ISFP Archetype: The Druid
ISFPs are emotional artistic types who make the world more beautiful. They are a walking contradiction in many ways. Despite being generally shallow people, they feel things deeply. They struggle to balance creative expression with keeping up a facade to save themselves from harsh judgment. ISFPs have the potential to save us all from living dull lives.
Examples of famous ISFPs you may know include:
- Ariana Grande
- Kobe Bryant
- Mike Tyson
- Rihanna
Expression Style
As is the case with all personality types, the ISFP lies at the intersection between a specific expression style and a specific worldview. They are one of the four background types, meaning that their communication style is informative, responding, and outcome.
Informative: ISFPs like to beat around the bush because they fear that they will get burned for being upfront with people. Leaving things up to interpretation gives them a plan to save face should their reputation ever come under threat.
Responding: ISFPs like to keep their own personal space and decide when others should enter it. Forcing other people to come to them for information gives them more freedom.
Outcome: ISFPs are at a high risk of stagnating due to their slow, deliberate way of doing work. As long as they are inspired toward an end goal, they will keep producing value, but it may not manifest immediately.
Worldview
ISFPs are part of the Artisan worldview, also known as the SP temperament, meaning that they are concrete, pragmatic, and interest-based.
Concrete: ISFPs are keenly aware of observable facts as an aspect of their personal performance. They cater to the five senses to give a meaningful and memorable experience.
Pragmatic: ISFPs use their strong willpower and moral compass to determine their way of accomplishing a task. They do not like to rely on a group and find deference to what is accepted as good to be ultimately insufficient in matching their own moral compass.
Interest: ISFPs consider who benefits from a situation instead of just considering how effective a choice may be. They withhold information from people who try to take advantage of them and their loved ones. ISFPs consider that people have agendas when analyzing behavior.
Cognitive Functions
Fi Hero
Fi Hero has a strong moral compass to evaluate good versus bad on a case-by-case basis. ISFPs lack consistency in their behavior but end up figuring out what matters most anyway. ISFPs have practically unlimited sympathy for the struggles of other people. They are very understanding people, and while they have no problem taking help from others, they give a lot to people as a show of gratitude. ISFPs are all about their priorities. They do not need anybody to tell them how to structure their life because they are already aware of what matters most to them.
Se Parent
Se Parent enables ISFPs to obligate people without pushing too hard. A more optimistic Se user might assume that someone can endure infinite suffering, but ISFPs understand that some things crack under pressure. As such, they will try to strengthen others but will back off when it is too much for people to handle. Underdeveloped Se Parent is entirely immature in the experiences it gives and can create the most physically abusive person of all the types. Se Parent has great mechanical skills. ISFPs often use their talents for artistic projects, be it music, drawing, or even building a house.
Ni Child
Ni Child is the purest form of willpower. ISFPs can get very impulsive when they see something they want. ISFPs can also see far into their own future. They make big plans for the art they produce, often hiding out in their own workspace so they can develop their magnum opus in secret.
Te Inferior
ISFPs are afraid of having their reputation tarnished. They seek labels to look more credible to others, hoping that this will keep them held in high regard. ISFPs do not take criticism well. Not only are they sensitive to it, but they see it as a threat to their status. They require a group of people's thoughts to sway them. While they are moral people, they may try to make themselves appear even better than they actually are. ISFPs can benefit plenty from research as they study other masters of their craft, learning the rules to a practice will help them further develop their techniques.
Fe Nemesis
ISFPs worry that other people are lacking in principles. They feel compelled to help others and guide them along the ethical path. They maintain group harmony and give to others to ensure they are caring enough. By keeping up a good track record of behavior, ISFPs can inspire gratitude in others so that they won't be alone in their values. Service to others through volunteer work and other acts of generosity will make ISFPs more likable.
Si Critic
Si Critic is where an ISFP's sense of duty comes from. ISFPs are often the hardest working of the Se users, as they constantly criticize themselves for not putting in enough effort. ISFPs often sacrifice their health to put in more time into their projects. While they can get away with this for a while, it will, of course, catch up to them. They are likely to regret putting their effort into the wrong places later in life. ISFPs do not deliver on long-term memory. Their attention span is too short for them to be able to recall events from long ago. They may believe their memory is better than it truly is for the specific details they occasionally remember, but they do not realize how much they actually miss.
Ne Trickster
ISFPs are surprised by consequences. They mistakenly believe they are abstract and metaphysical, but they do not understand that their predictions are unlikely to come true. They do not know what other people want. They would benefit from seeking advice before making decisions because then they can be proactive and make decisions that will give other people a better future.
Ti Demon
Ti Demon causes ISFPs to ignore the truth. They are so aware of how painful it is to endure the harsh truth that they would rather prevent it from surfacing. They live in denial. When their input is shut down, their demon comes out, and they deal criticism in droves. They engineer ways to harm people who embarrass them.
Four Sides of the Mind
ENTJ Subconscious
ENTJ Subconscious reveals the ISFP's path to responsibility and maturity. The biggest source of their maturity comes from their parent function. ISFPs can risk making others slightly uncomfortable and practice consistently for the sake of better performance. This makes other people feel safe around them. ISFPs keep track of other people's habits to decide which ones they want to copy and improve. By taking responsibility for doing this, they become a source of high-quality rituals that keep people growing.
ESFJ Unconscious
ESFJ Unconscious reveals the ISFP's path to happiness. When they break through the fear of their inferior, it becomes aspirational, and they become strong and capable where they were previously weak and afraid. For ISFPs, this means relinquishing control of what other people think. A developed ESFJ Shadow is confident that other people think highly of them and strives to feed people good input to keep them sharp. ISFPs reach maximum status when people see how willing they are to risk being raw and real. ISFPs love to achieve goals. One thing they need to understand to grow their subconscious is that arrival is not a realistic approach to accomplishment. They need to keep up their deservedness of acquired labels through constant improvement instead of treating life as a series of checkpoints.
INTP Super Ego
INTP Super Ego reveals the ISFP's path to love. Over time, the ISFP begins to realize that the truth is not only unavoidable, but it is incredibly important. They stop living a lie and instead pursue accuracy and consistency. INTP Super Ego in its Angelic form is about innovating to solve humanity's hidden problems. The Ne Master of the ISFP can envision the way forward for technology, and the Ti Angel ensures that the processes thereof are foolproof.
Summary
ISFPs want to be top achievers but are afraid of criticism. They need to make it by giving it their all. They can produce timeless artwork and leave an incredible legacy behind. When an ISFP embraces mental toughness, perseverance, and truth, no challenge is too great for them. While they are often labeled as airheads in youth, their genius displayed via their inspirational mastery of any discipline.
