CELEBRITY MBTI: How to spot an ESTP

I.  Introduction: Why so many ESTPs?

Rod Novichkov's How to find yourself and your best match (2007) lists a large number of celebrity ESTPs. Among the male ESTPs are:

Tom Cruise, Kurt Russell, Jack Nicholson, Marlon Brando, Charles Bronson, George Michael Dolph Lundgren, Paul Newman, George W. Bush, Christian Slater, Sting, Patrick Swayze, Mel Gibson, Sean Bean, Matt Dillon, Clint Eastwood, Viggo Mortensen, Willem Dafoe, Vince Vaughn...

Among the females:

Mila Jovovich, Cate Blanchett, Glen Close, Kathy Griffin, Brooke Shields, Lucy Lawless...

In total, Novichkov types 46 (!) celebrities as ESTPs, far more than the 6 he types as ENFJs and 10 as INFJs. The number of ESTPs on his list is only approached (in the Beta Quadra) by the number of ISTPs: he finds 35 celebrities (most of them male) to be ISTP.

Does the high number of ESTPs in Novichkov's list reflect the number (proportionately) in the general population? Not in my experience - I rarely come across ETSPs. (Since reading Novichkov's book and applying his method, I've met two males, two females, as who I'd type as ESTPs). ESTPs figure prominently in celebrity land because of - among other things - the pushy and flamboyant qualities of the ESTP personality type.

After Novichkov's comprehensive survey of celebrity ESTPs, few were left undiscovered. Here, in this article, I am presenting a total of three.

Part of the difficulty in finding an ESTP lies in the fact that two types who look remarkably like the ESTP - the ISTJ and ESTJ, two ST (Sensing / Thinking) types - turn up more, in real life and celebrity land. That is, one can easily confuse an ESTP with an ESTJ  or an ISTJ.

What sets the ESTP apart from the ESTJ and the ISTJ is that the ESTP is an Extraverted Sensor. This gives the ESTP - the males, in particular - a slightly maniacal look: see Marlon Brando.

II.  Visually identifying the ESTP

The ESTP as Perceiver. 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). 

 You will notice that the profile of the Perceiver type looks like an upside-down letter L: 

The ESTP 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: Marlon Brando and Mila Jovovich. Most of their expressiveness - that is, how they show what they are feeling or thinking - is concentrated in the upper halves of their faces, in particular, the forehead. 

The ESTP 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.


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 ESTP as Extrovert: 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 (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 Somerhalder:

III. The ESTP celebrities

Matthew McConaughey, actor

Ian Somerhalder, actor

Kimberlin Brown, actress

Mark Hootsen, signing off.

US Presidents Celebrity MBTI: Ronald Reagan - ENTJ

 US Presidents Celebrity MBTI: Ronald Reagan - ENTJ

Introduction
In the seventh installment of our US presidents series, we come to Ronald Wilson Reagan, who we will type using the Rod Novichkov method of visual identification.

Novichkov, in How to find yourself and your best match (2007), types four US presidents: Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Donald Trump. When it comes to Reagan, Novichkov has done my job for me - unlike with other presidents I've typed in this series. Nevertheless, I want to write an article on how to type Reagan, as it will demonstrate Novichkov's method in action.

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:

Reagan is a Judger:

Feeler or Thinker, F or T? 

Let's compare two middle-aged American politicians: 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 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.

Does Reagan - who has a hawkish face - look like Rumseld or Graham? Definitely the former:

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 (compared 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:

Reagan fits into the Intuitive category. 

In fact, he reminds me of another gangly, NT president - Abraham Lincoln:

Introverted or Extraverted Intuitive, Ni or Ne? 

Novichkov describes the eyes of an Introverted Intuitive as dreamy, cloudy, absent, otherworldly and sightless. (By 'sightless', he means that the Introverted Intuitive has the gaze of a blind person who is looking at you but not seeing you).

How do we distinguish between the gaze of the Introverted Sensor and Introverted Intuitive? The former seems squinty, and what is more, blurry. The Introverted Sensor perceives the world in obscure, vague shapes - the outlines of objects and the spaces between them rather than the objects themselves. The Introverted Intuitive, on the other hand, perceives a reality out of sync with our current timeline: which is why his eyes - the eyes are the windows to the soul - seem so absent. 

These pictures of Kennedy, an Introverted Sensor, and Reagan, an Introverted Intuitive, get to the heart of the contrast between the two types of introverted perception:

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.

According to the MBTI YouTube commentator EJ Arendee, ENTJs like to smile, in the hopes of winning you over. You notice, perhaps before anything else, their distinctive grin.  

Conclusion: Reagan is an ENTJ

E + N + T + J gives us Extraverted Thinker / Introverted Intuitive, or ENTJ in MBTI, ENTj in Socionics.

Mark Hootsen, signing off.