Some of this rings true in my experience with ENFPs and even some INFPs (myself included). I think there is more to it than simply the Ne tendency to focus on the positive or being in the habit of bending the truth.
- Ommitting facts, but not considering it a lie
Can happen because the person is not focused on facts. The information they focus on and remember and are able to impart is intuitve and feeling information. Even if the person knows certain factual information, they may not trust it as readily (knowing their recollection is fuzzy) OR
they simply don't consider it relevant. Other people may consider it relevant, perhaps the MOST relevant information, especially when the facts
seemingly contradict the intuitive view that has been presented. The NFP trusts the "reading between the lines" as reality, not the so-called facts, because reality is experienced as a changing, moldable thing. Facts seem too static to be relevant (they are too quickly dated), whereas the hunches and feeling values are what is developing (most relevant because we are moving into the future it points to) or what the ultimate meaning is.
Sometimes the person may be filling in the blanks with what they genuinely believe happened or what seems a reasonable explanation,
based on the result. This can change, as the next time they discuss it they offer a different possibility as explanation, having forgotten the old one and never having recalled the "reality". In short - they are GUESSING because they dont remember the factual details. Learning to just say you dont remember is an easy solution, except then people wont accept any intuitve based conclusion from you (you cease to be credible, due to sensing bias).
- Emotional Honesty
He is talking about how emotional honesty can create a factual, past-based picture of oneself at odds with an ideal that the person identifies as the "self", and I will add that it can cause unwanted and seemingly unnecessary conflict. IFPs who hold back their emotional honesty end up usually presenting a simple mask and being frustrated/depressed by it, and they usually do it out of a sense of being misunderstood if they reveal themselves. They feel unable to present themselves as their ideal or ashamed if they don't meet it. The honesty feels futile.
ENFPs may hold back because such honesty doesn't usually develop the highest potential for outcomes, and so they present themselves as needed to causes those outcomes. So if a relationship has great potential, and they see a past "fact" as spoiling it, a fact they dont really deem relevant to the unfolding reality, then why mention it? That potential is more valuable to them than "what is" and especially "what has been", so to them it may feel that they are being genuine by upholding ideals, in a way. Also, they may see their own future potential as who they are, not their past conduct. Being experimental people, "bad" past conduct may just be part of a process. The idea that we are our past or that our former actions define us is at odds with Ne mentality, being a highly Si attitude.
- Excessively imaginative + white lies. I have seen very young ENFPs do a thing we see children too - allow their imagination to explain things or they recall what an experience caused them to imagine over what happened. As a child, my ENFP told me how in class the pet tarantula escaped from its cage. When I asked how, she paused, then said, "Well the cage was made of candy, so it ate through it!". She didnt know how it escaped, but her imaginative explanation was a
compelling possibility. Okay, kids say silly stuff like that, but this continued to define her personality. With age, her compelling, imagintive possibilities for reality became increasingly hard to detect from the "truth" as far as facts go. In other words, they became less far-fetched and whimsical, making it appear she was lying, perhaps for attention or just because it was more interesting than the facts and would procure more response from people. Essentially, she WAS lying, because she didnt offer it as a "story". Having known her well, I would call her out on it, and then she would just laugh and admit she made it up. But the manipulative nature of this started getting darker, and so we parted ways.... I dont think that defines all or most ENFPs, but I see traces of it here and there, and it is usually quite harmless, as the video notes. I see it INFPs a bit too, as well as ENTPs and to the least degree INTPs.
I wanted to add to the much simpler video because the idea of not realizing one is "lying" or actually believing a particular version of reality can come from having a different experience of what reality is. There are times I think the sensory bias can kind of unfairly invalidate this, and perhaps that is even what leads to the individual "inventing factual information". If the intuitions were accepted in a raw manner, it might clear that up. Take the video's example of the reason for running late - "I overslept". That is a factual reason, but maybe the intuition and feeling values suggest oversleeping due to some deeper frustration with reality, a kind of subconcious protest. Can you say that to people? NOPE. They will roll their eyes and deem it melodramatic BS. But what is the outcome the person deems FIT to the intuitve-feeling reality? One of sympathy, not condemnation. So they tell the white lie to get sympathy. Other times, the person cannot explain what happened. Talking with many who prefer Ne, they just dont know why they, say, ran late. Maybe something caught their attention and they went into some inspired daydream about it, and then 20 minutes past and wham! They are late. They may have no idea how to go about explaining this sort of thing. I've seen some compare it to "ooh shiny object" syndrome, but more so with thoughts/ideas in the mind. This is hard for other people to grasp, so a simpler explanation gets offered.
I will add that MOST ENFPs I know simply do not comment on things they don't have a solid grasp of (if they cant remember, then they just say so) or they note when something is speculative or they are telling a silly story. The extremes of this so-called lying is not typical or many learn rather young the pitfalls of it.
Side note: I hate videos because I could've read a article and gotten the same info 2x as quickly, but here I have to wait for pauses and words often take longer to say than to read.
