The first step in integration: the auxiliary function

According to Joel Mark Witt and Antonia Dodge of Personality Hacker, one's auxiliary function is the key to personal growth. This fits in with the Jungian theory that individuation requires differentiating and integrating the four functions, beginning with the second function (assuming, of course, that you've developed the first). It seems that Jung's "first half of life" - the time where we work on success in the outer world; work, family, etc. - corresponds to the development of the first two functions. The second half of life - when one turns inward and works on spiritual growth - would correspond to working on the third and the impossible fourth function.

The first thing to work on will be the secondary, or auxiliary, function. In some ways it's easier for introverts to do this than it is for extroverts because that is the way that we extrovert. This is especially true since we live In a society that rewards extroversion and looks down on introversion. It is possible to go through life as an introvert and never really develop your second function but it's difficult and, quite honestly, sad. These are the people who find it nearly impossible to function in the world, staying alone in their room and never leaving, or never even leaving their childhood home (the proverbial anti-social person who lives in their parents' basement). Even if they do manage to live an independent life, they are painfully awkward whenever outside the safety of the known and familiar. But if introverts manage to go outside their safety zone, the part of themselves where they are strongest, they find that their world expands. For introverts to be happy and healthy, we need to go into our extroverted second function, no matter how awkward, or how scary, it may feel at first. Doing so is how we gain confidence in ourselves as paradoxical as it may seem.

Extroverts, on the other hand, may have a harder time of developing their secondary function in (large) part because it's introverted, and neither they nor the society around them value introversion. This is a negative feedback loop, as extroverts naturally tend not to value introversion, and additionally our society tells them that they're awesome as they are, and that introversion is for navel gazing loser hippies. Since extroverts are attuned to and tend to prioritize power and social status, this would probably just reinforce their aversion to going inside, to their "weak" side. For these reasons I would imagine that integrating their second function is more difficult for extroverts to do than introverts. Which isn't saying that integrating the second function isn't hard for introverts - it's damn hard! - but we have the benefit of being validated when we do, unlike extroverts.

And extroverts do suffer when they fail to develop their introverted function. The most obvious way is that not developing their second function leads to lowered effectiveness in achieving their goals. For example, an ENTJ who fails to develop their introverted intuition generally runs roughshod over all obstacles (up to and including other people). This not only makes their lives harder but, in doing so, they end up failing to inspire the people below them to put in their best work. Instead, they end up instigating passive or even overt resistance in the very people they rely upon to help them achieve their goal. This not actually efficient, the value that ENTJ's hold most dear; by prioritizing efficiency over everything else, even the wellbeing of subordinates and colleagues, the undeveloped ENTJ paradoxically undermines that very efficiency. Of course the same is true for one-sided introverts; whatever your goal is (i.e. accuracy for INTP's), you will always undermine or even destroy that goal if you fail to develop your auxiliary function.

The other negative result extroverts suffer when they don't develop their second function is that, whether they want to admit it or not, whether they even let themselves become aware of it or not, they too suffer when they don't live their softer side. Extroverts may like to think that they're super humans who are above all that mushy stuff but they are human, too, and full humanity always suffers when one side is cut off and shoved down into the shadow. It may be easier to see the suffering of one-sided introverts but the suffering of one-sided extroverts is no less real for being less visible. It may, in fact, be worse for being so unconscious. What is certain is that an extrovert who falls into neuroses is a pitiful sight, a kind of Greek tragedy, where their downfall is the result of their crippled personality. We're seeing that play performed on the national stage, as the deeply neurotic and damaged Donald Trump exposes his sickness for the entire world to see.


Link: Personality Hacker