The 16 Personality Types Explained (2024)

An INFP is often an introspective quiet soul, that can be seen as deep in thought. INFPs have a beautiful sensitivity that lends themselves perfectly to artistic pursuits. INFPs make fantastic writers, poets and artists as they can create highly emotional and touching art. It's key for INFPs to follow their heart and pursue things of meaning.

INFPs are creative optimists who dream of a better world for everyone. They often express themselves artistically and demonstrate a deep understanding of how people think, feel, and interact.

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ESFJs are highly attuned to the needs of others, eager to fulfil their responsibilities to helping others where they feel they can. They readily perceive the feelings of others and how others view them, and naturally navigate within their emotional environment. Likewise, ESFJs agree with cooperation and harmony, and tend to identify strongly with those qualities. ESFJs are dutiful and loyal, readily giving time to their friends and family when they feel that they are in need of it. They tend also to readily give their time to others, and can place the problems of others on their shoulders, burdening themselves with the responsibility, attempting as they do to resolve them best they can.

Also known as the Consul personality type, ESFJs are happiest when serving others, connecting with old friends, and fulfilling obligations. They identify strongly with the groups they belong to, the traditions they uphold, and the rules they follow. They strive to make important contributions, and it’s important that their accomplishments are valued.

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An INFJ is idealistic, seeing the positives in the world and other people, they believe that they can create a happier, more harmonious environment. Their tendency for altruism has them care deeply for other people's feelings and value their friendships strongly. An INFJ has a strong moral code that they rarely break, this personal integrity is important for an INFJ.

People with the INFJ personality type have a strong sense of personal integrity with an innate desire to nurture others. Fueled by creativity and dedication, an INFJ has a natural talent to present unique solutions to overcome hurdles. Referred to as the 'Advocate,' the INFJ is among the rarest and often misunderstood MBTI personality types.

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ESFPs are extraverted and observant, making them great entertainers who eagerly charms and engages with others. They tend to be responsive to the world around them, readily participating in activities, spontaneous, enjoyable to be around, and they appreciate their surrounding pleasures such as people, food and gifts. ESFPs tend to be highly talkative and engaging in conversation with the zest they show in their lives. ESFPs live in the moment, and make sure they are often the center of attention by being open to different people, employing humor and a playful attitude to help get on with most other personality types and ensure they have a good time with them.

People with ESFP personalities are known for their generosity, lively spirit, and strong intersubjective skills (also known as emotional intelligence). They enjoy life without reservation and are committed optimists - sometimes overly so. Rather than calculating their actions, they value spontaneity, oftentimes at the expense of structure. ESFPs are abundant, and so is the joy and warmth they bring into the world.

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ENFJs are drawn to callings that are greater than themselves. Full of idealism, ENFJs strive to impact the world and those around them in a positive way. They tend to relish the opportunity to do good, even if doing so is difficult. ENFJs are natural leaders, and forward thinkers. Their natural charisma and passion for doing good can helps inspire others. It is no surprise that many successful politicians and teachers are ENFJs. The joy it can give them to coach and help others and loved ones is their catalyst to reach self-actualisation.

Those with the ENFJ personality are natural-born leaders, supporters, and communicators. They can sense the motivations of others and gain fulfillment by helping others live to their full potential. Often, they occupy positions of power not because they crave leadership, but because they genuinely want the world to be a better place, and they are not comfortable sitting idly while no progress is made. ENFJs live with a solid moral compass that guides their decision-making, even when it isn't easy. The primary driver for the ENFJ personality is a sense of duty to what is best for the community.

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ISFJ are natural helpers, bound to assist others whenever they can they are extremely valued by their friends and family for their desire to take on board problems and offer solutions. Humbling and practical are traits heavily carried by ISFJs standing them apart from other personality types. An ISFJs quiet passion will burn brightly for whoever is lucky to make a close friendship or relationship and see the depth of compassion in an ISFJ.

Known as ‘The Defender,’ ISFJ personalities are defined as introverted, sensing, feeling, and judging. Hard-working, patient, and imaginative, ISFJs make excellent friends, partners, and parents. They are known for their eagerness to help others, as well as their value towards traditions and family. They can sometimes procrastinate, but not out of laziness; ISFJs are known perfectionists. While starting the job may be difficult, the ISFJ will always complete their responsibilities on time, and often exceed expectations in the process. That being said, ISFJs are often modest about their accomplishments, sometimes to their own detriment. Learning how to stand up for themselves is a vital part of the ISFJ’s journey.

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ENFPs are warm and passionate, readily helping other people express and explore their own creativity. They are people focused, and they tend to enjoy the enthusiasm of content creation, generating new ideas and engaging in activities with others. ENFPs are typically expressive in quick-witted in their communication, readily employing their humor to great effect. With their original imagination, ENFPs will likely have a strong creativity focus and artistic core. Art’s ability to express and create is appealing to the ENFP, who likely imagine with it in one form or another.

People within the ENFP personality type are often enthusiastic, charming, charismatic, and visionary. These people tend to have excellent communication skills, high empathy, and a genuine interest in others. The ENFP personality type describes dreamers who can imagine anything except living in a routine and rigid structure. Craving freedom and variety, this personality type yearns to explore their world creatively.

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ISFPs are peaceful, caring and open individuals. They stand on their own two feet and will carve their own path in the world, being entirely happy with living by their own set of rules and ideals, and not just content with following what people have done before. An ISFP's hidden creativity will take many people by surprise as they are modest in their quiet achievements and will harness their imaginative creativity as an expressive outlet. ISFPs are in touch with other people's feeling as much as they are with their own, instinctually seeing what lies just beneath the surface in their friends and family.

Playful and observant, referred to as 'the Adventurer', ISFPs are independent and creative. Ther demeanour is often so serene that others may be surprised to learn, upon getting to know them, that they have rich inner lives.

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People with INTJ type personality (sometimes referred to as 'strategists') see the world around them as one big complex puzzle they can solve. They tend to be ambitious and enjoy strategizing using logic. They think big and strive towards their goals, but prefer to keep their visionary plans to themselves.

People with INTJ personality type calculate the world around them, and believe they can achieve anything if they just get the strategy right. They use vision and analysis to build the world they want. They often keep things private, and work things through in their mind rather than share them openly.

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ESTJs are traditional and orderly, readily using their organisational focus to spearhead projects and people and to charge them on a course to what the ESTJ feels is right or wrong. ESTJs like to bring communities together, and they tend to embrace traditional values of honesty, industry, and conscientious dignity. They tend to have clear rules on how best to navigate oneself through the world, in a systematic, methodical way, following established processes. ESTJs are good at taking charge, and people tend to appreciate their role in organising for the communities and working hard to conserve traditional values.

ESTJs are masters of their own worlds. They are confident in their analysis of the world and derive comfort from their conviction of what’s right and wrong. They appear self-confident because they stick to their principles of honesty, dignity, and order. ESTJs are natural decision-makers and have a well-developed executive function. Of the 16 MBTI types, they are the most conventionally masculine.

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ENTJs are leaders by their very nature. They tend to have a charismatic and confident personality and are able to bring people together in facing a singular, shared goal. Of course, this can mean that ENTJs have the capacity to be remorselessly rational, setting themselves to complete a task with a dogged determination and drive that can result in some marginalisation. Their overwhelming nature can smother the more timid and sensitive personalities, and they can clash as a result. Nevertheless, ENTJs are likely to be great achievers in business or public institutions, and they tend to assert their presence into anything to which they set their mind, heart, and soul.

People with the ENTJ personality type are often leaders, organizers, and logical decision-makers. ENTJs tend to be excellent planners, abstract thinkers, and problem solvers with a propensity for leading the charge for action. Their enthusiasm and motivation for great achievement fuel their professional career. The ENTJ is characteristically direct, and while they may not show much emotion themselves, they are aware of others' feelings and can navigate them with practice. They are among the rarest of personality types.

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The ESTP is the soul of the party and loves to be center of attention. An ESTP will live life in the moment and revel in an action-packed life, full of adventure and obstacles. Their courage helps them sieze opportunities and push the boundaries of life. Many people gravitate towards ESTPs due to their charisma and social skills.

The ESTP, also called the Entrepreneur, is known for being one of the most outgoing personality types on the Myers Briggs scale. They are extremely enthusiastic, observant, easily adaptable, and they love to make work fun. ESTPs apply their own experiences to situations to help find solutions, and are known for being exceptionally resourceful. However, with their outgoing demeanor they can have difficulty managing their time, and tend to lose interest in long-term, complex projects. With their extraverted personality, ESTPs are action-oriented and love to use logical thinking in all things they do, even though they are also known for being quite dramatic at times.

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ENTPs are natural dreamers and debaters, relishing any chance they get to exercise their effortlessly quick wit, wide base of knowledge and ability to prove an effective point. As a result, ENTPs likewise tend to be natural polemics, readily playing the role of devil's advocate in order to push and test arguments to their limits – not just for the thrill of the exercise, but to prove themselves and others that they have the capacity to do this. There doesn't have to be a great reason to debate either – it can be just for the sake of debate itself. While this can clash with some other, more conflict averse personality types, their charisma, conversational nature, and ability to deconstruct the obvious, is sought after in business as well as general problem-solving.

The ENTP is a dreamer, a visionary, appearing a bit scatterbrained at times, a conversationalist, and a rational creator. ENTPs love to be the ones to synthesize the data of others, point to the vision of the future, and let others work to execute on that vision. As conversationalists, they are known to play the devil's advocate. This conversational stance may rub others the wrong way, but it's how the ENTP evaluates an idea. What's a more effective way to understand a point than trying to argue against it?

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ISTJs are a respectful and serious personality type. It is no surprise that ISTJs are sometimes referred to as Logisticians for they enjoy a rhythm to their lives and this helps them to feel most comfortable with a definite preference for following a particular pattern to completing tasks.

People with the ISTJ personality type come across as pleasant and serious-minded. With a no-frills aesthetic and a no-nonsense approach to life, they don't often stand out in a crowd, but they don't shy away from the spotlight either. They respect the authority of others and prefer to follow the rules rather than make them, but they are not averse to taking charge to ensure sure tasks are completed the right way.

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An INTP is highly introspective and will, more often than not, be deep in thought solving countless problems and puzzles in their mind. Highly analytical, an INTP will analyze every little thing they come across in a Sherlock Holmes-esque manner. Even after events, the INTP will think over past events and over-analyze things people said or how they temselves acted. This constant thinking can sometimes turn negative and leave the INTP feeling dissatisfied with their actions or life.

INTP stands for Introverted, Intuitive, Thinking and Perceiving. INTP personality types are proud of their intelligent way of looking at the world. They have very often creative minds and thrive in the right academic environments suited to them. They are inquisitive by nature and can enjoy finding creative solutions to problems. INTPs can try to view situations from different perspectives and they are inclined to collect evidence which will help them identify the most logical decision. They are highly practical and are more likely to follow their mind rather than their heart.

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People with ISTP type personality are enthusiastic when it comes to deciphering the physical world. They excel at achieving their goals and are driven by the strong curiosity they possess. ISTPs are inquisitive and this inquisitiveness is shown in their determination to unearth the mysteries in their lives and that they forever seek new adventures and answers. Coupled with their industriousness and the confidence they possess in themselves they are great achievers.

ISTPs are curious to learn how things work and they are driven to find ways to make things work better. They like to learn by doing, so they are happiest when either fixing something up or creating something new. Calm and rational, they have the ability to set their feelings aside and spend long hours working in solitude in order to satisfy their curiosity, learn a new skill, or accomplish a goal. Far more interested in physical reality than philosophical discussions, many famous ISTPs have been scientists, explorers, and inventors.

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