Chapter 3: Jung – Analytical Psychology

Part 3: Jung’s Personality Types

One of Jung’s most practical theories, and one that has been quite influential, is his work on personality types.  Jung had conducted an extensive review of the available literature on personality types, including perspectives from ancient Brahmanic conceptions taken from the Indian Vedas and types described by the American psychologist William James.  In keeping with one of Jung’s favorite themes, James had emphasized opposing pairs as the characteristics of his personality types, such as rationalism vs. empiricism, idealism vs. materialism, or optimism vs. pessimism (see Jung, 1971). Based on his research and clinical experience, Jung proposed a system of personality types based on attitude-types and function-types (more commonly referred to simply as attitudes and functions).  Once again, the attitudes and functions are based on opposing ways of interacting with one’s environment.

The two attitude-types are based on one’s orientation to external objects (which includes other people).  The introvert is intent on withdrawing libido from objects, as if to ensure that the object can have no power over the person.  In contrast, the extravert extends libido toward an object, establishing an active relationship.  Jung considered introverts and extraverts to be common amongst all groups of people, from all walks of life.  Today, most psychologists acknowledge that there is a clear genetic component to these temperaments (Kagan, 1984, 1994; Kagan, Kearsley, & Zelazo 1978), a suggestion proposed by Jung as well (Jung, 1971).  Of course, one cannot have an orientation to objects without consciousness, and consciousness cannot exist without an ego.  For Jung, the ego is a complex, so it is associated with both the conscious psyche and the personal unconscious.  According to Jung, “it is always in the center of our attention and of our desires, and it is the absolutely indispensable centre of consciousness” (Jung, 1968).

Jung’s four functions describe ways in which we orient ourselves to the external environment, given our basic tendency toward introversion or extraversion.  The first opposing pair of functions is thinking vs. feeling.  Thinking involves intellect, it tells you what a thing is, whereas feeling is values-based, it tells what a thing is worth to you.  For example, if you are trying to choose classes for your next semester of college, perhaps you need to choose between a required general education course as opposed to a personally interesting course like Medical First Responder or Interior Design.  If you are guided first by thinking, you will probably choose the course that fulfills a requirement, but if you are guided by feeling, you may choose the course that satisfies your more immediate interests.  The second opposing pair of functions is sensing vs. intuition.  Sensing describes paying attention to the reality of your external environment, it tells you that something is.  In contrast, intuition incorporates a sense of time, and allows for hunches.  Intuition may seem mysterious, and Jung freely acknowledges that he is particularly mystical, yet he offers an interesting perspective on this issue:

The two attitudes and the four functions combine to form eight personality types.  Jung described a so-called cross of the functions, with the ego in the center being influenced by the pairs of functions (Jung, 1968).  Considering whether the ego’s attitude is primarily introverted or extraverted, one could also propose a parallel pair of crosses. Jung’s theory on personality types has proven quite influential, and led to the development of two well-known and very popular instruments used to measure one’s personality type, so that one might then make reasoned decisions about real-life choices.

In 1923, Katharine Briggs and her daughter Isabel Briggs Myers learned of Jung’s personality types and became quite interested in his theory.  After spending 20 years observing individuals of different types, they added one more pair of factors based on a person’s preference for either a more structured lifestyle, called judging, or a more flexible or adaptable lifestyle, called perceiving.  There were now, according to Briggs and Myers, sixteen possible personality types.  In the 1940s, Isabel Myers began developing the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) in order to help people learn about their personality type.  To provide just one example of an MBTI profile, an individual who is extraverted and prefers sensing, thinking, and judging (identified by the initials ESTJ) would be described as:  “Practical, realistic, matter-of-fact. Decisive, quickly move to implement decisions. Organize projects and people to get things done…Forceful in implementing their plans” (Myers, 1993; Myers & McCaulley).  While it is relatively easy to find shortcut tests or variations of the MBTI online, if one plans to make any meaningful decisions based on their personality type, they should consult a trained MBTI administrator.  What sort of decision might one make? The MBTI has become a popular tool for looking at career choices and workplace relationships. A number of popular books, such as Do What You Are (Tieger & Barron-Tieger, 2001) and Type Talk at Work (Kroeger, Thuesen, & Rutledge, 2002), are available that provide information intended to help people choose satisfying careers and be successful in complex work environments.  In addition to its use in career counseling, the MBTI has been used in individual counseling, marriage counseling, and in educational settings (Myers, 1993; Myers & McCaulley, 1985; Myers & Myers, 1980).

Another popular instrument, based once again on Jung’s theory and compared directly to the MBTI, is the Keirsey Temperament Sorter.  David Keirsey uses plain language in an effort to make personality types easy to comprehend.  Setting aside introversion vs. extraversion, he has identified eight character portraits: mentors, organizers, monitors, operators, advocates, engineers, conservators, and players.  When Keirsey adds extraversion and introversion back into the mixture, he can identify one’s personality type even more clearly: monitors become either supervisors (E) or inspectors (I), players become performers (E) or composers (I), engineers become inventors (E) or designers (I), etc.  As with the MBTI, Keirsey provides concrete recommendations regarding how one might use the results of his temperament sorter to make decisions about one’s choices in life (Keirsey, 1987).

Table 4.2: Jung’s Eight Personality Types*