#high si

High Ni

LII (ENTJ)

EII (ENFJ)

High Ne

LIE (INTP)

EIE (INFP)

High Ti

ILI (ENTP)

SLI (ESTP)

High Te

ILE (INTJ)

SLE (ISTJ)

High Si

ESI (ESFJ)

LSI (ESTJ)

High Se

ESE (ISFP)

LSE (ISTP)

High Fi

SEI (ESFP)

IEI (ENFP)

High Fe

SEE (ISFJ)

ESTJ: I’m actually not far along in the Duolingo tree. I just do a lot of repetitions.

INFJ: Why? What for? In the four years that I’ve been on Duolingo, I don’t think I’ve ever done a single repetition on any of the language classes. I mean, what’s the point?

ESTJ: Really? But it’s fun! I like repetitious tasks. That way it gets ingrained into my brain. And I like learning, so it’s double fun.

INFJ: You know, I think it’s actually kinda funny how differently people learn, how differently our brains work. When I took Swedish classes in university, our teacher made us repeat everything again and again and I absolutely hated it because to me it felt like stagnation. Others liked it, but I felt like I was forced to hit the brakes the entire time. If I understood it the first time, why bother with it a second or third or even tenth time?

ESTJ: Weird. How do you retain vocabulary and all that if you don’t repeat it over and over again?

INFJ: I don’t know. I read the new words once, say okay and move on. Of course I forget some stuff again, but it’s no big deal. I always learn best if I receive no instructions, no explanations, nothing. I just need to work it all out by myself and then I won’t forget it again.

ESTJ: Yeah, I learn well by figuring stuff out myself, too. But I just really enjoy repetitions. Sometimes I did more homework than we had to back in school if I thought the task was fun, especially maths homework. Like we had three tasks and I’d just do six.

INFJ: You did ... more homework ... than you had to ... voluntarily? You are aware that everyone always feels incredibly lazy compared to you, right?

ESTJ: I consider myself to be quite lazy, too, actually. I just do things that I like and my hobbies tend to be quite productive. Hobbies are meant to be productive, aren’t they? So if I solve a puzzle for fun or if I do maths homework for fun, what is the difference?

Can come one pls help explain how these are actually different? So far all I can really see is that Si is more naturally organised, whereas Ni has to learn it a bit more. And Si tends to be more in touch with their body and who they are?

Then people say Si predicts the future based on the past, whereas Ni predicts it off observed patterns. But isn't that the exact same thing?

They say Si notices small details and Ni does big picture, so is that basically the only practical difference?

The only really difference I can see between Si and Ni is that Ni just gets vibes and can't explain how it works, whereas Si is a pattern/framework that can be explained with some effort.

I'm just curious, because for some reason infj and *stjs can seem the same, but intjs don't seem like *s*js, and infjs don't seem like isfjs and I don't really get it.

And thanks to my lack of understanding, I really don't get why *n*Ps behave like they do when they're stressed.

Ni (inner intuition/guts): ENFJ/ENTJ

Both of these types have high intuition towards what people feel (ENFJ/Fe→Ni) or think (ENTJ/Te→Ni). They take on feelings/thoughts of other people (ENFJ/ENTJ) using their own premonitions (inner intuition). Good types for clairvoyants

Ti (inner thinking/reflection): ENTP/ESTP

Both of these people can logically analyse other people's fears (ENTP/Ne→Ti) or pain (ESTP/Se→Ti). They can overcome their own fears (ENTP) or pain (ESTP) by projecting them on other people with the help of high Ti (logical analysis). Good types for psychologists

Fi (inner feelings/unconscious): ENFP/ESFP

Both of these types are inclined towards people who have feelings for them. They can predict if somebody fell in love with them or hates them. ENFP has strong feelings (Fi) towards people who feel danger or fear (Ne→Fi), while ESTP has strong feeling (Fi) towards people who feel pain (Se→Fi). Good types for doctors

Si (sensibility/responsiveness): ESTJ/ESFJ

High Si of ESTJ/ESFJ helps them to easily adapt to any circumstances. They can become friends with anyone since they aren't disgusted with anyone's aura or appearance. ESTJ is sensitive towards what other people think of him (Te→Si). That's why he seeks praise and admiration from his parents or teachers since young age. Might be into arts. ESFJ is sensitive towards how other people feel about him (Fe→Si). They desperately fall in love to later regret it. Partners of ESFJ often betray him after using his umconditional love for their own needs. Both ESTJ and ESFJ are very dramatic and charismatic because of high Si. Their thoughts (ESTJ/Te→Si) or feelings (ESFJ/Fe→Si) are displayed on their face. Good types for dramatic actors, especially, in theatre

Ne (outer intuition/guts): INFP/INTP

Outer function means that only actions of other people can activate it. Most of the times it's in hibernation which means that introverted types use their strongest functions to survive, while extroverted types use their strongest functions to help others. With Fi→Ne of INFP intuition activates when somebody has strong feelings towards INFP (Fi), especially, when it's associated with physical violance. INFP might be a victim of pedophilia, domestic violence, bullying because people easily fall in love with him, but don't want to admit it. With Ti→Ne of INTP intuition activates when somebody plans to do something bad towards INTP (Ti). Ti makes other people be obsessed with INTP because of their high focus and analysis of INTP (Ti), so they might even try to hurt INTP, so nobody gets INTP. Good types for detectives or scientists

Te (outer thinking/reflection): INTJ/ISTJ

Thinking process of INTJ/ISTJ activates when they foresee something bad (INTJ/Ni→Te) or feel pain (ISTJ/Si→Te). They're inclined towards finding logical decisions when they feel danger (INTJ/Ni→Te) or pain (ISTJ/Si→Te). Good types for rescuers in reanimation, fire department, police etc.

Fe (outer feelings/unconscious): INFJ/ISFJ

Feelings of INFJ/ISFJ activate when somebody threatens them (INFJ/Ni→Fe) or hurt them (ISFJ/Si→Fe) which means both of these types feel empathy towards villains like, for example, INFJ Tom Hiddleston towards Loki. INFJ/ISFJ actors often play characters who are victims that don't fight back (INFJ Tom Hiddleston Loki and ENFP Chris Hemsworth Thor). And that's why they're labeled as villains. Good types for lawyers or education system workers

Se (outer sensibility/responsiveness): ISTP/ISFP

A few years ago, I made a post about how the cognitive functions manifest in our behaviour and now I’m going to expand on that and give a more detailed, visually accompanied overview for each type, now for the ESFJ.

For the purpose of this guide, I’m taking a look at this interview with Olivia Colman, a British actress. You can find the links to other type spotting guides below which I will update over time when new guides are being added.

The dominant and the auxiliary cognitive functions that people use are those that are the ones that are really noticeable in the quality of their gaze, in their speech style, in their facial expressions, and their whole general demeanour, and so these are the ones that I will be focussing on here. In case of an ESFJ, these functions are Fe and Si. Thanks to this combination, ESFJs are the most emotive of all the types. High Fe leads to the automatic use of your face as a communication device, which is why FJs in general are really good at conveying their feelings or their opinion on a matter without even having to open their mouths and at adapting to the people around them and the situation at hand. But unlike the NFJs, who have high Ni and thus display a certain detachment (in comparison, take a look at Nicholas Hoult, an ENTJ, sitting next to Olivia Colman in the gifs below showing this kind of Ni-detachment), ESFJs always feel like a part of the scene as they do not go into a complete chameleon mode like the NFJs and instead try to appeal to other people in a more approachable and emotional way. You can nicely see Olivia Colman’s emotive range in the gif below, how her face is going on an entire journey while listening to someone else to quietly communicate not just that she is listening, but also how she is feeling about what is being said. 

But this constant emotional self-expression can have an effect on the people they are with. While the NFJs tend to use their Fe to hide themselves and to adapt to others, ESFJs are not uncommon to use their Fe to project what’s inside them to the outside and are able to steer the mood of a room in a different direction. This way, they are able to enthusiastically cheer people on and make them believe in themselves or create a sense of warmth and togetherness, but also to fill everyone in proximity with not so nice emotions. I know that particularly ESFJs are not popular among FPs for this very reason, so I want to note that this is usually not a deliberate malicious kind of action to manipulate people. It’s just what happens when a person is very in tune with other people, it’s automatic. There is nothing inherently good or bad about dominant Fe, it’s how it’s used by individual people. But since ESFJs are so focused on the dynamics and relationships with other people, they typically put in the effort of making sure that everyone in the room feels included and appreciated to maintain harmony and a sense of unity. One way of doing this is by actively trying to establish eye contact with everyone in the conversation while they are both talking and listening, which is exactly what you can see Olivia Colman doing in the gif below. Note that being on the Si/Ne spectrum, ESFJs completely lack the intensity in their gaze that SPs and NJs display, and so their eyes typically have some kind of softness to them, due to dominant Fe even more so than the STJs. Further, adapting to other people and being effortlessly friendly with them, even if they don’t like them, is their way of showing respect to the other person, regardless of how they feel about them. If they don’t treat someone this way, however, it’s a conscious choice as they are probably filled with too much disdain for this other person to be able to bring themselves to do it. In this case, it’s a conscious decision to make a point. Another thing that I’ve found is that most ESFJs are extreme kinds of hand talkers. 

Something that all the SJs share due to their high Si, even though it may not apply to every single individual SJ but to the vast majority of them, are two telltale signs: 1) a certain sense of elegance and grace in their posture and movements, and 2) a certain kind of tension around the mouth, which leads to the typical wrinkles in that area that develop with age. Olivia Colman is not an exception to either of those. Even though she has referred to herself as walking like a farmer (x), her hand movements and her tense upright posture even while wildly gesticulating do convey an intrinsic elegance.

When it comes to speaking patterns, let me first say that ESFJs are often amazing storytellers. They can recall so many details about the story they are talking about and know exactly how to appeal to their audience and how to make the story funny. They do not have a monotonous voice at all and they emphasise every point they are making with a vivid expression on their face to the degree that they sometimes substitute saying a word by simply showing its meaning on their face. Concerning the speech itself, high Si generally leads to a very fluent way of speaking without many pauses (unlike the NJs and SPs) and if they do need to pause, they fill it with uhm, so a moment of silence rarely comes up between their words. And even when they have another thought they want to express while already speaking, they are usually able to embed this new thought into the begun sentence and then carry on with it from where they left off, without making any grammatical errors like an NJ would. The stronger the ESFJ’s (and ESTJ’s) tertiary Ne is, however, the more they fall into an Ne-like speech pattern, so that they rapidly repeat the beginnings of a word like a stutter or they repeat whole words a few times before carrying on with the sentence (for example, one ESFJ with strong Ne who is very prone to do this is British actor Bradley James). However, other ESFJs tend to suppress this urge, which then results in a long quite strained and creaky sounding, not fully articulated [m] or [n], before they carry on with their sentence. Olivia Colman does not show this Ne-like speech pattern much, neither the open nor the suppressed one, so there is an example below of her straightforward speech talking about how hard it is for her to keep a straight face while playing Queen Elizabeth II (an ISTJ), who is not emotive at all:

It’s quite hard. Well, so if ... other characters are saying something that’s sad, I naturally can’t help myself, I go mwargh [vivid facial expression of her crying, see the second gif] and burst into tears, which is not what the queen does. She is our rock, [...] not often. No-not caught on camera. And uhm, so uh they film quite a lot on the back of my head on those days and also they’ve come up with a trick! So they give me an earpiece and they play the shipping forecast to me, so I just have to try to tune in to the shipping forecast and and that was just rude cause I’m not really listening to my fellow actors. I’m just trying not to listen to them.