4, the test-taker’s type would be a 5 wing 4. One does not have a wing that is not adjacent to the highest score. If one scores very high in a remote area, but has high scores in another cluster, one might use the second highest score for the type. For example, if the highest score is a 2, but the second highest score is an 8 and the third is a 7 and the fourth is a 9, the test-taker should probably use 8 wing 7 as score, rather than the 2 as that might be a fluke.
In Understanding the Enneagram: The Practical Guide to Personality Types, Don Richard Riso and Russ Hudson explain the connection between the nine enneagram types and the Deadly Sins as well as the holier aspects (available at Amazon or other bookstores.).
The Enneagram Types
Although the Enneagram was developed by the Roman Catholic Church, some bishops harshly criticized it in 2000.
Once you know your Enneagram Type, there is a further subdivision into your Tritype. The Type categories are divided into the Head Center, the Heart Center, and the Gut Center. The highest score is taken from each of the three centers to form the Tritype.
Gut Center: 1, 8, or 9 Heart Center: 2, 3, or 4 Head Center: 5, 6, or 7
The combinations can be in any order, but come together as follows:
The list of Tritypes, organized by Gut Center numbers.
For example, if a test-taker made high scores on 3 wing 4, 8 wing 7, and 5 wing 4, she would have a Tritype of 385, The Solution Master.
Getting back to what I originally said about Enneagrams relating to MBTI types, they aren’t the same thing, but there is a correlation. That is, certain MBTI types tend to have a higher incidence of certain Enneagram Types. INFPs tend to have more 4 types. INFJs tend to type 5w4 quite often. ENTJs tend to score 8w7 or type 3 more often. However, there is no direct link between Enneagram Type and Myers-Briggs Type.
Enneagram Type cross-referenced with Myers Briggs Type.
It is recommended to retake the Enneagram test periodically as the results will change depending on your mood and the circumstances in your life.
This is total fluff, but I’ve been sick with the flu and have had too much time on my hands. As an ENTJ, I do love sorting things and putting them into neat little spreadsheets so much, even my video game characters.
Some famous Sims2 premade characters, by MBTI type. This supercedes the previous chart I made, which mistyped a few characters (like Angela Pleasant).
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