Carl Jung’s Psychological Types: A Look at the Framework

Today, there are many variations on the 16 personalities theory (the most prominent being Myers-Briggs), but all of these theories are based on one original work, by Carl Jung. Carl Jung observed, what we refer to as, “personality types” among the population, but that’s not what he called them. Instead, he referred to these types as “Psychological Types.” Since all of the 16 personality type theories are based on Carl Jung’s Psychological Types, it’s relevant to understand the framework, or the structure, that he laid out.

What does a Psychological Type define?

The word “personality” is actually a misnomer, which creates confusion as to what the types are meant to define. It’s too broad of a word. Carl Jung’s “Psychological Types” were never intended to cover the whole of personality. Rather, Carl Jung theorized the existence of something called “psychological functions”, which are what make up these types. Today, these psychological functions are commonly referred to as “cognitive functions.” Each cognitive function, as laid out by Jung, defines a specific style of cognition. In other words, the psychological types, and the resulting 16 personality types, actually define a way of thinking or a mentality, not a personality.

The Framework of the Psychological Types

In this article, using quotes from Jung’s book, I want to discuss how Jung structured the individual psychological types, from a cognitive function standpoint. I intend to cover the basic, foundational concepts necessary to understand how Jung arranged these psychological types. This article will not be defining Introversion vs. Extraversion, or the individual cognitive functions, since it’s not specifically relevant to understanding the framework.

1. The Eight Cognitive Functions

The first key piece of information to understand is that Jung identified two different attitudes (introversion and extraversion), and four different psychological functions (thinking, feeling, sensation and intuition). From the varying combinations of these, we derive the eight cognitive functions: Introverted Thinking (Ti), Extraverted Thinking (Te), Introverted Feeling (Fi), Extraverted Feeling (Fe), Introverted Sensing (Si), Extraverted Sensing (Se), Introverted Intuition (Ni), and Extraverted Intuition (Ne).

2. The Dominant Function

Your personality type is first and foremost determined by which cognitive function habitually takes priority over the others. This function is referred to as the dominant function, or the primary function. For the record, Jung’s descriptions of the individual functions describe pure types, or those who are purely driven by that one cognitive function, with no other influences. He clearly states (at least two different times) that he did this on purpose for the sake of clarity, and that they should never show up in such pure form in real life.

3. Cognitive Function Differentiation

In order to be usable, a cognitive function must be differentiated from the others. It must be individually developed so that its differences are distinguishable, and it’s able to operate on its own. The dominant function should be the most differentiated function in your cognitive function stack.

A differentiated function is the vehicle by which you’re able to reach a goal. You cannot direct a cognitive function that is not differentiated. In other words, you cannot control it to any practical degree.

Essentially, everyone has a cognitive function that they are best equipped to use by default, theoretically from birth. Society will compel each individual to focus primarily on that function in order to be successful, resulting in them “differentiating” that function from the rest. Differentiation is ultimately what produces the individual psychological types, or personality types, as people usually call them.

4. Inferior Functions

Myers-Briggs theory and other 16 types variants typically refer to the inferior function as the 4th function in your cognitive function stack, the one that is the opposite of the dominant. This is not incorrect. However, Carl Jung uses the term inferior function to describe any function that lags behind in differentiation, meaning there can be more than one. While there will be a function that is the most inferior, there can be other functions that are inferior relative to more differentiated functions.

As mentioned earlier, society will compel you to focus on one, resulting in a one-sided development. Therefore, it’s impossible to develop all functions at once. The result of this one-sided development will be functions that are, as he puts it, “retarded”.

With every differentiated function, there will be an opposing function that is especially neglected, and thus, inferior. According to Jung, two opposing functions cannot be developed and used simultaneously. Think about it like a sliding scale, with a dichotomy on each end. The more you develop and use, for instance, your thinking function, the less in focus your feeling function will be. Ergo, the people that claim that their inferior function is almost on par with their dominant are mistaken. Either they don’t understand what their specific inferior function should look like when used well, or they are mistyped. The more dominant your dominant function is, the more inferior it’s opposing function will be. The one precludes the other. To develop thinking, you have to relinquish feeling.

For the record, I don’t want to make it seem like development is impossible. However, when someone has truly developed, it will be remarkably difficult to identify a dominant function, because their development is no longer one-sided. The dominant will be less dominant. These individuals will have a balanced and moderate approach to life, with no clear imbalances or extremes. Usually, individuals like this are older adults, who’ve matured through a wealth of life experiences. The average person claiming to have a well-developed inferior function typically does not fit this description.

5. The Auxiliary Function

Carl Jung recognized the presence of a secondary function that had a notable impact on the dominant (“the most differentiated function”). Of course, this secondary function is less differentiated than the dominant, else it wouldn’t be merely secondary.

A person can only have one primary drive or aim. Ergo, there cannot be a second function of equal power. Therefore, the auxiliary function acts as a complement to the dominant, to aid in it’s focus or goal.

The auxiliary function is developed instinctively, as an attempt to balance the one-sided emphasis of the dominant function. This further supports the idea that the auxiliary function is supposed to complement the dominant.

The auxiliary function cannot be in direct opposition to the dominant. Meaning, it can’t be a dichotomy opposite, given the example that Jung gives. A dominant thinker can’t be “complemented” by an auxiliary feeling function, just like a dominant sensor can’t be complemented by a auxiliary intuition function. He elaborates on this further in the book, explaining, for instance, that intuition or sensing could pair equally well with thinking, but that feeling could not because it is a judging function, like thinking.

There is a prominent theory out there that claims that the secondary function has to be the same orientation as the dominant. In other words, an extraverted dominant’s auxiliary function must be extraverted as well. So, while a Grant Model ISTP (the common theory today) would be Ti-Se-Ni-Fe, according to that other theory, an ISTP would be Ti-Ni-Se-Fe. I personally think that considering the above quote, it makes more sense that the auxiliary would be of a different orientation, given that the auxiliary is different in “every respect.” (That implies more than one difference: (1) dichotomy and (2) orientation/attitude.) For the record, while Jung often uses the word “attitude” in reference to introversion and extraversion (ie: introverted or extraverted attitude), he also references the “nature of the extravert” and the “nature of the introvert.”

Jung also emphasizes in many different places that no one is a pure introvert or extravert, so it doesn’t seem contradictory to allow for the development (or differentiation) of an extraverted function alongside an introverted one. He even says that the existence of secondary types (ie: the auxiliary function) can make it so extremely difficult to identify someone’s type, to the extent that it might cause people to doubt the existence of these psychological types altogether.

Lastly, this quote is rather wordy, but it is basically explaining how people can tap into their inferior function (ie: the most repressed function). Prior to this quote, Jung explains that if an analyst attempts to develop a thinker’s feeling function directly out of the unconscious, the attempt will be “foredoomed to failure, because it involves too great a violation of the conscious standpoint.” However, development can proceed by way of the auxiliary. The stronger the auxiliary, the more someone will be able to protect themselves from the negative effects of their inferior function. I would also posit that having an auxiliary function that is of the same orientation as the inferior, rather than the dominant function, would not only help balance the dominant but make it easier to tap into the inferior… because they’re the same orientation.

In Conclusion

I believe that covers the basics, although it was somewhat challenging to keep it so brief given the wealth of information in Jung’s book. For those who wish to look up some of these quotes for themselves, you’ll noticed that I listed page numbers next to each quote, and linked below to the exact book that I used.

I welcome your thoughts in the comments!

Reference Book:

Psychological Types (The Collected Works of C. G. Jung, Vol. 6) (Bollingen Series XX)