Importance of Knowing Your Personality Type 

Firstly, it’s important to understand that personality typing is not designed to classify a person or to say that one personality is better than another. Each personality has its unique characteristics. Personality typing is an empowering personal development tool that will help you to:   

• Identify your strengths and weaknesses and understand your thoughts, feelings, and motivations,     
• Make smarter education and career choices,   
• Be confident in a job interview,  
• Thrive in the workplace, 
• Network with others successfully and, 
• Improve your relationships.

Introduction to Personality Typology  

Understanding one’s strengths and weaknesses, needs and wants help in;  

• Identifying relevant opportunities,  
• Accessing career information,  
• Planning and taking career-related decisions,  
• Presenting oneself effectively to gain access to courses or jobs and,  
• Networking and building relationships.

The road to modern personality typology was first paved by a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, Carl Jung. Based on his work, psychologists Isabel Briggs Myers and Katharine Briggs created the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), which is one of the most popular methods of personality typing today.  

To explain how people differ in the way they use their personality preferences/cognitive functions, Myers and Briggs use the following four preferences for their self-evaluation personality assessment. 

1. Introversion (I) or Extraversion (E). Do you prefer to draw energy from your inner world or the outer world? 
2. Sensing (S) or Intuition (N). How you receive information. Do you prefer to focus on the information from your surroundings or interpret and add your meaning? 
3. Thinking (T) or Feeling (F). How you make decisions. Do you take a logical approach or prefer to look at people and circumstances? 
4. Judging (J) or Perceiving (P). How you interact with the outside world. Do you like to have things decided and organized or prefer to remain open to new information and options? 

The letters that are assigned to the above preferences make up a four-letter acronym for each of the 16 personality types. This simple coding system shows how your four preferences interact, and which one you prefer to use first.  

The way you use these preferences can change over time and some of these preferences may be used more often than others. For example, the ESFP personality type uses the following preferences in this order: extraversion, sensing, feeling, and perceiving. 

ESFPs are extroverts  

ESFPs are extroverts, so they draw energy from the outside world, and they like to be around lots of people.  

Extroverts are friendly, talkative, expressive, and cheerful so it’s easy to spot them at a party because they will be there making everyone laugh with their jokes and stories. Despite their constant cheerfulness and light-heartedness, ESFPs are deeply committed to their closest relationships.  

Personality Profile of the ESFP 

The ESFP personality type is one of the most common personalities and up to 10% of the US population, have this personality. ESFPs are also known by the nicknames, “The Entertainer”, and “The Performer” because they are extremely sociable, fun-loving, playful, and full of energy, and they love the spotlight. 

ESFPs are enthusiastic about life. They want to experience and enjoy everything the world has to offer. People, food, music, art, fashion, the natural world, and animals. As they are aesthetic, ESFPs appreciate colors, textures, and beauty, and like to wear stylish clothes.  

ESFPs make great leaders as they have excellent communication and interpersonal skills. People are drawn to them because of their warmth, charm, confidence, and optimism. Their keen understanding of human nature helps them to effectively mobilize, persuade, and motivate others to action.  

When they are not working, ESFPs keep their calendar full of social engagements. They like to spend time with friends and family, meet new people at a party, club, or church, and participate in group-style recreational activities. 

The Entertainers/Performers love being the center of attention so others may think they are shallow and only concerned about their popularity. Despite their party-loving nature, they are genuinely interested in others, are sensitive to people’s feelings, and strive to improve people’s lives.  

ESFPs tend to act first and think later which can result in embarrassing situations and personal catastrophes. Their easygoing nature can be frustrating as they change their plans quickly.  

ESFPs prefer light-hearted banter and avoid discussions about serious issues or intellectual subjects. If the conversation gets too deep, an ESFP will respond with a laugh and a clever quip.  

It’s rare for ESFPs to get angry and they can take a lot of attacks on their character, but when someone is saying something nasty or negative about their loved ones, ESFPs can become resentful or surprise everyone with an angry outburst. 

Cognitive functions 

Sensing 

ESFPs use their sensing preference to receive information from their surroundings, so they are highly observant, good listeners, and often pick up on the little details or social cues that others miss. 

While they live in the moment, ESFPs have an unusual ability to retain vivid memories from the past and a large amount of knowledge, which helps them plan more effectively for the future.