[MissxRae]

Thanks for various stories about intelligent ESFPs. I think the world sees us as the ultimate blonde ditz, so these stories help. The intelligence is frequently there, you just have to dig a bit at times.

OrangeAppled, my first time through college I dropped out because parties were too much of a draw but my second time through (I’m in my senior year) I'm getting straight A’s, so don’t give up on your sister, her Fi may mature and she'll decide school is just what she needs.

Once I joined Mensa and spent serious time with them, I came to the same conclusion. After hanging around these people for years, one night at a restaurant many of them came out of the closet and admitted they had never taken the IQ test, they just liked hanging out with Mensans because of their love of talking and partying. There was almost a 100% correlation between people I thought were most intelligent and the ones who hadn’t taken the test.

Once I realized I’m ESFP, and knowing their reputation, the first thing I did was google “ESFP and IQ” to reassure myself, lol. It seemed almost 50/50 - ESFPs are airheads/ESFPs are engaging in their preference which has nothing to do with IQ. Though I love talking to intelligent people, intelligence comes in all different varieties, and I have no desire to talk to a 150-point idiot.

I’m not sure which part is fascinating, but before I was married I had no trouble dating. Men seemed to love the fact that I was a hard-core fun addict - almost never spent time at home - but could keep up with them in an intellectual/logic sense. One time at Mensa, I found myself at a table with my current boyfriend and 3 former boyfriends. The situation wasn’t uncomfortable, in fact it made me giggle, but I didn’t leave the table in case they decided to compare notes, lol.

This is what an “intelligent” ESFP can look like:

Me: “OMG! Daggerpods! *throws self on ground and takes a big sniff of flowers* “Wow! Amazing!”

INTP botanist: “Yes, indeed, that is a Phoenicaulis cheiranthoides.” *makes note in botany logbook*

I know as well as the INTP the scientific name and pronunciation, know as much as he/she where they grow, what time of year, what plants they grow with, and my memory is good enough that I tend to type up my notes after I get home in order to not spoil the thrill of extroverted sensing. I'll eventually end up in a scientific discussion, but I'll likely be more expressive than the INTP throughout the conversation. So who would people in our society pick as having the most intelligence?

It was from watching INTPs on YouTube that I finally realized that wasn’t my type. Before then, I thought I was some weird, expressive variety of INTP, but I’m frequently like that, not just occasionally. That’s the way I’m most comfortable relating to the world but it has nothing to do with intelligence or lack thereof.

There are a constellation of characteristics that many people equate with intelligence, one of which is unemotionality. Likely most of us have known enough intelligent, emotional people to see that the pairing of the two doesn't necessarily have validity.

THANK YOU for posting that!!! Not ALL ESFPs are dumb, ditzy, air-headed, etc. Although many of my friends and strangers immediately view me as a "party girl who socializes too much and that's all she cares about," there's more to me than what meets the eye. We ESFPers have a strong "E" in our trait, so feelings and irrationality dominates the way we react to things (MOST of the time) because we think too much with our emotions. But if you get to know us more, we actually DO have a brain.



Btw, I'm a art, forensic science/medical dramas, photography, anime and music geek. A LOT of people get surprised once they find out I do more than party and socialize haha.

[Fat Bozo]

3 of my friends are ESFPs, one of them is smart, the other two however...

....yeah?...yeah? Don't leave us hanging!

[azrinsani]

Being smart is not just IQ, it's about EQ (Emotional Quotient) as well :)

[Savitri]

I took an IQ test in school about 3 years ago, I believe I got either 152 or 154. Then again, I'm no ESFP, so you might not be interested.

My ESFP best friend is a very smart guy, but if he hears someone speaking abstractly or in metaphors his mind basically shuts off.

[Thrifty Walrus]

I have never heard anyone say their IQ is below 130 XP

Yes, we are all SUPER impressed by your UNIMAGINABLE intelligence.....

[ENTrePenuer]

I've been on a journey for the last few years, beginning with a Myers-Briggs test score of INTP (which I was "doing" at that time in my life while suppressing who I was), then discovering I'm an Enneagram 7 and realizing I'm an extrovert (my life wasn't set up to manifest much extroversion at the time), then realizing I'm a feeler rather than thinker (though I can out-logic many T's), and finally a couple days ago realizing I'm an S, not an N. It's difficult sorting out type when a life situation somewhat prohibits the expression of who you are, which is why this has taken a while. So even though, after practicing for years, I can manifest N and T, I'm an ESFP at heart.

I belong to two IQ clubs, one the top 2%, the other the top 1%, and though I don’t hang out with them anymore, I was tested and joined back at the height of my ESFP-ness. I joined both clubs for the partying, though finding people I could talk to on a lively and intelligent level was a bonus. I relate to people in an ESFP manner in real life, being silly, talkative, laughing, smiling a lot, sometimes, yes, being on stage, but not always, and it's not infrequent that people will brush me off before getting underneath the fun-loving party-girl personality and seeing that I can match them in logic and intelligence - it's just not my preferred way of interacting with the world, though it's always there and an important part of me. So when people look at ESFPs and see airhead, it could be they love relating to the world in that manner but there's more to them underneath.

If ESFPs truly do score lower on IQ tests on average - and I’m not sure if they do - here's one possible reason. I don't enjoy brainteasers *at all* (though I'm a fast reader and have always read a wide variety of subjects, which could have helped my IQ score), but my NT Mensa friends and my INTJ husband find brainteasers stimulating. It’s possible the more someone enjoys and therefore plays around with various types of intellectual puzzles, the better they become at them, increasing the chances of getting a better IQ score. ESFPs might be inherently just as capable at puzzle solving but haven't put in the practice. If this theory is true, it would mean IQ is based partially on what we put our time into, and though I'm sure it applies to the vocabulary portion, I'm not 100% about other portions of an IQ test, not having studied the subject.

So after spending years thinking I’m INTP and feeling, well, a little superior, it’s quite a shock to discover I’m almost the polar opposite, and I’m still adjusting emotionally. On the other hand, it’s a relief to finally see who I am and to understand the more effortless gifts I have to give the world.

You're not an ESFP.

[marshalAK]

Me: “OMG! Daggerpods! *throws self on ground and takes a big sniff of flowers* “Wow! Amazing!”

INTP botanist: “Yes, indeed, that is a Phoenicaulis cheiranthoides.” *makes note in botany logbook*

Karen,

You just made me choke on my soda from laughing! You've got us down to a T. What's even funnier is that my INTP engineer bf HAS a notebook for precisely this sort of situation.

I second (fourth? fifth?) the motion of their being various kinds of intelligence. I'm an assimilator. I can look at the big picture and pull all the pieces together. I'm especially good at reviewing a system and immediately identifying weak areas and improving them. My sister, an INTJ, can out-abstract think anyone I've met. My INTP bf is a genius with mechanical stuff and one of those ridiculously competent "there I fixed it, and added on 5 extra functionalities you can't live without" people.

The near immediate airhead designation however for us ESFPs seriously irritates me. It's caused me to become much more circumspect in meeting people until they've understood I'm not a doofus.

And I've taken the IQ test. Well, tried to. Got restless halfway through and started chatting with the examiner. LOL!

[sunflower823]

Karen, dude, what an epiphany: to go from one of the "smart" types to one of the "dumb" ones, all based on nonsense stereotypes :) I'm an ESFP (performer, people-pleaser, can't-sit-still) and can absolutely relate to the "pretty, fun girl must be dumb" thing, but you know what? I encouraged it because I scored near 1000 on my SAT. In SEVENTH GRADE!!! I tested a 142 I.Q. back then, but I didn't want to be one of those girls that got no attention. So I let all my INTJ (boring, can-sit-very-still-and-do-puzzles-because-nobody-picks-them-for-dodge-ball) friends believe I was intellectually inferior for the sake of my sense of style!??!?! Nobody can tell you how powerful your brain is. Be a genius. An ESFP genius! (Oh, Jayne Mansfield -- the 50s actress -- was an ESFP. Her I.Q.? 163!!)

[firedell]

I have never heard anyone say their IQ is below 130 XP

Yes, we are all SUPER impressed by your UNIMAGINABLE intelligence.....

Mine is an average of 117, but I mostly just ticked whatever because I got bored with it.

[MilkyWay132]

You know, ESFPs aren't stupid. IQ was probably created by NTs, which is why NTs usually do well on them. The IQ supports their type of intelligence, but neglect other types of intelligences. The most common type of intelligence that ESFPs possess is interpersonal intelligence, which IQ tests don't care about. But still, that's a very good type of intelligence. It makes dealing with people a lot easier.