Mark Hootsen Left Book Club: CELEBRITY MBTI: How to spot an ISTP

I. Introduction: Why so many ISTPs?

With the fifth instalment of our series, we now come to what Socionics calls the Beta Quadra of types. The term Quadra relates to what Socionics calls the valued and subdued functions. A type will value a function if he feels comfortable using it and prefers using it over other functions; if he does not feel comfortable with the function, does not like to use it and generally disdains it, the function is called subdued. A Quadra groups four personality types which share the same valued functions. In the case of the Beta Quadra, the valued functions are: Extraverted Sensing (Se), Introverted Intuition (Ni), Extraverted Feeling (Fe) and Introverted Thinking (Ti). The personality types which value these functions are: ISTP, ESTP, INFJ and ENFJ.

The valued functions form the building blocks of a personality type. Those familiar with MBTI will notice that the four-function stack in MBTI – the primary, auxiliary, tertiary and inferior – are the same as the valued functions in the eight-function stack in Socionics. In the ISTP personality type in MBTI, the primary function is Ti, the auxiliary is Se, the tertiary is Ni and the inferior is Fe. Other personality types in MBTI (the ENFJ, INFJ and ESTP) use the exact same functions, and the ISTP type is the ENFJ’s function-stack turned upside down, the ESTP type, the INFJ’s turned upside down.

Rod Novichkov’s book, How to find yourself and your best match (2007), tells us how to type the ISTP visually, and gives a list of celebrity types who are ISTPs. He types over two dozen male celebrities – mainly actors – as ISTPs, and only three female celebrities. Quite a few of these ISTP male celebrities have appeared as characters in movies which have been discussed at the Zombies Ruin Everything MBTI blog, and readers of that blog will be familiar with them: Alec Baldwin, Sean Connery, Jean Claude Van Damme, Enrique Inglesias, Timothy Dalton, Orlando Bloom, James Dean, Benicio Del Toro, Robert Downey Jr, Johnny Depp, Harrison Ford, Ioan Gruffud, Heath Ledger, Robe Lowe, Ray Liotta, Kyle MacLachlan, Ewan McGregor, Neil Patrick Harris, Milo Ventimiglia… Of the ISTP female celebrities, readers of Zombies Ruin Everything would only know Jane Seymour (from TV series Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman) and Cynthia Nixon (from the TV series Sex and the City – she also ran for the position of governor of New York state in the recent Democrat Party primary). The third female ISTP in Novichkov’s list, Spanish actress Blanca Portillo, does not seem to be widely known outside of Europe.

In my own experience, very few of the people I’ve encountered in daily life can be typed as ISTPs using Novichkov’s method, and in fact, I rarely encounter anyone from the Beta Quadra. But we find a huge number of ISTPs in Novichkov’s list of celebrity types, and also large numbers of ESTPs, ESFPs and ISFPs. Why? These four types use Se as a primary or auxiliary function, and Keirsey gives them a name: he calls them the ‘Artisans’. Many Artisans can be found in creative fields such as acting or music because Extraverted Sensing as a primary or auxiliary function lends itself to artistic endeavours and aestheticism. The way Jung describes it, Se helps one appreciate the finer things in life – good art, music, food, clothes. Extraverted Sensing could be described as the sensual function.

Here, in my article, I’ve only typed five celebrities as ISTPs. The reason for that is that Novichkov has exhausted the list of possible celebrity ISTPs, and try as I might, I have only found that he has overlooked.

II. Visually identifying the ISTP

The ISTP as Judger. To determine if a person is a Judger or Perceiver, we look at the person’s profile and match it against Novichkov’s diagram:

Here we see two silhouettes – one of a Perceiver, one of a Judger. The first is of Bill Gates (a Perceiver), the second of Steve Jobs (a Judger).

The ISTP 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 (which are the 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 we see the faces of two typical Thinkers, one male, one female, Evan Rachel Wood and Steve Jobs:

The ISTP as Extraverted Sensor: Sensors put on weight easily and tend to full and well-rounded; their mouths more often than not are full and sensual and their hands are smooth and stocky. They sit or stand in a rigid, conventional way. When sitting, they confine themselves to a small space. In the below pictures, the Sensors (Mitt Romney and Steve Jobs) sit in that way, whereas the Intuitives (Paul Ryan and Bill Gates) spread themselves all over the place:

Notice the difference in build, as well as posture, of John McCain (a Sensor) and John Kerry (an Intuitive):

Novichkov describes the gaze of the Extraverted Sensor as clear and unblinking, and watchful – it tends to scan you:

The ISTP as Introvert: a person's facial expression tells if they are an Introvert or Extravert. An Extravert radiates energy, whereas an Introvert seems to suck it all in – they are not directing it to the outer world at all, and can look withdrawn and a little melancholy.

I found this photograph which joins the faces of Rob Lowe (an ISTP) and Ian Somerhalder (probably an ESTP), two men who closely resemble one another. The main difference is introversion and extraversion, or what Socionics calls ‘vertedness’. The Introvert Lowe looks more melancholic than the Extravert Somehalder: