CELEBRITY MBTI: How to spot an ENFJ

I.  Introduction and a disclaimer

We have now come to sixth installment of our series, in which we type celebrities using the Rod Novichkov method. We are making our way through the Socionics Quadras, and are halfway through the Beta Quadra (which includes the ENFJ, the ISTP, the ESTP and the INFJ).

In his book, How to find yourself and your best match (2007), Novichkov gives a list of celebrities who he types as ENFJs - and the list is rather short (so much so that I will reproduce it here entirely). He types Michael Jackson and Freddie Prinze Jr as male ENFJs and Jessica Lange, Joan Allen, Caprice Bourret, Allison Janne as female. He only finds six celebrity ENFJs, whereas the celebrity ESTPs clock in at 46 (!), the celebrity ISTPs at 35. ENFJs do not show up that much in celebrity land, nor in real life (in my experience).

Here I have managed to collect eight ENFJs, and half of them made their names in the field of politics. The ENFJ personality type is naturally inclined to leadership, much like the ENTJ, and this should be no surprise. But politics, by its nature, divides people (whereas the ENFJ type would rather bring them together) and I understand that some of my readers will feel a strong, visceral dislike for these types. We need to keep in mind that every person who has ever lived - good or evil, liked or disliked - can be typed as one of the 16. So, my typing someone like Reverend Jim Jones - a bad man - is not intended as a slander against the ENFJ type. In the same way, people should not take Novichkov's typing of Michael Jackson as an ENFJ as an insult to the type (Michael Jackson's reputation has nosedived since the release of the Leaving Neverland (2019) documentary).

Another objection to my identification of these celebrities as ENFJs is that the average reader may not think of these people as acting like typical ENFJs. My response to that is that we do not really know many of these ENFJ celebrities, except for the ones whose lives have been recorded in great detail - for example, Richard Nixon, Reverend Jim Jones and Michael Jackson. Not many of us know much about Hillary Clinton's personality traits: despite for running for two presidential elections, and being on the receiving end of enormous press coverage, Clinton seems very much a cipher (and this has been deliberate). We usually do not know much about the personal lives of a celebrity until they are deceased and have multiple biographies written about them. What Novichkov's method does is enable us to type a person from a distance.

II. Visually identifying the ENFJ

The ENFJ 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 are Jessica Lange and Michael Jackson:

The ENFJ as Feeler. Novichkov lists these as the facial 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.

The ENFJ as Intuitive. 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.

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

And then we have Jimmy Fallon:

These two celebrities - both Intuitives - give us a good idea of the typical Intuitive body type:

The gaze of the Introverted Intuitive could be described as cloudy, dreamy, soft, 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. Both of these are Introverted Intuitive dominant:

The ENFJ as Extravert. 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. If the Extravert is not caught up in his surroundings, and his energies begin to flag, he deflates like an emptying balloon.

III.  The eyes of Hillary Clinton 

Novichkov makes the argument that body type and gaze determines whether one is an Intuitive or Sensor. Unfortunately, body type does not always give us the best indication as to whether or not a person is an Intuitive or a Sensor, as many Intuitive celebrities - especially as they get older - stack on weight like a Sensor; they lose that skinny, gangly, awkward quality. John Kasich and Colin Wilson provide the best examples of this 'Sensor-fication' of the ENFJ. The way around this is: find pictures of your celebrity when they are young (in their twenties) or spend some time studying their gaze.

We can find a few photos of the young Hillary in which she sits in an awkward manner, or has knuckled, skinny fingers:

But, in my opinion, we can work out whether or not Hillary is an Introverted Intuitive from her eyes. She possesses that cloudy, dreamy, 'sightless' gaze:

This becomes apparent when we compare her gaze to Bill Clinton's: Novichkov types Bill as an Introverted Sensor, so his gaze seems crinkly, squinty and out of focus.

IV.  The ENFJ celebrities

Benedict Cumberbatch, British actor

Julian Assange, Australian political activist

Reverend Jim Jones, US cult leader and political activist

John Kasich, US politician

Richard Nixon, US President

Jimmy Fallon, US comedian, talk show host

Colin Wilson, British author, philosopher

Hillary Clinton, US politician

V. In Conclusion

Interestingly, some of the above celebrities look like one other. Jimmy Fallon resembles Jim Jones to a remarkable degree, whereas John Kasich could be mistaken for Colin Wilson's brother.

Mark Hootsen, signing off.