Wednesday, July 14, 2010

How I Met Your Mother Characters Personality Types

How I Met Your Mother is one of the most popular TV sitcom series at the minute created by Craig Thomas and Carter Bays, it features the main character, Ted recounting the series of events that led to him meeting his wife, to his future children in the year 2030. The show also features Ted's group of closest friends Marshall, Lily, Robin and Barney. It is presently into it's 6th season.



Here's my analysis of the main characters personality types:

Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor) - INFJ

Has a strong Ni future focus and a preference for Fe's collective values orientated approach.

Marshall Eriksen (Jason Segel) – ENFP

The character seems extroverted, pattern based, lives in the moment and is only unbending when something doesn’t match his inner principles (Fi) - very much laid back go with the flow P-style as opposed to the J-style directiveness of Ted and Barney. Has well developed lower functions considering he often uses facts and numbers in his arguments – Si-Te style.

Lily Aldrin (Alyson Hannigan) – ENFP

Probably the same personality type as Marshall, although perhaps not as well developed use of lower function - the Alyson Hannigan is an ENFP which helps.

Barney Stinson (Neil Patrick Harris) – INTJ

Very classic Ni-Te with it's original, visionary, future focus and systemic logic planning to make it happen applied to all facets of life from business to womanising - Neil Patrick Harris is an INTJ which helps.


Robin Scherbatsky (Cobie Smulders) – ISTP

Not sure she is a strong representation of any type, but to me seems most like a Ti dom that is typically neutral/indifferent and emotionally detached from the situation most of the time. Although she can be a bit impulsive, she is generally the most grounded, ordinary and realistic of the group.

8 comments:

  1. Hey, I'd like to say this is ALOT better then some of the MBTI guesses I've come across for this show.
    But I'd have to say a few disagreements:
    Barney is NOT an INFJ. He is the complete opposite. He is always looking to go out and have fun (E), maybe he could be an N actually, definetly a T and a P as he doesn't think about his future life only in the present life, and he doesn't think about people's feelings before he says stuff. Clear ENTP. Hope my input helped :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Barney is definitely not INFJ. He is a classic ENTP. I'd say he definitely displays Oppositional Role Ni. The 5th function is often rather well developed but limited in scope, works quite well in those limited circumstances, but is still stressful to use and there is a tendency to get upset when other use it in a different way. Barney does not look for broader consequences in general, only the parts that he wants. He gets confrontational when people do not approach the goals of human interaction in the same way. His feeling is definitely extroverted and he uses it frequently, but it is self centered and immature. Fe is definitely his tertiary, relief role function. (Note that in certain flashbacks his personality was quite different so this does not apply there.)


    There is no way that Lilly is a Perciever. Her FJ is quite obvious.


    Ted is definitely an introverted intuitive and definitely used Ti and Fe rather than Fi and Te, but I'm undecided as to whether he is an INFJ or an INTP with above average aspirational Fe (like myself). The "visionary drive" might have more to do with Fe being aspirational than with Ni, or it might have to do with how for an INTP Ni is the Senex function which is seem as especially significant. The main thing pointing to INTP is his memory. Tertiary Si leads to INTP typically having the best memories, and feeling the need to give a lot of background information and tell the whole story rather than skipping to the important parts. For an INFJ Si is the 8th function, which causes them not to focus so much on the past and can make them forgetful.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I agree that Ted is an INFJ. You got it right, he is passionate and creative and warm, unlike the INTP.

    Barney is definitely not an INTJ though he is also definitely not an ENTP.

    Barney is absolutely an ENTJ. Just look it up:
    http://www.personalitypage.com/ENTJ.html
    Everything about this describes Barney.

    Robin is also definitely not an ISTP. She is more likely an INTP.
    http://www.personalitypage.com/INTP.html
    It's surprising, but it's a better match.

    You should really do a few minutes of research before jumping to these answers.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I entirely agree with the analysis (except maybe Lily ESFP rather than ENFP, as she seems more interested in cooking than in possibilities).

    In particular, Ted is obviously F, as is evident from the difficulty he has in saying negative things.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Ted - ISFJ
    Barney - ENTP

    ReplyDelete
  6. Ted- enfj. Barney- entj. Robin- entp. Lily- esfj marshal- esfp

    ReplyDelete
  7. bold to say sitcom characters aren't all s. i do agree about ted being something like infj. the actor (josh radnor) definitely is. but because they have to write them to be so fast paced and have somewhat charismatic personalities it's hard to imagine them having n struggles. i'm not sure ted does represent what that might be in the sitcom world though

    ReplyDelete