CELEBRITY MBTI: How to spot an ENTP

I. Introduction

Novichkov, in his How to Find Yourself and Your Best Match (2007), only managed to type a handful of celebrities as ENTPs. The males were Joseph Fiennes and Mick Jagger, the females, Courteney Cox, Mädchen Amick, Molly Sims, Daniela Pestova, and Mary Steenburgen.

I've found a few more, as can be seen below. In my personal life, I have three or four colleagues who are ENTPs and two friends who are ENTPs. All of the ENTPs I know belong to the male gender: I have never, to my knowledge, met a female ENTP.

You can recognise the NT (Intuitive and Thinker) type quite easily, and ENTPs as a subset of that class are quite distinctive.

Something that I have noticed, using Novichkov's method, is that a type will resemble its Contrary most of all. (In Socionics, the Contrary type uses all the same functions as yours and in the same order, but each of the functions differs in being the opposite in terms of 'vertedness' - the degree of Extraversion or Introversion. For instance, the INTJ type is Introverted Intuitive / Extraverted thinking, and the INTJ's Contrary, the ENTP, is Extraverted Intuitive / Introverted Thinking). Courteney Cox, an ENTP, looks remarkably similar to Rena Sofer, an INTJ.

II. Visually identifying the ENTP

Let's run through, briefly, how an ENTP looks according to Novichkov.

The ENTP as Perceiver: because the ENTP is a Perceiver - his dominant function, Extraverted Intuition, is a Perceiving and not a Judging one - he has a perceiver's neck.

In the below diagram, Novichkov contrasts the 'Conceiving' (Judging) and Perceiving neck and head shapes:

Here we see the side view of a Perceiver and a Judger, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs respectively:

The ENTP as Thinker: Novichkov lists these attributes of the Thinking, as opposed to the Feeling, type:

1. Large, flat, expressive forehead;
2. Pronounced, jutting superciliary arches (bones beneath eyebrows);
3. Angular or non-existent bridge of nose dip;
4. Deep eye sockets;
5. Hawkish nose;
6. Narrow, inexpressive lower face.

Boris Karloff, as Frankenstein's monster, gives us a highly exaggerated, caricatured example of a Thinker's face:

Here are two typical Thinkers:

The ENTP as Extraverted Intuitive:  Intuitives tend to be gangly and floppy in their build, and they sit and stand in an unusual, awkward way. When sitting, they tend to flop and sprawl, and seem to lack a sense of personal space. Jarvis Cocker gives us a good example of this, as does Megyn Kelly:

You'll notice that their fingers are long, skinny and knuckled.

The gaze of the Extraverted Intuitive pierces and unsettles. It seems restless, erratic and a little crazy:

The ENTP as Introvert: a person's facial expression tells if they are an Introvert or Extravert. The facial expression of an Extravert always appears tense and (especially as the Extravert gets older) weather beaten and worn-down. You can see this absence of relaxation in the pursed mouth and rigid jaw.

They always seem comfortable and willing to smile in front of a camera; you could say that they lean towards it - they possess a spark and momentum.

III. The ENTP Celebrities: ENTP men

Here are the famous ENTP men:

Frank Miller - comic book artist and writer

Steve Vai - musician

Bill Gates - businessman

Bernie Sanders - politician

Pierson Fodé - actor on US television series The Bold and the Beautiful

Charlie Sheen - actor

James Callis - actor

Darrin Fuller - actor on US television series The Bold and the Beautiful

Milo Yiannopoulos - author and provocateur

IV. The ENTP celebrities: women

Kristin Stewart - actress

Megyn Kelly - TV journalist

Mark Hootsen, signing off.

US Presidents Celebrity MBTI: Richard Nixon - ENFJ

So far we have typed Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, and Lyndon Johnson using the Rod Novichkov method. Nixon differs from the previous five presidents in that he is an Intuitive: the others were Sensors.

For a complete exposition of the Novichkov method, see here.

Judger or Perceiver, j or p? 

Let's look at the diagrams of the Judging ('Conceiving', as Novichkov calls them) and Perceiving types, from left and right sides of the head:

Profile shots reveal Nixon to be a Judger, not a Perceiver:

Feeler or Thinker, F or T? 

Let's compare two middle-aged American politicians, one Lindsey Graham, who Novichkov would type as a Feeler, and Donald Rumsfeld, who he would type as a Thinker:

Novichkov lists these as the attributes of the Feeling, as opposed to the Thinking, type:

1. Small and rounded forehead, less expressive when compared to the lower face;
2. Flat, unpronounced, smoothed superciliary arches (bones behind the eyebrows);
3. Rounded bridge of nose dip;
4. Shallow eye sockets;
5. Rounded, pug-shaped nose;
6. Wide lower face, more expressive than the forehead.

Nixon looks more like Graham than Rumsfeld:

Sensor or Intuitive, S or N? 

Intuitives tend to be gangly, skinny, thin-lipped, and their fingers are knuckled and somewhat unsightly. They sit in awkward, unconventional and uncomfortable-looking (to a Sensor) positions, and tend to sprawl everywhere.

Sensors, on the other hand, tend to be thick, stocky, full-lipped and inclined to put on weight, and their fingers are smooth and square shaped. They sit in a stiff, conventional and (to an Intuitive) rigid fashion. They do not sprawl, preferring to confine themselves to a small personal space.

Here's a compare and contrast photo of an Intuitive and a Sensor: gangly, skinny, long and knuckled fingered John Kerry, and stocky, square-fingered and square-handed John McCain.

Kerry flops and lolls in his chair, while McCain seems somewhat more stiff and centrally placed. Kerry is more typical of an Intuitive, according to Novichkov, McCain, a Sensor.

This picture of a stiff and stocky Mitt Romney, a Sensor, with a sprawling and gangly Paul Ryan, an Intuitive, gives us another side-by-side example:

I use this picture of Jarvis Cocker to convey the floppiness, gangliness and awkwardness of the Intuitive:

Nixon was renowned for being unusually awkward and gangly. This comes across in photos of him:

Introverted or Extraverted Intuitive, Ni or Ne? 

The gaze of the Extraverted Intuitive tends to be restless and manic. Because it bores right through you, some find it confrontational and disturbing. Below we have two celebrities who Novichkov types as INFPs. These are Extraverted Intuitives:

In contrast, the gaze of the Introverted Intuitive seems softer and gentle. Novichkov characterises it as 'absent', even 'sightless'. I think of it as otherworldly; the Introverted Intuitive seems to be not on this planet. When making eye contact with you, the Introverted Intuitive does see you, but seems to be looking from a long distance away - a very long distance.

The below two celebrities Novichkov types as INTJ and INFJ respectively. Both of these are Introverted Intuitive dominant:

I think Nixon's gaze is Introverted, not Extraverted, Intuitive:

Extravert or Introvert, E or I? 

The energy of the Extravert is directed towards his outer environment; he seems absorbed by it and completely immersed in his surroundings, as opposed to the Introvert, who is withdrawn from them. The Extravert's face displays a certain amount of tension and tautness, and often appears to be more tired - and weather beaten - than that of the Introvert.

Nixon is often described in his biographies as a brooding, solitary type, who could be rather shy around others - these are introverted behavioural traits. But, according to Novichkov's understanding, Nixon's demeanour bears all the marks of extraversion. He seems extremely comfortable when in front of a camera, in contrast to the sheepish Eisenhower.

Conclusion: Nixon is an ENFJ

Putting it all together, we have Judger + Feeler + Intuitive + Extravert, or j + F + N + E, which gives us ENFJ in MBTI or ENFj in Socionics.

Even if we did not have Novichkov's method, we would have some justification for typing Nixon as an ENFJ. For those who are familiar with Nixon's life, we can see that Nixon is perhaps the archetypal ENFJ. We find the ENFJ's dramatic and theatrical personality traits, the ENFJ's sensitivity to slight and inclination to vindictiveness when crossed, the ENFJ's gift for oratory, the ENFJ's leadership ability, the ENFJ's frightening, almost cult-like grip on followers, the ENFJ's tendency to be caught up in his imaginings and be somewhat liberal with the truth... Nixon displayed all this in spades.

The combination of a dominant Fe and a secondary Ni gives the ENFJ the qualities which can make him a good leader and speaker, preacher or politician. The type with dominant Extraverted Feeling has the ability to gather up individuals and form them into an audience or community, and Introverted Intuition in the secondary position allows him to draw them into his inner world, a world of visions of the future and understandings of the absolute essences of things. Through his rhetoric and actions, he takes his audience on a journey through space and time, lifting them out of the here and now.

The story behind Nixon's 'Checkers' speech, which you can read about in the biographies, gives us an example of the ENFJ Fe and Ni combination at work.

Mark Hootsen, signing off.