You are ISFP –

The Explorer!

As the ISFP Explorer, you immerse yourself into the experi-

ence of every moment, finding joy in the little things and
keeping them safe.
Version 1.1.0 Updated 19 July 2015
There are numerous stereotypes and misconceptions about
personality typing, but here we’ll get to the root of it all:
Cognition, the underlying thoughts and desires that make
you who you are in your own individual way. You think the
way you do for a reason. Your secret desires, interests, and
fears make sense. Learning to understand how you think,
why, and what you can do with it, naturally helps everything
in life go more smoothly.

Cognitive typing is not a listing of simplistic limits or divisive

caricatures. It’s a set of tools, an open-ended guide to help
you better understand everything that’s already been going
on inside you. This equips you to derive ever greater benefit,
insight, and enjoyment out of being the incredibly complex
and unique person you really are.

So, what does it really mean to be a cognitive ISFP?

You’ve probably run into the letters ISFP before, maybe
online or in books you’ve read. Unfortunately, the way most
sources define those letters is often a little shaky, focusing
on behaviors instead of cognition. But behaviors change
throughout a person’s life, and two people might do the
same behaviors for very different reasons. This leads to a
difficulty in really nailing down who is and isn’t ISFP, caus-
ing subjective arguments on the matter all over the internet.
Worse, it leads to simplified misconceptions about what ISFP
actually means. Getting back to the roots of cognition, your
underlying thoughts and reasons why you do what you do,
allows us to cut past all the simplifications and subjectivity.

Perhaps when you opened up this document and saw ISFP,

you immediately remembered unpleasant stereotypes that
certainly don’t apply to you. ISFPs are often portrayed as
moody, naïve, reclusive, overly soft and sensitive, and even
stupid, so you may have been tempted to think you couldn’t
possibly be ISFP. Well good, because those sorts of oversim-
plifications are simply untrue. They’re stereotypes that have
nothing at all to do with cognition, coming from shaky defini-
tions of the letters that end up contradicting themselves and
falling apart under the rigors of experience. Human thought
is far more complex than that!
Being a cognitive ISFP does not place any limits whatsoever
on your abilities, talents, career aptitude, behaviors, or atti-
tudes. You can decide who you want to be. As you come to
understand the way you already cognate, you’ll naturally
end up getting out of your own way, striding forward as the
person you’ve always been rather than sabotaging yourself
by trying to hide who you really want to be.

These letters are merely a representation of the way you

naturally approach the world. In every thought, every expe-
rience, and every interaction, we each make unconscious
choices about what we’re going to focus on most. These un-
witting choices display what matters to us the most. Being
an ISFP means that deep down, what matters most to you is
exploring and treasuring each moment and protecting the
things you love. Your mind constantly chooses what to focus
on first, based on this desire that reflects the core of every-
thing it means to be you.

This leaves all behaviors, attitudes, and abilities open to you,

yet you will always end up approaching them in a way that
reflects your deepest desire. All the letters and all their ef-
fects are simply results of what your mind naturally priori-
tizes in life, based on what you want most. Now let’s get into
defining those letters, so you can know what you’re working
with, get past all the simplified limitations, and just be you!
I – Introvert

Being a cognitive Introvert has nothing to do with how social

you may or may not be. It simply means that you naturally
turn inward in order to process thoughts, decide on actions,
and make judgments about the world and people. You tend
to consider possibilities and ideas in the quiet laboratory of
your own head before testing them out on the world around
you. While cognitive Extraverts naturally observe, consider-
ing the opinions and actions of others and forming thoughts
from the behaviors of their surroundings, Introverts usually
form their own ideas and plans first before seeing how they
line up with the real world outside.

Social introversion, by contrast, is a behavioral habit that can

change depending on a person’s situation or mood. Cogni-
tion is the natural framework of thought beneath all one’s
changing habits and behaviors, the inner self that motivates
all actions and attitudes of every kind. So don’t worry if you
don’t consider yourself a social introvert; that’s an entirely
different matter from cognitive Introversion. Most sources
in books and online deal with behavioral habits like social in-
troversion or extraversion, but those behaviors are not cog-
nition. Behaviors are about what you do, which can change
dramatically in varying situations, but cognition is about
how you think, beneath any and all behaviors.
There are times to be socially introverted and times to be
socially extraverted, and any healthy person of any type will
learn to develop both. Being overly socially introverted can
in fact be a coping mechanism, a way to keep others at arm’s
length in order to avoid having one’s weaknesses or insecu-
rities brought into the light. Likewise, being overly socially
extraverted can also be a coping technique, a way to try to
escape or distract oneself from personal doubts or pain. Ei-
ther behavior can be enjoyed healthily or clung to unhealthi-
ly, and all people, of all types, can be equally healthy or un-
healthy in their social habits.
Yet cognitive Introverts, regardless of their social habits, ap-
proach all situations by looking inside themselves first in or-
der to form thoughts. Everyone processes information in-
side their own heads, and everyone also observes outward,
but cognitive Introverts consider thoughts first before any-
thing else. They review their own understanding and expe-
riences before going forward, preferring to have their
thoughts and actions fully formed before releasing them into
the world. Introverts constantly turn inward to process in-
formation and prepare output, so that their outward actions
and words can be the best they can make them. They may be
very social, or not, but in either case they are always mental-
ly looking inward.
Being so focused inward, Introverts have a natural ability to
decisively make choices without input from other people.
This gives them a self-motivated drive, largely independent
of the beliefs or actions of others. They must be careful,
however, to take into account the views and desires of other
people, which can often be quite surprising! The ideas or be-
liefs that worked so well in the laboratory of an Introvert’s
head might be totally thrown out the window in practice,
due to the unexpected actions of others.

This means that Introverts must guard against moral abso-

lutism, an attitude that views differing opinions as simply
wrong or foolish. All types can be morally absolutist or rela-
tivist, but Introverts can find it harder to fully understand
the motives and views of others. The same objective facts
can be viewed very differently by people coming from differ-
ing backgrounds or attitudes, and Introverts need to re-
member that their own internal laboratories always repre-
sent only one point of view. They can of course learn to bet-
ter observe and consider the views of others, but their intro-
spection means that it comes a little less naturally to them.

All this introspection can sometimes cause Introverts to ap-

pear aloof or detached, even if they’re very social. When this
introspective aloofness is not appreciated by others, Intro-
verts can be induced to adopt social introversion as a result.
Yet cognitive Introverts possess a unique ability to be pow-
erfully socially extraverted as well, since their inward focus
allows them to adapt deliberately to their present compan-
ions or situation. Paying in-the-moment attention to their
own words and actions, they can be cheerful or subdued,
spontaneous or careful, putting others at ease and drawing
energy from all around them, in whatever way the situation
requires. Real charisma, that joy in life and in others which
cannot be faked, is a quality available to all healthy people, of
every type.
P – Perceiver

Perceiver vs. Judger is one of the most crucial factors in any-

one’s cognition, yet it’s also one of the most commonly mis-
understood. There are stereotypes and oversimplifications
about all the letter pairs, causing people to be mistyped or
made to feel that their own type is inferior in some way, and
that doesn’t help anyone. But unlike the other three letter
pairs, the difference between Perceiver and Judger entirely
changes a person’s whole cognition process. The switching
of just this one pair of letters produces a completely differ-
ent order of cognition steps, resulting in nearly opposite
strengths and weaknesses. A person who’s mistyped be-
tween Perceiver and Judger might end up feeling confused
about how their type thinks, what they excel at and what
they need to watch out for, because the switching of these
two letters changes around the entire cognition process.

As a Perceiver, you are not any less organized, responsible,

or decisive, regardless of the plentiful oversimplifications on
the matter. Perceivers simply prefer to take in options be-
fore committing to a course of action or opinion. Even if it
takes longer in the short run to get something done, Perceiv-
ers prefer to get it done right. Some Perceivers may be
messy or scatterbrained, and some may be incredibly finicky
or punctual, yet all Perceivers focus on taking in options
first, before deciding on a course to follow. They prefer to
move forward cautiously, adapting carefully to any situation,
rather than trying to plot a path and make it work.

Perceivers view the world and all experiences as potential

tools that they can add to a growing arsenal of abilities.
They approach life like an endless series of puzzles, instead
of as a roadmap with definite, preplanned destinations. So
in their drive to continually solve life’s puzzles, Perceivers
are constantly seeking better tools for the job. They’re less
focused on “getting things done” and checking them off, than
they are on learning how to get things done better in gen-
eral.

Frequently for a Perceiver, finishing a project or meeting a

goal isn’t even their real intent; they simply engage in expe-
riences in order to learn something from them. Others may
pressure them to finish what they begin, make a goal and
stick to it, and go through life as a series of definite check-
lists, while in truth the Perceiver’s mind is only seeking to
test out new potential methods or tools. The project or goal
isn’t the objective; learning and testing new tools is. Once
they find out how well their new tool or idea works, their
mind is satisfied; they got what they were really after from
the experience.

Therefore any attempt to force Perceivers to complete defi-

nite tasks will be difficult for them, because the completion
of tasks wasn’t really what they were seeking in the first
place. They may be led to feel guilty for leaving piles of pro-
jects “unfinished,” but in truth their real goal was finished:
the learning and testing of new tools. It is inefficient, and in
fact irresponsible, to try to force Perceivers to finish projects
when that would be a waste of their energy. Perceivers are
most productive when they’re allowed to see that productiv-
ity is measured not only by goals reached, but also by tools
perfected. With a growing arsenal of better, faster tools,
Perceivers become more equipped to clear the way for oth-
ers and show them better methods of completing projects
and pursuing goals.

This is not to say that healthy Perceivers don’t like to get

things done; it’s simply not their primary focus. And like-
wise, healthy Judgers learn to enjoy considering new options
and tools in their drive to plow forward, yet the perfecting of
new tools isn’t their main focus. The more Perceivers let
themselves be Perceivers, the more they’ll naturally find
themselves getting things accomplished. The more they al-
low their minds to focus on exploring new methods and ap-
proaches, the more they won’t be able to resist using those
new and improved methods to knock out their goals in rec-
ord speed! But if they feel guilted into suppressing their
deep and necessary desire to find new tools, if they feel
pressured into getting things done first, then their energy
will be largely wasted and their minds will try to rebel
against being forced to go forward using inferior tools.

At the same time, though, this focus on seeking better tools

can sometimes make it hard for Perceivers to settle on a
course of action and go forward with it. While Judgers may
stride forward without considering sufficient alternatives,
Perceivers may spend so much energy considering options
that they fail to just take the leap and make a decision.
Watch out for this “paralysis by analysis,” focusing so much
on potential solutions to a problem that you can’t manage to
even begin to choose one!

The ability to say, “You know what? I have several options

here that may work, and they’re all too comparable to decide
between them, so I’ll just pick one and use it!” is a powerful
tool for Perceivers to add to their toolbox. Perceivers excel
at adapting to new and changing situations, but there won’t
be anything new for them to adapt to unless they take a leap
and see what happens! Considering the options, then taking
a chance and adjusting after, allows Perceivers to be quick
and decisive while still considering options and perfecting
new tools. As always, the healthier we grow in any letter,
the more we naturally and automatically gain the strengths
of that letter and its opposite as well, while gradually losing
the weaknesses of both.
IP – Introverted Perceiver

The inward focus of Introversion, combined with Perceiv-

ing’s focus on finding new options and tools, results in a
unique proficiency for exploring possibilities within your
own head. You naturally tend to enjoy imagining new ways
that things could be done, new options that could be tried,
and new questions that could be explored. This private
mental laboratory of possibilities yields a great attention to
the details of situations, aiming your internal thoughts at
specific objects and moments in order to zero in and under-
stand them. This lets you spot and remember details that
others might forget, or not even notice in the first place.

In order to accurately imagine and explore possibilities in

your mind, you constantly catalogue specific bits of infor-
mation about the world. Whether it be a specific decorative
pattern or a detailed schematic diagram, as an IP you have a
natural eye for details, and may find yourself getting a kick
out of just sitting back and remembering, analyzing, or re-
flecting on the specifics of situations. Your mind is always
gathering points of data, the facts and details that create sit-
uations, and from those details you come to conclusions that
might escape the notice of others.
This adeptness at drawing correct conclusions doesn’t have
to be overly technical, scientific, or brainy; most IPs just en-
joy learning to be really good at whatever they love. By fo-
cusing on the details, IPs immerse themselves into athletics
or mathematics, interior design or philosophical rhetoric, or
anything at all that excites them. Introverted Perceivers
tend to love specialization, focusing on one narrow slice of
the world and devoting themselves to every detail of that
slice in order to do it just right.

This can make some IPs feel a little sheepish, or even bitter
toward others who diversify their interests rather than spe-
cializing, but remember that it’s healthy, good, and necessary
for IPs to specialize. The world needs specialists to zoom in,
to spot the details that others might not, and to point out the
conclusions that those details lead to. Don’t let anyone make
you feel strange or irresponsible for focusing on one narrow
and deep corner of the universe; by digging deep, you can
unearth treasures that benefit yourself and everyone around
you.

The IP love of details comes out in everything, from loving

specific, meaningful dates, to getting excited by math and
computer code, from memorizing favorite lines of poetry to
geeking out about a new technological toy or idea. Every de-
tail, moment, and situation is special to IPs, who see com-
plexity and depth that others might not immediately under-
stand. It’s therefore remarkably common for IPs to love col-
lecting things, specific things, that help them enjoy the de-
tails of moments and ideas.

Because of this focus on moments, situations, details, and

specifics, it’s only natural for IPs to assume that others view
the world in the same way. Some IPs get very impatient with
people who demonstrate less situational awareness of de-
tails, or less of a focus on drawing conclusions that seem ob-
vious to them. Yet just as it’s healthy for IPs to specialize, it
can be equally healthy for people of other cognitive types to
zoom out, or to zoom in on entirely different areas. And
since IPs draw their understanding of people from the spe-
cific details and situations they’ve noticed, they may fear that
others will misjudge them based on isolated situations or de-
tails. A moment of anger, an embarrassing email, or a slight
mistake in a project do not paint a complete picture of you as
a person, and sensible people will know better than to judge
you by such limited details.

In the same way, beware of judging the world and the uni-
verse by limited, situational details. What you observe to be
true in one situation may be entirely false in another; the IP
focus on details makes it very difficult to step back, zoom all
the way out, and make universal statements about the way
the world works. So be very careful with “always/never”
statements, and with any kind of assertion about the way the
world or people work generally. It’s easy to fall into pessi-
mistic pseudo-principles, making seemingly undeniable dec-
larations about the pointlessness, meaninglessness, or arbi-
trariness of all sorts of things in life. Likewise, it’s easy to
cling to optimistic yet simplistic pseudo-principles that may
not be universally true. In either case, remember that the
details you observe in a situation, or even a series of situa-
tions, do not necessarily mean anything about the world as a
whole.

Because your focus is on digging deep, finding new details

and raising new questions, be careful about planting your
feet in any opinion, habit, or attitude. Keep yourself free to
continue exploring more and more options in your head! Al-
low yourself enough uncertainty that you’ll keep questioning
yourself, your beliefs, and everyone else’s, so that you’ll be
free to notice new and exciting details, and raise compelling
questions. And because you’re so naturally zoomed in, let
yourself enjoy branching out and taking in others’ observa-
tions as well. Seek out people you can use as sources of new
ideas and observations to add onto your own, helping you
see even more hidden wonders and possibilities.
Introverted Perceivers tend to have a unique eye for preci-
sion in every particular, especially when it comes to ideas or
desires that fit into their chosen specialization. A lot of traits
that are sometimes stereotypically assumed to be Thinker
traits, such as thoroughness, meticulous attention to details,
and a mind for numbers and data, are actually a result of In-
troverted Perception. And while Judgers are often falsely
stereotyped as always being organized, the detail-oriented
nature of IPs can lead them to be relentlessly perfectionist
about the details of their specialized fields of interest. Ex-
ploring the possibilities of situations in their heads, IPs want
everything they create and do to match up precisely with all
the details they see in their mind’s eye.

This may cause you to be overly critical of everything you

produce, robbing you of the joy of the moments and objects
you create. And if you’re not careful, it can lead you to be
overly critical of everyone else’s creations as well, finding
fault with everything you see, hear, eat, watch, read, and
even with everyone you meet. This lack of appreciation can
in fact eat away more and more at your own ability to create
things the way you like them. Yet as you indulge yourself to
take detail-oriented joy in all the beautiful little facets of
everything, all the minute specifics that others might over-
look, you’ll grow more appreciative of the bits of things that
do line up with your mind’s Introverted Perceptions. In ad-
dition, as you let yourself take joy in the things that do go
right, even very little things, you’ll find that you grow more
and more able to turn your mind’s imaginings into perfect
realities.
S – Sensor

As a Sensor, you are not necessarily any more practical,

more athletic, or more realistic than iNtuitives. Likewise,
you don’t have to be any less intelligent, bookish, rational,
enlightened, or whatever else that oversimplified stereo-
types may assert, both in books and online. Being a Sensor
simply means that you see the world primarily in reference
to your own experiences, while iNtuitives tend to view life in
terms of concepts and ideas. Sensors consider all ideas and
concepts in reference to their own gathered store of experi-
ence, rather than the other way around. Both are needed,
and as with all the letters, everyone does both. Yet Sensors
view everything in terms of their own experiences first and
foremost, before drawing conceptual ideas from those expe-
riences.

This focus on actual experiences naturally results in seeing

all the world as a great puzzle composed of separate, inter-
locking puzzle pieces. Every piece connects to its neighbors,
and yet each exists as a distinct memory with its own mean-
ing and applications. Sensors tend to focus on each individ-
ual piece of life, people, situations, and experiences, each in
its own place, rather than focusing on the overall whole that
they’re part of. Everything is a distinct puzzle piece with its
own place, and can be placed and understood independently
of any other piece. This often causes Sensors to appear more
concretely minded, as they focus on the distinct puzzle piec-
es of actual experiences.

However, just because Sensors’ thoughts and opinions tend

to be more concrete, they are not necessarily any more accu-
rate. Because they focus on the actual experiences that
they’ve lived, the implications and opinions that they draw
from their experiences are heavily influenced by the context
in which their experiences occurred. Sensors can often be
the last ones to see just how much everything they believe
might change drastically as soon as it is viewed through the
lens of different experiences. Two different Sensors may
have ironclad, perfectly rational convictions about opposing
beliefs, each unable to see the world via the context of the
other’s entirely different experiences.

Yet a concerted and deliberate effort to work on understand-

ing the underlying concepts behind their experiences, rather
than simply focusing on the experiences alone, can help to
gradually bring a Sensor’s portion of the puzzle more and
more in line with the rest of reality. It can be tempting for
Sensors to try to shoehorn all concepts and ideas to conform
to their own experiences, but as they instead humble their
opinions to adapt to simple conceptual sense, they’ll be able
to see all their own experiences in every possible light.
They’ll grow ever more able to easily understand the entire-
ly different experiences of others, and more ready to see
new experiences from a wider point of view without trying
to force them to fit any preexisting set of beliefs.

Viewing everything in terms of actual experiences leads to

an appreciation for all the good that has already been ac-
complished or accumulated both in one’s own life, and in the
world in general. This causes Sensors to frequently focus on
trying to maintain and protect all the good in things, people,
and themselves as they already are. Unless someone stands
up for the good in things, then precious opportunities, tools,
and points of view may be lost, leaving everyone weaker by
the loss of insight and ability offered by things no one would
stand up for. Yet Sensors must be especially careful not to
end up seeking to protect everything unilaterally, or else
they’ll find themselves standing up for detrimental or even
malicious things in the world or in themselves. It’s good and
necessary to try to keep the good in everything, but it is
harmful to try to cling to unhealthy, false, or cruel attitudes
or traditions simply because they’re already there.
Sensors must also be careful not to fall into the trap of be-
having as if the way things are now is the way they’ve always
been, and always will be. Such an attitude leads to defending
all the bad parts of the current culture or situation alongside
all the good. This is not to say that Sensors necessarily fear
change; they may be perfectly happy with change, as long as
it serves to better protect the good that already is. Healthy
Sensors may in fact seek out change for just this purpose: to
do away with harmful things in order to safeguard beneficial
ones. Their focus on experiences gives them a keen aware-
ness of things as they are currently, but also makes it harder
for them to be sure where things might end up in the future.

As always, both Sensing and iNtuition are needed, and both

can be equally healthy or unhealthy. Healthy Sensors should
seek to see things through interconnected concepts and not
just through the lens of experience, yet they should also al-
low their main focus to be on the individual, experiential
puzzle pieces of life. As they seek to see the world through
concepts as well as experience, they’ll grow more able to see
all the varied possibilities of things as they could be, which
will only serve to help them maintain and enjoy the good in
things as they already are. While numerous stereotypes por-
tray Sensing as less academic, idealistic, or enlightened, all
types can be intelligent or unintelligent, idealistic or pessi-
mistic, each in their own unique ways.
Indeed, any attempt to live by experience without idealism is
simply unhealthy and limiting. Such close-mindedness tends
to come from disregarding all the varied experiences had by
others besides oneself, even disregarding one’s own experi-
ences if they don’t fit the mold of current attitudes. Healthi-
er Sensing lives by more experience, not less, and therefore
grows ever more idealistic and ever more practical in its en-
joyment of everything. The more a Sensor lets themselves
be a Sensor, the more enlightened, hopeful, and farseeing
they’ll become in all their daily experiences.
F – Feeler

As a Feeler, you are not necessarily any more emotional,

sappy, irrational, weak, or whatever else the numerous ste-
reotypes may say about Feeling. Being a Feeler simply
means that you focus first on the intrinsic meaning and sig-
nificance of things, before seeking ways to put them to use.
Everyone looks at both meaning and use, but Feelers focus
first and foremost on the meaning and inherent precious-
ness of the world, events, and people.

This means that Feelers want ideas, people, and the world in
general to live up to the meaning they see in them. When
anything seems to fall short of its potential preciousness,
such as when a person decides to be selfish, or a potentially
brilliant philosophy turns out to be flawed, such failure will
be particularly disappointing to a Feeler. Yet all this focus on
meaning gives Feelers a compelling and powerful ability to
see, understand, and then make use of the significance and
meaning in people, events, and ideas. Meaning thus has a
use all its own.

Any healthy Feeler will learn to care for the necessities of

use as well as the wider perspective of meaning, but their
natural focus will still be on meaning foremost. This results
in a more zoomed-out view of everything, focusing on the
whole picture and the purpose and meaning of each part
within that picture. In a way, “meaning” is nothing more
than “use in the context of the whole, big picture.”

It is the focus on this wide, sweeping meaning that gives

Feelers an almost effortless ability to grasp the context of
that big picture, even when they’re not at all aware of all its
varied details. This provides a zoomed-out pragmatism, see-
ing what must be done in the context of the whole. Feelers
therefore tend to find themselves focused more on end goals,
which protects them from getting lost by focusing on only
the road to get there. It is this sense of perspective and con-
text that fuels meaning and gives it its unique usefulness,
without which Thinkers might quickly paint themselves into
corners.
The differences between Feelers and Thinkers have gar-
nered a particularly large amount of stereotypes, many of
which seem flat-out mean spirited. Feelers are no less ra-
tional than Thinkers, and Thinkers are no less emotional
than Feelers; everyone, of every type, can and should be both
healthily emotional and rational. And every cognitive type is
equally prone to being overemotional, each in unique ways.
The difference doesn’t lie between Feelers and Thinkers, but
rather, between being healthy or unhealthy in general. An
overly emotion-driven psyche is an unhealthy one, and every
type is equally vulnerable to being hijacked by their own
emotions in times of stress or weakness, each in their differ-
ent ways.

Now, the wide, sweeping perspective of Feelers can some-

times appear to simulate greater connection with emotion.
A focus on the meaning and significance of things within the
context of the whole picture can generate great feelings of
hope or despair, wonder or contempt. These are big feel-
ings, and noticeable ones. Yet so, too, can Thinkers’ focus on
the specific uses of things elicit more immediate emotions of
joy or frustration, excitement or disappointment, or any oth-
er conceivable feeling. Thinkers are no less emotional than
Feelers, and no less vulnerable or tender in any way. Feel-
ers’ emotions focus more on the whole picture, and Think-
ers’ emotions are most often applied to specific uses or mis-
uses of things; apart from that, both can enjoy equal connec-
tion with emotion, as well as equal risk of overemotional ir-
rationality.

And no healthy person, of any type, should indulge in irra-

tionality or emotional subjectivity. Healthy Feelers are not
subjective in their views; they seek to focus on the objective,
measurable significance of things in the context of every-
thing else, while healthy Thinkers focus on the objective and
measurable use of things in their own right. Subjectivity, re-
action, and impulsive emotion are neither a Feeler trait nor a
Thinker trait; they’re simply human, and all types are equal-
ly equipped to master them healthily, in their own ways.

In the same manner, all types can learn to be in touch with

their emotions and all the power therein, each in their own
specialized way. To be human is to have emotions, and
that’s good! Healthy, bridled emotions provide vital per-
spective that human thought alone cannot hope to contain.
Healthy emotion reminds us of truths we might be entirely
unaware of, even as we feel that they’re there. This is why
emotion can be such a powerful, guiding light, at times
dwarfing conscious reason. Yet this is also why runaway
emotions are so dangerous, smothering all attempts at rea-
son and balanced perspective, just as all powerful things are
dangerous when they run amok.
This sheer power of emotions, and their ability to remind us
of things our thoughts alone cannot keep track of, is why
suppressed emotions always find a way to influence all our
thoughts, views, and actions. This makes suppressed emo-
tions much more dangerous, because their sweeping influ-
ence is ignored even while they steer conscious thought.
The quickest way to be controlled by emotion is to pretend it
isn’t a factor, thereby letting it run unattended in the back of
our minds, coloring all experiences and skewing all opinions
and ideas. Only unhealthy people, whether Thinkers or
Feelers, attempt to suppress emotion, or indulge in being
driven by it.

Regardless of how unemotional some may seem, those who

are the most quiet about their emotions are often the ones
who nurture them the most deeply, whether they mean to or
not. Being a Feeler therefore does not mean you’re doomed
to be weak, wishy-washy, or unreasonable in any way, nor
does it justify such unhealthy coping mechanisms. And
while some may attempt to be coldly unemotional, that de-
sire is often a very emotional desire in and of itself, usually
resulting from fear, loneliness, or pride.

Such attempts to be unemotional are an example of un-

healthiness. While blubbery, stereotypical emotions can cer-
tainly get in the way of reason, so also can emotions like dis-
taste, discomfort at unwelcome ideas, and disdain or pessi-
mism block all rational thought. These sorts of negative
emotions are still emotions, yet they often replace reason for
those who consider themselves unemotional.

Yet when reason and emotion are nurtured together in their

natural relationship, we can live safely above either extreme
of overemotional subjectivity, or falsely emotionless hard-
ness. We can cultivate a rational and honest approach to life
by remembering that emotions, when heeded, will lead to
new discoveries and protect from unseen hazards. Feelings
of all kinds can help us prioritize where we should employ
our thoughts and our energy. Without emotion, logic loses
context and perspective, causing it to neglect key principles
and wander into inaccuracy. Healthy emotion is free to all
types, both Thinkers and Feelers, each in their different
ways.
SF – Sensing Feeler

With Sensing viewing life as a series of distinct puzzle pieces,

Sensing Feelers naturally focus on the meaning of the puzzle
piece they care about most. They seek to understand the
things they care about as they already are, in order to bring
greater joy to themselves, their loved ones, and the world.
SFs are all about creating and preserving genuine happiness,
by protecting the meaning, preciousness, and value in the
things that matter to them. Some SFs care most about de-
fending the meaning of people, while others strive to stand
up for the preciousness of the world as they already know it,
yet in any case, Sensing Feelers want to ensure that every-
one has the chance to experience the meaning of things as
they already are, before that meaning is lost.

This focus on the meaning and preciousness of experiences

causes SFs to live in the present, drawing joy and value from
the things they care about here and now. The time to grasp
the full meaning of an experience is while experiencing it,
and SFs try to get as much out of each current moment as
possible. They then carry that meaning with them as a
growing collection of treasured memories, which helps them
appreciate the meaning in each new day’s present. Healthy
SFs thus do more than merely live for the moment; they get
the most out of the present by using each new day as an op-
portunity to learn to love, appreciate, and live more fully.

With SF’s focus on the joys to be derived from current expe-

riences, Sensing Feelers tend to think of people, actions, and
everything in terms of pleasure and pain. Does this thought
or plan make people feel good, or bad? Things that elicit bad
experiences may seem to get in the way of the meaning of
the moment, while things that bring real joy help everyone
find greater meaning here and now. Often without realizing
it, SFs think of right and wrong in these terms. Pleasure, a
good time, and thorough, deep happiness seem good and
right, while bad and wrong things tend to lead to pain, dis-
cord, and misery. Sensing Feelers excel in creating and pro-
tecting genuine happiness, which fuels and enables all other
pursuits. Yet SFs should be careful to remember that there
are many other facets of right and wrong besides pleasure
and pain, and sometimes conflict and hardship are necessary
in order to truly attain everything that makes life worth liv-
ing. As always, learning from the strengths of other cogni-
tive types leads to the best enjoyment of your own.
Cognition Steps – ISFP

Now, we can combine all your letters to find your full cogni-
tive specialty: ISFP! By combining the four Scopes—IP, IJ,
EP, and EJ—with the four Objectives—SF, ST, NF, and NT—
we derive the sixteen different facets of cognition, each with
its own unique strengths and specializations, which all the
other types depend on. And each comes with its own partic-
ular weaknesses as well, needing the support of other types
who are strong in those areas. Only with all sixteen types
combined can we enjoy and benefit from the entire spectrum
of zoomed in and zoomed out perspectives, collective and
individual focuses, usefulness and meaning, things as they
are and things as they can yet become. A deeper under-
standing of each type leads to better use and appreciation
for all types of cognition.

As an ISFP, your entire cognition revolves around your

unique combination of these cognitive variables: the IP
Scope focusing on the details of situations, and the SF Objec-
tive seeking to protect and enjoy the meaning of things as
they are. This unique combination prompts every thought,
motivates every action, counsels every judgment and in-
spires every worldview. It sums up the end goal of every-
thing you pursue, the result of the things that matter the
most to you in your most private heart.
Every time you’re faced with any decision, any thought or
feeling, any experience or person or anything, your mind
naturally races through four cognitive steps. The order of
these cognitive steps depends on your unique Scope and Ob-
jective, as you subconsciously focus first on the things that
matter the most to you. You’re probably so used to thinking
in your own order, all the time, that it may seem like the only
natural way to think. This makes it all the more amazing
that people of differing cognition approach the same world
so differently, each offering something
unique and powerful to share.

As an ISFP, your first cognition step is to

examine the specific details of a situa-
tion, because that’s what matters most to
you! You turn inward to consider situa-
tional details in your mind, in order to
draw conclusions about their meaning
and value in the context of everything
else (Fi, or introverted Feeling).
Secondly, you take that meaningful Data
and use it to look outward, comparing it
with what you Observe of the motives, de-
sires, and character of people (Se, or extra-
verted Sensing).

Thirdly, you turn inward

to make conceptual con-
nections based on who
you’ve decided to trust as
sources of information, in
order to decide on Action
and form opinions (Ni, or introverted iNtui-
tion).

Fourthly and finally, you

watch the results of your
Actions and opinions in
order to better understand the workings of
the world and the universe as a whole. You
form an overall worldview based on Prin-
ciples you’ve deduced by looking outward
and seeing how the world seems to work in
a repeatable, reliable, useful way (Te, or ex-
traverted Thinking).
And then the cycle starts over: Your understanding of prin-
ciples illuminates new details, whose profound implications
of meaning give you more to mull over (Fi, or introverted
Feeling), your fourth step feeding back into your first, over
and over. You may go through this entire cycle of cognition
many times in a single second without even noticing.

Universal Principles are your fourth and final cognition step

because they’re what you focus on the least. This makes
Principles the weakest of your cognitive steps. As you focus
on all the numberless details of each situation, it can be
mind-boggling to try to zoom out and find the universal rules
that apply without exception to every situation of every
kind, ever. And when you try, it’s hard not to end up with
oversimplified generalities that don’t really apply in many
situations. This is nothing to be embarrassed about. Every
type has a weakness, just as every type has a strength that
may appear almost superhuman to other types.

Healthy IPs are naturally able to delve deep into probing

questions that others might never even think to ask. Healthy
IJs, on the flip side, can provide complex and comprehensive
answers to even the most baffling of those questions. EPs
see right to the core of people with speed and surety that
might seem reckless to others, while EJs accomplish long
lists of tasks with precision while other types would struggle
to even get started. All the types need each other; this is why
we call them the Type Heroes! Each approaches the same
world from such a different angle, and each supports, guides,
and teaches every other. By seeking out and learning from
other types, especially types that think very differently from
you, you can grow stronger in all your cognition steps.

And usually the best way to grow more reliable and strong in
all your cognitive steps is to focus on your first step. This is
the step that your mind naturally prioritizes first anyway;
it’s what you care about the most, even when you might feel
like you shouldn’t. As you focus on paying attention to your
first step, you’ll find that all your other cognitive steps grow
sharper and stronger as a result, almost
automatically. When it comes to cogni-
tion, play to your strengths and your
weaknesses will grow to keep up.

It’s when people focus too much on try-

ing to improve their fourth step directly
that they tend to become defensive, de-
pressed, and discouraged about it, often
neglecting their strengths and falling
into denial that they even have a weak-
ness. Some such people try to cover
their weakness by inadvertently posing
as a different cognitive type, in order to
act like others who don’t share their
weak area. Yet this usually results in only a parody of the
type they’re trying to become, attempting to gain the
strengths of another type without first mastering their own.
You can develop all the strengths of all the types, but you
cannot do it by trying to fight or suppress what you naturally
want most. Let your first cognitive step be your focus, let
yourself be you, and then you’ll be free to grow to become
everything you want to become.

Focus on your strength of seeing and understanding the de-

tails of situations; as you do, your weakness in comprehend-
ing universal principles will grow stronger of its own accord.
And remember, if an attempted principle turns out to be a
flawed generality, then that just gives you more data to work
with! Beware of getting down on yourself about principles
and worldview; enjoy treasuring the details of each situation
in life, and then you’ll learn how to better cherish, protect,
and enjoy every little bit of your world.
Type Specialization – ISFP Explorer

Cognition is the result of where you naturally focus your at-

tention, your desires, and your interests. Regardless of what
your momentary desires or interests may be, each of us has
certain deep, secret hopes that mean more to us than any-
thing. While moods and opinions may change, these deepest
desires are such a pure reflection of who we really are. In a
world where there is so much to do, so much to experience,
so much need and so many discoveries waiting to be found,
we each inadvertently focus the most on some things over
others. The things that we focus on most of all reflect what
we want most out of life, deep down. This comes out
through cognition, as the unique specialization of your cog-
nitive type.

As the ISFP Explorer, perhaps nothing is more important to

you than cherishing, experiencing, and protecting the things
you love. Cognitively, you focus on the meaning (F) of de-
tails and situations (IP) as they already are (S). This causes
you to think of everything in terms of how it applies to theo-
retical people, to the lives of the human race overall. What
matters most to you, deep down, is exploring and collecting
and cherishing the preciousness of things and keeping them
safe as they are.
This gives Explorers a beautiful understanding of details and
their importance, an intimate appreciation of the elusive
human happiness that all types pursue. Treasuring life’s lit-
tle things is the Explorer’s deep love, seeking to gather and
protect objects, memories, and situations that give life its
meaning. ISFPs explore the experience of every moment,
getting the most meaning out of every new adventure. As IP
question askers, they care about finding out how each mo-
ment matters, each object is precious, and each situation
brings out new meaning. This pursuit of the details of mean-
ing lends to an in-the-moment sort of goofiness, an exuber-
ant immersion in each experience and every private treas-
ure. As an ISFP Explorer, you can feel free to really immerse
yourself into whatever situations, surprises, and personal
adventures that may come your way.

None of this means that your specialization of appreciating

life’s little things comes easy for you. You have to work at it,
just as much as anyone else would. The difference between
you and other types is that you care to work at this, above all
else. Some may say that it’s just easier for you to value and
accumulate your magnificent collections or special things,
but that’s not true; you simply care enough about treasuring
your world, that you’re willing to work much harder at it.

No cognitive type has it easy; every type has to work just as

hard at their specialization as anyone else would have to.
And every type has to deal with social pressure that tries to
make them feel ashamed or embarrassed of their unique
specialization. This pressure results in unhappiness and
deep, internal conflict, as people feel tempted to ignore their
specialization in an effort to not stand out, rock the boat, or
look foolish or make anyone else uncomfortable. When we
try to ignore our own deepest desires, the reflection of who
we really are and really can be, we feel torn, frustrated, and
unfulfilled.

This is why understanding our own cognition is so im-

portant! As we come to understand what we already wanted
in the first place, we learn how to get out of our own way.
We learn to let ourselves shine, rather than hiding our light.
The world needs what each of us can uniquely offer. We
need all the strengths of all the types; each is special at the
same time, because each is special in a different way. You
don’t do anyone any good when you hide your unique
strength, even if you’re afraid it will make others feel uncom-
fortable. Let yourself be the Explorer you are, gather and en-
joy all the things you love, and do it in your own personal
way. As you do, you’ll implicitly give others permission to
find, protect, and enjoy their own special places in the world.
Type Angst – ISFP Banner Trepidation

Everyone has good days and bad days; every type enjoys
successes and suffers through failures. Yet we each react to
those same successes and failures differently, depending on
our cognition. The things we value most, and the things we
focus on most, determine how we subconsciously interpret
everything that happens to us. While our Type Specializa-
tion reflects what we most desire out of life, every cognitive
type also has a Type Angst, a reaction to our deepest fears,
worries, and insecurities.

Of course, anyone can be afraid of anything. And anyone, of

any type, can suffer from any weakness. In fact, it’s much
easier to gain the unique weaknesses of other types than it is
to gain their unique strengths! When we attempt to adopt
the strengths of another type before mastering our own,
usually all we end up with is the weaknesses of both and the
strengths of neither. Yet each cognitive type has one deep-
est, most fundamental worry, resulting from their unique
order of cognition steps.

As an ISFP Explorer, your central fear, beneath all others, is

that you cannot keep anything from breaking. In the end,
everything ends, everything dies or breaks or gets lost, and
you worry that sooner or later, everything and everyone you
love and cherish will go away too. Again, anyone can have
this fear. But for Explorers, this worry is at the root of them
all.

With ISFPs’ weakest cognition step being Principles via

Thinking, Explorers naturally fear that their understanding
of the wide complexity of the world is inadequate and unre-
liable. Specifically, they worry that their understanding of
universal principles, the unerring rules of how life consist-
ently works, are not reliable or useful (T) in experience (S).
You fear that your comprehension of the unchanging trends
of life is too shaky to be useful. This unconscious worry that
your understanding of the world is not ST enough results in
the fear that you cannot be relied on to always be there to
safeguard the things you love. You can do your best, but still
you worry that eventually, each precious treasure will slip
through your fingers.

This is almost certainly false, but that doesn’t make the fear
any less persistent.

Since these worries come from our cognition, we might not

even realize that not everyone has them, just as we some-
times forget that not everyone has our same Type Specializa-
tion. And since these fears come from our cognition, they’ve
been with each of us for as long as we’ve been thinking.
They can be overcome, entirely, but only by understanding
how they work. Yet when each of us is young, we inadvert-
ently react to every scare or disappointment through the
lens of our own type’s central fear. The things that leave the
deepest scars are the ones that hit us right in this most vul-
nerable place.

But since our minds therefore associate these fears with the
earliest experiences of childhood, we ironically tend to run
to these fears as if they were a place of safety. Childhood
usually feels warm, safe, and right in our minds, even if in
reality it was nothing of the sort. So when life gets hard,
when disappointment strikes, whenever we feel insecure,
overwhelmed, or uncomfortable at all, our minds naturally
and inadvertently rush back to these deeply ingrained child-
hood fears. The coping behaviors that result are our unique
Type Angsts.

As an Explorer, whenever you feel or experience anything

stressful or negative in any way, your mind tries to rush
back to the supposed safety of childhood. This causes a
surge of your central fear that everything breaks, that there’s
nothing you can do to prevent loss. As a result, you then feel
the tempting pull to indulge in ISFP Banner Trepidation.
Banner Trepidation is the desire to hold desperately tight to
your personal world, even if it means you smother it to
death in the process, and let everything else fall to pieces.
The things you’ve explored and the treasures you’ve gath-
ered are so deeply important to you, and they should be. Yet
Banner Trepidation becomes a problem when it causes you
to neglect other important areas of life because you’re too
busy trying to cling tightly to the treasures you fear to lose.

It can cause you to turn a blind eye to the needs of others,

caring only about protecting your own happiness. Or it can
lead you to build a nice, pretty, impenetrable picket fence
around your personal world, keeping everything good at bay
in your desire to protect the good you already have. Before
you know it, all the treasures within the bounds of your
emotional fence will waste away, starving for exposure to
the outside world. Banner Trepidation causes Explorers to
sabotage their own treasured specialization, draining the joy
out of each object and every experience in a vain attempt to
keep everything pristine.

Particularly unhealthy ISFPs expend tireless effort seeking

out ways to demean anything outside their own private
world, as if that will somehow make their world safer. It
never helps the ISFP feel any better about themselves for
more than a moment, and then after the high of bullying
passes, they feel only more powerless to keep their treasures
safe. An unhealthy ISFP’s entire reason for being becomes
tearing down others’ happiness while squeezing the life out
of their own, in direct opposition to their open, cherishing,
exploring Type Specialization. This ultimate contradiction,
desperately fighting against one’s own deepest, most treas-
ured desire, is miserable to say the least.

Yet even healthy Explorers tend to indulge in Banner Trepi-

dation when things get hard. As a natural and unintentional
way of guarding themselves, an Explorer may be willing to
stifle their world or hurt other people to keep their own
treasures intact. Or they may grow aloof, trying not to care
about anything at all, because they feel they can’t keep any-
thing from breaking anyway. The solution is to learn to feel
free to let go, letting life go through its natural cycles of
change. Remember that there will always be more moments
and details to experience and enjoy, so you can freely let go
of the ones you have. Only by letting go can you be free to
really immerse yourself into whatever details and experi-
ences you already have, and whatever new ones that may
come your way.

All types can be tempted to declare that they or their loved

ones are already everything they’d like to be, even if it
means ignoring glaring truths or putting others down. Our
Type Angsts tempt us to feel entitled, like we deserve to al-
ready be at our goal, rather than being willing to learn and
grow patiently, gaining successes for real. This sense of enti-
tlement is a harmful twisting of the good desire to be special.
In reality, everyone can be equally special in ways that are
different from one another, allowing all to be unique in
unique, diverse ways.

As you surround yourself with the loving support of people

who care, as you seek out others who try to understand you
and accept you, you can grow less and less vulnerable to the
self-sabotage of Banner Trepidation. Look to your Type Spe-
cialization, be an Explorer with a vengeance, and your mind
will retreat less and less into the fears and scars that result
in your Type Angst. And even when no one else is around,
perhaps the best, most effective, and most fulfilling way to
gradually eliminate your Type Angst for good, is to get in
touch with your Paradoxitype.
ISFP Paradoxitype – ESTJ Cannon

Each cognitive type enjoys a special relationship with every

other. Types with opposite letters can form a special, excit-
ing bond with each other, while types with opposite first and
last letters have a unique sense of camaraderie and close-
ness. Each relationship between the many types has special
qualities and advantages, but maybe the most important of
all these is Paradoxitype.

Your Paradoxitype is the secret person you are deep down.

It is not your “true self,” but rather the hidden, private side
of yourself that others may rarely get to see. It can shine out
when you’re feeling especially exuberant or comfortable
among close friends, who get to see this hidden you that oth-
ers might never know. On the flip side, in times of great dis-
tress you may be unable to keep it in, leaving it to burst out
of you haphazardly. Yet the more you get in touch with and
cultivate your Paradoxitype, the more easily and naturally
you’ll end up mastering the strengths of your own type,
while avoiding its weaknesses.

Cognitively, Paradoxitypes differ in all their letters except S

or N. So for you as an ISFP Explorer, your secret, inner Para-
doxitype is the ESTJ Cannon! This may seem, well, paradoxi-
cal to stereotypical ISFP attitudes, but that’s exactly what
makes it so special. It’s this sort of complexity that makes
healthy people POP! It’s this adorable paradox within you
that can always surprise people just when they think they’ve
got you figured.

Learn to let loose your inner Cannon. Be direct and bold,

rocketing forward with efficient precision. Find the great
and precious significance that comes from efficiency. Put
yourself to use, clearing the way for everyone around you, so
that they too can more easily reach their goals. Stand strong
and dependable, be willing to show others how to do things
effectively, and lift the lives of all your loved ones. The more
you let your inner Cannon come out in all you do, the more
you’ll naturally stand tall as a mighty Explorer in unprece-
dented strength, complexity, compassion, and genuine hap-
piness.

Obviously, understanding your own cognition is a marvelous

tool. We each approach life according to the particular
Scope and Objective of our unique Type Specialization, so it’s
immeasurably empowering to know how that works. The
more we understand what our mind is already trying to do,
the better we can gain what we’ve always been after, the
more we can avoid the pitfalls that have always nagged us,
and the more fully ourselves we can always be.

In this culture where some make flippant declarations about

“human nature” being unavoidably corrupt, jealous, or self-
destructive, it’s powerful to understand how our minds real-
ly work. We don’t have to feel at the mercy of Type Angsts
or other weaknesses, when we know where they come from
and how to heal them. We don’t have to repeatedly feel like
the person we see in the mirror isn’t quite up to the caliber
of the person we’d like to be in our secret hearts. We don’t
have to constantly struggle for elusive fulfillment, success,
and lasting joy, when we learn how to get out of our own
way in pursuit of what we’ve always really wanted all along.

We can each be a unique, one-of-a-kind version of our own

cognition’s Type Hero. These days, most people roll their
eyes at the idea of real heroism. It’s just not realistic, not
practical. We’re so often trapped in occupying ourselves
with the gray repetition of maintaining the things we care
about, and so optimism bows the knee to routine. Hope
struggles against the harsh verdicts of experience.

But when your car won’t start, you can throw up your hands
in surrender and accept that maybe it was never meant to
run in the first place, or you can learn how it works and find
out how to fix the problem. When life doesn’t match up with
what we really feel it can and should be, we can declare that
it was never meant to be that great anyway, or we can learn
how it works and find out how to fix the problems. You are
far more complex than any car, yet maybe the simplistic, ea-
ger dreams of childhood weren’t so far off. Maybe as you
learn to tune your own cognitive engine, you can slowly
grow to attain everything your deepest desires have always
reached for.
You can be a hero, and this world certainly needs heroes.
But what does a real-life hero look like? Real heroes are
usually not flashy, not famous, and certainly heroes aren’t
afraid to work tirelessly to do what needs to be done while
receiving little or no recognition. It’s quite common in fact
for heroes to be resented for enduring hardship and sacrifice
in order to lift others. Heroes are willing to go through
whatever is necessary in order to help those who need it,
and as they let themselves go through pain, humiliation, and
hopelessness, they gradually grow to shine as larger-than-
life, apparently superhuman figures in the real world who
inspire others to reach for their own heroic possibilities.

Now, there are plenty of people who work very hard to excel
at physical or mental pursuits, yet who are rather self-
serving. That’s not heroic. Heroism is not about having su-
perhuman abilities; it’s about learning how to do superhu-
man good with the abilities you have.

You do not need to wait to have greater abilities than you al-
ready have in order to be heroic. Heroes are those who use
their own abilities to selflessly help others, in whatever ways
they can. As we start with the desire to help, using the abili-
ties we have, then our abilities naturally increase. As we
humbly help in little ways, we grow more prepared and able
to see how the world needs our unique, personal strengths
in larger ways.

Stand tall as you, as the Explorer you are, with your own
style, your own experiences and insights and particular
skills. Just be you, and learn how to get out of your own way.
You can be a hero. You can discover the joy hidden in the de-
tails of every experience, providing the happiness that eve-
ryone seeks. The more you grow into the full measure of the
ISFP Explorer you’ve already always been, the more success-
ful, fulfilling, and irrevocably happy you can become, be-
cause it will just be who you are.

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