"ISFJ" Themes and Relationships

How to use this Personality Type Description

ISFJ Theme

For Protector Supporters, life is a process of noticing what’s needed and what’s valuable. They pay attention to what is important to each person and then put it all together to satisfy everyone. They know the ins and outs, what’s customary and what’s expected. Their familiarity with the way systems work makes providing order and structure natural for them to do. In this way, they provide support and help people. They give a tremendous amount of attention to detail and do a lot of preparing, organizing, and scheduling.

They like to feel a sense of accomplishment and that they’ve done a good job. They feel an obligation to get the work done. Their talent for careful and supportive organization is often taken for granted because it makes things run so smoothly that it is noticed only when it’s not there. They often don’t get the quiet recognition they need, but they continue to do the work anyway.

They enjoy traditions and the sense of belonging and security traditions provide. They like the comfort and predictability of knowing they can count on certain events or get-togethers. Without that sense of belonging and security, they become quite anxious and worried. They also like to set things up ahead of time, to prepare and not rush into situations. That way they can work to protect the future.

Their thought processes tend to be sequential and relational. They have a keen sense of order and sequence. They have a way of listening and remembering all the little details and impressions about people. Then they compare new information to all of the memories they’ve stored away and relate it to the people they know and what they need.

People see them as being nice and agreeable. It is easy for them to be taken advantage of since they have such an unselfish willingness to volunteer, to help out in any way they can. They really care about the people in their lives and they like to be needed.

They are very respectful and dislike conflict. Sometimes they try to use the rules and organizational structure to get people to live together nicely and get along, and that can generate conflict.

ISFJ Relationships

For Protector Supporters, relationships are about being supportive and caring. Conscientious, committed, and dedicated, they seem to be always willing to help. Warmhearted and sympathetic, they are always there and willing to help, to give people slack and time to figure things out. Being liked is important, and while they want to know what to do to improve, taking criticism is hard because they feel they’ve let the person down. They need acknowledgment from people they care about. They may have a hard time sticking up for themselves and need to learn to be assertive. They want to know what their role is. You can count on them when you need them. They establish a very personal connection and like to get to know people well. They are not usually open and talkative until they get to know someone.

In their close relationships, they are helpmates. Frequently taking the supporting role, they can become dependent and deferential. They like relationships set and secure, taking the time to get to know a lot about the other person. Gestures of kindness and thoughtfulness are important to them. As involved as they like to be, they need alone time, especially at the end of the day to review what has happened.

This concludes "Themes and Relationships for ISFJ,"
A Personality Type Description.

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**The Personality Type Description shown above is wholly owned and copyrighted by the authors Linda V. Berens Ph.D. and Dario Nardi Ph.D. and is used herein with their permission.

For a complete set of Personality Type Descriptions by Linda V. Berens and Dario Nardi please see: "The 16 Sixteen Personality Types - Descriptions for Self-Discovery"

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