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Marilyn Monroe

What Personality Type was Marilyn Monroe?


  • Total voters
    42

highlander

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Dec 23, 2009
Messages
26,562
MBTI Type
INTJ
Enneagram
6w5
Instinctual Variant
sx/sp
My vote

She is definitely an I, P, and F. Again here I struggle between S and N. If I had to guess, I'd say S.
 

Tallulah

Emerging
Joined
Feb 19, 2008
Messages
6,009
MBTI Type
INTP
Night is correct.
She is INTP. Close to INFP.
I read her autobiography. She is a thinker. A good writer, too.

Monroe was a thinker, but not a Thinker, in MBTI terms. She felt things very deeply, and her acute sensitivity greatly contributed to her insecurity and fear of rejection. She was also very emotionally disturbed due to her childhood and genetic predisposition for mental illness, desperate for love and approval, and prone to making up stories for attention. A lot of her quotes reflect the self she wanted to be or the self she wanted to craft as part of her mystique. She was very, very shrewd, very smart, but also very emotionally vulnerable always. I have never seen an INTP get anywhere close to Monroe's famous vulnerability--her most marked characteristic after her sex appeal. I don't see any great evidence of her being an I, either. Maybe borderline I/E, but she seemed to be more outwardly directed. Possibly a shy, conflicted E. I would be greatly surprised if Monroe wrote that book by herself, too--not that she wasn't capable, but movie stars in the 50s were far more likely to have a collaborator/ghostwriter.

From the portrait in this book, which features many quotes from interviews with those closest to her, I get a distinct impression of a very kind, very intelligent ENFJ who probably could have been very happy in life if she hadn't had such a desperate need to be approved of and loved to make up for her lack of a normal family. She trusted the wrong people, people who made her dependent upon them for her sense of self, but she was also both charming and strong-willed enough to evade those whose concern was genuine. She was also, according to her psychologist and several others who treated her, bipolar and borderline paranoid schizophrenic later in her (short) life, as were her mother and grandmother before her. So once you get past a certain point in her life, type kind of goes out the window.
 

Fecal McAngry

New member
Joined
Oct 31, 2009
Messages
976
She is definitely an I, P, and F. Again here I struggle between S and N. If I had to guess, I'd say S.
You don't have to guess. You may have to guess on I/E in some cases, but Ne/Se tends to be very clear-cut. Just read her interviews. Her language is concrete, earth-bound, factual, perceptive re: factual reality, etc.

To give a specific example, George Harrison was an ISFP (Se), John Lennon an INFP (Ne) (The Beatles are dying in order of coolness, Ringo is next, Paul will live forever). Two typical songs written at about the same time:

George:

Here comes the sun, do do do do
Here comes the sun, and I say
It's all right

Little darling
It's been a long cold lonely winter
Little darling
It feels like years since it's been here

Here comes the sun, do do do do
Here comes the sun, and I say
It's all right

Little darling
The smiles returning to the faces
Little darling
It seems like years since it's been here

Here comes the sun, do do do do
Here comes the sun, and I say
It's all right

Sun, sun, sun, here it comes
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes

Little darling
I feel that ice is slowly melting
Little darling
It seems like years since it's been clear

Here comes the sun, do do do do
Here comes the sun, and I say
It's all right
Here comes the sun, do do do do
Here comes the sun
It's all right
It's all right


John:

Words are flowing out
Like endless rain into a paper cup
They slither while they pass
They slip away, across the universe
Pools of sorrow waves of joy
Are drifting through my open mind
Possessing and caressing me
Jai guru deva om
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Images of broken light
which dance before me like a million eyes
They call me on and on, across the universe
Thoughts meander
Like a restless wind inside a letter box
They tumble blindly
As they make their way, across the universe
Jai guru deva om
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Sounds of laughter, shades of joy
Are ringing through my open ears
Inciting and inviting me
Limitless undying love
Which shines around me like a million suns
It calls me on and on, across the universe
Jai guru deva om
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Jai guru deva
Jai guru deva
Jai guru deva
Jai guru deva
 

highlander

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Dec 23, 2009
Messages
26,562
MBTI Type
INTJ
Enneagram
6w5
Instinctual Variant
sx/sp
You don't have to guess. You may have to guess on I/E in some cases, but Ne/Se tends to be very clear-cut. Just read her interviews. Her language is concrete, earth-bound, factual, perceptive re: factual reality, etc.

Really great example. Thanks for helping to add clarity there.

Now I'm wondering why I always liked George Harrison's music more, but then I was never one to really listen much to lyrics ;)
 

wildcat

New member
Joined
Jun 8, 2007
Messages
3,622
MBTI Type
INTP
Monroe was a thinker, but not a Thinker, in MBTI terms. She felt things very deeply, and her acute sensitivity greatly contributed to her insecurity and fear of rejection. She was also very emotionally disturbed due to her childhood and genetic predisposition for mental illness, desperate for love and approval, and prone to making up stories for attention. A lot of her quotes reflect the self she wanted to be or the self she wanted to craft as part of her mystique. She was very, very shrewd, very smart, but also very emotionally vulnerable always. I have never seen an INTP get anywhere close to Monroe's famous vulnerability--her most marked characteristic after her sex appeal. I don't see any great evidence of her being an I, either. Maybe borderline I/E, but she seemed to be more outwardly directed. Possibly a shy, conflicted E. I would be greatly surprised if Monroe wrote that book by herself, too--not that she wasn't capable, but movie stars in the 50s were far more likely to have a collaborator/ghostwriter.

From the portrait in this book, which features many quotes from interviews with those closest to her, I get a distinct impression of a very kind, very intelligent ENFJ who probably could have been very happy in life if she hadn't had such a desperate need to be approved of and loved to make up for her lack of a normal family. She trusted the wrong people, people who made her dependent upon them for her sense of self, but she was also both charming and strong-willed enough to evade those whose concern was genuine. She was also, according to her psychologist and several others who treated her, bipolar and borderline paranoid schizophrenic later in her (short) life, as were her mother and grandmother before her. So once you get past a certain point in her life, type kind of goes out the window.
You read the biography. I read the autobiography.
There is a world of difference between the two.

The people who wrote plays and books about her did not know a thing.
They were into fame and easy money.
 

Space_Oddity

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Oct 12, 2009
Messages
359
MBTI Type
CAT
Instinctual Variant
so
You don't have to guess. You may have to guess on I/E in some cases, but Ne/Se tends to be very clear-cut. Just read her interviews. Her language is concrete, earth-bound, factual, perceptive re: factual reality, etc.

I confess I don't really know much about Marilyn Monroe, but how is the below "concrete, earth-bound, factual, perceptive re: factual reality" language?:huh:

Night said:
"I'm trying to find myself as a person, sometimes that's not easy to do. Millions of people live their entire lives without finding themselves."

"Creativity has got to start with humanity and when you're a human being, you feel, you suffer."

"It's better to be unhappy alone than unhappy with someone."

"A career is born in public -- talent in privacy."

"Hollywood is a place where they'll pay you a thousand dollars for a kiss and fifty cents for your soul."

"Being a sex symbol is a heavy load to carry, especially when one is tired, hurt and bewildered."

Just reading the quotes in this thread makes me think of an NF. Overall she gives me an ENFx impression, with some ISFPness thrown into the mix; but then, some ENFPs I know have a VERY sensual vibe, just like some ENFJs I know are very intelligent and sexy charmers.
 

Fecal McAngry

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Joined
Oct 31, 2009
Messages
976
I confess I don't really know much about Marilyn Monroe, but how is the below "concrete, earth-bound, factual, perceptive re: factual reality" language?:huh:



Just reading the quotes in this thread makes me think of an NF. Overall she gives me an ENFx impression, with some ISFPness thrown into the mix; but then, some ENFPs I know have a VERY sensual vibe, just like some ENFJs I know are very intelligent and sexy charmers.
Before even taking a look at the lines you cited, remember, when you are dealing with MBTI typing you are dealing with preferences, not absolutes. In other words, every person will use and express all functions and attitudes at some point. To minimize mistakes, therefore, it's important to use a sufficiently large sample size of language if typing by interview analysis. One could watch a single game from Wimbledon in 1980 and "type" Bjorn Borg as a serve & volley tennis player; if one watched several matches, it would become quite clear that he was predominantly a great baseliner.

But anyway, just for shits and giggles, let's look at the quotes you reference:

"I'm trying to find myself as a person, sometimes that's not easy to do. Millions of people live their entire lives without finding themselves."
This appears to me to be a perceptive statement--an observation of a process the subject is engaged in. The "millions of people..." is most clearly read as an S statement of concrete reality and the "find myself" as Fi, but not particularly definitive.

"Creativity has got to start with humanity and when you're a human being, you feel, you suffer."
If you are going to take letters away from this, they would probably be Fi and Se.

"It's better to be unhappy alone than unhappy with someone."
Introversion and Feeling, slight Se concreteness.

"A career is born in public -- talent in privacy."
Introversion. Again expressed in very concrete language.

"Hollywood is a place where they'll pay you a thousand dollars for a kiss and fifty cents for your soul."

Fi, Se.

"Being a sex symbol is a heavy load to carry, especially when one is tired, hurt and bewildered."

Se, Fi. Interesting to see the literal use of "heavy load" in a non-ironic statement.
 

tinkerbell

New member
Joined
Aug 31, 2008
Messages
3,487
MBTI Type
ENTP
I'd say INFJ....

I've read a few biographies of her and also Athrur Millers Auto bigorgraphy, and I think she was totally controlling about how she was percevied.... she's big J.... To the point of cutting her heels on one shoe in order to make her arse wiggle, using 3 shades of lipstick in order o keep her mouth lusious... hours of practicing faces and looks etc. So J type in my book and a rather extrem one at that.

She has an interesting array of husbands. I think T types would have spent more time single and not feeling the need to be constantly in a realtionship.

As for the N - well thats more hunch than having any specific evidence to back it up.... I'd sway to S type if pushed
 

simulatedworld

Freshman Member
Joined
Nov 7, 2008
Messages
5,552
MBTI Type
ENTP
Enneagram
7w6
Instinctual Variant
sx/so
Obvious, obvious SFP.

Have to agree here; I go with blatant ESFP.

"I am invariably late for appointments - sometimes as much as two hours. I've tried to change my ways but the things that make me late are too strong, and too pleasing." (Se)

"A career is wonderful, but you can't curl up with it on a cold night." (Se)

"I have feelings too. I am still human. All I want is to be loved, for myself and for my talent." (Fi)
 

dynamiteninja

Man for all seasons
Joined
May 30, 2008
Messages
1,195
MBTI Type
INFJ
Enneagram
4w5
Have to agree here; I go with blatant ESFP.

"I am invariably late for appointments - sometimes as much as two hours. I've tried to change my ways but the things that make me late are too strong, and too pleasing." (Se)

"A career is wonderful, but you can't curl up with it on a cold night." (Se)

"I have feelings too. I am still human. All I want is to be loved, for myself and for my talent." (Fi)

Yeah I think people have been ignoring the downright obvious. If she seems ESFP on the surface, maybe she really is ESFP?
 

Wonkavision

Retired Member
Joined
Jan 14, 2009
Messages
1,154
MBTI Type
ENFP
Enneagram
7w8
Before even taking a look at the lines you cited, remember, when you are dealing with MBTI typing you are dealing with preferences, not absolutes. In other words, every person will use and express all functions and attitudes at some point. To minimize mistakes, therefore, it's important to use a sufficiently large sample size of language if typing by interview analysis. One could watch a single game from Wimbledon in 1980 and "type" Bjorn Borg as a serve & volley tennis player; if one watched several matches, it would become quite clear that he was predominantly a great baseliner.

Well said! :yes:




But anyway, just for shits and giggles, let's look at the quotes you reference:

"I'm trying to find myself as a person, sometimes that's not easy to do. Millions of people live their entire lives without finding themselves."
This appears to me to be a perceptive statement--an observation of a process the subject is engaged in. The "millions of people..." is most clearly read as an S statement of concrete reality and the "find myself" as Fi, but not particularly definitive.

"Creativity has got to start with humanity and when you're a human being, you feel, you suffer."
If you are going to take letters away from this, they would probably be Fi and Se.

"It's better to be unhappy alone than unhappy with someone."
Introversion and Feeling, slight Se concreteness.

"A career is born in public -- talent in privacy."
Introversion. Again expressed in very concrete language.

"Hollywood is a place where they'll pay you a thousand dollars for a kiss and fifty cents for your soul."

Fi, Se.

"Being a sex symbol is a heavy load to carry, especially when one is tired, hurt and bewildered."

Se, Fi. Interesting to see the literal use of "heavy load" in a non-ironic statement.


Also, I agree with this analysis. :yes:

ISFP or ESFP.
 
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