Lex, way to use your first post to bash millions of people simultaneously! We can only hope to be further enlightened by your keen insights on why a bunch of people you don't know suck!
Oh leave him alone. He's an INTJ; he thinks things through logically... but doesn't bother to base his insights on actual external stimuli (like actual people, just his own interpretation of them), and is highly judgemental, unable to see things from other's perspectives.
He's doomed to be socially inept to the end of his days, and stick to strict rules that're abstract and don't actually have any baring in sense, and use all his intelligence to 'proove' his bizzare concepts, ignoring anything that doesn't match his predisposed ideas.
This is an example of whot happens when yeu use a type too harshly, and don't consider the rammifications of such, or that individuals exist outside of such. Being smart has nothing to do with personality type at all. personality type just implies how yeu're more likely to use that intelligence, and in which ways yeu're naturally adept to applying it.
That being said, the ESFP can be very intelligent on an individual level, regardless of whot Lex thinks.
However, he has a point, that virtually all of them, will tend to display it very poorly. When they use their intelligence, though they may be capable of being booksmart, it'll be more based on being a sensor; massive capacity to suck up raw data and memorize it... this doesn't really do much for them though because they can't really apply it all that well in a clinical setting usually.
Moreso, they'll be prone to doing some rather foolhardy things without thinking it through, and be far more interested in social stuff, except they won't have the attention span to really bother getting deeply involved.
Most likely though, they will be capable of using any intelligence they have to incredible degree when applying it to social situations. Many famous actors, singers, and so on have been known for this, because they can appeal to the shallow masses with incredable ease at a distance.
This doesn't make them stupid, it just means they apply their intelligence more adeptly in certain situations and certain ways. It may not be traditionally considered 'normal intelligence' though, but it's still a form of intelligence.
That being said, a programmer's skills aren't really known for being a thinking profession; it's more a matter of memorization and applying such with great detail in repetitive fashion. The S of the ESFP fits perfectly here, so it is a partial preferance for them.
The cognitive functions also have some use towards these goals.
But anyways, certain types of things can be done by the ESFP's better than others. Those that take their strengths and run with them, do very well. Those that're intelligent can apply them towards those strengths.
That being said, however, an ESFP is not innately adept at certain tasks, and no matter how intelligent they may be, they just won't really think in the manner which naturally lends itself to that task. Most of these tasks they generally are less adept at are the "traditionally intellectual" type thinking, that an NT is more well known for.
This isn't a bad thing, just a different application of intelligence. Lex is just being biased on his definition of "intelligence", seeing only the singular method of application, and decreeing his way be the right and only way. Were he a P, he'd have an easier time seeing alternate perspectives,a nd wouldn't be making such an ass out of himself =3