16 Personality Types – Most Is Likely to Be a Psychopath?

Disclaimer: The MBTI is a personality inventory designed to roughly identify a person’s personality type, split into 16 categories. As such, it may contain some slight inaccuracies, so take it as a list of rough tendencies rather than strict classifications.

Further Disclaimer: This article is not made to attack anyone who may display these signs or anyone diagnosed with psychopathy, but rather to understand them and bring more awareness to the topic! With that said, let’s get started!

All MBTI types have a host of pleasant traits and strengths, but they carry with them some weaknesses and negative traits too.

And in these dark tendencies, there can be latent psychopathic urges that may emerge out of circumstance.

Dr. Prakash Masand, a psychiatrist and founder of the Centers of Psychiatric Excellence, noted these traits as commonly shared among people with psychopathic tendencies:

• socially irresponsible behavior
• disregarding or violating the rights of others
• inability to distinguish between right and wrong
• difficulty with showing remorse or empathy
• tendency to lie often
• manipulating and hurting others
• recurring problems with the law
• general disregard towards safety and responsibility

While the traits above don’t encapsulate one MBTI type, there may be some habitual connections that can show a pattern, especially for unhealthy MBTI types.

Let’s look down the list and see how the 16 types could fare as psychopaths.

Introverts

ISTP – A lot of the things an ISTP enjoys don’t actively involve people, and they may even find it that people get in the way of their goals. As such, their antisocial tendencies make them likely candidates have psychopathic tendencies. 

INFJ – INFJs are naturals in getting to the root of people’s hearts, moving them with their words and mannerisms. While many INFJs come from a perspective of empathy and goodness towards others, more than a few can have harmful ideals and distorted intentions that are potent in influencing a group of people.

ISFJ – ISFJs are one of the types who are very unlikely to be psychopaths. They are nurturing, loyal, and caring. The only time when a psychopathic tendency may emerge from the ISFJ is when they get too controlling or possessive over their partner, relying on manipulation to get their way.

ISFP – Impulsive and with a desire for freedom, ISFPs are possible candidates. They may not be the best planners and strategists, but they are physical thrill-seekers that care little about risk. If their values side with something immoral, it’s very easy for them to go the wrong path and harm others along with it.

INTJ – Think of a villain in the top of a high-rise gray skyscraper, whose floors below were filled with goons and traps for your every disadvantage in making your way to the top. That villain? The INTJ. An INTJ is more than likely to be schemers, plotters, and conniving overseers with their penchant for strategy and their low incidence of emotions in their main function stack. As a psychopath, they’d have no problem letting others do the dirty work for them.

ISTJ – ISTJs may not be the mafia boss, but they’re the essential troublemakers that get the dirty work done with their ability to do routinary yet crucial, mentally-challenging tasks. They can be cold and detached, making them prone to have psychopathic tendencies or at least be swayed to reveal it if an influential force persuades them to the dark side.

INFP – It’s hard to imagine an INFP as the steroretypical psychopath; they’re just too kind-hearted and sensitive to take up the role of harming and hurting others. If they do end up in the psychopathic route, however, they’d probably do it for a cause that is for a common good or for a value that’s driven on justice or ideals, which admittedly may be hard to wrap our head around. Think of a hostage taker who’s had a change of heart and went out of their way to free their hostages without consulting their fellow criminals – an INFP would be the most likely type to do that as they tend to swing their own little chaotic way.

INTP – Cold logisticians, they are great rationalists that have varying degrees of sociability depending on who you’re talking to. They’re open-minded and take into account all possibilities, but there’s always an underlying logical reason on what they do. And since they’re feeling functions are not at the top of their stacks, they can at whim choose to uphold logic over empathy, promoting psychopathic tendencies to an extent in the process.

Extroverts

ENTJ – Natural planners, ENTJs have a commanding presence that can be felt in a crowd. An ENTJ’s ambition and power-hungry tendencies allow them to naturally take up major roles, which is something they love. With this desire to lead, an unhealthy ENTJ can easily forgo the rights of others in favor of the end result, getting things done their way selfishly for their end goal. 

ENFP – A free-spirited individual, people can sort of pinpoint what energy an ENFP exudes since their mannerisms are open gestures and indicative tone shifts. This can make it harder for ENFPs to possess psychopathic tendencies since most of the “dark” energy they harbor is mostly feelings within themselves rather than something that is imposed on others.

ESFP – Free-spirited and present-focused, an ESFP loves the thrill of action and can have little regard towards others if they don’t find it fun or gratifying at the present moment. This self-servicing attitude can be rooted in a greedy desire for their own fun, which can justify them to do selfish and potentially psychopathic actions.

ESTJ – An ESTJ is like a cold businessman or bossy authority head that only thinks of driving revenue to the bottom line. They know how to capitalize on people’s skills and have a penchant for bossing others to act, and for the most stereotypically-fitting types, they do it in an almost dictatorial fashion with no regard for others. Very possible psychopaths.

ENFJ – They are charisma personified – capable of adapting their personality with their conversation partner. While not all ENFJs are psychopaths, their inborn charisma and ability to sway a crowd is a powerful tool that they can easily hide a sinister intention behind.

ENTP – ENTPs are often detached people that see the world through the lens of logic and possibilities, challenging these realities and ideas without much consideration for their personal values and more so for the fun of it. This makes their empathy threshold lower than most types, making it very possible for them to have psychopathic tendencies.

ESTP –  Reckless and impulsive with no regard for others, ESTPs are likely candidates to have psychopathic tendencies as well. With Introverted Thinking (Ti) as one of their main functions, they see things through their results over the impact something has on others. Many authoritarian bosses fall under this category, too.

ESFJ – Warm and compassionate, the ESFJ on the surface may outwardly exhibit non-psychopathic traits. But just like the ENFJs, they have a charisma and charm about them that can draw in a crowd, just without the ability to sustain a long-term calculated plan. They’re not the likeliest candidates to be psychopaths.  

Closing Thoughts

Does your type have psychopathic tendencies? 

Do be reminded that this post is merely for entertainment purposes and fun and not a mode for diagnosis nor an attack to any types in particular.

That’s all for now, Psych2Goers!

REFERENCES

• Sara Lindberg (January 9, 2019) Psychopath. Retrieved at  https://www.healthline.com/health/psychopath#signs
• YT: Love Who. Nov 29, 2020. Youtube. 16 Personalities – Most Likely to be a Psychopath. Retrieved at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRVSU2EfK7k&ab_channel=LoveWho