• You are currently viewing our forum as a guest, which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community, you will have access to additional post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), view blogs, respond to polls, upload content, and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free, so please join our community today! Just click here to register. You should turn your Ad Blocker off for this site or certain features may not work properly. If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us by clicking here.

Socionics and physical characteristics

Giggly

No moss growing on me
Joined
Jun 12, 2008
Messages
9,661
MBTI Type
iSFj
Enneagram
2
Instinctual Variant
sx/so
So I was reading the socionics descriptions and it was really cracking me up how they were describing how each type looks physically (i.e. ENFP's are tall, ISFJ's have thick lips, INTP's have large noses etc.). How can they do this? Are they true for the most part?
 
Joined
Jun 6, 2007
Messages
7,312
MBTI Type
INTJ
Hmm, (and Hmm!) I don't look at all like the INTJ description there. I don't have a single severe feature, and I'm certainly not thin or scrawny. I will concede that my normal expression is rather bloodless though. People often think I'm upset when my face is at rest.
 

Jack Flak

Permabanned
Joined
Jul 17, 2008
Messages
9,098
MBTI Type
type
So I was reading the socionics descriptions and it was really cracking me up how they were describing how each type looks physically (i.e. ENFP's are tall, ISFJ's have thick lips, INTP's have large noses etc.). How can they do this? Are they true for the most part?
I was honestly just thinking about how ENFPs are tall.

I couldn't tell you how accurate they are, they seem too vague to be useful anyway.
 

Lady_X

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 27, 2008
Messages
18,235
MBTI Type
ENFP
Enneagram
784
Instinctual Variant
sx/sp
^^ that's funny jack!
 

Lady_X

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 27, 2008
Messages
18,235
MBTI Type
ENFP
Enneagram
784
Instinctual Variant
sx/sp
yeah...my isfj sister is the only one in my family w/o full lips....silliness.
 

Kasper

Diabolical
Joined
May 30, 2008
Messages
11,590
MBTI Type
ENTP
Enneagram
9w8
Instinctual Variant
so/sx
INTps eyes have a sorrowful look about them as if they are about to be victimised in some way
Woe no *sad eyes*

INTps often show poor control of their lower jaw, allowing them to hang down.
Hehe!

INTj males often have a short haircut.
How unique.

INFps mainly have slim figures, however well-built INFps are not that uncommon. Their eyes vary from large to small.
How definitive.

INFjs faces convey the feeling that their soul is suffering even when it is not.
*sadder eyes*

ISTps have a characteristic springy gait with the knees slightly bent giving them a characteristic surreptitious walk.
Hehe. I’m sooo gonna watch ISTps for this one. Than pay them out.

In moments of passionate conversation ISFps can often swallow air like a fish. When ISFps try to explain things, they can move their eyebrows considerably.
But I’m gonna watch for this one even more. Than seriously pay them out. Waggely eyed fish breathers!
 

Eldanen

Arcesso pulli gingerios!
Joined
Apr 26, 2007
Messages
697
MBTI Type
INTP
Enneagram
5w4
Phototyping is real, although it depends on something a lot more amorphous than plain physical characteristics that you can isolate. Which basically means that it's unfalsifiable, and therefore unscientific. There are some generalizations and some people who /do/ fit the archetype. And there are many who don't.

Of course, the position of some Socionists is that most people don't really know typology well enough to actually type others in a consistent manner, instead relying on superficial external characteristics and traits rather than looking at real internal dynamics. Read Jung some time. He really gets into it :).

If you want to learn, it helps to pay attention to the extreme minutiae of a person's eyes and what kind of "aura" they give off, for lack of a better word.

Needless to say, I've probably gotten a lot of weird looks from people in real life for this practice. You can get very close to a person by looking at their eyes, and some people don't want you to get that close, lol.
 

Jack Flak

Permabanned
Joined
Jul 17, 2008
Messages
9,098
MBTI Type
type
Phototyping is real, although it depends on something a lot more amorphous than plain physical characteristics that you can isolate. Which basically means that it's unfalsifiable. There are some generalizations and some people who /do/ fit the archetype. And there are many who don't.
What he said. *eats various photos to gain innate understanding*
 

FDG

pathwise dependent
Joined
Aug 13, 2007
Messages
5,903
MBTI Type
ENTJ
Enneagram
7w8
There are some common characteristics, but they're more vague than that. VI does work after you have experience, but you need to integrate mannerism and facial expressions into the general picture too. Just looking at the descriptions at socionics.com won't cut it, especially because what are considered to be characteristic traits of a given type are actually shared by many others, so what you are looking for would be the combination of them. This description is true of me:

ENTjs often have full lips and a characteristic salesman like smile. Their bone structures normally give them their square shape figures. Their faces too are often square in shape and the facial structure itself often has many small details. Their eyes are constantly darting about rarely remaining on one object for any period of time. ENTjs typically tend to have a bouncing gait. The more hyperactive they are the more noticeable this becomes.

and I can see it to be valid for the ENTjs I know, too. But I don't think that if I didn't know that they were ENTjs, I would have noticed the similarity. Because for example this would easily apply too:

ESTps generally have either slim figures or firm and solid figures. Solid ESTps have free and flexible movements. When standing in one place they tend to wriggle rhythmically as if they have a slight electric current running through them.

Although I know plenty of people that are not ESTps and wriggle and have free and flexible movements. In short: if somebody matches the description perfectly, then it's quite likely that his type is the one of the description. However, isolating single statements will not be effective.
 

EJCC

The Devil of TypoC
Joined
Aug 29, 2008
Messages
19,129
MBTI Type
ESTJ
Enneagram
1w9
Instinctual Variant
sp/so
I'm not thin. My movements aren't sharp, tense or jerky (but I wouldn't call myself the picture of grace, either). More importantly, I don't have severely upright posture.

However, I DO have a really hard time sitting still. I often find myself shifting positions, crossing and uncrossing my legs when I sit, fidgeting with objects in my hands (e.g. closing and opening a wallet rhythmically). I don't know if all ESTJs are like this, though.

With regard to the other type descriptions, I have zero faith in the facial structure descriptions. For example, my INFJ mom fits almost all the physical descriptions, while my INFJ friend fits none of them. (I also look a lot like my mom, which doesn't fit my type... but she's heavier than me, which fits hers.) Same with the INTP description. HOWEVER, unrelated to facial characteristics, the thing about INTPs speaking in a monotone is COMPLETELY TRUE! It's weird!
 

Orangey

Blah
Joined
Jun 26, 2008
Messages
6,354
MBTI Type
ESTP
Enneagram
6w5
Hmm, (and Hmm!) I don't look at all like the INTJ description there. I don't have a single severe feature, and I'm certainly not thin or scrawny. I will concede that my normal expression is rather bloodless though. People often think I'm upset when my face is at rest.

People at school used to ask me if I was angry even though I wasn't feeling angry at all, lol. And although people didn't particularly like talking to me (barring my few friends, of course), I never got made fun of or picked on...and I think that it may have been because I looked fairly intimidating.

Anyway, I think I translate over to the socionics INTj, and while I do have high cheekbones and a fairly angular (or wide-set) jaw, I don't know if I would characterize that as severe. And I'm not particularly scrawny. I do have stiff movements, though.

My friend, who is almost 100% INFJ, seems to fit the vague criteria for the type. But I see the descriptions as being almost so vague as to be useless.
 

Kasper

Diabolical
Joined
May 30, 2008
Messages
11,590
MBTI Type
ENTP
Enneagram
9w8
Instinctual Variant
so/sx
Hmm, (and Hmm!) I don't look at all like the INTJ description there. I don't have a single severe feature, and I'm certainly not thin or scrawny. I will concede that my normal expression is rather bloodless though. People often think I'm upset when my face is at rest.

Are you INTj or INTp though?
 

am_i_evil666

New member
Joined
Apr 3, 2008
Messages
325
I think that the physical traits are irrelevant for one's type. I think that what gives more input about someone's type is their facial expressions, the look on their face, their gestures, etc.
Seriusly, how did they came up with the fact the ENTJs have square shape figures?

They may be right about things like " ENFps often have a crafty look in their eyes. Sometimes, when they are inactive, their faces can have an astonished look about them.", but why is this only for slim ENFPs???? That's stupid.
 

mlittrell

New member
Joined
Sep 3, 2008
Messages
1,387
MBTI Type
ENFP
Enneagram
9w1
besides the fact that socionics tends to make horrible points like those, there is a link, though its not as obvious (yet not true) as those. there is a direct link between the human cognition and the body. like i always post when it comes to neuro/physiological links, read The Edge Effect by Dr. Eric Braverman. He links the 4 main neurotransmitters in the brain with the 4 keirsey temperaments.

Enjoy this quick overview. It should answer your question.
 

01011010

New member
Joined
Jun 22, 2008
Messages
3,916
MBTI Type
INxJ
I will concede that my normal expression is rather bloodless though. People often think I'm upset when my face is at rest.

This happens to me too. I'm not mad or upset. It wastes my time when people ask me irrelevant questions. I fit INTJ physically. I have an oblong face shape. Most would consider that severe. Yet, I test as INTP in Socionics.

I don't think physical typing is all that accurate. Perhaps, expressions and mannerisms though.
 

Kora

New member
Joined
Jul 29, 2008
Messages
477
MBTI Type
ENTP
But, our physical characteristics are genetical. Which means if you're born in a family with long noses, you'll probably have a long nose. But if you're born in a family of SJ, you don't have to be a SJ. There are exceptions, but I think there will be more exceptions in inheriting type (for starters, I doubt you can 'inherit' type) than inheriting physical characteristics.
 

Haphazard

Don't Judge Me!
Joined
Apr 14, 2008
Messages
6,704
MBTI Type
ENFJ
What's the type that paces like a caged animal whenever they're able to move freely?
 

The Ü™

Permabanned
Joined
May 26, 2007
Messages
11,910
MBTI Type
INTJ
Enneagram
5w6
Instinctual Variant
sp/sx
But, our physical characteristics are genetical.

So is type, in theory.

And it's less about their literal appearance and more about the feel you get when you look at someone. And there really seems to be a connection.
 
Top