alifara asked: What is the difference between XNTJ and XSFP ? are ISFPs capable of being cold, highly-critical, and impulsive ?

Yes, ISFPs can certainly be cold and highly critical –just like any type can behave coldly and critically. A good fictional example of this type of ISFP would be Kat Stratford from 10 Things I Hate About You. 

This is definitely a question that comes up more often than would be expected. There are large quantities of intellectual xSFPs who believe themselves to be xNTJs simply because they’re intelligent and think emotion is weak. I have an ESFP sibling who believes firmly that they’re an ENTJ, but doesn’t have the Ni-power necessary to support such a thesis (and I’ve been kind enough not to invalidate the delusion).

There are loads of people who assume that anyone who’s an intellectual and a jerk must be an xNTJ. However, there are many xNTJs who are very kind and loving, just like there are many F-types who are cruel and hateful.

Upper Fi vs Lower Fi

xSFPs use upper Introverted Feeling (Fi), and xNTJs use lower Introverted Feeling (Fi).

Upper Introverted Feeling (Fi) – xSFPs

First, off the emotions of an xSFP are going to be much more obvious to an outside observer than an xNTJ –yes, even when it comes to the cold xSFPs. A cold xSFP might say something equally cruel and offensive, but they’re probably going to feel something as they do it (be it anger, satisfaction, hate, sadness etc.) Kat Stratford everyone!

They’re also going to react more emotionally to people and situations. Kat Stratford, for instance is hurtful and cruel, but everyone knows she’s constantly angry, grumpy or upset (whereas people can’t usually tell what emotion an xNTJ is feeling).

An xSFP’s actions and motivations are primarily emotional in nature. They have a stronger need (than xNTJs) to be true to themselves.

Lower Introverted Feeling (Fi) – xNTJs

xNTJ emotions tend to be more reflective than reactive. They often think, “I’m sad” without actually feeling sadness. It’s our way of analysing what we think about situations without simply reacting to them. It’s basically the difference between the way John Nash reacts to insults and the way Kat Stratford does.

If somebody says something hurtful to an xNTJ, they probably won’t care unless the person who said it was very close to them. Loki cares what his father thinks about him, but nobody outside his family can effect him emotionally, whereas Kat Stratford (who claims not to care what other people think) will react emotionally to even the slightest of insults from a stranger.

Fi-users (especially xNTJs and xSFPs) tend to value freedom. However, they view the pursuit of freedom slightly differently. Upper Fi using children will say things like “don’t tell me what to do,” while lower Fi-using children are will think (without vocalising) more along the lines of “I do what I want.” The difference is subtle, but there.

Unlike xSFPs, an xNTJ will pursue the logical course of action before allowing emotion to prevail in their motivations. This isn’t to say that an xNTJ can never be motivated by emotion –it’s just, they tend to ignore their emotions when making decisions, while xSFPs take them into consideration.

Most INTJs look at tough decisions this way: I would rather do what makes sense and will achieve the best long term outcome than feel good about life or myself. Whereas an xSFP will look at it like this: I would rather feel good about my decision than have everything turn out perfect in the end.

Upper Se vs Lower Se

xSFPs use Upper Extraverted Sensing (Se), and xNTJs use Lower Extraverted Sensing (Se).

Upper Extraverted Sensing (Se) – xSFPs

Upper Se users have a “here today, gone tomorrow, so don’t waste it” kind of attitude, ” while lower Se users are primarily focused on accomplishing that long-term visions.

xSFPs relish sensory experiences and having fun, and this is where their Se will be most evident to outside observers. ISFPs are probably going to be those people who stop on a trail to point out something beautiful, or that person who walks through fabric stores and wants to touch all the different textures.

My ISFP roommate and I are both artists, but he’s always the one pointing out beautiful spots on campus or the textures of sidewalks and such. He’s the one who comments the most on art we see as we’re passing by it in public (I just make art. I don’t talk about it).

xSFPs live in the present –and this will be quite obvious when compared with an xNTJ (who are more future-oriented due to their Ni). xSFPs aren’t going to dwell on the past, and they’re not going to think heavily in terms of the future. They might have a plan for the future, but compared to an xNTJ, their plan is going to look vague and indefinite. (See the Ni section for more detail on this)

Lower Extraverted Sensing (Se) – xNTJs

Lower Se doesn’t show up quite as much as upper Se. Rather, it appears simply in the xNTJs tendency to ignore the past as irrelevant. It crops up now and then to help the xNTJ revise plans as situations change, but most of the time, you’re not really going to catch an xNTJ living in the moment (unless they’re under extreme stress – then Se crops up to hurt them).

An xNTJ, even on vacation, is not living in the moment. During my summer travels, I’ve gone to plenty of places, but the whole time, I’m analysing everything in my head rather than simply experiencing it the way my xSFP sibling does. While I’m analysing the structure of coral on a beach, my sibling is splashing in the ocean. While I look at the cyanobacteria in a sewer system in the Caribbean and wonder whether it will end up enlarging the hypoxic zone of the Gulf of Mexico, my sibling just plugs their nose and runs off to see the next big thing.

See the difference?

One more thing – users of inferior Se are frequently over-stimulated by excessive sensory experience. They will enjoy sensory experiences in small amounts, but too much can drive them to seek out a bathroom to hide in.

Upper Ni vs Lower Ni

xNTJs use upper Introverted Intuition (Ni), and xSFPs us lower Introverted Intuition (Ni).

Upper Introverted Intuition (Ni) – xNTJs

The xNTJ (unless they’re an extremely unhealthy one) is going to have a long-term plan for everything. Chances are, they knew what career they were going to pursue at age five and haven’t changed their mind about it. Think Dagny Taggart from Atlas Shrugged. She decided she was going to run a railroad when she was eight and was already halfway there by the time she was a teenager.

Ni is one of those functions that just gets exponentially more extreme the higher up on the functions list it is, which means that Ni in an INTJ is exponentially more intense than it is in an ENTJ, and way more extreme than in an xSFP.

The INTJ’s primary stimulation comes from this Ni function –from problem-solving and internal analysis. (ENTJ’s primary stimulation is organising their outward environment and fulfilling their task-oriented needs). The xSFP is more likely to take action (Se) before they bother problem-solving, whereas the xNTJ is going to simply problem-solve.

This isn’t to say that xSFPs don’t problem-solve – they do. It’s simply to say that an xSFP will solve mostly immediate problems, while an xNTJ will plan to end all future reoccurrence of the present problem (basically the thought process leading up to each of the deaths Ender Wiggin causes).

Lower Introverted Intuition (Ni) – xSFPs

Even though xSFPs tend to live more in the present, they’re going to have relative long-term plans –   just nothing anywhere near the extreme of an xNTJ.

The xNTJ will who decides he wants to go to Antarctica is going to figure out all the specifications of the journey, how much he needs to earn every month in order to go and then spread his plan out over a longer period of time. Chances are, the xNTJ has wanted to go to Antarctica since he was a child, and has been working towards it ever since.

The xSFP on the other hand is the type of person who will decide out of the blue that he’d like to go to Antarctica –and the next thing you know, he’s changed his mind and decided he wants to go to Africa.

The xSFP typically has fewer and more vague plans than the xNTJ. That annoying ESFP I always talk about has never had a childhood dream (other than to become Batman) and didn’t decide what career to pursue until he was a senior in high school –and even then, he picked computer science purely because the competition is so non-existent that he would need no plan in order to accomplish it.

Upper Te vs Lower Te

xNTJs use upper Extraverted Thinking (Te), while xSFPs use lower Extraverted Thinking (Te).

Upper Extraverted Thinking (Te) – xNTJs

Upper Te is quite blunt – but typically, it’s blunt with the aim of being efficient. xNTJs are going to be much more task-oriented and organised than xSFPs. End of story.

My xSFP sibling and I both have the same 24 hours in our Saturdays. He spends it gaming, shooting animals in the yard, and complaining about how bored he is. Meanwhile, I’ve worked for 8 hrs in person, come home and worked online (I have an editing job) for 3 hrs and then written until I look at the clock and it’s three AM. Then, I have to get up at 7 the next morning.

Let’s just say upper Te users are not uncommonly workaholics.

Lower Extraverted Thinking (Te) – xSFPs

To avoid confusion of upper Se and upper Te. Upper Se focuses on doing, while upper Te focuses on doing efficiently. xSFPs will do just as much as xNTJs, just not as efficiently. They’re likely to devote more time to entertainment than xNTJs. Upper Se goes to a party and has fun. Upper Te goes to a party and feels guilty because it’s not working.

Where the Te function shows up most readily in the xSFP is in the ability to speak bluntly.

xSFPs use their Te coupled with upper Se with the hopes of getting a reaction out of people. For instance, my xSFP sibling enjoys telling morbid jokes –not because they actually thinks they’re funny– but because they thinks people’s reactions to the jokes are funny. This is more the case with ESFPs than ISFPs however.

Upper Te is blunt for the sake of efficiency. With lower Te is just straight-up blunt regardless of any reason.