ESFP : Character Development

Designed for writers and method actors who have never studied psychology and who have no interest in studying psychology. This series outlines each of the sixteen Jungian personality archetypes to better get you inside your character’s head. Special emphasis on how each type processes and priorities information, the nuances of their communication style, how their humor manifests, and what each type looks like as a villainous character. This week's focus is on the ESFP's personality.
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[@sirbradfordofhousejones]

Thank you for spreading the word about us outside of the parties and impulsivity. Sure, we do that. But there’s so much more, and I really appreciate you speaking about the other elements of who we are. Edit: autocorrect fail

[@cynthiapayne9906]

Thank you! You guys do get Brain-Dead-Partygoer stereotyped rather unfairly. if you'd like more of this approach to understanding ESFPs, I'd like to recommend C.S. Joseph's channel (link in description). All of the character typing and production here is mine, but the info and approach to the types is his.

[@luistoomuch]

I am not an ESFP (I’m an INFJ), but I have a super good friend that is an ESFP and this was an excellent description of their type. I love this whole series (even if I sometimes disagree with your typing). I think the info you’re providing is amazing. I’ve watched all of CS Joseph’s personality videos and yours are equally as good. I especially appreciate the humor part as it’s very specific to the types and I think you’ve nailed it each time. Please keep these coming. My wife, who’s an ISTP, is eagerly awaiting hers.

[@cynthiapayne9906]

Well thank you so much! I've really been taken aback by how well this series has been received. They started out as me making a bunch of notes for myself and then thinking it would be useful to have in video form for when I wanted to explain a concept to a fellow writer. I really was not expecting this much interest :) I am almost done with the next video (ISTJ. This year has sucked, btw) and have added your vote to the tally. Thanks again!

[@luistoomuch]

@@cynthiapayne9906 You're welcome. The praise is well-deserved!

[@fictcharactersfan]

Hi ☺️👋☺️ your videos are so good!! Please make one for enfps

[@dianav9633]

Hello, I like to watch ISTP chapter. Greetings! 😊

[@DorotaGabal]

I clicked because I was curious about the examples given, and because I seriously disagree on some of the types. However, your commentary was so on point, that it doesn't even matter! I'd sign my name under everything you've said. For real! On another note, I found it interesting, where you highlighted one character, while the other is the ESFP in that work. In Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Buffy is ESFP, while Faith is quite likely ESFP. In Harry Potter, the most clear-cut ESFP is Ron Weasley, as one or both of the twins actually use Ne. And, True Blood is a phenomenon of its own, as it has several ESFPs, and all have nuance. You're absolutely right about Lafayette Reynolds being ESFP. The other two notable ones are Jessica Hamby, and especially Jason Stackhouse. I find Jason fascinating, in that he is exactly the 'bad' stereotype of ESFP, airheaded, promiscuous, simple, yet he's not _shallow_. Or, to explain that better, he is shallow as a person, but not a shallow character, because he's deconstructed, his motivations and fears illustrated, and he's given more 'depth' simply through understanding, without actually making him smarter over time in the series.

[@cynthiapayne9906]

Thank you so much for your comment! It made my day, really

[@DorotaGabal]

@@cynthiapayne9906 I've checked him out in the past, but in general, I prefer the approach you have here - _"I'm trying to give my viewers a guide to the patterns common to each type and I'm banking on them having personal experience with at least 2-3 of my examples (...)"_ That's how I prefer doing my things, and why I have clicked in the first place. I think I'll agree to disagree on some of the typings, but at least the quotes you pulled out would fit, even if different type. Faith is ESTP, but the quotes highlighted are more about the Se, so it works. Buffy is the quintessential ESFP, referenced as such everywhere, and demonstrates Se all across, so I do think she's well typed. The only thing is about the actress, who is not an Se user. Eliza Dushku on the other hand is ESTP also irl, I think, so the Se comes out well condensed. One of the reasons I clicked is because I'm rewatching True Blood right now. Lafayette is _the_ best, but they do have quite a couple examples. Jason and Jessica. Sookie is typically billed as ISFP, though I've seen arguments for Se-dom as well. I'm unsure. She herself is a bit too Mary Sue for me.

[@cynthiapayne9906]

This is very interesting, if for no other reason then I get to talk about Buffy, lol! Let me lay out my thought process for typing Buffy as ENFP instead of an ESFP. Again, I’m learning as I go and I know I’ll make mistakes, but I am open to having my opinions changed and I’d be very curious to hear your thoughts. C.S. Joseph doesn’t type this way and he’s never recommended typing this way, so I’m probably going about it in an all f’ed up way, but one thing I’ve found myself doing with characters it to ‘check’ my hypothesis with that type’s typical insecurities and the ways in which they lash out, using CSJ’s overall system, to see if I can see examples and if the types mesh. For Faith, ESTPs and ESFPs share much of those same tendencies and insecurities and I can see a strong argument for ESTP and I think I could be convinced now that I’m looking at it. But-Buffy. Either with ENFP or ESFP we’re talking about Fi as primary problem solving and I certainly see that strongly (“What I feel is the right and moral way to do this”). That’s the first place I went with her and it narrows her down to ESFP or ENFP. ESFPs like to take the quick payoff route and are not afraid to break social rules to get what they want, while ENFPs have a much stronger drive to follow the rules if they can. ESFPs (and ENTPs) tend to go ‘bad’ and lash out when they feel their choices have been taken from them and they’re being forced into one course of action-ESFPs NEED their freedom to make choices or they respond by trying to take everyone else’s choices away, while ENFPs go bad when they’re afraid that they won’t be able to measure up to a new situation-to something they’ve never done before, so they respond by resisting new experiences until they can get their head wrapped around it and feel comfortable taking it on. If they are forced into that new experience before they are ready, if they are made to feel unsafe in this way, they tend to respond with a full-on assault to the situation that is far less logically-practical and far more petty-emotional. Buffy spends all of season one and sporadically throughout the rest of the series resisting her freedom being taken away in the form of being the Slayer, but she never really lashes out about it-she argues about how unfair it is and sometimes gets passive aggressive and sneaks around, but she strives to follow those rules, oppressive as they are. She does resist, but she’s not destructive with her resistance. Mostly she’s advocating for a work/life balance. Repeatedly throughout the series, when she’s in a fight and she starts to feel unsure or out of her league, her primary strategy is to retreat and regroup until she feels more secure about her opponent. She spells that out quite clearly when she’s training Dawn and the Potentials. Compare that to Lafayette, Jason, or Jessica, who tend to push even harder when they get stuck and don’t seem to require ANY time to get their head wrapped around new challenges, to the point of recklessness (Lafayette trying to sell V in Hotshot, Jessica’s glee at the news she’s a vampire, Jason taking V for his perceived ED). It isn’t until Buffy is forced into something she’s not ready to face that she gets destructive (She has to face the Master TONIGHT, so she “quits” being the Slayer; Angel turns into the Big Bad and Buffy can’t bring herself to kill him, so she just lets him go; Joyce finds out Buffy’s the Slayer and gives her an ultimatum, so Buffy skips town; Giles pushes Buffy to face Dawn’s klepto issues, so Buffy reinterprets the conversation to hear that Giles will take care of it; Buffy is pulled out of heaven against her will and is expected to happily work with the Scoobys again, so she starts up an affair with Spike). I guess what I’m circling around here is that I see ESFPs as being in the moment all the time, but ENFPs as being in the moment so long as they’re comfortable. When ENFPs see something they’ve never seen before, they want to step back and think about it before proceeding, whereas something new and novel and challenging would be exciting to an ESFP (Jessica fighting her first ware-it was Bill that held her back and forced her to prepare first; or Jason joining the Fellowship of the Sun’s boot camp). When Jessica is backed into a corner to glamor Hoyt, she does not want to, but she chooses to do it faithfully anyway. She didn’t want to but her decision is basically instantaneous. Buffy takes a lot longer to come around in these situations, even if in the end she ends up doing much the same thing (“what I feel is the right and moral way to handle this”). So, that’s my thought process there for Buffy. I think I often see any character as being good at street fighting usually being typed as Se-dom, but I take pause at that. Any type can work hard to improve at skills that they are not necessarily predisposed to be good at, and Buffy works very hard to train for fighting. I’m remembering the flashback to when she was first told she was the Slayer-complete klutz, fumbled everything, missed the heart-physical stuff was not something she was used to engaging in. I think Buffy just works really hard to develop her Se, as any individual is capable of doing. ESFPs naturally are very good at Se, but an ENFP can use their Fi “what I fell is the right thing to do” problem solving and their Te rationale “how do I do that?” to pragmatically come to the conclusion that they need to work hard and get better at fighting in order to do what they want to do, just like ESFPs can use their same Fi/Te to come to the conclusion that they need to hunker down and study in order to be able to get the knowledge they need to do the things they want to do, but I’m not so sure an ESFP’s first instinct to taking on Cordelia for Homecoming Queen would be to call a meeting and break out a whiteboard. Thanks again for reaching out-this has been a fun little thought experiment and I’m curious to hear your take. Hubby and I are actually going through Buffy again now and I’ve convinced him to watch The Passion of a Nerd’s Buffy episode analysis after each show, so I’m in my full-on happy nerd zone.

[@DorotaGabal]

@@cynthiapayne9906 I want to comment on this, but I'm half asleep, so I'll do it tomorrow. If I forget, please reach out ;) I know full well that if I get started, it'll be a block of text, lol.

[@shaneaverystarr]

@CynthiaPayne this may be the single best esfp descriptive video I have ever seen. in esfp spirit, you have brought the complex and abstract nuances of type down to earth in a meaningful yet easy to understand and pleasurable manner with popular cultural references. moreover, for someone like me who stuck between types (professionally typed as both esfp and estp) it's a delightful way of feeling more comfortable in the esfp identity (at least until you produce an estp video)!! thank you for the wonderful presentation! looking forward to more!!💫

[@cynthiapayne9906]

This ESFP video is rapidly becoming my favorite, just because of comments like yours. I was expecting a lot of push-back, but the outpouring of love and appreciation has just been amazing. You ESFPs and potential ESTPs are the best. I was not expecting it and I can't thank you enough for taking the time

[@alfie8645]

Hi Cynthia, wonderful video. I wanted to hear your thoughts on how much intellect is correlated with MBTI. Since I got into this community, I have always rejected the possibility of being an ESFP simply because their stereotype of being shallow and stupid never resonated with me. Philosophy is a great interest of mine, and I am very happy you mentioned this in your video. I also like how you used Tony Stark, a character who I believe is commonly typed as an ENTP because of his intellect, to represent the ESFP.

[@cynthiapayne9906]

Hey there :) Intellect isn't connected to type at all, but academics are. The American educational system is based on how SJs learn, to the detriment of other types and to the extreme detriment of SPs. Anyone who doesn't conform to how SJs think and learn get labeled with something. So, while most people in academia like to think that academics is linked to intelligence, and thus type is linked to intelligence, I can tell you I've met many academics who, outside of their highly specialized field, were complete useless idiots. There also tends to be a bias in the MBTI community, with the intuitives being seen as more intelligent. Not a shocker to find out that the types most likely to be interested in a system like MBTI are all intuitives. Shove us all into an unstable country ruled by warlords and we'll see who ends up not dead ;) Tony Stark is an interesting and frustrating point you bring up--I messed up, he is an ENTP. In my defense, I'd only seen the first Ironman at the time I did this video, and I swear he's ESFP in that movie. When I saw Avengers there was a lot of cursing going on, because it's clear he's an ENTP there, and he's a solid ENTP ever since. I would love to get ahold of the original script for Ironman and see if the character was originally envisioned as an ESFP (I suspect he was) and how much Robert Downey Jr (who is an ENTP) made the character his own and how much future script writers adapted the character to the actor after seeing what he'd done with the role. Thanks for watching!

[@cherishtheday2223]

Also getting to know people through experiences is the best way to understand someone. It’s through experiences that people’s true nature is shown. People can talk you to death about who they are but experiences will bring out the truth.

[@cynthiapayne9906]

Well said

[@Kristofferrea]

There is a large element of truth to this, although I would argue that simply judging everybody based on your own subjective experience with them gives you an inherently biased point of view on everyone, as your own experiences colour the way in which you interpret anothers actions and the meaning behind them. Also, using only your own experience limits you to one side of a very complex story. People like to think that we are the exact same with everyone but this is not true as we all show different sides of ourselves to different people. For instance you don't treat your mother the same way you would treat your romantic partner. The experiences are different so two people could come to different conclusions to who you are if you only judge based on your own experiences. You also miss out on all the build up to an action. You might see what they did with you/to you/for you etc but you don't necessarily know the reasons why they made that decision or why they are the way they are in the first place. Somebody may act like arrogantly and recklessly like they can do anything and upset you but you may not know that they suffer from bipolar personality disorder and are currently experiencing a manic episode. Someone may make a gesture towards you that you are offended by but what you don't know is that in their culture that gesture means something completely different. You are not entirely wrong but limiting yourself to only your experience leaves you with some blind spots.

[@WisdomAndBubbles]

Love these vids you're making. Faith is definitely an ESTP though. Buffy is ESFP. Arya is ISTP, Tony is ENTP, Fred and George are ENTP, and Lucifer is ENTP.

[@cynthiapayne9906]

All my own typing and perfectly subject to human error :) I got into a discussion about Faith with another viewer and they made a very good argument for ESTP, so I'm going to have to pay very close attention to her next time I run through the series. I know I screwed up Tony Stark. I'd only seen the first Ironman at the time I did this video, and I swear he's ESFP in that movie. When I saw Avengers there was a lot of cursing going on, and he's a solid ENTP ever since. I would love to get ahold of the original script for Ironman and see if the character was originally envisioned as an ESFP and how much Robert Downey Jr (who is an ENTP) made the character his own and how much future script writers adapted the character to the actor after seeing what he'd done with the role. Thanks for watching!

[@peterkennedy9619]

Tony Stark is an entp and The guy in titanic is an enfp, right? Just a thought 💭

[@cynthiapayne9906]

Stark is an ENTP. I f'ed that one up and can't go back and fix it 🤷‍♂️ . Why do you think Jack is an ENFP? I haven't revisited him since making this video.