By S. Kim
Extroverted Perception
Stefani: "In the beginning ... I didn't know what I was doing at all, and I still don't. I kinda just get up there [on stage] and just do whatever comes out." [Source]
Stefani: "Well, I think we didn't even realize that we were doing this. We just kinda got here and were like, 'okay, let's go.' It's kinda fun though when you don't really realize what you're doing sometimes." [Source]
Stefani: "Every night's different. You can't tell if it's gonna be a good show or a bad show. That's what's kind of exciting, I guess, about it. You never know, [you just] get up there and see what happens." [Source]
Stefani: "We're just trying to enjoy every second of it while it's here, and we don't take one day for granted. It's just like everybody wants to be nice to us now and be our friends, and we're like, 'Okay! Tomorrow you probably won't like us, but that's cool. We'll take it while we can get it'." [Source]
Stefani: "No breaks here [on tour], but that's okay."
[Interviewer: "Performing with a broken foot; you're a trooper."]
Stefani: "We all [at the band] are [troopers] here. We've been working really hard, but this is our little chance, so we're trying to take advantage of it, you know?" [Source]
Stefani: "If you look like through all the clothes over the last ten years that I've worn, you can see a growth. I definitely was really into like cartoony, you know, primary colors and that whole thing in the early stages, and then I think I've matured a bit over the years. ... I used to wear dresses more, but now I'll wear pants more, and then depending on how fat I'll feel that day, I'll choose this outfit or that outfit. You know what I mean, it just depends. Every day is different, so I'm wearing black today." [Source]
[Interviewer: "It's incredible to me that you don't have this grandmaster plan..."]
Stefani: "I don't have a plan; it's been basically chasing dangling carrots everywhere I look." [Source]
All else being equal, the quotes above showcase a preference for extroverted perception (Se/Ne) over introverted perception (Si/Ni). Moreover, if we had to pick between Se or Ne, the quotes fit Se better on the whole as it is the Se type that is the type most likely to make the most out of the given situation. Ne types can often get too caught up in their introspection and associations in contrast to the Se type's more (non-typological) intuitive approach of feeling the actual external situation to the fullest without mulling over it (as exemplified by most of the quotes). As Mary Arrington (in her IDRlabs article: ESFP vs ENFP, Part 2) has stated about Ne types, "because of [their] focus on multiple possible perspectives on reality at the same time, ENPs are actually quite poor at dealing with situations where it is necessary to engage with factual reality as it is happening here and now, and they can sometimes fail to take advantage of the opportunities they come across when compared with Se types."
Another thing to consider is that Ne (or just N in general), as stated by Myers, views the "immediate situation as a prison from which escape is urgently necessary," meaning that, as Boye Akinwande puts it, "NP types constantly feel a need to escape and transcend the immediate givens of any situation, even if they do not quite know how such an escape could be achieved" (for the Ne type, one of the ways this can often manifest in them is seeking ulterior viewpoints), as opposed to Se typically preferring to stay with the actual experience and be acquainted with the opportunities that arise in present reality (as exemplified by most of the quotes).
Now, obviously one can find real-life examples of discontent Se types and more immediate-inclined Ne types, so this section obviously isn't my main argument but rather just a starter.
Why Se over Ne
Now getting more into the actual meat of the argument. As mentioned above, while the quotes in the last section may arguably lean more towards Se on the whole, it didn't really rule out Ne (as I mentioned, just as discontent Se types exist, so do more immediate-inclined Ne types). One might ask while reading this 'Well do you have a more concrete example of Gwen Stefani showcasing a preference for Se over Ne?' and I say yes to that! Just as IDRlabs has said that Frank Ocean "avoids conceptualizations and associations in interviews" as evidence for S over N, same thing applies to Gwen Stefani:
[Interviewer: "Gwen, tell me how you got the name 'No Doubt'?"]
Stefani: "Well, the band's been together for about five years, and about five years ago, a guy that used to sing with us, which doesn't anymore, used to say this word, and so now that is the word we use. A really simple story, not really complex at all." [Source]
[Interviewer: "You got different lyrics and then completely different style, where does that come from?"]
Stefani: "You might wanna ask Eric about the lyrics as he does a lot of the writing and he's down there." [Source]
As IDRlabs has stated "a person is unlikely to just sit idly by as a subject pertaining to his or her dominant function comes up. It’s like a cat seeing a big chunk of red meat just lying around. One’s imagination is stimulated and one is moved to participate – to dig in and grab a chunk of meat for oneself." Her answers are not exactly what one would expect from an N dominant type, right? In the 2 examples above (both of which are from the same interview), she avoided 2 opportunities for "conceptualizations and associations". I have another example of her Se preference below:
[Interviewer: "How do you describe your sense of style?"]
Stefani: "I don't. I always hate talking about fashion, I swear. To me, fashion is something you don't talk about, it's something you do, you know what I mean? [Fashion is something] you wear and you look at." [Source]
Based on this, we can infer that her "cognition tends to be more drawn towards objects as they exist physically, experiencing them in their entirety and as they are" (As Boye Akinwande has about Se in his article: ISTP vs INTP). In this case, she doesn't "bypass" the object (in this case, fashion) to get to its associations but rather views the object as something that stands on its own terms and merits. One could also argue that there is also a bit of Fi in this quote too.
Furthermore, according to IDRlabs themselves, Se "operate[s] off of phenomena that are ... capable of standing on their own (i.e. being thought more 'self-evident')" whereas Ne "combine[s] different (and differing) perspectives to comprise elements in the illustration of an abstract idea". Out of those descriptions, which do you think fits Gwen Stefani more based on the examples I provided? Want another quote that suggests Se?
Stefani: "To be from Orange County and try to play in LA, it was like taboo, kind of because they were like, you know, 'Oh, behind the Orange Curtain, blah blah blah.' But if you really look at it, it's all one big concrete thing. If you drive to Orange County, it's not like you're going to go through fields or anything." [Source]
Overall, the quote seems to suggest a person with a marked preference for actuality as opposed to conceptualization or abstract association. That is to say that she prefers to see the actual existence of things (the physical reality of the situation as opposed to what was intended, expected, or believed). In this case, she is emphasizing if one looks at it objectively, there is no significant physical or geographical barrier between LA and Orange County (referring to it as "one big concrete thing") despite all the history and preconceived notions between the 2 cultures.
It should be noted that cognitive processes are theoretical symbols for trying to explain certain preferences rather than ability, that is to say that Gwen Stefani isn't incapable of "Ne stuff" but rather she simply prefers "Se stuff".
What is her main Judging function?
I agree with IDRlabs that she is a Feeling type, that is to say that her Feeling process is fully conscious. The Feeling functions, as IDRlabs puts it, "is a comparative over-development or heightened development of sentiment." As for which Feeling function, I also agree with IDRlabs that she's an Fi user. Her values are primarily oriented towards the subjective (an island to itself) and are put forth in a take-it-or-leave-it fashion:
Stefani: "I think that the reason why I started making clothes for myself was because I think fashion is kind of like an extension of your personality, and I've always kind of been crazy about having things that, you know, no one else has. It's like a kind of mental thing, I don't know." [Source]
Stefani: "I really like secondhand clothing just because, you know, usually you find one and no one else is gonna have it. I don't know why I think that's so important, but I like being an individual, you know? I think that's kind of what fashion is all about – being an individual and trying not to be like everyone else."[Source]
Stefani: "I think the thing that hurts me the most, that bums me out the most, would be the kind of rivalry between bands and the way people put each other down and automatically assume that that band sucks because, for whatever reason, you know. And the funnest thing when you're on tour is hooking up with other bands and hanging out, and it's like you're on tour with them and you can totally relate to each other. Even if you don't really like their music, somehow after you meet them and hang out with them and watch them and see them go through the same day that you went through, you go 'they're good!' you know? There's something you find that you like about them. So I think that part of it, I hate all that, you know, it's like it's art and it's people expressing themselves and there's no rules and [you] should be able to just [express yourself]." [Source]
[Interviewer: "In reading reviews of the CD ... everyone says it's got a love theme. Maybe that's what you're throwing out there?"]
Stefani: "I think it might have some love stuff in there, so probably it would qualify under this segment of L's but ... at the same time, I just write right from my heart [and] whatever is on my mind." [Source]
[When asked how she has managed being a celebrity and dealing with the attention she receives for her fashion choices, personal life, and appearance]
Stefani: "If you kinda thought that people were thinking about you all the time, it's kind of a weird thing, isn't it? And for me, my life has pretty much been the same as it always has been. I hang out with these guys every day, and that's pretty much what I do. I wake up in the morning, I put something on that is gonna make me feel good, or if I have a fat day, I'll wear the baggy pants, you know what I mean? I'm just like that same normal chick from Orange County that wakes up and hangs out with these guys and sings songs. So, I don't know, I don't really think about [what other people are thinking] too much. ... It's really fun to get all the outfits together and that stuff ... But mainly, the music's what's pretty much the most important part, and especially coming off of making this record where for me personally, I think I'm putting in more creatively than I ever have. And to be able to like do that feels really rewarding. And when everyone wants to just talk about what color hair I have and what lipstick shade I'm wearing, it gets a little annoying." [Source]
It's important to not simply focus on the contents (beliefs, ideas, etc.) but also the manner in which these sentiments are expressed (hence why it is important to actually watch these interviews to gain better context).
Why ESFP over ISFP
Now both SFP types have Fi and Se as their uppermost functions but one might ask 'out of the 2 SFP types, which one does Stefani fit better?' Out of the 2 I think ESFP fits better.
To start off, I would like to quote what Boye Akinwande has stated about types that prefer Fi over Te, "FP types may sometimes refuse to deal with even the most obvious of logical trade-offs, so as not to pollute the purity of their inner world or compromise their ideals." Now ESFPs have auxiliary Fi, meaning they prefer Fi over Te, so what Boye Akinwande said regarding FP types will also, as a rule, be somewhat true of them. However, being Se dominant types, ESFPs are more focused on (as Boye Akinwande says) "the unordered ever-changing object" than the ISFP typically is. As Akinwande has stated "through examining the history of [the Se types] ideas it becomes clear that they are less consistent, more freely adapting themselves to the unordered ever-changing object." Also having Te in the Tertiary position in conjunction with their dominant Se, the ESFP is more willing to compromise purity of Feeling in specific ways in order to adapt to the external situation compared to the IFP type, all else being equal. The following quote from Stefani showcases this immediacy:
Stefani: "There's all these different regulations, like when I'm on stage, you know, I can't wear this or can't wear that, cuz I have to feel the dance or move or whatever. So I would find things that really worked, and then when you just kind of like knock them off, and then use different materials that we'd find or whatever." [Source]
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