US Presidents Celebrity MBTI: Gerard Ford - ISFP

Continuing our series, I'll here type the sixth US President in our series, Gerard Ford, using the Rod Novichkov method.

Judger or Perceiver, j or p? 

Firstly, we compare side photographs of Ford to Novichkov's diagrams of Judging and Perceiving (or, as Novichkov puts it, Conceiving and Perceiving) types.

Now let us look at the profile shots of Ford. Quite a few exist:

A Judger's neck travels in a line up towards the forehead. Also, notice how close the jawline and the throat (which, like the spinal cord, tilts at an angle) lie to one another.

We can type Ford as a Judger, then: XXXj

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.

Ford looks more like Graham than Rumsfeld.

The contrast between the Feeling and Thinking types becomes more apparent when we see them in the same photo: here is Ford and his son, Steven, a Thinker:

Now we can say that Ford is a Feeler and a Judger: 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:

Ford sits and stands in a rigid, conservative manner, has smooth and thick hands, is full-lipped and stocky: all the attributes of a Sensor.

Ford, then, is a Sensor, Feeler and Judger: XSFj.

A note on Extraverted Sensing: Se or Si? 

What distinguishes the Extraverted from the Introverted Sensor? The answer lies in the gaze. The Introverted Sensor tends to squint, and his eyes are blurry and unfocused - as if he only says the outlines and shapes of things. Jung compares the vision of the Introverted Sensor to that of the Impressionist painters. In contrast, the Extraverted Sensor's gaze is lucid and unblinking, and it follows you - it sticks to you. The Extraverted Sensor could be described as watchful.

From the photographs above, and those below, Ford does have a watchful - one might say, confrontational - gaze:

Introvert or Extravert, I or E? 

From Socionics (and MBTI), we know that if the secondary function is Extraverted, the primary function is Introverted. We can deduce that, as he is a Judger, his main function is his Judging one: Feeling. His secondary function, Sensing, is Extraverted: Se. Therefore, his main function, Feeling, must be Introverted: Fi.

Is Ford an Introvert? An Introvert's energies are directed inward, not outward, and this shows on their face: they give us an impression of absence, not presence - they are not all there. As such, their faces do not emit energy: in fact, they suck it out of the room.

In conclusion

The combination of Introvert + Sensor + Feeler + Judger gives us ISFj: I + S + F + j. Or, in MBTI, Ford is an ISFP.

Interestingly, Dwight Eisenhower was here typed as an ISFP, and Ford resembles him physically.

Mark Hootsen, signing off.

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.