Two Birds in a Tree: Glossary: Psychological Functions

Sunday, May 7, 2017

Glossary: Psychological Functions

Jung’s theory of psychological functions, which is also referred to as the “4 functions,” is a personality typology that divides people into 4 broad categories of two pairs: intuition & sensation (the perceiving, or irrational, functions) and thinking & feeling (the evaluating, or rational, functions). Intuition takes in information through unconscious perception; sensation through conscious perception; thinking evaluates that information with the mind, and feeling with the heart. Typologies such as Socionics, the MBTI, and the Keirsey Temperament Sorter are based on Jung’s theory of the four functions.

Rather than saying that there are 4 “types” of people it’s more accurate to say that there are four human psychological functions; all of us have the ability to think, feel, sense, and intuit, and we should ideally be able to access all four functions as needed. However, for various reasons which include inborn as well as learned proficiencies, we generally favor one or two functions. Because of this I generally refer to the different functions as "types" in order to keep things simple.

Jung’s personality typology is one of his easiest concepts to grasp, as well as one of the most powerful. Understanding the 8 different “types” (the 4 functions along with the two attitudes of introversion/extroversion) can go far in helping us understand why we all do the sometimes crazy things we do. In fact, Jung was largely motivated in developing his theory because he wanted to know why the theories of Sigmund Freud and Alfred Adler, as well as his own theory, were so different and apparently irreconcilable. (“In attempting to answer this question, I came across the problem of types; for it is one's psychological type which from the outset determines and limits a person's judgment.”(1)). He came to the conclusion that Freud was an extrovert, and Adler (and Jung himself) were introverts; this fundamental, but unrecognized, difference in orientation is why the theories are so opposed to each other. It’s simply a matter of different types.

Sensation establishes what is actually present, thinking enables us to recognize its meaning, feeling tells us its value, and intuition points to possibilities as to whence it came and whither it is going in a given situation.

“A Psychological Theory of Types,” CW 6, par. 958

Generally speaking, a judging observer [thinking or feeling type] will tend to seize on the conscious character, while a perceptive observer [sensation type or intuitive] will be more influenced by the unconscious character, since judgment is chiefly concerned with the conscious motivation of the psychic process, while perception registers the process itself.

“General Description of the Types,” par. 576

As a rule, whenever... falsification of type takes place… the individual becomes neurotic later, and can be cured only by developing the attitude consonant with his nature.

“General Description of the Types,” par. 560

[A] feeling-attitude that seeks to fulfil the demands of reality by means of empathy may easily encounter a situation that can only be solved through thinking. In this case the feeling-attitude breaks down and the progression of libido also ceases. The vital feeling that was present before disappears, and in its place the psychic value of certain conscious contents increases in an unpleasant way; subjective contents and reactions press to the fore and the situation becomes full of affect and ripe for explosions.

- “On Psychic Energy,” CW 8, par. 61

The more [a man] identifies with one function, the more he invests it with libido, and the more he withdraws libido from the other functions. They can tolerate being deprived of libido for even quite long periods, but in the end they will react. Being drained of libido, they gradually sink below the threshold of consciousness, lose their associative connection with it, and finally lapse into the unconscious. This is a regressive development, a reversion to the infantile and finally to the archaic level… [which] brings about a dissociation of the personality.