cathugger | Jung's Function-Attitudes Explained Notes, part 1 (Reply)

Jung's Function-Attitudes Explained by Henry L. Thompson Ph.D.

I decided that I'm going to put some of my notes for this book here. I'll use specific tags to separate it from other posts.

Jung's personality typing system works off of opposites. There are both attitudes and functions, attitudes being introversion and extroversion, and functions being Sensing, iNtuiting, Feeling, and Thinking. Introversion (brings data to inner world) and extroversion (brings inner world to outer world?) are opposites. Out of the functions, Sensing and iNtuiting are opposites when it comes to perceiving, and Feeling and Thinking are opposites when it comes to judging.

Overall, attitude and function are combined
Attitudes: Introversion and extroversion
Functions: Sensing iNtuiting, Feeling, and Thinking
Example of combination: Introverted Feeling type

Each function has a different amount of habitual use, differentiating it from/over the other functions for that person. This determines a person's main type. For example if your Thinking function is the most habitually used, you are a Thinking type. Jung advanced his system by recognizing a secondary type/"second most differentiated function." Together, these functions create a functional pair. Functional pairs are always a combination of an introverted and extroverted function, and Jung says that they're always a perceiving/judging pair. Sensing/iNtuiting and Thinking/Feeling can't combine into functional pairs because they're opposites.

Once the dominant/primary function is decided, so is the inferior function. The inferior function is the opposite of the primary function, and the two functions can't be used at the same time. Unlike the primary function, the inferior function is underdeveloped. When someone heavily relies on their inferior function, they have temporarily entered what is known as a "grip." Other than the three functions mentioned, there is also the tertiary function, which is the opposite of the secondary function and cannot be used at the same time.

With this system, Jung technically described eight different types, though it seems like he mentioned more than eight types in his works. Myers and Briggs expanded them to sixteen types.

Gifts Differing is an important book by Isabel Briggs Myers about that version of typology.

I think I already knew most of this, but it's a good refresher.