Carl Jung & Psychological Types

Carl Jung
1875-1961

The Core Idea

The essence of Jung’s theory of psychological types is simple; when our minds are active and we are awake, we are alternating between taking in information and making decisions in our internal and external worlds. Jung identified eight different patterns for how we carry out these mental activities (now referred to as mental processes). He created these patterns through combining his opposite pairs of attitudes and functions. Jung described these eight different patterns in his book entitled Psychological Types through characterizations of people who habitually prefer one pattern over another – his “eight types.” Jung’s eight types are the roots of the well known 16 MBTI® types.

“Psychological type is a theory of personality developed by Swiss psychiatrist Carl G. Jung to explain the normal differences between healthy people. Based on his observations, Jung concluded that differences in behavior result from individuals’ inborn tendencies to use their minds in different ways. As people act on these tendencies, they develop predictable patterns of behavior. Jung’s psychological type theory defines eight different patterns, or types, and gives an explanation of how type develops.”Isabel Briggs Myers, Introduction to Type

The Attitudes and Functions

The Attitudes – Extraversion and Introversion

The first pair of opposites that Jung identified was the two opposite ways in which we adapt to, or orient ourselves to, the world.

These are Jung’s attitudes of Extraversion and Introversion:

• Extraversion – Our energy moves toward the outer world of people, places and things; the world outside of us
• Introversion – Our energy moves toward the inner world of thoughts and ideas; the world inside of us

Jung believed that our orientation to the world was a foundational aspect of our personality. Our preferred energy attitude is such an elemental part of one’s personality that the two ways of being become obvious, even to the layman, when pointed out. We alternate between these two energy attitudes every day, back and forth, as needs arise and our environment dictates. Yet, Jung believed that we are at home, or feel most comfortable, in one of these worlds over the other.

The Functions – Perceiving and Judging

“The four functions are somewhat like the four points of the compass; they are just as arbitrary and just as indispensable. Nothing prevents our shifting the cardinal points as many degrees as we like in one direction or the other, or giving them different names…but the one thing I must confess: I would not for anything dispense with this compass on my psychological voyages of discovery.”C.G. Jung, Psychological Types

Jung observed that one’s preference for Extraversion or Introversion could not alone account for the many behavioral differences he observed between people.

For this reason, he identified two opposite mental functions that we use to take in information or Perceive – the Perceiving functions of Sensing and Intuition:

• Sensing Perception – The process of collecting concrete data through using our five senses
• INtuitive Perception (INtuition) – The process by which we make connections and infer meanings beyond sensory data

Jung also coined two opposite mental functions that we use to evaluate information or make decisions; ways to Judge, or the Judging functions of Thinking and Feeling:

• Thinking Judgment – The process we use for evaluating information by applying objective and logical criteria
• Feeling Judgment – The process we use for evaluating information by considering what is important to me and you

As is the case with the energy attitudes, Jung determined that we have an innate pre-disposition to habitually use – or prefer – one of the four functions over the others. We either prefer, or have energy to devote to, using one of our Perceving functions of Sensing or Intuition over our Judging functions; or we have more energy and are more comfortable using one of our Judging functions of Thinking or Feeling over our Perceiving functions.

The Eight Mental Processes

Jung observed that the attitudes of Extraversion and Introversion were always used in conjunction with either a Perceiving function or a Judging function.

The four functions (Sensing, Intuition, Thinking, and Feeling) with the two attitudes (Extraversion and Introversion) combine to create the eight Jungian mental processes (also known as function-attitudes), which Jung called his “eight types.” These eight mental processes form the core of Jung’s theory of psychological types; these are the processes that we call upon to navigate in and adapt to the world.

“Strictly speaking, there are no Introverts and Extraverts pure and simple, but only Introverted and Extraverted function-types.”C.G. Jung, Psychological Types

We can understand which mental processes we use the most by understanding Type Dynamics and your type code hierarchy.

Each Perceiving and Judging function has a qualitatively different “flavor” when used in the outer and inner worlds:

In Jungian terms, we define our type by our dominant function, which is our most preferred mental process. For example, if we like to use Extraverted Sensing more than any of the other seven mental processes, Extraverted Sensing is our dominant function and we are an Extraverted Sensing Type.

“Jung noted that it is not possible to use the attitudes of Extraversion and Introversion and the Judging and Perceiving functions independently of each other. People who prefer Extraversion will most like to focus their Perception and Judgment in the outer world while people preferring the Introverted attitude, when circumstances permit, will concentrate Perception and Judgment on ideas.”Isabel Briggs Myers, Gifts Differing

Jung stated that we can experience energy depletion and fatigue when we use our other mental functions for too long. Jung went so far as to say that it could be psychologically detrimental to our well being when our environment does not support us in the use of our dominant function; he called this “falsification of type.”

The Theory in Practice

It takes some reading and practice to understand the eight mental processes and the manner in which they operate within your type code. However, with even a moderate degree of understanding of the mental processes, you will be able to identify when you are using each of them. The more you read and practice, the more familiar you will become with the core of Jung’s psychological type theory and the mental processes. It is through our understanding of Jung’s core theory that we find the real richness and depth of type.

An Example of Using the Mental Processes

Here is an example of how you might use all of the mental processes at the grocery store for a dinner party you are planning (refer to the definitions of the 8 mental functions as you read this example):

Exercises for Accessing the Mental Processes:

You might want to figure out how to access the mental processes to see how you are using them; this is a set of exercises that type practitioners have developed to help people understand how comfortable they are with the various mental functions. For these exercises, you need to pick an object which could be anything: a pen, an apple, an orange, a piece of candy, etc.