Forest Gump MBTI type.

[Mal12345]

Ok? Lol

Obviously Gump is not a J type. So it's just "no." Simple as that. The sky is also not red at noon, and other truisms of life.

 

[Mal12345]

http://www.typologycentral.com/forums/popular-culture-and-type/37515-forest-gump.html

 

[Masokissed]

Obviously Gump is not a J type. So it's just "no." Simple as that. The sky is also not red at noon, and other truisms of life.

But he's Fe Si Ne Ti
You're dumbing down typology if you think of it as just "Oh, they aren't rigid, so they can't be a J" or "Oh, they're an asshole, they can't be an F", etc. SFJs especially often don't "seem J". If you compare him to Jenny, tho, it's obvious she's the P and he's the J - he gets in a lot of bizarre situations because he has trouble saying no and wants to serve others and doesn't think things through (and this is where his lower IQ comes into play and makes it hard to type him - anybody can not think things through but with him it's definitely connected to his IQ and I see people type him all sorts of things), and more rarely just because of where his feelings take him which is where he can get really impulsive (ex. just running for a long time). Ultimately, though, his only goal is to have a stable life in his home in Alabama.

Jenny is totally opposite in thought, behavior, and functionally (and even says so herself) - Se Fi Te Ni

She purposely goes out of her way to experience things and keep options open as an END ALL while that's not Forrest's main goal (she travels all the time, takes up different occupations - being a coverfold, being a singer and musician, etc., does drugs and and joins different groups all for the experience itself and to explore who she is)

Look at another type Forrest is commonly typed as - ISFP; ISFP might have the P at the end but it's really a judging type, with Fi, a judging function, coming first. So even if people are totally wrong on what judging function he has first, they realize he IS a judging type (he can't be Fi because all of his values come from outside and he always adjusts to other people, whereas Jenny purposely seeks her own values and sticks to them - most likely love and freedom, seen when she joins the hippie and disco scenes; Forrest doesn't even think about what he REALLY values and just serves kindly helps other people in the moment - like an SFJ; he repeats the values of his mom and others instead of finding his own, etc.) When a judging type "judges" often they can seem like a P (this really only happens with Je, though, not Ji, being that it's extraverted and objective - not as stubborn as Ji).

He's also obviously Ti inferior

That's not all I gotta say but it's all I could piece together right now

 

[Mal12345]

But he's Fe Si Ne Ti
You're dumbing down typology if you think of it as just "Oh, they aren't rigid, so they can't be a J" or "Oh, they're an asshole, they can't be an F", etc. SFJs especially often don't "seem J". If you compare him to Jenny, tho, it's obvious she's the P and he's the J - he gets in a lot of bizarre situations because he has trouble saying no and wants to serve others and doesn't think things through (and this is where his lower IQ comes into play and makes it hard to type him - anybody can not think things through but with him it's definitely connected to his IQ and I see people type him all sorts of things), and more rarely just because of where his feelings take him which is where he can get really impulsive (ex. just running for a long time). Ultimately, though, his only goal is to have a stable life in his home in Alabama.

Jenny is totally opposite in thought, behavior, and functionally (and even says so herself) - Se Fi Te Ni

She purposely goes out of her way to experience things and keep options open as an END ALL while that's not Forrest's main goal (she travels all the time, takes up different occupations - being a coverfold, being a singer and musician, etc., does drugs and and joins different groups all for the experience itself and to explore who she is)

Look at another type Forrest is commonly typed as - ISFP; ISFP might have the P at the end but it's really a judging type, with Fi, a judging function, coming first. So even if people are totally wrong on what judging function he has first, they realize he IS a judging type (he can't be Fi because all of his values come from outside and he always adjusts to other people, whereas Jenny purposely seeks her own values and sticks to them - most likely love and freedom, seen when she joins the hippie and disco scenes; Forrest doesn't even think about what he REALLY values and just serves kindly helps other people in the moment - like an SFJ; he repeats the values of his mom and others instead of finding his own, etc.) When a judging type "judges" often they can seem like a P (this really only happens with Je, though, not Ji, being that it's extraverted and objective - not as stubborn as Ji).

He's also obviously Ti inferior

That's not all I gotta say but it's all I could piece together right now

"You're dumbing down typology if you think of it as just "Oh, they aren't rigid, so they can't be a J" or "Oh, they're an asshole, they can't be an F", etc." was a fun way to begin your post, but that's about all I can say for it because it's quite common to start writing by attacking someone's credibility. By making others feel small we make ourselves feel tall. It increases our confidence and helps us respond with more confidence.

"ISFP might have the P at the end but it's really a judging type" This isn't a Socionics problem. An ISFP isn't "really" a J type unless you're talking Socionics theory.

"[H]e can't be Fi because all of his values come from outside and he always adjusts to other people..." That's true of Forrest, which is what makes it difficult to evaluate E versus I because the ability to adjust to other people involves both. But it always reveals Perception first and foremost because it is necessary to perceive before making the adjustment.

The MBTI doesn't cover all range of types because of E/I, and this criticism extends to JCF because of the same dichotomy. But it never occurs to some people that 16 types aren't enough to cover 7,000,000,000+ personalities.

Forrest isn't an Extrovert because he doesn't make life happen, life happens to him. His life is represented by the feather in the wind at the end of the movie. On the other hand, Forrest isn't an Introvert because of his apparent lack of self-made internal structure. His value-judgments were created by others for him. And where this does happen to people, it often leads to neurotic conflict between self-made and externally-based structures. But Forrest has no such conflict, he simply acts spontaneously in the moment, and then lets the moment carry him along. He has no thought for the future, and his past consists of aphorisms and experiences simply held in memory, although occasionally he bursts forth with a judgment that takes the form of a curious question and a tentative answer - "What makes bullies act like that? I don't know. I reckon it's just the way they were raised up." That's not a quote from the movie, just an imitation of Forrest's thinking style which often ends with an aphorism from his mother.

Lacking internal conflict, Forrest almost has no personality because he's not neurotic in the slightest. Forrest's MBTI type is "undifferentiated." Perhaps ISFP is as close to a call as we can come, but I've never known the ISFP type to just sit there staring straight ahead. A psychiatric diagnosis would have far more significance in Forrest's case.

 

[Mal12345]

"She purposely goes out of her way to experience things and keep options open as an END ALL while that's not Forrest's main goal..."

To say that is not Forrest is not to imply that Forrest is a J type by default. But I'm not saying that Forrest is as undifferentiated as Chauncey Gardener in Being There, who is for the most part a human automaton. Forrest at least has something going on mentally, it's just not type related. I also don't think Forrest keeps his options open, but only because he doesn't perceive any options at all. And so in that same context neither does he seek closure. He asks himself open-ended questions that puzzle him, and answers them as if he is his mother. Perhaps his mother was a J type, but that doesn't extend to Forrest because his mind doesn't operate the same way other individuals' minds operate.

 

[Mal12345]

My take on Forrest's personality type is here:
PTypes - Devoted Personality Type
This corresponds with ISFJ, if it's possible to pin down a type at all.
PTypes - Correspondence of PTypes, Keirsey, Enneagram, Psychiatric, and Astrological Types

 

[Mal12345]

Thanks for the likes. But I'm actually rather annoyed that I got sucked into thinking about the type of someone who stares into space and tells random people his autobiography.

If ISFJ is Gump's type, I think the jogging was due to inferior Ne. Because it occurred the day after Jenny left him again. From my experience with the ISFJ type, stress causes inferior Ne to come out in bizarre ways. For example, this normally very routinized type will suddenly just take off in a random direction. I've seen an ISFJ who, during a period of severe stress, gave up drab, conservative, socially-appropriate clothing and dressed in really strange colors. I believe that if ISFJ is Gump's type, then jogging was his particular form of Ne stress relief.

As for Gump's tertiary Ti, in general it gives the ISFJ a nerdy or even dorky appearance and a tendency to intellectualize at times. It might be the function that activates when he asks himself questions about the world.

 

[Mal12345]

"Forrest doesn't even think about what he REALLY values and just serves kindly helps other people in the moment - like an SFJ; he repeats the values of his mom and others instead of finding his own, etc.)." I'll go along with that.

 

[cosmic royal]

I think Forrest is an ESFJ.

 

[Mal12345]

I think Forrest is an ESFJ.

ISFJ. He's obviously past oriented.

 

[cosmic royal]

ISFJ. He's obviously past oriented.

Hmm, now that I read through the past arguments, ISFJ does make some more sense.

 

[Mal12345]

Hmm, now that I read through the past arguments, ISFJ does make some more sense.

Here's a good page on the topic Funky MBTI in Fiction * Forrest Gump [ISFJ]

At least up to the point where he discusses Inferior Ne, which is way off base.

 

[Mal12345]

Now that we've gotten his type boiled down, I like to read other peoples' efforts:

From PersC:
"My best guess for Forrest's type would be ISFP. He is doesn't feel the need to lead or control others, just as he has no desire to be controlled. He's service oriented. He didn't really give himself credit for his accomplishments. He was perceptive and aware of others. He wasn't a fan of abstract theories, rather mostly practical applications. He didn't make decisions based purely off logic. He weighed things against his own morals and principles before doing them."

Let's analyze this step by step for typological purposes:

"He is doesn't feel the need to lead or control others..."
That's true. However, the ISFJ doesn't feel the need to lead others either. But they are often placed into leadership positions by others.

..."just as he has no desire to be controlled." I don't know what this means.

"He's service oriented."
Wouldn't that point away from ISFP?

"He didn't really give himself credit for his accomplishments."
I don't think that means anything, does it?

"He was perceptive and aware of others."
Ummm, so am I.

"He wasn't a fan of abstract theories, rather mostly practical applications."
That's true.

"He didn't make decisions based purely off logic."
True.

"He weighed things against his own morals and principles before doing them."
FAIL!