MBTI Type: ENTP

ENTP journalists love to dig deep into stories nobody else is paying attention to, but sometimes can be so trusting of other people, they get caught up in their lies. It comes from their extroverted feeling ‘attaching’ to other people’s feelings and points of view, rendering them naïve about their true intentions. She became a journalist, like most ENPs do, to change the world positively through the power of words and earnestly believes that she can shed a light onto Anna and her life, by digging into the truth. She persists in pursuing this story, even when her boss tells her it’s stupid, because she sees the larger potential it contains… and because things don’t quite add up. They don’t make sense to her, so she wants to get to the bottom of them. Vivian, unlike Anna, doesn’t care as much about her reputation, about VIP lists, etc., just about getting to the truth, and going after it whatever way she has to, even if that means begging Anna’s lawyers to let her look at their files. It drives her nuts that she can’t put all the pieces together, and she convinces her boss to let her stay on the story as long as it takes, even going up and through the court trial. In a very idealistic way, Vivian wants to believe Anna’s lies – that she’s an heiress, that she’s not a criminal, she’s just smart, and that she will pay all the money back. She hears numerous stories that state just the opposite, but still insists on believing the best of her, doing all she can for her, and even buying her outfits to wear to court. But she’s able to do this, because she doesn’t take anything personally. Anna insults her, calls her names, tells her she’s fat, and slams her taste, and still Vivian ignores the personal insults and focuses on asking questions (as a thinker, she doesn’t let pesky insults get in her way). She is, however, prone to venting her own feelings, accusing other people of being inconsiderate, and not always being careful in how she absorbs what Anna tells her. Like a lot of low Fe’s, she wants to be liked, and heard, and gets “swindled” by Anna into believing all her lies. She’s also pushing away from reality by refusing to deal with its problems; she doesn’t want to realize that being pregnant means she’ll have to give up her job and take maternity leave, so she insists that will never happen. She angrily tells her husband that it’s all his fault she’s pregnant, and that he should promise her that a family life isn’t going to tear her away from “the thing that makes my brain light up” (my work). She’s even at work when her water breaks, and has to be dragged to the hospital.

Enneagram: 6w7 so/sp

Vivian is a tough nut to crack, because a lot of her behavior is coming from a 3 motivation – she wants to reestablish her career, save her job, and fix her broken reputation after having reported on a story that turned out to be a lie. But how she goes about this is like a head type – thinking, investigating, and being skeptical and questioning things. Unlike Anna, she doesn’t care about VIP lists, or fancy clothes, or posting constantly to Instagram, and she doesn’t care that Anna thinks she’s fat and dresses like a slob. That’s not important; figuring out how Anna ticks, and what motivates her… is. Which means she’s a head type. How easily she attaches to Anna and believes her, even when she’s also skeptical of her, suggests an attachment type, a 6. She goes from believing the worst, hearing horrible things about Anna (how she ripped people off or wouldn’t get off a yacht or spent $65,000 of other people’s credit card money) into hoping she’s a nice person, and thinking the best of her, and wanting her to be innocent… in a very “denial of reality” 7 wing way. Whatever she doesn’t want to deal with, she just ignores. Her pregnancy, her reputation at work, her marital issues, even refusing to put the baby’s crib where it should go, because “this is my wall, with my stuff on it.”

Stop stumbling around in the dark, not knowing your type or those of your loved ones. Get 16 Kinds of Crazy: The Sixteen Personality Types today!