ISFP Description

"There is no definition of beauty, but when you can see someone's spirit coming through, something unexplainable, that's beautiful to me."

ISFPs as They Typically Are

Graceful, gentle, and soft-spoken, ISFPs are sensitive souls who very often have an artistic inclination and temperament. Their way of meeting the world is a deeply personal and genuine one, where they tend to see whatever crosses their path in terms of how it affects them emotionally, and how it squares with their values and what is important to them.

Though ISFPs tend to be popular, tolerant, and receptive to where the people in their lives are coming from, many ISFPs are nevertheless somewhat solitary and private in nature. To them, ideals and personal values are often seen as an intensely private affair that cannot be summed up in simple words or reduced to political jargon or slogans.

Others often remark of ISFPs that (although they are quiet) they nevertheless tend to be quite expressive in nature - expressive through their clothing, style, or creative pursuits on the one hand, and in the unfeigned sincerity of their prose, diction, and demeanor on the other. As mentioned, many ISFPs tend to have a bit of an artistic bent, and many are able to express themselves in unique ways, not just through their creative pursuits, but through simple everyday living as well.

They tend to see their own creativity not as a means to achieve something conceptual, to build something better, or to convey a particular social message, but as a means to express an aesthetic that they find interesting in and of itself and which has no other reason for being brought into being besides itself. In many cases, ISFPs take a passionate interest in simply exploring and deeply perceiving their own emotional reactions to the projects that they are tinkering with. They carry on if it makes sense to their personal sentiments and are not likely to be overly bothered if others do not immediately see the value or worth of what they are doing. In this way, it may perhaps be said that ISFPs are the most pureblooded creatives of all the 16 types.

Though ISFPs are introverts, most have a pretty active social life and find it easy to interact with people and get to know them. Open and tolerant, they typically have friends or acquaintances from all walks of life, and they often appreciate simply listening to others talk about their life experiences. Though they are typically the last people to be pretentious about it, most ISFPs tend to be genuinely accepting and to really value diversity, seeking to understand how people's values and opinions are the product of their personal experiences – experiences which are unique to them and therefore should not be judged according to some pre-fabricated intellectual regimen.

Like their INFP cousin, the ISFP's intense sensitivity and deep sense of what is personally important to them may predispose them towards social activism. However, unlike their INFP cousin, ISFPs tend to be interested in the well-being of people in their lives first and foremost and only secondly to be interested in nonconcrete social causes with no relation to their own experience.

ISFPs are often resistant to authority or people whom they perceive as needlessly curtailing the individualism and self-expression of others. They see creativity and soulfulness as natural, valuable, and unavoidable elements of human existence, and may easily come to see people who want to limit such expressiveness as misguided. Many ISFPs can almost be said to be on a continuous quest for authentic self-expression where they see the simpler things and serendipitous moments in life as the genuine expression of meaning and human nature.

With their focus on exploring inner sentiments and reactions, ISFPs may be perceived as leading patchy and irregular lives at times where they seem to drift from one thing to another without any overall plan or vision to it. As they mature and grow, however, most ISFPs tend to gain a strong internal sense of what kind of journey they are on and what their life will be about. While even in later years, it may be temping for more judgmental natures to dismiss them as aimless, they can nevertheless be very good at really devoting the time and effort needed to develop and hone their talents in depth. Though their lives may look chaotic to others, they are in fact guided by an inner sensitivity that allows them to find great pleasure and meaning in whatever they are presently pursuing. Often, how they will be seen by others, or how they will make money from what they are doing, will be of secondary importance in the face of things that just intuitively feel right to them.

To many ISFPs, the world is a wondrous and interesting place. A realm so filled with possibilities that there is no need to conform to conventional expectations of how one should live one's life, or to invent a parallel intellectual world besides this one. ISFPs have intense inner lives where they continually delve into themes to explore and express.

They do not seek to control every variable of their lives, nor that of others, and they do not overcomplicate what they do or what they are about with considerations that are not an earnest expression of where they are in life. Instead they'd rather work with the things and themes that make sense to them in order to try to capture part of the human condition in an honest and sincere way. In this manner they tend to capture highly personalized portraits of reality itself, rather than trying to invent some grand idea that at the end of the day is not a true testimony to who they are as people.