[InsomniacForLife]

I'm pretty sure she is an ESFJ, but I'd like to see what you guys think.

- loves going out, talking to people, and socializing. seems to love small talk and talking to people about their daily lives

- neat freak. can't handle one article of clothing on the floor or anything ever looking semi-cluttered

- super organized. her daily planner is with her at all times, and she makes to do lists and charts for nearly everything she does

- family and friends are a key aspect of her life. She would rather live near her family and make little money than live far away and be rich

- extremely friendly and welcoming to everyone. has no enemies and everyone sees her as nice and sweet

- claims that she's "not meant for the working world", but from what I've seen, she HATES working for small and disorganized companies and loves working for big companies where there is structure and order, like corporations

- can't stand any sort of disharmony. she used to tell us to just be happy and not complain so that we don't ruin her mood. always told us to just enjoy ourselves anyway, and didn't seem to take into account that we didn't actually personally like what we were doing

- way too quick to forgive everyone. would rather stay friends with someone whose ben awful to her, just to avoid "conflict"

- takes criticism personally

- way to concerned with her appearance and how others perceive her

- loves traveling to different areas of the world

- really indecisive when it comes to small things like deciding what to eat, what to wear, stuff like that. never seems to know what it is that she really wants to do with her life

- was a dare devil back in her day lol. Loved doing things like skiing down all of the black diamonds and skiing through woods

- really hates overly bossy people, though she is also pretty bossy herself. has to feel in control of every aspect of her life or else she freaks out. she would rather people just do what she wants, rather than do what it is that each individual wants to do

- pretty non judgmental and accepting person of everyone overall. Only type of people she seems to hate though are super aggressive, loud, and bossy people. She also hates people who "aren't friendly", as in they don't immediately go up to her and start asking her about her personal life. I've tried to explain to her that she can't say these people aren't friendly because they could just be super shy, but she just insists that if someone doesn't talk to her, they are automatically labeled as "not friendly".

- claims she's not fit for leadership roles because she could never be that boss that "everyone hates"

 

[Autumn_Fairy]

Sounds very much like my own mother who is ENFJ. But I can see ESFJ here too. I’d check out some of the comparison threads for these two.

 

[InsomniacForLife]

Sounds very much like my own mother who is ENFJ. But I can see ESFJ here too. I’d check out some of the comparison threads for these two.

Interesting! And from what I've read, I see her more in the ESFJ desriptions. She seems to take things at face value and not read in between the lines very much.

Im not the best at typing though, so she could have Ni and I'm just not realizing it. I always assumed she had strong Si though, because of her EXTREMELY strong ties to family and family traditions. Seems to be more focused on that then focusing on the future.

 

[Sky_Nova_20]

Kinda sounds like my mother, but not completely. She's actually an ISFJ.

 

[RDmint]

Went through and feel strongly ExFJ.

As for S vs. N, probably S, but not quite as sure. what's listed sounds more like SJ--is a neat freak, needs people to follow social niceties or is hurt, values family, has liked athletic activities like skiing, but isn't ALL about it like an SP. These things COULD show up in an N type, though, but my questions...does she have any intellectual interests or interests in the arts/humanities? or theoretical interests? does she enjoy wittiness or word play? Does she have romantic ideals? These are things I'd associate with NF's, but could be not as obvious in daily life.

 

[InsomniacForLife]

Went through and feel strongly ExFJ.

As for S vs. N, probably S, but not quite as sure. what's listed sounds more like SJ--is a neat freak, needs people to follow social niceties or is hurt, values family, has liked athletic activities like skiing, but isn't ALL about it like an SP. These things COULD show up in an N type, though, but my questions...does she have any intellectual interests or interests in the arts/humanities? or theoretical interests? does she enjoy wittiness or word play? Does she have romantic ideals? These are things I'd associate with NF's, but could be not as obvious in daily life.

Yeah, that's why I'm slightly confused. Obviously N types could have some of these traits. And hmm.. well she loves going to art museums and loves that kind of stuff. Loves looking at and observing famous art or architecture pieces, and learning about the history of them. She doesn't actually have any artistic hobbies, but just enjoys admiring other people's work. She loves to read, usually fiction books (realistic fiction though), and has an obsession with self help books. She's constantly texting me inspirational quotes about the "Law of Attraction" and that kind of thing. But she always reads these self help books, but seems to rarely actually do the things that the books tell her to do

Romantic ideals..... eh. She loves romantic gestures, but she seems to have an overly realistic view on romance. She has told me things like "true love isn't real" which I'm not sure is due to some heartbreak she went through in the past, or if she truly just believes that the mystical, highly idealistic love that I believe in isn't realistic. She seems like a "what you see is what you get" kind of person though, and her pessimistic views on relationships and life bother me sometimes. But, sometimes I wonder if she just acts this way to protect herself. When things don't go the way she thinks they should (for example, relationship gone wrong), she seems absolutely crushed, almost like it's heartbreaking for her that things didn't work out. It's hard for her to accept that people didn't live up to her expectations.

And when people don't act the way she wants them to (not living up to her standards or ideals), it affects her whole life. She usually gets really grumpy and takes it out on everyone, EVEN if the situation doesn't involve her. For example, her best friend went through an awful divorce, and for weeks my mom moped around the house, snapping at people for ridiculously stupid things. And then she would say something like, "I'm sorry... this divorce is just really upsetting me. I don't understand why things can't just work out the way they are supposed to, and why people can't just do the right thing."

 

[Drecon]

Seems like a stereotypical ESFJ, my mom is the same way.

Remember: Fe-users don't know their own emotions. This can make them very volatile since they don't know how to handle it when they do get emotional. Fi-users are wired to handle this kind of stuff, Fe-users tend to get lost if they do get emotional.
ESFJ's also tend to mirror the emotions of others, meaning that they can get angry or sad just because the other person gets angry or sad.

 

[Jewl]

@InsomniacForLife - a word of caution. A lot of users on PerC, like way too many people, type their parents as some kind of SJ figure. And their moms usually as xSFJ. I studied the functions and thought I understood them and also typed my mom as an ESFJ. And that's when I thought I actually understood things. But it shows you how easy it is to stereotype.

This was because the descriptions of ESFJ just screamed "mom" all over it. So do lots of descriptions of Fe. Paired with Si, another extremely misunderstood function you get a picture of someone no individualistic millennial could see themselves in. The "you love details and learn from the past" understanding of Si tends to equate to "you are a stickler for doing things the same way they've been done and get stuck in tradition and aren't creative" in peoples' minds.

If you go to the ESFJ forum, you'll realize they are one of the most hated types. The type is riddled with stereotypes. Generally the most negative ones. There's legit a thread on the ESFJ forum entitled "Why does everyone dislike ESFJs?" and there's a ton of people who say something to this effect:

My mom ex-girlfriend ex-wife female friend/acquaintance female caregiver/authority figure is an ESFJ. They hold traditional values, like family, are overly emotional, impose rules on me which absolutely clashes with my [insert Intuitive of Introverted Judging function here] and I CANNOT HANDLE the emotional manipulation/ "everything has to be a certain way", fakeness....

The list goes on.

Most of those stereotypes when you really look at them have very little to do with how the subject actually thinks. It's just a list of behaviors and what the person values. But you can't type people based on what they think. My mom, for example I have realized is very much a ESFP.

But she is warm and caring. She cares for the people around her. She's a good host. Being from a generation behind me, she also holds certain ideas and values that I question. We talk about those sometimes. Just this would make a bunch of people start saying, "Oh she's a total ESFJ." But such a typing doesn't have much substance behind it at all.

It took me a while to see past behaviors people typically associated with vague Feeling+SJness. I realized my mom actually is always weighing things subjectively. She ruminates on things. She loves having new experiences. She is very sensory. She works as a registered nurse and is currently in school for getting her Master's. There are a bunch of other things about her that shed much more light on her type than the attributes I initially saw as defining her type that turned out to not be type relevant at all.

My mom very much values family, but as I've grown older and gotten married, I kinda see more why that has become an important thing to her. Now that my and my husband are on our own, I find it even more important than ever to keep in contact with both his family and mine... and coordinate between them. I realized humorously that such behavior and how I valued harmony between our families would come off to many as "typical Fe". It made me realize how ridiculous the stereotypes were.

*shrugs* so just my words of caution.

As for the things you bring up:

- loves going out, talking to people, and socializing. seems to love small talk and talking to people about their daily lives

I can definitely see how you could at least make the case she's Extroverted here. But just that she loves socializing and small talk does not necessarily indicate Fe or Si.

- neat freak. can't handle one article of clothing on the floor or anything ever looking semi-cluttered

Not really type related. Some people vaguely relate this as being a "J" thing, but that's a misunderstanding of where the P/J dichotomy actually comes from. My ESFP mom is very much a neat freak too. And I find that I can be quite the neat freak myself. Especially when I'm going to have family or friends over. Then it becomes more important to me.

- super organized. her daily planner is with her at all times, and she makes to do lists and charts for nearly everything she does

Another stereotypically "J" thing. Let it be known I know so many INTPs and other supposed "P" types who are organized. My mom is also incredibly organized when it comes to school and time management. When I saw that I think it fed into how I incorrectly typed her. But now I see that existing alongside that was a spontaneous nature and hunger for new experiences I completely overlooked.

- family and friends are a key aspect of her life. She would rather live near her family and make little money than live far away and be rich

For what it's worth, it does seem like your mom has a preference for Feeling. She seems to focus given what you have said on what is important, what has value. That does seem Feeling-y to me.

- extremely friendly and welcoming to everyone. has no enemies and everyone sees her as nice and sweet

Not necessarily type related. Maybe says something about her Extroversion more than anything else?

- claims that she's "not meant for the working world", but from what I've seen, she HATES working for small and disorganized companies and loves working for big companies where there is structure and order, like corporations

- can't stand any sort of disharmony. she used to tell us to just be happy and not complain so that we don't ruin her mood. always told us to just enjoy ourselves anyway, and didn't seem to take into account that we didn't actually personally like what we were doing

Hmm.. I'd have to know more of the "why" behind these things to get a good idea from them, I think. That last one is interesting to me, but I'm unsure what it says about her type.

Hmm... Reading through the rest, I'm not sure I see a lot of type related things. Or at least, nothing I could say definitively because I'd need to know the "why" behind them, like I said before.

You said she enjoys traveling. That could be indicative of some kind of Pe-function? Do you think she enjoys traveling more for the new experiences or for encountering new ideas? You mentioned she was something of a "daredevil" too. Does she enjoy going out and having new sensory experiences?

@Drecon, I don't think it's true Fe-users can't know their own emotions simply because it's objectively focused. Feeling in general has much less to do with what emotions someone feels than many think... It has to do with focusing on value, and in Fe's case that is doing so objectively (devoid of subjective influence). Now I do notice it's true that Fe-users have a hard time introspecting to figure out how something subjectively weighs on them like Fi-users would tend to do.

 

[InsomniacForLife]

Wow, you're so wise!! I feel like my eyes have been opened slightly wider due to your insights :kitteh:

Honestly, you're definitely on to something. That would explain why I have talked to several people who also claim to have ESFJ moms! You have a ton of good points. Let me try and answer some of your questions that you have. She may be an ESFJ, but i'd be interested to see if you actually think she leans more towards something else.

I can definitely see how you could at least make the case she's Extroverted here. But just that she loves socializing and small talk does not necessarily indicate Fe or Si.

Honestly, I can't see her being anything other than extraverted. She claims that she's introverted because she's not loud and bold, but obviously that doesn't correlate to being extroverted or introverted at all. She always seems to love doing things more when she's doing it with someone. She can't stand doing much alone. For example, when she's watching Netflix, she has no interest in watching alone. She enjoys it when she is watching with someone else. That's probably a bad example though, so sorry if that didn't clear things up.

Not really type related. Some people vaguely relate this as being a "J" thing, but that's a misunderstanding of where the P/J dichotomy actually comes from. My ESFP mom is very much a neat freak too. And I find that I can be quite the neat freak myself. Especially when I'm going to have family or friends over. Then it becomes more important to me.

Another stereotypically "J" thing. Let it be known I know so many INTPs and other supposed "P" types who are organized. My mom is also incredibly organized when it comes to school and time management. When I saw that I think it fed into how I incorrectly typed her. But now I see that existing alongside that was a spontaneous nature and hunger for new experiences I completely overlooked.

Ah okay, I understand. See, I was also trying to base her "J-ness" on stuff outside of her "mom-ness". For example, my aunt who shared a room with her, said my mom was such a neat freak that she divided the room in half so my aunt couldn't mess up her side, and every day my mom would spend time as a kid organizing her shoes and neatly tucking the laces into the shoes. It's not like she adopted these traits when she became a mom... she was ALWAYS a neat freak. And I mean, I've never EVER seen someone so passionate about making to do lists. Do you know what she tells us? That if she had to pick a job, it would involve organizing and planning things for people, because she has such a passion for it. She also has an absolute obsession with maps. It's always been humorous watching my step dad get frustrated with her when we're on vacation because she's more focused on the map than the sites around her :laughing:

There are some "P-ish" traits that I see in her though. She definitely has a hunger for new experiences. She rarely says no to trying something new. She's also really indecisive. We're really alike in this way. When it comes to making decisions, especially big decisions, we're really bad at it. She still can not decide on what career she wants to pursue. She seems to enjoy pondering all of the options, rather than actually coming to a decision. Her very decisive husband, always gets very frustrated with this! xD When I was trying to decide on which college to go to (I applied to like thirteen because yes I'm indecisive), we both would ponder on all the pros and cons together and rarely ever come to any sort of conclusion lol. Finally, I was forced to make a decision. If I get this from anyone, I get it from her!

For what it's worth, it does seem like your mom has a preference for Feeling. She seems to focus given what you have said on what is important, what has value. That does seem Feeling-y to me.

Oh yeah, I think that's the only thing I'm 100% on lol!

Hmm.. I'd have to know more of the "why" behind these things to get a good idea from them, I think. That last one is interesting to me, but I'm unsure what it says about her type.

Alright, so, her relation with the working world is an interesting one. So for all of my life (up until the last few years), she was a stay at home mom, and she absolutely loved it. From what she's said, she hates 9-5 jobs because it doesn't give her time to do the things that she truly enjoys in her life, and it restrains her too much. She doesn't see many pros to 9-5 jobs, because the thought of having to give up 8 hours of her day to something that she's not truly passionate about, is traumatizing and depressing to her.
Her most recent job, she absolutely hated. Her boss was a disorganized mess, and it was more of a "start up" company, and she constantly complained. To be fair, from what she told me, her boss sounded awful, and probably no one would have enjoyed working for that boss.
Now she's at a new job where things are actually orderly, and she enjoys it. She also said they play "bonding games" and that it feels like a college campus, which is one of the reasons that she loves it so much.

And for not wanting disharmony... I'm not exactly sure, to be honest. It confuses me.. I'll give you an example though. So, like I said, she absolutely LOVES skiing. She has this vision of her and her children traveling to crazy hard ski resorts and skiing down black diamonds together. Anyway, my sister is not much of a dare devil, and absolutely hates skiing. For like ten years, my sister would dread the day of the yearly ski trips, and would also beg my mom not to make her ski. They always argued about it My mom seems to literally almost tune out my sister when she says she doesn't like skiing, and instead my mom gets mad and says that my sister should just suck it up and enjoy it anyway. My mom tells her "you should be grateful for the experience and look for the positives. find a way to enjoy it." To my mom, even though my sister hated skiing, it was more offensive to her that she wouldn't just suck it up and enjoy it, since its what the rest of the group wanted to do (the rest of the family loves to ski).

You said she enjoys traveling. That could be indicative of some kind of Pe-function? Do you think she enjoys traveling more for the new experiences or for encountering new ideas? You mentioned she was something of a "daredevil" too. Does she enjoy going out and having new sensory experiences?

Maybe, I'm not sure. But she definitely LOVES traveling. And on our vacations, she's always GO GO GO WE HAVE TO EXPERIENCE EVERYTHING WE POSSIBLY CAN IN ONE WEEK, usually leaving the family absolutely exhausted but having done literally everything in whatever location we were at. Sometimes I think she plans things so much because she wants to make sure she can shove in as many activities as possible. If she goes to another country, don't catch her ever relaxing lol. And what do you mean encountering new ideas? I know you've described this before, but I don't know how I'd be able to tell if a love for encountering new ideas is the reason she loves traveling.

And I mean, since she's older now she's definitely mellowed, but I definitely still see the daredevil in her. From what I've heard, when she was younger and wilder lol, she was the one always going "come on, just TRY it" while everyone else was kind of like ahhhh ok you may be crazy. That could also be a reason why her and my sister clash about skiing. My mom just can't understand why my sister wouldn't want to try something so fun!!

 

[Zeus]

Definite ESFJ, friend and sister can't stand lack of harmony.

 

[Drecon]

@Drecon, I don't think it's true Fe-users can't know their own emotions simply because it's objectively focused. Feeling in general has much less to do with what emotions someone feels than many think... It has to do with focusing on value, and in Fe's case that is doing so objectively (devoid of subjective influence). Now I do notice it's true that Fe-users have a hard time introspecting to figure out how something subjectively weighs on them like Fi-users would tend to do.

I know I'm overstating it a bit. The reason is that for most Fi-users "knowing how you feel" doesn't seem like it could be type related. It's just part of being human.

From my experience though, all the Fe-users I've spoken to about this share my frustration of never knowing how they feel or why. It doesn't seem to be a one-time thing but it's a definite pattern.

I do agree that the Feeling function isn't about emotions per se. I agree that it's about values. Your values however do have a bond with your emotions. If you feel strongly about the death penalty, you're going to get emotionally involved in a debate about it. That's normal human behaviour. The thing is, that if you don't know what your values are, you're going to get surprised when you get angry about something, because you had not realized that you valued that thing.

For example: I've figured out at this time in my life that my core value is freedom. I can get frustrated when someone resticts another person's freedom and I can snap at someone if they try to restrict people from doing the things they love to do. It took me 30 years to find this out. Not because this core value is new to me, but just because I had never really thought about what I find important in life. It was never natural for me to think about what was important to me personally. Yet I have always experienced anger and resentment when someone was restricting another person's freedom.

So... while writing this I have figured out that I do in fact agree with you fully. It's all about values, but I do think that the way we handle those values and the resulting emotions is consistent across Fi-users and Fe-users... I think...

Man, this introspection thing is hard. I find myself just clamping shut whenever I try to get at how my own mind works when it comes to things like this. It kind of feel like throwing rocks in a pond to check out how deep it is or something like that.

 

[Jewl]

Wow, you're so wise!! I feel like my eyes have been opened slightly wider due to your insights :kitteh:

Honestly, you're definitely on to something. That would explain why I have talked to several people who also claim to have ESFJ moms! You have a ton of good points. Let me try and answer some of your questions that you have. She may be an ESFJ, but i'd be interested to see if you actually think she leans more towards something else.

Oh yeah. She can totally be an ESFJ. That was just me throwing out stuff to keep in mind whilst typing her. I think we do see evidence she uses some combo of Sensation and Feeling - the question now is in what order? And what attitude?

Honestly, I can't see her being anything other than extraverted. She claims that she's introverted because she's not loud and bold, but obviously that doesn't correlate to being extroverted or introverted at all. She always seems to love doing things more when she's doing it with someone. She can't stand doing much alone. For example, when she's watching Netflix, she has no interest in watching alone. She enjoys it when she is watching with someone else. That's probably a bad example though, so sorry if that didn't clear things up.

I agree she still seems Extroverted to me. A large portion of people think themselves Introverted simply because they prefer a chiller and more intimate kind of atmosphere.

Ah okay, I understand. See, I was also trying to base her "J-ness" on stuff outside of her "mom-ness". For example, my aunt who shared a room with her, said my mom was such a neat freak that she divided the room in half so my aunt couldn't mess up her side, and every day my mom would spend time as a kid organizing her shoes and neatly tucking the laces into the shoes. It's not like she adopted these traits when she became a mom... she was ALWAYS a neat freak. And I mean, I've never EVER seen someone so passionate about making to do lists. Do you know what she tells us? That if she had to pick a job, it would involve organizing and planning things for people, because she has such a passion for it. She also has an absolute obsession with maps. It's always been humorous watching my step dad get frustrated with her when we're on vacation because she's more focused on the map than the sites around her :laughing:

There are some "P-ish" traits that I see in her though. She definitely has a hunger for new experiences. She rarely says no to trying something new. She's also really indecisive. We're really alike in this way. When it comes to making decisions, especially big decisions, we're really bad at it. She still can not decide on what career she wants to pursue. She seems to enjoy pondering all of the options, rather than actually coming to a decision. Her very decisive husband, always gets very frustrated with this! xD When I was trying to decide on which college to go to (I applied to like thirteen because yes I'm indecisive), we both would ponder on all the pros and cons together and rarely ever come to any sort of conclusion lol. Finally, I was forced to make a decision. If I get this from anyone, I get it from her!

That hunger for new experiences to me suggests some kind of Pe-function. That wanting ALL the options and flexibility, even if she is like you said a neat freak and very organized.

Oh yeah, I think that's the only thing I'm 100% on lol!

Haha. Feeling? Check. The question is Fi or Fe?

Alright, so, her relation with the working world is an interesting one. So for all of my life (up until the last few years), she was a stay at home mom, and she absolutely loved it. From what she's said, she hates 9-5 jobs because it doesn't give her time to do the things that she truly enjoys in her life, and it restrains her too much. She doesn't see many pros to 9-5 jobs, because the thought of having to give up 8 hours of her day to something that she's not truly passionate about, is traumatizing and depressing to her.
Her most recent job, she absolutely hated. Her boss was a disorganized mess, and it was more of a "start up" company, and she constantly complained. To be fair, from what she told me, her boss sounded awful, and probably no one would have enjoyed working for that boss.
Now she's at a new job where things are actually orderly, and she enjoys it. She also said they play "bonding games" and that it feels like a college campus, which is one of the reasons that she loves it so much.

This seems like it could be to more dominant Pe - probably Se from what details you've given me. Unless you feel your mom does things for the sake of the idea and seeking out new possibilities? And also maybe, just maybe, a hint of Fi. That internal focus on something she knows is important to her (maybe Fi?) paired with wanting to keep things open (Pe)....

And for not wanting disharmony... I'm not exactly sure, to be honest. It confuses me.. I'll give you an example though. So, like I said, she absolutely LOVES skiing. She has this vision of her and her children traveling to crazy hard ski resorts and skiing down black diamonds together. Anyway, my sister is not much of a dare devil, and absolutely hates skiing. For like ten years, my sister would dread the day of the yearly ski trips, and would also beg my mom not to make her ski. They always argued about it My mom seems to literally almost tune out my sister when she says she doesn't like skiing, and instead my mom gets mad and says that my sister should just suck it up and enjoy it anyway. My mom tells her "you should be grateful for the experience and look for the positives. find a way to enjoy it." To my mom, even though my sister hated skiing, it was more offensive to her that she wouldn't just suck it up and enjoy it, since its what the rest of the group wanted to do (the rest of the family loves to ski).

Hm, I suppose my mom has been like that to me. Could be part of being a mom and going out to do the family trip and the one kid doesn't want to do it... I find it hard to really look at that and see a type from it. Too many variables.

Maybe, I'm not sure. But she definitely LOVES traveling. And on our vacations, she's always GO GO GO WE HAVE TO EXPERIENCE EVERYTHING WE POSSIBLY CAN IN ONE WEEK, usually leaving the family absolutely exhausted but having done literally everything in whatever location we were at. Sometimes I think she plans things so much because she wants to make sure she can shove in as many activities as possible. If she goes to another country, don't catch her ever relaxing lol. And what do you mean encountering new ideas? I know you've described this before, but I don't know how I'd be able to tell if a love for encountering new ideas is the reason she loves traveling.

You know, a Ne love for seeking out new possibilities. Never wanting to experience things just for experience's sake. Se, on the other hand, has a drive for experiencing ALL THE THINGS.

And I mean, since she's older now she's definitely mellowed, but I definitely still see the daredevil in her. From what I've heard, when she was younger and wilder lol, she was the one always going "come on, just TRY it" while everyone else was kind of like ahhhh ok you may be crazy. That could also be a reason why her and my sister clash about skiing. My mom just can't understand why my sister wouldn't want to try something so fun!!

The consistent thing I've gotten from you sounds to me like Se. And she does seem to be Extroverted. Take that for what it's worth and with a grain of salt. My tentative guess would be perhaps ESFP? There's so much you said that sounded like Pe to me that doesn't seem to be Ne on the surface level.

 

[InsomniacForLife]

But J types also love experiencing new things too though, so what's the difference?

I'm sure there has to be adventurous J types out there.

 

[Jewl]

But J types also love experiencing new things too though, so what's the difference?

I'm sure there has to be adventurous J types out there.

Adventurousness for the sake of adventure in and of itself is something I typically associate with Pe-doms. That's not to say there will be no "adventurous" Je-types. There certainly can be. But when I see someone who has a habit of seeking out new experiences for the experience's sake and who is always taking in what is outside of themselves, I think Pe - and specifically Se - is most likely.

If you want to consider other types, definitely do it. I am in no way saying for sure your mom is an ESFP or even a Se-dom. This is just me hazarding a guess based on the limited information I have. You, who know her much better than me, might have reason to suspect she uses Fe as her dominant function.

Certainly, my ESTJ sister loves gaining new experiences. So does my ESFJ friend. My sister tends to like gaining new experiences for a more specific reason, though - she's done a lot of really cool internships and whatnot. Traveled. I don't know if this is a trend for other Te-doms, but it always seems to be for more than just "gaining a new experience's" sake. It seems like it's always for furthering some goal of hers. And my ESFJ friend is very committed to lots of causes, often causing her to travel. She leads a small group that's a part of this campus ministry at the university she goes to. Sometimes they do missions trips. That sort of thing. *shrugs* Take that for what it's worth.

Sorry I didn't notice your post for a while! It helps if you mention or quote me so I know you're asking a question. ^-^

 

[InsomniacForLife]

Adventurousness for the sake of adventure in and of itself is something I typically associate with Pe-doms. That's not to say there will be no "adventurous" Je-types. There certainly can be. But when I see someone who has a habit of seeking out new experiences for the experience's sake and who is always taking in what is outside of themselves, I think Pe - and specifically Se - is most likely.

If you want to consider other types, definitely do it. I am in no way saying for sure your mom is an ESFP or even a Se-dom. This is just me hazarding a guess based on the limited information I have. You, who know her much better than me, might have reason to suspect she uses Fe as her dominant function.

Certainly, my ESTJ sister loves gaining new experiences. So does my ESFJ friend. My sister tends to like gaining new experiences for a more specific reason, though - she's done a lot of really cool internships and whatnot. Traveled. I don't know if this is a trend for other Te-doms, but it always seems to be for more than just "gaining a new experience's" sake. It seems like it's always for furthering some goal of hers. And my ESFJ friend is very committed to lots of causes, often causing her to travel. She leads a small group that's a part of this campus ministry at the university she goes to. Sometimes they do missions trips. That sort of thing. *shrugs* Take that for what it's worth.

Sorry I didn't notice your post for a while! It helps if you mention or quote me so I know you're asking a question. ^-^

Ah, that's interesting! That would make sense. It seems like she just loves new experiences/adventure for the sake of it. I don't see her having a real purpose for it except that she enjoys what she does.. I'm that way too.

I'd be curious what type you think my father is... I believe he's IxTJ, and he's the complete opposite human being of my mother lol.

And that's ok! You're a fast replier anyway! I'll try and always tag you in my replies though