Product Description

One of the most important of Jung's longer works, and probably the most famous of his books, Psychological Types appeared in German in 1921 after a "fallow period" of eight years during which Jung had published little. He called it "the fruit of nearly twenty years' work in the domain of practical psychology," and in his autobiography he wrote: "This work sprang originally from my need to define the ways in which my outlook differed from Freud's and Adler's. 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. My book, therefore, was an effort to deal with the relationship of the individual to the world, to people and things. It discussed the various aspects of consciousness, the various attitudes the conscious mind might take toward the world, and thus constitutes a psychology of consciousness regarded from what might be called a clinical angle."

In expounding his system of personality types Jung relied not so much on formal case data as on the countless impressions and experiences derived from the treatment of nervous illnesses, from intercourse with people of all social levels, "friend and foe alike," and from an analysis of his own psychological nature. The book is rich in material drawn from literature, aesthetics, religion, and philosophy. The extended chapters that give general descriptions of the types and definitions of Jung's principal psychological concepts are key documents in analytical psychology

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #69651 in Books
• Published on: 1976-10-01
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 632 pages

Language Notes
Text: English, German (translation)

Customer Reviews

One Of The Most Influential Work Written In The Last 100 Years
This Magnum Opus of Jung,totally encapsulates his main goal as to an outline of a "healthy" working personality theory with the key to understanding the intricate balance between what in our common definitions is called the man of action and the man of ideas.
Needless to say since we are all a combination of the 2,it is heart warming to see the precision and intimacy of Jung's care in explicating a sort of systematic approach while the author remains humble enough to allow for fallibility's as to the perennial question mark of uncertainty.
200 pages can take one months to savor,but for those philosophically and academically inclined the journey is worth it as Jung takes on a historical survey through biblical criticism,Greek mythology,German poetry,Idealism as well as a treasure house of distinctions and comparisons between states of being such as naivete(the extrovert) and sentimentalitty(the introvert),intoxication(extrovert) and dreaming(introvert) to convey his ideas in merging Freud and Adler into a system that became totally Jungian leaving it's footprints as a giant but not only in common day jargon between the introvert and extrovert but balancing an individuals life between conscious and unconscious reality. The emphasis on Freud the extrovert(predominance of the sexual instinct and melting/loving the world)as distinct from Adler's introversion(power and subjective positioning of mastery of one's self and world)) were philosophical insights that alone were too one sided for Jung,hence a possible union was developed by confusing love for power (or vice a versa) which leads to fragmentation whereby the individual's libido becomes lost by slipping into either the unconscious or the conscious reality without a proper regulating principle.
The beauty of this scholarly work(for that matter the majority of his works are scholarly and difficult)is the outline he left humanity and modern times as to understanding man and his manifold contradictions,the constant oscillation between living in the world of sensation(extroversion) and one's own ideas and theoretical construct of the world(introversion).The balancing act in finding A "3rd way" for our energy(soul) is a regulating principle to understanding mental health despite the predominance of one tendency or the other in our general make up.
Indeed one can argue incessantly between living in a world of black or white or grey but one's perception is obviously colored by the past millions of years within one's genetic makeup fusing with the world of sense perception with a keen view to eternity.
The issue it seems to me and Jung is not epistemological truth or salvation but a working theory on what makes people tick and how the world accompanies diversity of spirit and temperament.

Viva la differences!
This is the forerunner of many contemporary works on psychological types. The mother-daughter team of Briggs & Myers devised the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) on it--devising the 4th (Judgmental-Perceptive) scale based on preferences (i.e. superior function vs. secondary function) between the iNtuitive-Sensate scale & the Thinker-Feeler scale. Jung does not address the J-P scale (it didn't exist yet). The book is written in Jung's usual rambling, erudite style with his usual quantity of incredible interspersed observations & conclusions. Some modern works are far easier to read, but many (e.g. Keirsey's "Please Understand Me") leave much out. Indeed, his assessment tool is quicker but less accurate IMHO (I used to score MBTI results for a professor doing research on MBTI's in other countries). I also took a couple of short courses (paid for by the U.S. Navy) related to the MBTI--& lots of management courses which referred to it or utilized it. It is extremely useful in improving interpersonal communications & understanding amongst co-workers, supervisors, etc. I used it with my own subordinates & found it quite valuable--people shared their results readily. Of course, there's a bit of confusion between Extrovert & Introvert--surface/laymen views can be misleading. The key is where one gets/loses one's psychic energy. Introverts get it from being alone & tend to lose it in groups; Extroverts, vice versa. But, this has nothing to do with whether one enjoys people, books, parties, etc. So, to understand the types, one must read the book. As Jung states, p. 526 "The psyche is the very thing we know least about, although it seems to be what we know best of all, & furthermore that everyone else probably understands it better than we do ourselves." Further, self-knowledge is a continuing challenge because p. 52: "The psyche creates reality every day." Also, psychological type relates not only to self, but also to society: p. 448: "Only a society that can preserve its internal cohesion and collective values, while at the same time granting the individual the greatest possible freedom, has any prospect of enduring vitality" & p. 449: "The more a man's life is shaped by the collective norm, the greater is his individual immorality." However, it is important to understand that Jung is NOT saying people ARE this type or that (implying the types are real) but that the types are a useful model for understanding human differences-- p. 493 "Reality neither consists of theories nor follows them." The sixteen types are a reasonable model for differences in accordance with Jung's scientific approach. As he states here & elsewhere--on p. 41 & on p. 494ff: "The scientific axiom known as Occam's Razor--`explanatory principles should not be multiplied beyond the necessary.'" Necessary & sufficient are required. This work is at least as relevant today as when it was written.

introversion extraversion intuition sensation thinkng feelng
If you're familiar with the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and want to know more about it then _Psychological Types_ is one title you'd certainly want to read. It is the definitive work on which the MBTI is based. In this volume Jung explains in detail what the nature of the two attitudes--introversion and extraversion--really are, as well as that of the four functions--intuition, sensation, thinking, and feeling. He also discusses various combinations of these attitudes and functions, such as Introverted-Thinking, Introverted-Feeling, Extraverted-Sensation, etc.

It is Jung who gave us the terms introversion and extraversion. But our colloquial understanding of these terms are not exactly what Jung had in mind. For instance introversion he says means "an inward-turning of libido [psychic energy]." Moreover, the introverted person is one who orients himself predominantly by subjective views in contrast to the extraverted who orients himself by objective (external) conditions. Therefore, extraversion and introversion have to do with which realm--outer or inner--the person is drawn to and invests his energies in. So much for our simplistic notions of what these now household words mean!

Personally, I have not read the first half of the book. When I got my copy I went straight to Chapter 10 "General Description of the Types" since that's where the meat of Jungian typology can be found. And let's not forget the four essays in the appendix. They too offer additional insights into typology.

As a bonus there is an entire chapter (some 80 pages) entitled "Definitions" which is actually an in-depth glossary of some of the more important terms and ideas that Jung uses throughout the Collected Works.

If you'd like to learn about (Jungian) personality typology then I suggest you get this relatively inexpensive paperback edition. I've read many works on Jungian typology but nothing beats getting it straight from the horse's mouth.