Carl Jung, Personality theories, and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

By:
Christine Kasprzak
Approaches to Personality
Fall 2002
Carl Jung made it his lifes work to explore the inner space previously known as the
unconscious conscious. A younger colleague of Sigmund Freuds with a background in
his theory as well as inexhaustible knowledge of mythology, religion, and philosophy he
made it his habit to make sense of the unconscious. Also equipped with a knowledge in
the symbolism of complex mystical traditions such as Gnosticism, Alchemy, Kabala, and
similar traditions in Hinduism and Buddism, if anyone could sense of the unconscious
often revealing itself only in symbolic form Jung could. After graduating and settling on
psychiatry as a career Jung took a position at the Burghoeltzli Mental Hospital under
Eugene Bleuler, an expert on (and the namer of) schizophrenia. It was only a few years
after that that Jung met Freud. It had been said that the day that they met Freud cancelled
all of his appointments for the day and they talked for 13 hours straight. Freud later came
to see Jung as the crown prince of psychoanalysis and his heir apparent. Jung was
never completely sold on Freuds theories, however, and their relationship began to end
when during a trip to America they were analyzing each others dreams and Freud
seemed to show a lot of resistance to Jungs efforts at analysis. Freud finally told Jung
that they would have to stop because he was afraid that he would lose his authority. From
there, Carl Jung developed on of the most interesting theories of personality the world
has ever seen.
In Carl Jungs personality theory, he divides the psyche into three parts.
-The first part is the ego, defined as the conscious mind.
-Second, is the personal unconscious, which he says includes anything that is not
presently conscious but can be. It is said to include both memories that are easily brought
to mind and those that have been suppressed for some reason.
-Finally, Jung adds the part of the psyche that make is theory different from all others, the
collective unconscious. Jung says that this is the reservoir of our experiences as a
species, a kind of knowledge that we are all born with. It influences all of our behaviors
and experiences, especially the emotional ones, but we are never directly conscious of it,
it is only revealed by looking at those influences.
The contents of the collective unconscious are known as archetypes. An
archetype is defined as an unlearned tendency to experience things in a certain way. It
has no form of its own, but acts as an organizing principle on the things that we see or
do. It works very similar to the way instincts work in Freuds theory. One example of an
archetype is the mother. All of our ancestors had mothers, and we have evolved in an
environment that included a mother or mother-substitute. As helpless infants we never
would have survived without our connection to a nurturing one. Therefore, Jung says
that we are built in a way that reflects our evolutionary environment, so we come into this
world looking for a mother. Another example of an archetype is the persona. This is a

defined as your public image. It is said to be the mask that you put on before you show
yourself to the outside world. Although the persona begins as an archetype, it is the part
of us that finds itself most distant from the collective unconscious.
Included in our persona is the role of male or female that we must play, which is
determined for most by their physical gender. Jung, however, like Freud, and Adler, and
others, believed that we are all really bisexual in nature. Beginning at birth we are under
the influence of society that mold us into males and females. Jung therefore believed that
all men have a female aspect present in their collective unconscious, which is referred to
as the anima, and that all females have a male aspect present in their collective
unconscious, known as the animus. They are together referred to as syzygy. The anima
or animus is the archetype through which you communicate with the collective
unconscious. It is also the archetype, which is responsible for much of our love life. Jung
says that we are as ancient Greek myth suggests, constantly searching for our other half,
which the Gods took away from us in members of the opposite sex. Therefore, when we
fall in love at first sight, we have actually found someone that fills our anima or animus
archetype particularly well.
Carl Jung is also responsible for developing a personality topology that has
become so popular that many people think that this is the only thing he did.
This topology begins with the distinction between introversion and extroversion.
-Introverts are those people who prefer their internal world of thoughts, feelings,
fantasies, and dreams, etc.
-Extroverts, on the other hand prefer the external world of things and people and
activities.
Next, whether we are introverts or extroverts, we need to deal with world, inner and
outer, and each of us has our preferable way of doing so. Jung says that there are four
basic ways of doing this, four functions.
- The first is sensing, this means basically what is says getting information by means of
the senses. Jung called this one of the irrational function, meaning that it involved
perception rather than the judging of information.
- The second is thinking, this means evaluating ideas or information rationally. Jung
called this a rational function because it involves decision making or judging, rather than
the simple intake of information.
- Third is intuiting, this is a kind of perception that works outside of the usual conscious
processes. It is irrational, but come from the integration of large amounts of
information.
-Finally, is feeling, this is a matter of evaluating information by weighing ones overall
emotional response. This Jung calls rational.
Most of us only develop one or two of the functions, but Jung says that it should be our
goal to develop all four as a way to transcend the opposite.
Based on Jungs types and functions, Katharine Briggs and her daughter Isabel
Briggs Myers developed a paper-and -pencil test, which came to be known as the MyersBriggs Type Indicator. Based on your answers to approximately 125 answers, this test
places you in one of sixteen types. The results of this test say quite a bit about who you
are, including your likes and dislikes, likely career choices, and compatibility with others.
It is not judgmental and on type is not better than the other therefore people tend to like

it. Also, it does not assess how crazy you are, but simply opens up your personality for
exploration. The test has four scales. The first is extroversion-introversion, the next is
sensing-intuiting, the third is thinking-feeling, and the last is judging-perceiving. Four
letters identify each type.
As part of my research for this paper I decided to take an online version of the
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator which can be found at www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/J
types.1.htm . This test consisted of 72 yes or no questions to assess your personality
type. After completing the test the results indicated that I had an ESFJ personality type,
which means extroverted feeling with sensing. People with this personality type are said
to like harmony. They tend to have strong shoulds and should-nots. They may be
dependent, first on parents and later on spouses. They wear their hearts on their sleeves
and excel in service occupations involving personal contact. After reviewing the results
and thinking about how I view my personality type I would have to agree with the
assessment. Although at first glance I would like to disagree with some of the
characteristics, after careful thought I would say that this is a good indicator of my
personality. I definitely enjoy when things are running smoothly and life seems to be in
harmony. I have very strong beliefs and tend to stick to them even when others may
view it as being stubborn. I, regrettably so, am dependent on my parents and was also
dependent on my last boyfriend for a few years. Many times I also let my feelings show.
I am an emotional person and have a hard time hiding the way I am feeling under many
circumstances. Finally, I am aspiring to hold a position in pharmaceutical sales, which is
a type of service occupation involving personal contact.
In conclusion, Carl Jung was a brilliant psychologist with very valid theories on
personality. His theories will indeed be studied for years to come, however his most
noted contribution, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator will long be used as an assessment
of personality types for millions of people. It is a test that should be viewed as insight
into your own personality for further exploration and development. As stated earlier, our
goal should be to develop all four personality functions, because as Jung says, the
transcendence of opposites is the ideal.