Your personality type is ESFJ

The Caregiver

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This personality type stands for:

Extraversion - Interaction with people motivates you to become more active.

Sensing - You tend to be more concrete than abstract.

Feeling - You tend to value personal considerations above objective criteria.

Judging - You tend to plan your activities and make decisions early.

Characteristic of ESFJ

ESFJs focus on the outside world and assess their experiences subjectively. They largely base their judgments on their belief system and on the effects of actions on people. ESFJs are literal and concrete, trusting the specific, factual information gathered through their physiological senses.

ESFJs project warmth through a genuine interest in the well-being of others. They are often skilled at bringing out the best in people, and they want to understand other points of view. They are serious about their responsibilities, seeing what needs to be done and then doing it. Generally proficient at detailed tasks, they enjoy doing little things that make life easier for others. They value tradition and the security it offers.

Easily hurt, ESFJs seek approval. They take pleasure in other people's happiness. They give generously but expect appreciation in return. Sensitive to the physical needs of others, they respond by offering practical care. As expert people readers, ESFJs often adapt their manner to meet the expectations of others.

Notable ESFJs

A well-known individual whose behavior is consistent with ESFJ is Terry Bradshaw.

Information source: wikipedia.org

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Frequency of your Personality

This list shows the frequency of your personality type compared to other personality types in the general population.

You belong to the 10% of the population being ESFJ

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Strenghts and Weaknesses of ESFJ

Strenghts of ESFJ

• Your open style of communication makes you attractive to the opposite gender.
• You communicate your feelings to your partner very well.
• You are a good observer. Thus you notice inner as well as outer changes in your partner.
• You are able to deal with practical concerns of the household efficiently.
• You are sensitive and concerned for your partner's feelings.
• You take care of your partner and your family.
• You attach high importance to cultural norms and traditions, and expect your partner to do the same.
• You are loyal to your partner and value a long-term relationship.

Weaknesses of ESFJ

• You may hurt your partner by saying things to him/her without thinking.
• You may dominate your partner.
• You may focus on materialism and choose a partner based upon his/her wealth rather than his/her values.
• You may place too much emphasis on your partner's physical appearance.
• You may frustrate your partner by using your feelings rather than logic to make decisions.
• You may find it difficult to accept criticism, even though it may be constructive and justified.
• You may overwhelm your partner by demanding constant attention and ignoring his/her need for space.
• You may be rigid, inflexible and unwilling to consider your partner's view.

Anticipating Relationship Challenges

Many relationship challenges relate to the personality types of the friends or partners.

For example, personality types INTJ (scientist) and ESFJ (caregiver) can anticipate challenges simply because of their dissimilarities. The scientist is interested in solving problems based upon logical thinking and tends to avoid social situations. The caretaker is interested in solving problems based upon feelings and is most comfortable in social situations. Both party may become annoyed and withhold the needed approval of the other party.

Neither the ESFJ personality type nor the INTJ personality type is wrong; it is just that the personality types do not match well and pose major challenges. Being consciously aware of these differences will help both partners anticipate and overcome these challenges.

Selecting your Partners and Friends

Personality types indicate which relationships likely will be successful or unsuccessful. The fact is that most people have successful relationships with persons of a similar personality type …the closer the similarity, the more successful the relationship.

How do we know this? Researchers studied large samples of successful friendships/relationships as well as unsuccessful friendships/relationships and compared the personality type of the people involved. They found that usually similar personality types have good and lasting friendships/relationships while opposite personality types incur many challenges.

There is an exception to this rule: for “love relationships” between boyfriend and girlfriend or husband and wife, opposites attract! However, “opposites” does not mean complete opposites such as INTP and ESFJ or ISFP and ENTJ. Rather only opposites on two dimensions can attract: the extraversion/introversion dimension as well as the judging/perceiving dimension. For example, INTP could be a good match with ENTJ but not a good match with ISFP.

There is little evidence and much speculation on why opposites on the extraversion/introversion dimension and the judging/perceiving dimension attract for love relationships. One theory is that we look to a romantic partner for balance and completion. We subconsciously know our personality type and look for a person to provide the qualities we lack. From a practical point of view, this makes sense.

We know what happens when two introverts or two extroverts get together: there is silence or chaos. Likewise, when two persons who like structure or two persons who like adventure get together: there is boredom or lack of security. It seems that a couple composed of an introvert and an extrovert and a person who is structured and one who is more adventurous are more successful.

But remember, this is true only of love relationships. In friendships and co-workers, the closer the personal type, the better the relationship.