ESFPs and the 'Party Animal' Stereotype.

[Pseudo]

I'm trying to type my partner. After looking through the cognitive functions I feel like he is an ESFP rather than and ENFJ as a I previously thought. I think part of why I stuck with ENFJ was that the type descriptions was a lot less 'damning' than the ESFP. I know that all MBTI should be taken with a grain of salt but I feel that more than any other type ESFPs are treated one-dimensionally. They are described as dumb, noncommittal party animals. So I was wondering:

1. Why this is so prevalent
2. If anyone has links to a more balanced description of ESFPs

 

[BadOctopus]

This is a pretty good description of the ESFP type.

https://type-coach.com/esfp

It focuses mostly on their positive qualities, like their friendliness, sensitivity to others, and perceptiveness. And I don't think it ever uses the phrase "the life of the party".

 

[Jaguar]

In the book I'm Not Crazy I'm Just Not You, Roger Pearman describes ESFP in this manner:

"Enjoy amusement and physical play, active, resourceful when dealing with people; focus on the immediate, find the easy way to do hard things, low need for closure, like to solve conflict as a go-between, curious about social interactions, like nature, usually can give the facts of situation."

Information attracted to: Data about people and their situations.
Associations made: Knowing who, what, where, and when. Will show care and concern for the well-being of others.
Expressions offered: Energetic observations about people and how to aid them in taking the next practical action.

Did I look that up for the sake of typing ESFPs? No. It's to illustrate a point that descriptions of any type can easily be dependent on the lens, or lenses, through which people view the world, a person's maturity level, knowledge level, as well as professionalism. (And that's just for starters.) Can you imagine someone named Bob describing ESFPs this way:

"Duuude. ESFPs are the shit. Surf's up. Bong, baby, bong. They're stonerz!"

I wouldn't take Bob seriously. But that's me.

 

[Cygnus]

The first major confusion you may make is between ESFJ and ESFP. The ESFJ is the one who has a lot of friends and carries a calm, personable demeanor.
Both types are Democratic, meaning they'll associate with broader groups of people rather than a small elite. The ESFP has a lot of friends because he's always on his feet, and this broad association will come naturally. The ESFJ does it more deliberately, but again, note that the ESFJ's interactions will tend to be very personable and calm, with a much lower intensity than those of the ESFP.


The ENFJ is similar to the ESFJ in his use of social interaction as a "vehicle" by which to navigate reality, but their Se in the SuperId gives them a "darker" flavor, and they often have the tendency to be "sluttier," almost dominating. The ENFJ is Aristocratic, and their use of the social "strings" of Fe will serve an endgame goal of increasing personal power, as opposed to increasing tranquility as in the case of the ESFJ, or exerting personal power as in the case of the ESFP. The ENFJ is the type that overpowers you with his "intensity," but he's still more focused on the social system around him than the ESFP. The distinction from the ESFJ is that it'll seem much more like a focused, deliberate social game, whereas ESFJ use of the Fe social "strings" seems to be much more intrinsic at first glance due to the lack of Se in the SuperId.


The ESFP doesn't care as much about being personable for its own sake, at least not in the Fe sense. The ESFP is all about exerting willpower to get what it wants. Many of the stereotypes associated with ESTP actually match better with ESFP; if you meet an ESTP, you'll note that they have a much more predictable, almost mechanical, demeanor, and are much more concerned with criticizing the irrationality and disorder of the world in terms of their Ti Creative. The ESFP will be in every way as strong-willed as the ESTP, but their actions will be much less predictable, their endgame goals much less oriented in logical order. The ESTP can actually seme very congenial and obsequious in its element, behaving much more like a directionless "tool" to be "used," while the ESFP is a self-contained system and its visions for the world are often much clearer. The ESTP does what it should, and you will not stop him; the ESFP does what it wants, when it wants, and you will not stop him.




Good example of an ESFP: Kamina (the tall dude) from Gurren Lagann:

 

[great_bay]

ESFP- Se-Fi-Te-Ni
ENFJ- Fe-Ni-Se-Ti

ENFJ's have no Te. It's in their 8th function which means it's foreign to them while ESFP's use it as their tool set.

 

[iHeartCats]

Se-doms are able to perceive their environment more objectively than any other type
Fi is (among other things) a preference to live according to your internal set of values rather than to live by what society or environment dictates (Fe)
Te is practical, adaptive, external logic that can effectively be applied to systems with changeable variables such as people and their behaviors and interactions, rather than to abstract theoretical concepts such as closed systems with fixed variables such as programming, which require Ti rather than Te

If you look at their three strongest functions instead of stereotypes, which one of those three functions would really make an ESFP stupid?

The ESFP doesn't care as much about being personable for its own sake, at least not in the Fe sense. The ESFP is all about exerting willpower to get what it wants. Many of the stereotypes associated with ESTP actually match better with ESFP; if you meet an ESTP, you'll note that they have a much more predictable, almost mechanical, demeanor, and are much more concerned with criticizing the irrationality and disorder of the world in terms of their Ti Creative. The ESFP will be in every way as strong-willed as the ESTP, but their actions will be much less predictable, their endgame goals much less oriented in logical order. The ESTP can actually seem very congenial and obsequious in its element, behaving much more like a directionless "tool" to be "used," while the ESFP is a self-contained system and its visions for the world are often much clearer. The ESTP does what it should, and you will not stop him; the ESFP does what it wants, when it wants, and you will not stop him.

I couldn't have said it better myself.
The only thing that I have to add to this is that ESFPs like to live by the saying "Never complain, never explain." They don't feel obliged to explain their actions to others and will gladly have everyone think what they very well want to think about them, even if it's not accurate. If you misunderstand their behaviour or make a wrong estimation of their personality, they are very unlikely to correct you. They want to see if you're smart enough to figure them out on your own, and if you are, they'll probably like you.