# The Valiant ISFJ (Socionics)



## firedell (Aug 5, 2009)

*By Reuben McNew [ENTp]* 

ISFjs are among the most loyal and family oriented of the types, they love family and can provide well for them. They can have good memories, and excellent analytical abilities. They can make very good councilors, and may possess an excellent empathetic understanding of others. They tend to be exceptionally self-sacrificing. However, they also have a habit of devaluing their own accomplishments, feeling as though they are worthy of no reward. Many become prone to severe workaholics tendencies, constantly finding reasons to clean and arranging items for work or for leisure; regardless, they can often even feel under appreciated for their valiant enthusiastic efforts. 

ISFjs tend to be very orderly, they rarely need to ever to clean up; this can be manifested in the way that they dress. For example, it is rare to find an ISFj that does not own some sort of designer suit or dress, as they love to flaunt themselves about in beautifully matched attire, even for informal events. They can also be exceptionally meticulous, constantly searching for new and different ways to arrange items in the most perfect fashion. They have an eye for defects, which can sometimes become an object of obsession. ISFjs can become intrigued by certain specific color combinations, like black and white. In the extreme, this can manifest itself in peculiar ways. For example, an ISFj might get so involved with matching colors, that he or she has to restain and bleach the wood in his or her house to maybe a pasty white, replace their carpet with black and white tile, and tear out the grass in the front yard to replace with black and white pebbles, carefully placed selected types of trees, and maybe some odd type of plant or cactus. They may place similar expectations on their guest, asking them to perform certain ethical rituals before entering; like taking off their shoes or showing some other similar form of etiquette. 

ISFjs can be exceptionally sympathetic to other people's problems and very supportive and non-condemning, but only if and after they have approved of a person in accords to their logic; they have an have an eye to notice when people do not abide by their own logical and ethical norms. When they dislike someone, some may gossip and spread exaggerated rumors about him or her or may discriminate out of biased judgment; they may even go so far as to shun those who do not discriminate against the same people they discriminate against. However, despite of their apparent incoherent lack of empathy for those considered flawed and unworthy of their respect and admiration, they do make loyal companions to those in which they have found a closeness. ISFjs place high importance on personal individual loyalties, and tend to stick with them through thick and thin. Even in the workplace, it is common for an ISFj to quit a cherished job when a favored boss or co-worker must leave. 

ISFjs may not favor what they perceive to be laziness in people; they see little value in the partaking of activities that disturb their own perceived logical order of things, and they may be quick to formulate plans to provoke others to work. They may use their ethical evaluations and logic to intentionally trap others in such a way that they can place certain preconceived expectations upon them, in order to cause them to conform to their orderly logic. 

ISFjs tend to make very good host and hostesses, and always make sure that everything that has been prepared is of the best quality and of an orderly style; they always make sure that others are entertained, and they almost always find something good to discuss. When they joke, they provoke an awe of seriousness, only to hit you with a sudden unexpected punch line; they can seem charming in a somewhat subtle way. 
ISFj by Function 
Fi: The first function of the ISFj is Fi, by which subjective feeling substantiates itself through various ethical processes. With this function, it is possible to deconstruct and disassemble various levels of emotions, feelings, and moods in order to gauge a sense of their inner workings or how they habitually function. Probably the most powerful aspect of Fi is the forming of a subjective value system by which one uses to connect to others through a maintained and refined view of moral right, wrong, and good; other important features of this function include the ability to word statements and express emotions in the most concise and ethical manner that could be implemented to appeal to the ethical processes of others. Being an introverted function, Fi has an active ability to self-sustain itself and moves actively between an subjective emotional world located in the future and past in order to sustain itself as an active function. 

Fe: The seventh function of the this type is Fe. Strong and lacking, it remains to the ISFj something to be loathed. Though some use may come from this function in the tracking of events, patterns, and simple gauging of current emotions, this function remains the vehicle by which tradition establishes itself and the foreign get thrown out. For the ISFj, Fe truly represents all that inferiority is and the uselessness of false potential, and so long as old emotion is and there remains something to be cherished, traditional systematic ethics stands before the new! Disloyalty to a cherished, strong, and qualified system of personal emotionals will never interest an ISFj! 

Se: The second function of the ISFj is Se, by which the essence of experiences arrive and insights into their development arise. With this function, it is possible to collect multiple physical sensations from the eyes, ears, nose, taste and touch in order to register into a readily available databank their entirety and the various conscious considerations concerning them. With Se, one can collect and maintain a massive amount of indexed facts, figures, statistics, and other bits and chunks of data involved with varying experiences in order to derive a global picture of the whole of different varying physical sensation as they stand in the concrete physical world. However, Se also maintains an active neutral stance on the entire whole of its inputs, even if the whole of the input of one-experience conflicts with any of the other indexed experiences, it remains non-biased and registers them all as equals. Being an extroverted function, Se cannot derive data from within and must amass information from outside of itself and in the here and now to survive as a function or at all. 

Si: The eigth function of the this type is Si. Strong and lacking, it remains to the ISFj something to be loathed. Though some use may come from this function in the tracking of time, patterns, and the gauging of past experiences, this function remains the vehicle by which the old becomes abandoned and the new comes about. For the ISFj, Si truly represents all that inferiority is and the uselessness of false potential, and so long as new experiences emerge and there remains something to be considered, out with the old and in with the new! Loyalty to experiences long gone will never interest an ISFj! 

Ti: The third function of the ISFj is Ti, by which objective logic substantiates itself through various thought processes. Since the ISFj type thrives in a world of ethical and non-logical and subjective principles, it may be rendered difficult for this type to deconstruct and disassemble various levels of thought, concepts, and ideas in order to gauge a sense of their inner workings or how they habitually function. In result of this inability, expected behaviors should include an inability to discern logically the good and bad parts of a concept or the logical importance of a concept, intentionally analyzing too much or not enough, unable to order task in a way that does not cause fatigue, becoming offended when logical mistakes or illogical nature is pointed out, and making impatient and rash decisions before analyzing a situation fully. 

Te: The third function of the ISFj is Te, by which objective logic substantiates itself through various thought processes. Though be this a weak, unconscious, and influential function, it should find itself most active within the presence of one whose dominant function coincides, for it it seeks to be strong and may pretend to be such. At other times, an expression of this function may find itself in place of the weak and conscious Ti function. Manifested bahaviours expected of this function should include seeming to be in the know about various trends, but has a convulted logic that distorts itself over a period of time, prone to spreading exaggerated gossip that may cause embarrassment, attempts at understanding the logic of others produces childish results, habitually and continually misses the point of someone else's line of thought, spending a great deal of time attempting to substantiate own logic, having a fondness for talking notes or writting in journals in a way that catches attention, attacking the logic of others without substantiating own logic, prone to extreme vagueness. 

Ne: The fourth function of the ISFj Ne, by which the essence of ideas arrive and insights into their development arise. Since the ISFj type thrives in a world of concrete and non-abstract structures, it may be rendered difficult for this type to collect multiple perspectives, concepts, ideas, and beliefs for purposes of consideration. In result of this inability, expected behaviors should include an tendency to misjudge the true potential in people, stubborn misguided stereotypes, sudden jumping to biased conclusions without rhyme, thought, reason, or explanation, misunderstanding and forming unnecessarily negative views towards the beliefs and intentions of others, inability to consider new methods and ways of doing things, lack of originality, and an impatience with disadvantage. 

Ni: The sixth function of the ISFj is Ni, by which the essence of ideas arrive and insights into their development arise. Though be this a weak, unconscious, and influential function, it should find itself most active within the presence of one whose dominant function coincides, for it it seeks to be strong and may pretend to be such. At other times, an expression of this function may find itself in place of the weak and conscious Ne function. Manifested bahaviours expected of this function should include distorting concepts or beliefs throughout time to the point of unreality, forming pessimistic views of the future that are not in tune with reality, developing a distorted view of the past that changes as time passes, developing worse case senerios in ways that seem childish or imaginary, and attempts to manipulate noticable trends into predictable directions. 

________________________________________ 
Because of the structureof various function, it is not uncommon for a person to be confused or undecided between various types and even between the usage of various functions. The following is a functional description of various types that an actual ISFj may become confused or undecided between. 


ENFj - An ISFj may find him or her self activelly undecided between the ENFj type and his or her native ISFj type. Because the sixth function of the ISFj is Ni, it is not uncommon for one to confuse the second creative function (Se) for that function. When this occurs, an ISFj may have problems deciding between those sensory and intuitive functions. In even more complex situations, an ISFj may demonstrate what appears to be a false lack of Si, which corresponds to the fourth weakest function of the ENFj. In this instances, the way to discern between these two types and to choose the correct one is to determine whether you activelly use Fi or Fe. If you use Fi more than you use Fe, you are an ISFj. If you use Fe more than you use Fi, you could really be an ENFj. 

INFp - An ISFj may confuse him or her self for a INFp for the same reason that one would confuse his or her self for an ENFj. If you use Fi more than you use Fe, you are probably an ISFj. If you use Fe more than you use Fi, you could really be an INFp. 

INFj - An ISFj usually becomes confused between this type and his or her native ISFj when he or she has decided upon being an introvert, determined self as a judging type, and has been having some influence from the sixth function, while not really being sure if that function is introverted or extroverted. In this senerio, instead of a ISFj confusing his or her self for an ENFj the extroverted or introverted type has been substituted. In this instance, the way to discern between these two types and to choose the correct one is to determine whether you activelly use more Ni or Ne. If you use Ni more than you use Ne, you are probably an ISFj. If you use Ne more than you use Ni, you could really be an INFj. 

ESFj - Because of the influence of MBTI, some new to socionic's theory may ignorantly think that the correct way to switch between introverted and extroverted types is to simply switch an E to an I or an I to an E. This is not the correct way to switch back and forth between the two in socionics. If you are an ESFj in MBTI with an emphasis on expressing Fi and Se, your actual socionics type is either an ISFj if you choose to stay a judging type or ESFp if you find that you might want to consider being a socionic's perceiving type. On the otherhand, if the above ISFj description does not relate to you and you functionally express Fe and Si, ESFj is still an option, though be warned that socionics does not totally follow the same logic as MBTI does when determining J and P nor do the same stereotypical rules apply when attempting to determine introversion and extroversion. If you are familiar with MBTI, the possibility of having to type yourself totally diffrent than MBTI should be a definite expectation.

Source: Ïñèõîëîãèÿ è ñîöèîíèêà :: Ïðîñìîòð òåìû - ISFj


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## LibertyPrime (Dec 17, 2010)

articles like these are why it is difficult to even believe one is ESI based on functions.

How is this Fi Se Ni Te? <.< seriously this is more MBTI ISFJ or something imo. THIS is NOT ISFP XD...it can't be as I'm neither orderly nor prone to all this crap that was written in the article. XD I had to laugh at the host part,  the black and white rock thing was just very disturbing thou.

@LeaT, see? THIS is what I mean ....wtf. In my experience Fi isn't something as shallow as the above description makes it out to be. Reducing it to ethics? Why? When I get a gut feeling or a "sense" that something is "off" or when I feel how the notes in a piece of music come together, when I read into other people and pick up on how and what they are experiencing...isn't that Fi?

>.< this is even worse then the MBTI one claiming that ISFPs only live in the moment, are hyper emotional artists.

:\ I like to tinker with computers, languages & machines, am kinda very chaotic, undisciplined and future orientated, face to face people are open books to me and I enjoy their company (most of the time). I also neither control nor do I want to be controlled and I like animals, nature Se-ish things. Trivial details & order are for neat freaks and OCD cases ^^; don't bother me with those.

*:/ wtf is wrong with all these damn descriptions!?  why do people even make the damn things! XD I am fucking pissed right NOW!!!*


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## aestrivex (Mar 7, 2011)

FreeBeer, there are very simple answers.


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## Kanerou (Oct 8, 2009)

FreeBeer said:


> articles like these are why it is difficult to even believe one is ESI based on functions.
> 
> How is this Fi Se Ni Te? <.< seriously this is more MBTI ISFJ or something imo. THIS is NOT ISFP XD...it can't be as I'm neither orderly nor prone to all this crap that was written in the article. XD I had to laugh at the host part,  the black and white rock thing was just very disturbing thou.


Of course it's not ISFP. It's an ESI description. I can't speak for the accuracy of the above profile, but expecting it to fall in line with MBTI Fi Se Ni and Te won't get you anywhere; the definitions involved are different.


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## sinigang (May 5, 2012)

FreeBeer said:


> articles like these are why it is difficult to even believe one is ESI based on functions.
> 
> How is this Fi Se Ni Te? <.< seriously this is more MBTI ISFJ or something imo. THIS is NOT ISFP XD...it can't be as I'm neither orderly nor prone to all this crap that was written in the article. XD I had to laugh at the host part,  the black and white rock thing was just very disturbing thou.
> 
> ...


I think the descriptions and stereotypes are mostly wrong. 

But you will have to find out first whether you are actually ESI.


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## cyamitide (Jul 8, 2010)

firedell said:


> INFp - An ISFj may confuse him or her self for a INFp for the same reason that one would confuse his or her self for an ENFj. If you use Fi more than you use Fe, you are probably an ISFj. If you use Fe more than you use Fi, you could really be an INFp.
> 
> INFj - An ISFj usually becomes confused between this type and his or her native ISFj when he or she has decided upon being an introvert, determined self as a judging type, and has been having some influence from the sixth function, while not really being sure if that function is introverted or extroverted. In this senerio, instead of a ISFj confusing his or her self for an ENFj the extroverted or introverted type has been substituted. In this instance, the way to discern between these two types and to choose the correct one is to determine whether you activelly use more Ni or Ne. If you use Ni more than you use Ne, you are probably an ISFj. If you use Ne more than you use Ni, you could really be an INFj.


ISFj - INFp is a common mistype for ISFjs who have strong Ni. 
The other common one is ISFj - ESFp, typing into one's mirror.

I haven't seen ISFjs typing into INFjs much. INFj profiles make them sound at best as all-forgiving angels and at worst as obedient doormats, so it's more common for EIIs to type into ESIs in rebellion against such profiles.


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