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Psychological Types (Collected Works of C.G. Jung, Volume 6)

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If you're familiar with the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and want to know more about it then _Psychological Types_ is one title you'd certainly want to read. It is the definitive work on which the MBTI is based. In this volume Jung explains in detail what the nature of the two attitudes--introversion and extraversion--really are, as well as that of the four functions--intuition, sensation, thinking, and feeling. He also discusses various combinations of these attitudes and functions, such as Introverted-Thinking, Introverted-Feeling, Extraverted-Sensation, etc.

It is Jung who gave us the terms introversion and extraversion. But our colloquial understanding of these terms are not exactly what Jung had in mind. For instance introversion he says means "an inward-turning of libido [psychic energy]." Moreover, the introverted person is one who orients himself predominantly by subjective views in contrast to the extraverted who orients himself by objective (external) conditions. Therefore, extraversion and introversion have to do with which realm--outer or inner--the person is drawn to and invests his energies in. So much for our simplistic notions of what these now household words mean!

Personally, I have not read the first half of the book. When I got my copy I went straight to Chapter 10 "General Description of the Types" since that's where the meat of Jungian typology can be found. And let's not forget the four essays in the appendix. They too offer additional insights into typology.

As a bonus there is an entire chapter (some 80 pages) entitled "Definitions" which is actually an in-depth glossary of some of the more important terms and ideas that Jung uses throughout the Collected Works.

If you'd like to learn about (Jungian) personality typology then I suggest you get this relatively inexpensive paperback edition. I've read many works on Jungian typology but nothing beats getting it straight from the horse's mouth.

A deep look at the mechanisms of the "psychic functions". Surely instructive for layman with its analysis of human behaviour in everyday life. This work best explores the Jung's concept of the unconscious and proves that his concept is far from being a mystical one as some critics wrote. It also gives a historical perspective of the thoughts of some great thinkers (Schiller, William James and some others )on the problem of psychological types.

This is the forerunner of many contemporary works on psychological types. The mother-daughter team of Briggs & Myers devised the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) on it--devising the 4th (Judgmental-Perceptive) scale based on preferences (i.e. superior function vs. secondary function) between the iNtuitive-Sensate scale & the Thinker-Feeler scale. Jung does not address the J-P scale (it didn't exist yet). The book is written in Jung's usual rambling, erudite style with his usual quantity of incredible interspersed observations & conclusions. Some modern works are far easier to read, but many (e.g. Keirsey's "Please Understand Me") leave much out. Indeed, his assessment tool is quicker but less accurate IMHO (I used to score MBTI results for a professor doing research on MBTI's in other countries). I also took a couple of short courses (paid for by the U.S. Navy) related to the MBTI--& lots of management courses which referred to it or utilized it. It is extremely useful in improving interpersonal communications & understanding amongst co-workers, supervisors, etc. I used it with my own subordinates & found it quite valuable--people shared their results readily. Of course, there's a bit of confusion between Extrovert & Introvert--surface/laymen views can be misleading. The key is where one gets/loses one's psychic energy. Introverts get it from being alone & tend to lose it in groups; Extroverts, vice versa. But, this has nothing to do with whether one enjoys people, books, parties, etc. So, to understand the types, one must read the book. As Jung states, p. 526 "The psyche is the very thing we know least about, although it seems to be what we know best of all, & furthermore that everyone else probably understands it better than we do ourselves." Further, self-knowledge is a continuing challenge because p. 52: "The psyche creates reality every day." Also, psychological type relates not only to self, but also to society: p. 448: "Only a society that can preserve its internal cohesion and collective values, while at the same time granting the individual the greatest possible freedom, has any prospect of enduring vitality" & p. 449: "The more a man's life is shaped by the collective norm, the greater is his individual immorality." However, it is important to understand that Jung is NOT saying people ARE this type or that (implying the types are real) but that the types are a useful model for understanding human differences-- p. 493 "Reality neither consists of theories nor follows them." The sixteen types are a reasonable model for differences in accordance with Jung's scientific approach. As he states here & elsewhere--on p. 41 & on p. 494ff: "The scientific axiom known as Occam's Razor--`explanatory principles should not be multiplied beyond the necessary.'" Necessary & sufficient are required. This work is at least as relevant today as when it was written.

This is a collection of Jung's comments on other typologies regarding introversion and extraversion, which Jung calls the attitude type and considers the most important part of personality. Anyone looking for an in depth description of introversion and extraversion, and how it was treated by other typologists, needs to read this book. At the end, there is a chapter on the conscious functions (Sensation, iNtuition, Thinking, Feeling) which explains his position on how they are used with the dominant attitude type, that is, one explanation for extraverted functions and another for introverted functions. In other words, how the four functions compliment the attitude type.

Introversion and Extraversion is commonly misunderstood as being shy or not, a falsity expressed by Keirsey in Please Understand Me II: Temperament, Character, Intelligence and (IIUC) popular via the Freudian approach. As Freud was an extravert, he considered introversion a shyness, which is a common misunderstanding by extraverts, much as introverts consider extraverts to be shallow. This book sets the record straight. Another book that explains this aspect properly is the misnamed The Introvert Advantage: How to Thrive in an Extrovert World.

Although this book also explains Jung's explanation of the conscious functions, it is a small part, and leaves out the life-cycle which is explained in Jacobi's The Psychology of C. G. Jung. A much better explanation of the functions themselves can be found in van der Hoops's Conscious orientation;: A study of personality types in relation to neurosis and psychosis, (International library of psychology, philosophy, and scientific method), although he disagrees with Jung on the S function, but he explains both his (instinct) and Jung's (Sensation), and he explains intuition differently than Jung himself, that is, whereas Jung says intuition is a form without the filler (elsewhere he says it is mostly unconscious and coming in a flash, much like Kiersey's mistaken explanation), van der Hoop explains it as being tied to the ego and coming only when the picture is complete.

Nonetheless, this is Jung's place of explanation, but a reader reading this book just for the four concious functions might be disappointed at the relative lack of material.

I was very surprised to read this book and find Jung's description so different from the MBTI descriptions. I'm far from an expert, but maybe it is a question of style of writing rather than content. Since this is the orginal work that MBTI is based on, it is naturally not the place to find an answer to that question. I would recommend this book to anyone who want to understand the origin of the MBTI. I don't think it is necessary to read this book though. Remember that this book was written at a time before the use of tables, matrixes, and figures. The ideas are complex and described in a verbose manner. It is not easy to understand the details. It is not difficult language just hard to discern which sections are significant and not. It would have been great with a modern reading guide and explanation of how Jungian psychologists use the theory today, but that is another book. If you have such a recommendation, I would be grateful with a comment to this review.

This is the work where Jung introduces the terms extrovert and introvert, and subdivides them into 8 "types" or states of mind.
It is a core text, although later the ideas presented here have been heavily modified to fit with today's standards. Jung's model is the basis for today's personality tests Including the Myers Briggs indicator and so on. For people interested in Jung's Analytical Psychology, there is no avoiding this book.

This Magnum Opus of Jung,totally encapsulates his main goal as to an outline of a "healthy" working personality theory with the key to understanding the intricate balance between what in our common definitions is called the man of action and the man of ideas.
Needless to say since we are all a combination of the 2,it is heart warming to see the precision and intimacy of Jung's care in explicating a sort of systematic approach while the author remains humble enough to allow for fallibility's as to the perennial question mark of uncertainty.
200 pages can take one months to savor,but for those philosophically and academically inclined the journey is worth it as Jung takes on a historical survey through biblical criticism,Greek mythology,German poetry,Idealism as well as a treasure house of distinctions and comparisons between states of being such as naivete(the extrovert) and sentimentalitty(the introvert),intoxication(extrovert) and dreaming(introvert) to convey his ideas in merging Freud and Adler into a system that became totally Jungian leaving it's footprints as a giant but not only in common day jargon between the introvert and extrovert but balancing an individuals life between conscious and unconscious reality. The emphasis on Freud the extrovert(predominance of the sexual instinct and melting/loving the world)as distinct from Adler's introversion(power and subjective positioning of mastery of one's self and world)) were philosophical insights that alone were too one sided for Jung,hence a possible union was developed by confusing love for power (or vice a versa) which leads to fragmentation whereby the individual's libido becomes lost by slipping into either the unconscious or the conscious reality without a proper regulating principle.
The beauty of this scholarly work(for that matter the majority of his works are scholarly and difficult)is the outline he left humanity and modern times as to understanding man and his manifold contradictions,the constant oscillation between living in the world of sensation(extroversion) and one's own ideas and theoretical construct of the world(introversion).The balancing act in finding A "3rd way" for our energy(soul) is a regulating principle to understanding mental health despite the predominance of one tendency or the other in our general make up.
Indeed one can argue incessantly between living in a world of black or white or grey but one's perception is obviously colored by the past millions of years within one's genetic makeup fusing with the world of sense perception with a keen view to eternity.
The issue it seems to me and Jung is not epistemological truth or salvation but a working theory on what makes people tick and how the world accompanies diversity of spirit and temperament.

To classify people in normal types this book of Jung is excellent. The normal person isn't only an extravert at all, but can be in introvert too. The person who is or became himself is both. He/she is conscious of intellect, feelings, intuitions and senses. For self-knowledge or knowledge of others this is a practical book for coaching, therapy, teachers, HRM, even methodology and so on. It's also a bridge between the West and East, because the Western extravert is seen as only good, but in the East the introvert is seen as only good, but a real individual transcends East and West, being introvert and extrovert at will.

The theories in this book are the basis for most personality typology theories, including MBTI. I find MBTI has a "horoscope" feel at times but this is not sugar-coated descriptions of types, but rather a meaty analysis of cognitive functions (what those letters in MBTI actually mean). It's incredibly enlightening and a must read for for anyone interested in MBTI & Typology.

I've skimmed other versions, and this edition has the clearest wording I've seen yet. Very good translation.

As Jung generally follows the method of presenting historical evidence of an idea and then correlating this to a new theory while letting the reader do most of the actual correlating, this book is no different. But, unlike other works of his, I do not believe the correlations he uses to be as powerful or all that helpful. With other works, such as Symbols of Transformation, the relationship between the older method and the theory of the unconscious that he is explaining is rather evident, so the reader has a smoking gun to work with. Also in Symbols of Transformation, Jung begins the piece with his own work so the reader is given some interpretative tools to aid them in this process of correlation. However, in Psychological Types, I get the distinct impression that Jung is simply enumerating other older theories of personology without actually using them to support his theory. He seems to be only noting that the field of personology exists so that he can introduce his own theory. After much historical material is presented, ranging from Greek thought, Schiller, poetry to William James, Jung introduces his landmark theory of personality.

Jung begins his theory of personality by first introduction the categories of introversion and extroversion. These categories represent the direction in which the individual primarily invests his/her libidinal energy, called "attitude types." If the energy is invested in the individual itself and withdrawn from the external world so that the world loses the power to influence him'/her, they are considered introverted. If the energy is invested into the outward world, they are considered extroverted. In the first case, the individual attempts to gain a monopoly on their libido while in the former, the individual gains power through the multiplicity of their libidinal investments. Jung writes that the weakness of the introvert is that such an emphasis on being an individual can lead to a perverse attachment to the ego in such a way that denies its reliance upon others, and in its worse state the introvert can laps into solipsism. In the case of the extrovert, their weakness is the risk diversifying their energy too much and even the risk of losing themselves in the objects around them. Jung also warns that fundamental impulses of individuality such as thoughts, feelings, needs and wishes can pass by unacknowledged, paving the way for neuroses.

Next, Jung breaks down the individual further into four primary functions; thinking, feeling, sensing and intuition. Thinking and Feeling Jung classifies as "rational" functions. I think of this in the Greek sense of the term "ratio" which is rational's root, along with the root of ratio. In a ratio, one proportion is found to be equal to another. This is easy to see using thinking, which takes a set of ideas and tests them against any given situation, but the feeling function seems less intuitive. In this case, the individual is still making judgments and value claims, but doing so through emotions. For example, an individual can correlate their feelings and a memory. If they see the same correlation existing in a future outcome, they can "rationally" use this comparison to reproduce a desirable emotional state.

Sensing and Intuition then are irrational functions as they are spontaneous and immediate. Sensing, for the most part, looks to the particulars of the outside world for information. By sensing what is going on in a situation, the individual can spontaneously see what is happening and then act on it. Intuition then relies upon personal, subjective information to make decisions. This very much correlates to Jung's idea of fantasy-thinking or imagination. Through this process, information spontaneously bubbles up from the unconscious, requiring no deliberation or processing.

I will leave these definition in this terse form because Jung does not classify each function alone, but in the context of introversion and extroversion. For example, Jung writes about introverted thinking and extroverted thinking as being fundamentally different types of thinking. Briefly put, the extroverted thinker tends to idealize objective reality, making themselves subject to objective laws that all must acknowledge. The introverted thinker, on the other hand, relies upon their understanding of the situation. Their theory is most definitely their theory although they claim it to have universal applicability in the same sense as the extrovert. The same follows to various degrees with feeling, sensing and intuition.

Jung breaks down his typology into multiplying his two attitude types by the four function types to get eight categories of personalities. This notably differs from the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator which includes a perceiving and judging orientation, bringing the personality types up to sixteen. Their addition to Jung's system was to assume that a person has both a rational and irrational function and whichever they favored dictated the emphasis on judging (rational) or perceiving (irrational).

In short, the General Description of the Types beautifully explains how Jung saw libidinal investment to be the cause a person's psychological orientation to the rest of the world. I think Jung did a brilliant job at personally explaining this original work in such a way that left little up to the imagination of the reader, which is a nice change of pace.