US Presidents Celebrity MBTI: Dwight Eisenhower - ISFP

Continuing our exploration of the Novichkov method applied to celebrities, we now come to the third President in our series - Dwight Eisenhower (for profiles of Roosevelt, see here, Truman, see here).

Judger or Perceiver, j or p? 

Let's compare the Novichkov diagrams for Judging and Perceiving types with side shots of Eisenhower.

My conclusion: Eisenhower is a Judger. One thing that can be observed in these photos is that the line of a Judger's spinal column seems to run up through to the center of the head, and as a result, one can't see much in the way of space between the jaw and the throat.

So, for the four letter Socionics code for Eisenhower's type, we find so far: xxxj.

Feeler or Thinker, F or T? 

Juxtaposing pictures of politicians Donald Rumsfeld and Lindsay Graham, we see examples of a Thinker (Rumsfeld) and a Feeler (Graham).

The juxtaposition of Bill Clinton and a young Jeff Sessions provides us with two more examples: Clinton is a Thinker, Sessions a Feeler.

Which of these does Eisenhower resemble the most - Rumsfeld or Graham, Clinton or Sessions? Clearly, Graham and Sessions: Eisenhower is a Feeler. When we compare the Feeler's face to the Thinker's, we see that the Feeler has an expressive lower half of the face and an inexpressive upper half, shallow eye-sockets, a pug nose and a gently rounded bridge of the nose. The bones behind the eyebrows don't protrude.

So far, in the four-letter Socionics code, we have xxFj.

Sensor or Intuitive, S or N? 

Below we have John Kerry and John McCain: Kerry is an Intuitive, McCain a Sensor. Notice the difference in the body types of these two men: McCain is stocky, and of the type which is inclined to put on weight, whereas Kerry is skinny, and probably couldn't put on weight if he tried.

Intuitives tend to sprawl when sitting or lying down, whereas Sensors keep themselves in a tight enclosed space and tend to be rather stiff and rigid. See the picture of Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan below. Romney is the Sensor, Ryan the Intuitive:

I classify Eisenhower as a Sensor. His build, and his posture when sitting, reminds much more of Romney and McCain than Kerry and Ryan:

So far in our four-letter code we have: xSFj.

Introverted or Extraverted Sensing, Se or Si? 

The gaze of the Introverted Sensor seems bleary, out of focus - more perceiving shapes and contours of objects, not of the object directly. Take Roosevelt as a case in point:

Whereas the gaze of the Extraverted Sensor tends to be watchful and observant. The Extraverted Sensor keeps a close on the object and studies it intently:

Introvert or Extravert, I or E? 

The Extravert feels at home in the world, whereas the Introvert withdraws himself from it. This is shown by their respective facial expressions. Here we see a Nixon thoroughly swept up in his environment, revelling in it, in fact, whereas Eisenhower seems sheepish - and absent. He doesn't look as though he wants to be there, whereas Nixon does.

The Extravert's face always seems tense and engaged, the Introvert's, unflustered and unengaged.

In Conclusion

Judger + Feeler + Sensor + Introvert = ISFj in Socionics, ISFP in MBTI.

Mark Hootsen, signing off.

US Presidents Celebrity MBTI: Harry Truman - ISTJ

We come to part two of our series, which aims at typing all the US presidents from Franklin Delano Roosevelt to Donald Trump using the Rod Novichkov visual identification method. For a detailed exposition of Novichkov's method, see here; for an application of that method to Roosevelt, 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:

Now, finding a good profile shot of a celebrity and lining it up with the above diagrams can be tough. But I've found a few side shots of Truman, and I make him out to be 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:

Now, who does Truman resemble more - Rumsfeld or Graham? Rumsfeld, obviously.

So far, we have typed Truman as a Perceiver and a Thinker: xxTp. Two letters to go...

Sensor or Intuitive, S or N?  

Again, 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 would be typed as an Intuitive by Novichkov, McCain as a Sensor.

Is Truman a Kerry or a McCain? McCain, of course, and so we can classify Truman as a Sensor.

Which raises the question: was Truman an extraverted or introverted Sensor? The extraverted Sensor's gaze watches you, scans you; the introverted Sensor's gaze, on the other hand, is blurry and unfocussed, and hardly looks at you directly - it perceives the outlines and shapes of objects rather than the details.

Here we have two celebrities who are Sensors, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Richard Burton. From the foregoing description, we can tell which of the two has the extraverted and the introverted gazes.

Is Truman a Van Damme or a Burton? Clearly a Burton: Truman's eyes, in nearly all the photos, hardly ever seem to be focused at the camera. They look around it, not at it.

Introvert or Extravert, I or E? 

In my post on Roosevelt, I used photos of Truman and Roosevelt together as an example of an Introvert and an Extravert together. While Roosevelt always looks absorbed in his immediate environment, Truman seems detached from it; Roosevelt has a tense, weathered facial expression, Truman a withdrawn, sheepish and melancholy one.

We could also compare Truman to another dashing Extravert president, John Fitzgerald Kennedy:

The verdict

Letters p + T + S + I give us ISTp in socionics or ISTJ in MBTI. The ISTJ type tends to be quiet and reserved, lingers in the background, and goes about his business without drawing attention to himself: The type's dominant function, introverted Sensing Si, gives an impression of comfort and homeliness, while the secondary function, extraverted Thinking Te , lends itself to organisation and efficiency. The ISTJ type description fits what we know of Truman like a glove.

As we shall see, two other presidents after Truman could be typed as ISTJs using the Novichkov method. The ISTJ belongs to the category of types Paul Keirsey calls the 'Guardians', and is extremely common - in everyday life and in celebrity-land.

Mark Hootsen signing off.

US Presidents Celebrity MBTI: Franklin Delano Roosevelt - ESTJ

The November 2016 election has inspired me to write a series on typing the US presidents, from Franklin Delano Roosevelt onwards, using the methods of Rod Novichkov. Though not accepted in the Socionics community, the method has proven to be (in my experience) nearly a 100% effective. Just look at the MBTI channels on YouTube and you'll see that those who claim to be certain types (INFJ is the most common common) match the visual descriptions given by Novichkov.

Novichkov and Varabyova in their book How to find yourself and your best match (2007) type US presidents Reagan, Clinton and Bush 43. Even though Novichkov and Varabyova have done my work for me there, I'll be including the profiles of those three presidents in my series so as to illustrate how the method works.

Let's start with the Judger / Perceiver, or as Novichkov calls it, the Conceiver / Perceiver dichotomy. Looking at Novichkov's diagram

will tell us if Roosevelt is a Judger or Perceiver. We need to find a side profile shot of Roosevelt, something which is (for many celebrities) quite difficult. I've turned up these photos:

The Judger's neck seems to go right through towards the middle of the head. Generally the back of the neck seems flat and much less space exists between the throat and the jawline, especially the chin. In contrast, the Perceiver's neck doesn't go through the middle - the head seems to dangle, or hang off, the neck. The back of the head often appears more rounded, and the throat tends to incline away from the jawline. Take, for instance, this picture of Elvis Presley, who Novichkov types as a Perceiver (an ESFP, in fact): 

Compare and contrast Elvis with these two men, both of whom have Judger's necks:

Although Roosevelt's shirt collar, and the jowls around his neck, don't give us as clear a side view as we'd like, I say that Roosevelt is a Judger.

Next comes the Thinker / Feeler dichotomy. Generally, Thinkers look like Donald Rumsfeld: expressive forehead, inexpressive lower face; pronounced superciliary arches (i.e., the bones behind the eyebrows); deep eye sockets; an aquiline nose which gives him a sharp profile; a deep-set bridge of nose which looks as though someone has knocked a chunk out of it with a chisel.

The Feeler, on the hand, looks like the reverse of Rumsfeld. Take TV soap actor Scott Clifton: expressive lower half of the face; inexpressive (and usually quite low) forehead; flat superciliary arches; shallow eye sockets; a shallow bridge of nose which is rounded and sticks out; a pug nose which gives him a rounded profile.

We may ask: who does Roosevelt resemble more - Rumsfeld or Clifton? The question answers itself: Rumsfeld.

So we can classify Roosevelt as a Thinker and a Judger, or Tj.

Is Roosevelt a Sensor or an Intuitive? Sensors tend to have thick, stocky and smooth hands, and they put on weight easily and tend to have stocky builds. They also sit, and position their bodies, in a rigid and conventional way. Look at John McCain below:

The photo gives a good contrast with John Kerry, who here sits in an angular, off-kilter manner - he seems to loll in the chair almost like a caterpillar. We also notice Kerry's long, knuckled fingers and his skinny frame. All this shows him to be an Intuitive.

Looking at Roosevelt's weight, the stockiness of his hands, and the general rigidity (or 'ordinariness') of his posture when either sitting or standing, we should classify Roosevelt as a Sensor. He looks more like McCain than Kerry:

Roosevelt so far appears to be a sensing, thinking and judging type - in Socionics letters, an STj. But, you may ask: is Roosevelt an introverted or extraverted Sensor? We can tell the two apart by their gaze. Extraverted Sensors look at you and through you, introverted Sensors, at you and around you. Extraverted Sensors possess a sharp, watchful and highly focused gaze, introverted Sensors, a unfocused and somewhat bleary one. Introverted Sensors seem to perceive outlines and fields, extraverted Sensors, details.

These two men give us an example of the extraverted Sensor's gaze:

Roosevelt, on the other hands, always appears to have a distracted, not-quite-there gaze.

So far we have Roosevelt as (in Socionics letters) an STj.

Finally we arrive at the Extravert / Introvert dichotomy. Extraverts tend always to be tense and animated, and absorbed in their exterior environment. If nothing in their immediate environment interests them, then their faces assume a deflated look. Generally, they appear relaxed and comfortable, and find it easy to smile.

Introverts, on the other hand, tend to appear withdrawn, vacant, and even somewhat melancholy. It's as though someone switched the lights off. Introverts who are Thinking types don't appear comfortable on camera and don't smile easily.

Look at Roosevelt, and compare him to Truman:

To go by their facial expressions alone: Roosevelt seems tense and preoccupied with his environment, Truman, withdrawn from it and preoccupied with his own cogitations. The genial and friendly Roosevelt appears the more animated of the two. Truman gives the impression of being a sheepish man who would rather not be there.

I assess Roosevelt as being an Extravert. So, putting the Socionics letters together, we have E + S + T + j, meaning that Roosevelt is an ESTj, or in MBTI, ESTJ.

In the list of typed celebrities in the back of Novichkov's book, we find a large, disproportionate number of ESTjs. They turn up a lot - in politics and in entertainment. As we shall see, three of the US presidents who came after Roosevelt were ESTjs.

Mark Hootsen signing off.