Ty Lee MBTI Personality Type
Personality
What personality type is Ty Lee? Ty Lee is an ESFP personality type in MBTI, 7w6 - sp/sx - 279 in Enneagram, SCUAI in Big 5, ESE in Socionics.
Ty Lee's page shows how a lot of PDB users don't understand E4 in-depth and I don't say this by a desire to embarrass the E4 voters, but because all the comments for E4 have the same argument "She wants to be different from her sisters!". Wanting to be different and focusing on image doesn't necessarily indicate E4, even as a fix. It actually just means that the character is (possibly) a heart-core type. When growing up, Twos, Threes, and Fours felt some feeling of lack, and, consequently, they felt that they have lost their contact with their value and identity, which provokes the Heart's Centre feeling: >Shame<. Threes will grow up trying to become what society teaches that's the right thing, ending up feeling a deep identification with their own exterior persona. They, just as Type Seven, can also be very materialistic, but, for them, it's important to have objects that bring some sort of status. Type Fours will have an overidentification with their shadow side, seeking validation by being excentric, special, unique, even if it's by overdramatizing their pain, making themselves a martyr of some sort. Twos, by the other hand, tend to be way more optimistic, but also narcissistic as the E7, but more in a way of being delighted with their own selves (after all, E2 passion is pride). As it can be seen, all of them will try to create some image that makes them special in some way (E3 basing it on what society will appreciate, E2 into seducing people emotionally (using flattery, false abundance, etc), E4 in their bad self-image, their lack or the injustice of the world with themselves). "While an ennea-type III person identifies with that part of the self that coincides with the idealized image, the ennea-type IV individual identifies with that part of the psyche that fails to fit the idealized image, and is always striving to achieve the unattainable." "Whereas envy tends to sadness, pride characteristically is supported by a happy internal atmosphere: ennea-type IV is “tragic,” ennea-type II “comic.”" (Both are from Character and Neurosis, by Claudio Naranjo) Ty Lee doesn't show AT ALL the masochist tendencies of E4, their bad self-image, and focus of attention on the negative. The contrary is what happens: Ty Lee is always shown as someone upbeat! She smiles a lot in contract with the other characters, is always moving or making some acrobatic move. She doesn't act with the withdrawn nature of Fours and is always moving towards people. Take the beach episodes, for instance. Some guys start to think she is pretty and she accommodates them, always being nice and generous, although she laters goes away from them and complains about them not leaving her alone, after being confronted by them, asking who she liked more. She then answered that she loved them all, but refused to answer who she "really" liked (and we, as the viewers, can see that actually she just like the attention - as even Mai pointed out later). Also, she shows a lot of the concept of false abundance trait ("They sustain the proud in the sense of having much love to offer, as well as covertly satisfying their love need."/"the person is typically unaware of the neediness that underlies this compulsion to please and to be extraordinary." (C&N)). When Azula is mean to her at the party, Ty Lee begins to cry, really hurt by her words, but... as soon as Azula says that she just said that because she felt bad about herself, Ty Lee's instant reaction is to flatter Azula, saying how amazing she was, comforting her: the one Ty Lee seems to most admires just admitted feeling jealous about the attention Ty Lee receives. Her pride is once again full, so she shows her affection immediately. I would also like to add this part of the description of the Hedonism trait of E2: "The compulsive pursuit of pleasure of the ennea-type II person naturally supports the gay persona of histrionic people, with its pretended contentedness and animation. It is reflected, also, through a propensity to be frustrated and when not specially pleased (through attention, novelty, stimulation), through a low tolerance to routine, discipline, and other obstacles to an irresponsible, playful life."
Biography
Daughter of Fire Nation nobles, Ty Lee made an effort to distinguish herself from her six identical sisters. After joining a circus, Ty Lee was forcefully recruited by her childhood friend Azula. Although she's an expert martial artist able to stop bending by striking pressure points, she's more interested in doing handstands and being girly than doing villain work. Nonetheless, she's easily cowed by Azula, making her a loyal, if very quirky, minion.
