How to spot an ISFP
A few years ago, I made a post about how the cognitive functions manifest in our behaviour and now I’m going to expand on that and give a more detailed, visually accompanied overview for each type, now for the ISFP.
For the purpose of this guide, I took a look at this interview with the Canadian figure skaters Tessa Virtue (an ISFP) and Scott Moir (an ESFJ). You can find the links to other type spotting guides below which I will update over time when new guides are being added.
The dominant and the auxiliary cognitive functions that people use are those that are the ones that are the most noticeable in the quality of their gaze, in their speech style, in their facial expressions, and their whole general demeanour, and so these are the ones that I will be focussing on here. In case of an ISFP, these are Fi and Se. Due to this combination, ISFPs tend to be very grounded in their physical reality and focused on how everything relates to them personally. I always say that there are two base types of ISFPs: the quirky mad-people and the ice queens/kings. Fundamentally, they are not that different from each other, they just radiate a different kind of energy as the former are more upbeat and outgoing (see for example Scottish actress Karen Gillan) than those like Tessa Virtue who belong to the latter, more reserved category.
When I say “ice queen”, I don’t mean that ISFPs are cold-hearted, not at all. It’s just they are the least emotive of all the types. Their strongest function is Fi and so their emotional focus is directed inwards. They are constantly listening to themselves about how this makes them feel and how they relate to that, so there is no need to actively express their feelings outwardly. Interestingly, they are still completely unable to hide their true emotions. It’s like they are oozing out of them unintentionally. The gif above actually shows the difference between an Fi-dom and an Fe-dom very nicely: Scott Moir, as an ESFJ, is staring at her talking with a neutral face, but as soon as she makes eye contact, a reassuring smile appears on his face that immediately fades as soon as she looks away, while her expression does not change at all. That’s the key difference between the two feeling functions: his smile is meant for her and is not a true representation of his feelings, while her smile is genuinely felt. She does constantly look for other people’s reactions, but she does not adapt her behaviour to other people like Scott Moir does.
What the second gif also shows very nicely is her auxiliary Se. She takes everything in that is happening around her, but she has a singular focus. This is what sets ISFPs apart from INFPs who share the ISFP’s dominant Fi. Due to high Se, the ISFP’s gaze is intense and has a clear direction. In a similar gist, ISFPs are often very well-composed and are a steady presence in the room that don’t get lost inside their own heads as much as INFPs. When they gesticulate, the movement of their hands is precise and has a concrete direction just like their gaze, while high Ne of an INFP would lead to gestures that are all over the place. Not all, but quite a number of ISFPs (along with the other SP types) also develop a taste for clothes that are a bit out of the ordinary.
When it comes to speech patterns, ISFPs are typically very straightforward in their communication. No infinitely long sentences, no sudden conceptual leaps or aborted sentences, no stutter-like word repetitions, no blatant grammatical errors (intuitive types, by contrast, are typically guilty of at least one or two of these), but ISFPs do often choose their words very carefully and make relatively long and frequent pauses in their speech, that they usually don’t fill with “uhm”, which is rather typical for the types on the Se/Ni axis. To illustrate that, here a little excerpt from the interview regarding the (then) upcoming Olympics:
It’s hard to imagine … failure at this point because if if we’re able to take the ice in Pyeongchang and feel like … we did everything we possibly could … to set ourselves up for that moment … that has … that has to be enough. […] What was most disheartening about that was … we love skating and … we want … other people … to feel the same way … and when any kind of … controversy comes into it … which is natural in a subjective sport … uhm … you know, it it does sort of tarnish it.
Other How to spot type XY guides so far: INFJ, ENFJ, INTP
