What Bad Behavior Reveals About Personality Types: A Study

How Personality Shapes Our Relationship with Bad Behavior

Everyone does bad things sometimes. In fact, the vast majority of every personality type we surveyed agreed that occasional misbehavior is part of being human. But while that belief is nearly universal, everything else about bad behavior – how people define it, whether they enjoy it, how much guilt they feel, and what they learn from it – varied enormously depending on personality. The differences are not small. On some questions, the spread between the highest- and lowest-scoring types reached as much as 50 percentage points.

To explore these patterns, we created the “Bad Behavior” survey, which asked 18 questions about how people relate to their own bad behavior. Over 12,000 respondents across all 16 personality types answered questions covering everything from whether they enjoy being bad and whose standards they feel they’re violating to whether they try to recruit accomplices, how often they get caught, and whether they’d like to get better at it. The results reveal consistent patterns shaped by core personality traits – patterns that go well beyond simple actions and into the deeper territory of moral identity, emotional processing, and self-awareness.

The Strongest Patterns Across Personality Types

The most powerful dividing line in the "Bad Behavior" survey was the split between Thinking and Feeling personality types. On nearly every question, these two traits predicted the widest spreads. Thinking types were far more likely to enjoy being bad, to do bad things purely for pleasure, and to want to get better at it. Feeling types anticipated guilt at much higher rates, held themselves to stricter internal moral standards, and were more likely to believe that repeated misbehavior makes someone a bad person. This split showed up consistently across all four Roles – Analysts, Diplomats, Sentinels, and Explorers – making it the survey’s single most reliable predictor.

The split between Judging and Prospecting types emerged as the second most consistent factor. Judging personality types reported higher real-time awareness of their own behavior, stronger resistance to outside influence, and a greater tendency to link repeated misbehavior to moral character. Prospecting types were more spontaneous, more susceptible to being talked into things, and more likely to feel an urge to brag about getting away with something. Within every Role, the Judging vs. Prospecting split added a meaningful extra layer of variation.

The split between Introverted and Extraverted types shaped the social side of bad behavior most clearly. Extraverted types were far more likely to recruit others into misbehavior and to feel compelled to share when they’d gotten away with something. Introverted personality types generally preferred to keep their bad behavior to themselves, consistent with their broader preference for independence. The spread was widest among Thinking types, where Extraversion combined with a relaxed attitude toward rule-breaking to produce the highest rates of socially oriented misbehavior in the survey.

Despite all these differences, the areas of agreement were just as revealing. At least 82% of every personality type acknowledged that bad behavior is part of human nature, and strong majorities across the board said they’ve learned important lessons from their own missteps. The Intuitive and Observant traits did create a modest split on whether past misbehavior reshaped respondents’ worldview – Intuitive types were more likely to say it did – but the overall direction was the same. Almost everyone, regardless of personality, saw their past misbehavior as meaningful and formative rather than merely regrettable.

How Do Personality Types Define and Recognize Bad Behavior?

How people relate to their own bad behavior varies more than you might expect. We asked respondents whether they enjoy being bad, whose standards they feel they’re violating, how quickly they recognize their own missteps, and what it takes for behavior to cross the line. The results across all personality types suggest that personality shapes not just how people act but how they think about – and define – their own wrongdoing.

Enjoyment of Bad Behavior

ENTP personality types (Debaters) reported the highest enjoyment of bad behavior, with 63% saying they enjoy being bad, while ESTP personalities (Entrepreneurs) followed at 59%. At the other end, just 13% of INFJ personalities (Advocates) and 14% of ISFJ personalities (Defenders) said the same – a nearly fivefold spread between the highest and lowest types.

The Thinking trait was the clearest differentiator, cutting across every Role. Feeling types consistently scored lower than their Thinking counterparts – even within the same Role. Among Explorer personality types, for example, ESTPs and ISTP personalities (Virtuosos) reported rates of 59% and 42%, while ISFP personalities (Adventurers) came in at just 17%. Diplomat personalities and Feeling Sentinel types ISFJs and ESFJ personalities (Consuls) overwhelmingly did not enjoy being bad. For Thinking types, “being bad” may feel more like testing boundaries or exercising independence, while for Feeling types, it tends to carry a sting of genuine moral discomfort.

Personal vs. Social Moral Standards

A striking 76% of ENTPs said their bad behavior is about doing things that other people consider wrong – not things they personally view as wrong. ESTPs (70%), ISTPs (66%), and INTP personalities (Logicians) (63%) followed a similar pattern. For these Thinking types, “being bad” usually means pushing against social expectations rather than acting against their own conscience.

Feeling types told a different story. ESFJs stood out as the most likely to say their bad behavior violates their own moral standards, at 61%. INFJs, INFP personalities (Mediators), ENFJ personalities (Protagonists), and ISFJs leaned the same way. For these personality types, being bad often means going against values they personally hold dear – not just bending rules set by others. This distinction may help explain why Feeling types tend to anticipate more guilt: they’re not just breaking social expectations but acting against their own principles.

Real-Time Awareness of Bad Behavior

Most respondents said they’re aware of their bad behavior while it’s happening, but the degree of that awareness varied. ENTJ personalities (Commanders) reported the highest real-time awareness at 71%, with INFJs and INTJ personalities (Architects) close behind at 67%. The Judging trait appears to play a key role – personality types who prefer structure and deliberation tend to stay more conscious of their choices in the moment.

Prospecting types were more likely to recognize their behavior as “bad” only in hindsight. ESFP personalities (Entertainers) were the most evenly split, with only 53% reporting awareness in the moment – compared to 47% who said they don’t realize it until afterward. INFPs and ENFP personalities (Campaigners) showed similarly lower real-time awareness. For these spontaneous personality types, the action often comes first and the moral reflection later.

Self-Recognition vs. External Feedback

Across the board, respondents overwhelmingly said they recognize their own bad behavior without needing it pointed out. INFJs led with 91% saying they realize it on their own, followed by ISFJs (88%) and ENFJs (87%). Types with both the Feeling and Judging traits clustered at the top – a combination that appears to keep them closely attuned to their own conduct.

ESTPs were the most likely to need external feedback, with 30% saying it usually takes someone else to point out their bad behavior. ENTPs and ISTPs showed similar rates. For Thinking types with the Prospecting trait, self-monitoring may take a back seat to action – and if something doesn’t feel wrong to them personally, they may not question it until someone else speaks up.

Threshold for What Counts as Bad

About 41% of ENTPs reported a “High” or “Very high” threshold for what counts as bad behavior – meaning it takes quite a lot for them to consider something truly bad. ESTPs (39%) weren’t far behind. Across the data, the Thinking trait broadly correlated with a higher bar: Thinking types tended to need more extreme behavior before labeling something as wrong.

Feeling types generally set a lower bar. Nearly 29% of INFJs reported a “Low” or “Very low” threshold – the strictest standard of any type. INFPs and ISFJs followed at about 25%. This aligns with one of the survey’s most consistent patterns: Feeling types hold themselves to tighter personal standards, making them quicker to label behavior as bad – including, and perhaps especially, their own.

Personality Types and the Social Side of Being Bad

Bad behavior doesn’t happen in a vacuum – it often involves other people, whether as willing accomplices or as the source of a guilty conscience. When we asked respondents about recruiting others into their misbehavior and anticipating guilt, two personality traits stood out as key factors. Extraverted types were far more likely to bring others along for the ride, while Feeling types tended to carry the heaviest emotional weight – often before they’d even done anything wrong.

Recruiting Others into Bad Behavior

ESTPs were the most likely personality type to try to recruit others into their bad behavior, at 48%, with ENTPs close behind at 46%. At the other end, just 15% of INFJs said the same. The split between Introverted and Extraverted types was the clearest differentiator here – Extraverted types consistently outpaced their Introverted counterparts by a wide margin.

But Extraversion alone didn’t tell the whole story. Among Extraverts, the Thinking trait pushed the numbers even higher. ENFJs, for example, came in at only 26% – roughly half the rate of their fellow Extraverts, ENTPs. This pattern suggests that recruiting accomplices isn’t just about being socially outgoing. It also reflects a more relaxed attitude toward rule-breaking, one that Thinking personality types tend to share. Introverts, meanwhile, generally preferred to keep their bad behavior to themselves – consistent with their broader preference for independence and self-reliance.

Anticipated Guilt and Regret

Guilt often arrives before the act itself – at least for Feeling types. A striking 89% of INFJs said they usually anticipate feeling guilt or regret before being bad, and ISFJs and INFPs were right behind at 87%. At the opposite end, just 48% of ESTPs said the same. The Feeling trait was the single strongest predictor, cutting across every Role and outweighing the influence of any other trait.

The spread shows up even among personality types that share every other trait in common. Compare ISFPs, at 84%, with ISTPs, at 59% – both are Introverted Explorers with the Prospecting trait, differing only on Thinking vs. Feeling. That 25-point spread shows how powerfully the Feeling trait shapes the emotional experience of being bad. For types who lead with their hearts, the sting of guilt is often felt before the behavior even begins – which may help explain why so many of them avoid misbehaving in the first place.

How Personalities Grow from Being Bad

The verdict was nearly unanimous: being bad has been educational. Across personality types, strong majorities said they’ve learned important lessons from their past misbehavior, and most believe their worldview has been shaped by those experiences. But when asked whether they could have gained the same wisdom without the bad behavior, responses were far more divided – revealing that while the value of these lessons is widely recognized, their necessity is not.

Lessons Gained from Bad Behavior

Nearly every personality type said they’ve learned important lessons from being bad. ENFJs led at 90%, with INFJs (86%) and ENFPs (85%) close behind. Even the lowest-scoring personality type, ESTPs, came in at 60% – meaning that a clear majority of every type said that being bad has taught them something valuable. The Feeling trait was a consistent factor, as types who process experiences through a deeply personal emotional lens tended to report higher rates of meaningful learning.

Thinking Explorer types had the lowest agreement rates – ESTPs at 60% and ISTPs at 63%. This doesn’t necessarily mean they’ve learned less from life. It may reflect a different relationship with the very idea of “bad behavior.” For types who set a high bar for what counts as truly wrong and who tend not to dwell on past actions, fewer experiences register as moral lessons in the first place. The growth still happens – it just isn’t always framed in terms of right and wrong.

Whether the Lessons Required the Bad Behavior

Most personality types did not believe they could have learned the same lessons without the bad behavior. ISFJs were the only type where a bare majority (51%) said yes. Every other type leaned toward no – suggesting that for most people, the experience of misbehaving was seen as essential to whatever wisdom came from it.

ESTPs were the most skeptical that the lessons could have been learned any other way, at just 36%. ENFPs and ENTJs came in at around 39%. The overall spread was relatively narrow – about 15 points from top to bottom – but the direction was clear. Even types who hold themselves to strict moral standards still tended to believe that the bad behavior itself was a necessary part of their education. Good advice, it seems, is no substitute for firsthand experience.

Impact on Worldview

Large majorities of every personality type said that past bad behavior has significantly influenced how they see the world. ENFJs led at 78%, with ENFPs close behind at 77%. Even at the lower end – where ESFPs and ISTPs both came in at 63% – the agreement was substantial. Whatever else it does, being bad clearly leaves a lasting mark on how people understand the world around them.

What stood out most was the split between Intuitive and Observant types. Every Intuitive personality type agreed at rates above 71%, while no Observant type exceeded 69%. The split was remarkably clean. Intuitive types are naturally drawn to abstract reflection and big-picture thinking – for them, a past mistake doesn’t just stay a mistake but becomes part of a larger story about who they are. Observant types, more anchored in the present, may be less inclined to assign sweeping significance to experiences that are already behind them.

Secrecy, Getting Caught, and What Drives Personalities to Misbehave

What happens after the bad behavior is over? Some people can’t resist bragging about it, while others take their secrets to the grave. Some rarely get caught, and some seem to get caught constantly. And when it comes to motivation, the divide between personality types who misbehave for the thrill and those who feel they had no choice is one of the widest in the entire survey. Across all four of these questions, two trait divides kept surfacing as decisive: Thinking vs. Feeling and Judging vs. Prospecting.

The Urge to Tell Others About Getting Away with It

ENTPs were the most likely personality type to feel an urge to share when they’ve gotten away with being bad, at 60%. ESTPs (56%) and ESFPs (55%) weren’t far behind. At the other end, INTJs, ISFJs, and ISTJ personalities (Logisticians) all hovered around 30%. The pattern was strikingly clean: across all eight comparable type pairs, every Prospecting type outscored its Judging counterpart.

The urge to share also rose with Extraversion, which makes sense given that Extraverted types naturally seek more social interaction and external engagement. But even among Introverts, Prospecting types felt the pull more strongly – INTPs (40%) and ISTPs (40%) both outpaced their Judging peers. For Prospecting personalities, the story of getting away with it may be half the fun. Judging types, by contrast, tend to treat the matter as settled once the moment has passed – no audience required.

How Often People Get Caught

ESFPs reported the highest rate of getting caught being bad at 31%, with ISFPs at 30% and ENFPs at 29%. INTJs were the least likely to get caught at just 17%, and ENTJs were close behind at 18%. Thinking vs. Feeling was the clearest divider: in all eight comparable type pairs, the Feeling type consistently reported getting caught more often than the Thinking type.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that Feeling types are worse at hiding things. It may reflect how they define “getting caught” in the first place. Since Feeling types tend to hold themselves to their own moral standards – and since many of them are already aware of their behavior before anyone else says a word – they may be more attuned to situations where others notice their missteps. Thinking types, who often view their bad behavior as violating social expectations rather than personal values, may register fewer of those moments as being “caught.”

Bad Behavior Driven by Pleasure

A full 61% of ENTPs said they often do something bad just because it feels good, and ESTPs came in at 58%. Among Introverts, ISTPs (52%) and INTPs (50%) crossed the halfway mark as well. By contrast, just 22% of INFJs and 24% of ISFJs agreed. The spread between the highest and lowest types was nearly 40 percentage points – among the largest in the entire survey.

The Thinking trait was the dominant factor, but the Prospecting trait added fuel. Across all eight comparable type pairs, Prospecting types were more likely to pursue pleasure-driven misbehavior. The pattern aligns with a broader theme in this data: for many Thinking and Prospecting personalities, bad behavior is often a matter of impulse and enjoyment rather than moral transgression. For Feeling types – who tend to anticipate guilt and hold themselves to strict internal standards – the emotional cost of misbehaving usually outweighs whatever pleasure it might bring.

Bad Behavior as a Last Resort

INFJs were the most likely to view their bad behavior as a last resort, at 54%, with ISFJs at 51% and INFPs at 48%. These types generally see their own bad behavior as reluctant and circumstantial – something they’re pushed into rather than something they choose. At the bottom, just 22% of ENTPs and 29% of ESTPs agreed. For these types, the premise of the question may feel a bit off – because they often don’t feel forced into anything.

The Feeling trait was, once again, the strongest predictor. Compare ESTJ personalities (Executives) at 39% with ESFJs at 42%, or ENTPs at 22% with ENFPs at 38%. Even small shifts between Thinking and Feeling produced meaningful differences in how respondents framed their own motivations. For Feeling personalities, bad behavior tends to be an exception – an uncomfortable deviation from their values. For Thinking personalities, it’s more often a deliberate choice, made freely and without the need for external pressure to explain it.

Does Bad Behavior Define Who You Are?

The final stretch of the survey moves from specific actions to broader moral territory. Nearly everyone agreed that doing bad things is part of human nature – but respondents were far more divided on whether it defines who they are, how easily they can be talked into it, and whether they’d actually like to get better at it. The answers reveal a philosophical fault line shaped by personality, with some types viewing misbehavior as a natural and even desirable part of life and others seeing it as a threat to their moral identity.

Repeated Bad Behavior and Moral Identity

ISTJs were the most likely to agree that regularly doing bad things makes someone a bad person, at 57%, followed by INFJs and ESTJs at around 53%. At the other end, only 31% of ESTPs and 32% of ENTPs agreed. The Judging trait was a significant factor – types who favor structure and clear personal standards were more likely to draw a firm connection between repeated behavior and moral character.

The divide falls primarily along Judging vs. Prospecting lines. For Judging types, repeated actions carry real moral weight – if you keep doing bad things, that says something about who you are. Prospecting types see the connection between behavior and identity as far more flexible, viewing individual choices as isolated events rather than as building blocks of a fixed moral character. This explains how ISTJs and ESTPs – both Thinking types – can land on opposite ends of the spectrum. What separates them isn’t how they reason about ethics but how firmly they connect patterns of behavior to a person’s core identity. This split also helps explain why some personality types carry heavy guilt from even minor missteps, while others can shrug off repeated misbehavior without much existential concern.

Bad Behavior as Human Nature

If there was one thing nearly everyone agreed on, it was this: doing bad things occasionally is just part of being human. Agreement ranged from 82% among ESTJs to 94% among ENTPs, making it the most broadly affirmed statement in the entire survey. ISTPs (94%) and INTPs (93%) were right alongside ENTPs at the top, and even the lowest-scoring types never dipped below 82%.

The small variations that did exist fell along Thinking vs. Feeling lines. Thinking types tended to agree at slightly higher rates, which may reflect their more analytical and less moralistic view of human behavior. Sentinels like ESTJs – who place a strong emphasis on duty and personal responsibility – were the most likely to hold back slightly, though even they overwhelmingly agreed. The near-universal consensus here is striking, especially given how divided respondents were on other moral questions. Whatever our personality, most of us accept that occasional misbehavior is woven into the human experience.

Susceptibility to Outside Influence

ESTPs reported the highest susceptibility to being influenced into bad behavior at 41%, while just 11% of INTJs said the same – the lowest rate of any type by a wide margin. In general, Extraverted and Prospecting types reported notably higher susceptibility, while Introverted and Judging types reported stronger resistance to outside pressure.

The Prospecting trait was the clearest differentiator. Compare ENFPs at 33% with ENFJs at 16% – the Prospecting type reported roughly double the susceptibility of its Judging counterpart. Similar patterns appeared across other matched pairs. Prospecting personalities tend to be more spontaneous and open to shifting circumstances, which can make external influence harder to resist. Judging types, by contrast, bring a firmer sense of direction and premeditation to their choices, giving them a built-in buffer against outside pressure.

The Desire to Get Better at Being Bad

ENTPs were the only personality type where a majority – 52% – said they’d like to get better at being bad. ESTPs (47%) and both ISTPs and INTPs (41%) followed. On the other side, just 22% of ISFJs and 23% of INFJs shared that desire. The Thinking trait was the dominant factor, with a spread of roughly 8 to 20 points between matched personality type pairs that differ only on Thinking vs. Feeling.

This final question captures something that runs through the entire survey. For many Thinking types, “bad” doesn’t carry the same moral weight that it does for Feeling types. Wanting to get better at being bad isn’t necessarily about wanting to cause harm – it may reflect a desire to be bolder, less bound by convention, or more comfortable testing limits. For Feeling types, the very idea of improving at something they associate with guilt and personal conflict holds little appeal. In this sense, the question reveals not just different behaviors but fundamentally different relationships with the concept of “bad” itself.

What Bad Behavior Reveals About Personality

Across the entire "Bad Behavior" survey, a consistent picture emerged of how personality shapes the experience of bad behavior. The Thinking vs. Feeling divide touched nearly everything – from enjoyment and guilt to moral identity and the desire to improve at being bad. Judging vs. Prospecting added a second layer, separating the self-aware and deliberate from the spontaneous and impulsive. And the split between Introverted and Extraverted types determined whether misbehavior stayed a private affair or became a group activity.

The most dramatic result may be the spread in pleasure-driven bad behavior. Among Thinking and Prospecting personality types, majorities said they often do something bad simply because it feels good. Among Feeling types – particularly those who also hold the Judging trait – that figure dropped to roughly one in five. A 39-point spread on a single question captures something fundamental about how different types relate to the very idea of “bad.” For some, it’s a label that barely sticks. For others, it’s inseparable from their sense of who they are.

And yet the survey’s most important finding may be its simplest one. Nearly every respondent – across every type and every Role – agreed that doing bad things is part of being human. The data doesn’t suggest that any personality type has a monopoly on virtue or vice. What it does show is that people process their missteps in very different ways: through guilt or through pleasure, through reflection or through action, through regret or through growth. Understanding those differences doesn’t excuse bad behavior, but it does offer a richer picture of what it means – and what it can teach us about ourselves.