Jungian Theory
Personality Star’s four-letter acronym personality model is based on the typology model developed by Carl Gustav Jung. This model essentially describes your natural behavioural preferences.Theory suggests that your core type doesn’t change. However, studies in the neurosciences show that your behaviour can, in fact, change and adapt over time as a result of intentional practice and/or because of the requirements of the environment in which you find yourself.
Who was Carl Gustav Jung?
Jung was a renouned Swiss psychiatrist and founder of analytical psychology.
For a time he had a close association with Sigmund Freud, the founder of
psychoanalysis.
Jung went on to create and develop a number of important psychological concepts
including ‘individuation’ which is the lifelong psychological process of
differentiation of self from conscious and unconscious elements. He also created
the psychological concepts of synchronicity, archetypes, psychological complexes,
extraversion/introversion, and the collective unconscious.
Interpreting Your Report
Jung differentiated people according to their personality ‘attitude’ or orientation. This relates to whether a person is inclined towards what he described as Extraversion (E) or Introversion (I).
EXTROVERTED PEOPLE tend to be outward looking and receive stimulation from the external environment. They are generally more sociable that introverts.
INTROVERTED PEOPLE tend to be inward looking and receive stimulation from their inner world. They are generally more withdrawn than extroverts.
He subsequently identified four functions of the mind (Thinking (T), Feeling (F), Sensation (S), Intuition (N)). He suggested that at least one of these functions is found to be dominant in people. These functions are said to strongly influence the way people perceive the world.
THINKING
This is primarily about using reason, logic and analysis to make sense of the world and our experiences. Thinking things through and weighing the pros and cons before making decisions would be typical of this function.
FEELING
This is about using subjective personal values (i.e. what is important to self in order to judge and make choices. It’s a fairly quick decision-making process based on what feels ‘right’ for me, or ‘wrong’ for me.
SENSATION
This refers to forming perceptions and understanding experiences primarily through input received by our five main senses. From this we form an understanding of concrete reality.
INTUITION
This function is about accessing the unconscious mind to make sense of things, to make predictions about how things will turn out, and create an impression of future possibilities.
It would be ideal if we could consciously access the function or functions appropriate for particular circumstances. Unfortunately, the four functions are not equally available to us. Typically one of them is more developed and accessible than the others and this is called the ‘primary’ or ‘superior’ function and the rest are referred to as ‘inferior’ functions. The term ‘superior’ simply means the most easily accessible and most used function, whilst ‘inferior’ implies least accessible or used. Bear in mind that all four functions are equally valuable.
