ESFJ and ENFP Compatibility: Relationships, Friendships and Partnerships (2023)

See this article for a comparison ofESFJsEENFPsinto five major personality areas: interpersonal/communicative style, emotional style, intellectual style, and organizational style.

An important note: the following comparisonsit cannotit can be done simply by comparing the cognitive functions (letters) of each personality type.

For this analysis, TraitLab collected data on personality traits fromthousandsof participants who identified as a specific type in the 16 personalities or Myers-Briggs structure.

The comparisons here show thatAverageSimilarities and differences between ESFJs and ENFPs. However, remember that all personality types are oversimplifications. For an assessment of your unique position in these areas, you need a personalized assessment that is not based on personality types.

Jump to any section using the links below.

• ESFJ and ENFP Interpersonal and Communication Styles
• ESFJ and ENFP Emotional Styles
• ESFJ and ENFP Intellectual Styles
• ESFJ and ENFP organizational styles
• ESFJ compatibility with other types

ESFJ and ENFP Interpersonal and Communication Styles

Your special style of communication and interaction can be described very well by two dimensions:assertivenessEcordiality.

Assertiveness describes your tendency to assert yourself, lead and influence others in social situations, while Warmth describes your tendency to empathize and put others' needs ahead of your own.

People with the same personality type often share some similarities in assertiveness and warmth. In the chart below, you can see where most ESFJs and most ENFPs fall on these two dimensions.

First see where people in each type,to the media, are inserted in this interpersonal space.

ESFJs generally agree, trust, and cooperate with others. At their best, they are friendly, loving, and bring out the warmth and sympathy of others. ESFJs can be very nice and quick to commit. At worst, they can seek approval and approval too much and become dependent on other people's approval.

ENFPs are generally supportive, openly show sympathy, and actively offer help. At their best, they are gentle well-wishers, easily trusted and accepted. ENFPs can be overly quick-witted and have a hard time being alone. At worst, they can demand too much attention and admiration from others and meddle too much in other people's affairs.

One aspect that you and many ENFPs have in common is interpersonal warmth. Both ESFJs and ENFPs tend to be kinder, paying attention to other people's needs and interests, sometimes at the expense of their own goals.

An important difference between you and most ENFPs is your relative assertiveness or passivity in social situations. Like many ESFJs, you often find yourself on the more passive and reserved end of the spectrum. In some cases, this is a perfect complement to the ENFPs' more dominant and confident style, and the two of you can make an effective team. However, you may find that when working with ENFPs, you have to make an extra effort to make your voice heard.

ESFJ and ENFP Emotional Styles

Another characteristic of your personality is your emotional style - your tendency to different moods. There are two dimensions that affect emotional style:excitementEvalor.

Arousal describes your relative energy levels in different situations. Those with a high Arousal baseline tend to be more alert, active, and generally engaged, while those with a lower baseline are more reserved, moderate, and inhibited.

Valence describes whether these moods tend to be positive (pleasant) or negative (unpleasant). People with a more positive style are more likely to experience emotions such as joy, enthusiasm, contentment, and serenity. People with a negatively rated style are more likely to experience sadness, frustration, dissatisfaction, and anxiety.

The chart below shows where each type,to the media, usually stays in this emotional space.

Most ESFJs and ENFPs overlap heavily in their emotional styles.

ESFJs and ENFPs tend to be energetic and enthusiastic in most situations. You accept new challenges with enthusiasm, self-confidence and a spirit of adventure. ESFJs and ENFPs are typically more optimistic than most people, and generally feel that they can handle anything life throws at them.

Like most ESFJs, you and many ENFPs share relatively high energy levels. You both prefer to be on the move and actively involved in something interesting rather than sitting back and watching. At best, the two of you feed off each other's energy and enthusiasm, and there's rarely a quiet moment when you're together.

Likewise, ESFJs and ENFPs are generally more positive than negative. They are more likely to express enthusiasm, contentment, happiness and other positive emotions in most situations. Like everyone else, they occasionally experience negative emotions like sadness, fear, and anger, but they soon return to their normal state of comfort. Together, ESFJs and ENFPs tend to share an upbeat attitude and resilience to stress.

ESFJ and ENFP Intellectual Styles

Your intellectual style describes how you absorb, process, and track different types of information. Differences in intellectual style are best captured by two dimensions:IdeasEaesthetics.

Ideasdescribes your appetite for new information and your interest in complex and challenging subjects. People with a high dimension of ideas appreciate complexity and technical details. People with fewer ideas are less interested in learning for its own sake, preferring to simplify complex issues down to the smallest detail.

aestheticscaptures your relative interest in and sensitivity to aesthetic information and its emotional impact. People with a superior aesthetic dimension typically have strong artistic interests and a deep appreciation for beauty in many forms. The less aesthetic tend to prioritize practicality over artistic value and generally adhere to more conventional standards of beauty.

In the chart below you can see where ESFJs and ENFPs,to the media, fall into this intellectual space.

ESFJs are practical realists. They focus on building practical skills and basic knowledge and spend less time learning for the sake of learning. Furthermore, they generally value conventional and tangible accomplishments over artistic expression and rarely feel compelled to develop a creative outlet.

ENFPs are idealistic and creative dreamers. They tend to be interested in the nuances of emotional and artistic experiences and seek meaningful patterns and insights. ENFPs are comfortable with ambiguity and abstract concepts and tend to focus on the big picture rather than technical details. You often practice some form of creative expression and are likely to have some eccentric and unconventional beliefs.

As an ESFJ, you and most ENFPs are realists, straight thinkers. You both prefer to keep things simple and focus on practical matters, and try not to overcomplicate things. When you and your fellow ENFP are together, your conversations revolve around concrete details, facts, and conventional topics rather than theoretical or philosophical ones.

Another difference between ESFJs and ENFPs is their relative interest in aesthetic, artistic, and emotional experiences. As an ESFJ, you tend to be more hands-on and focused on tangible results, while your fellow ENFP will be more drawn to the emotional and artistic aspects of an experience. Furthermore, ESFJs and ENFPs often differ in their susceptibility to unconventional and eccentric ways of thinking. Like many ESFJs, you tend to lean toward entrenched conventional approaches and view new alternatives with a healthy skepticism. In contrast, ENFPs shed convention more quickly and break new ground.

ESFJ and ENFP organizational styles

Your organizational style describes your organization and planning habits. Your organizational style affects how you structure your time and physical space. Differences in organizational style fall along two dimensions:diligenceEcleanliness.

Diligence describes your perseverance, your will to achieve and your level of concentration. More diligent people tend to organize their behavior around some important long-term goal. Less diligent people tend to focus more on the present and are more likely to shift focus when new opportunities arise.

Order describes your need for regularity, order, and structure in your environment. People with more order prefer clean, organized physical spaces, detailed schedules, and reliable routines. People with less order can tolerate more disorganization and prefer a more spontaneous and unstructured approach.

The graph below shows theAveragePosition of ESFJs and ENFPs along these dimensions of organizational style.

ESFJs tend to be systematic and highly organized. They like to set big, long-term goals and then create detailed plans to achieve them. ESFJs are generally good at ignoring distractions and making steady progress through consistent routines and habits.

ENFPs thrive in unstructured environments with fewer restrictions and more room for improvisation and chance. They often focus on enjoying the present rather than preparing for the future. ENFPs value spontaneity and the flexibility to change their minds and resist setting rigid deadlines or rigid expectations.

As with most ESFJs, you and many ENFPs might argue about the need to set goals and use time efficiently. While you may find it easier to get down to business and stay focused, your ENFP counterpart can be more easily distracted and unpredictable. Consistently working with a narrow focus often comes naturally to many ESFJs like you, but you may find that ENFPs benefit from additional structure to keep them on track. While you like to plan and are more concerned about the future, your fellow ENFP will help you enjoy the present, adding much-needed spontaneity to your schedule.

A second difference between ESFJs and ENFPs lies in their relative need for order, structure, and regularity. While you and most ESFJs benefit from well-defined systems and consistent organization, your ENFP counterpart often feels overly constrained and bogged down by too much structure. You are most comfortable with chaos and enjoy taking life as it comes while trying to establish order, routine and predictability. Their differences in orderliness, punctuality, and compliance with social expectations can also occasionally lead to conflict.

How to identify your closest personality type

Most people have complex personalities and don't fit into a single personality type.

To see which of the 16 types is most like you, try TraitLabs for free16 Personality Type Assessment.

ESFJ compatibility with other types

For comparisons between ESFJs and other personality types, visit one of the following type pairs: