Feist−Feist: Theories of
Personality, Seventh
EditionII. Psychodynamic
Theories- Jung: Analytical
Psychology
(^124) © The McGraw−Hill
Companies, 2009
Extraverted thinkingpeople rely heavily on concrete thoughts, but they may
also use abstract ideas if these ideas have been transmitted to them from without, for
example, from parents or teachers. Mathematicians and engineers make frequent use
of extraverted thinking in their work. Accountants, too, are extraverted thinking
types because they must be objective and not subjective in their approach to num-
bers. Not all objective thinking, however, is productive. Without at least some indi-
vidual interpretation, ideas are merely previously known facts with no originality or
creativity (Jung, 1921/1971).
Introverted thinkingpeople react to external stimuli, but their interpretation of
an event is colored more by the internal meaning they bring with them than by the
objective facts themselves. Inventors and philosophers are often introverted thinking
types because they react to the external world in a highly subjective and creative
manner, interpreting old data in new ways. When carried to an extreme, introverted
thinking results in unproductive mystical thoughts that are so individualized that they
are useless to any other person (Jung, 1921/1971).
Feeling
Jung used the term feelingto describe the process of evaluating an idea or event. Per-
haps a more accurate word would be valuing,a term less likely to be confused with
either sensing or intuiting. For example, when people say, “This surface feels
smooth,” they are using their sensing function, and when they say, “I have a feeling
that this will be my lucky day,” they are intuiting, not feeling.
The feeling function should be distinguished from emotion. Feeling is the
evaluation of every conscious activity, even those valued as indifferent. Most of
these evaluations have no emotional content, but they are capable of becoming emo-
tions if their intensity increases to the point of stimulating physiological changes
within the person. Emotions, however, are not limited to feelings; any of the four
functions can lead to emotion when their strength is increased.
Extraverted feelingpeople use objective data to make evaluations. They are
not guided so much by their subjective opinion, but by external values and widely
accepted standards of judgment. They are likely to be at ease in social situations,
knowing on the spur of the moment what to say and how to say it. They are usually
well liked because of their sociability, but in their quest to conform to social
standards, they may appear artificial, shallow, and unreliable. Their value
judgments will have an easily detectable false ring. Extraverted feeling people
often become businesspeople or politicians because these professions demand and
reward the making of value judgments based on objective information (Jung,
1921/1971).
Introverted feelingpeople base their value judgments primarily on subjective
perceptions rather than objective facts. Critics of the various art forms make much
use of introverted feeling, making value judgments on the basis of subjective indi-
vidualized data. These people have an individualized conscience, a taciturn de-
meanor, and an unfathomable psyche. They ignore traditional opinions and beliefs,
and their nearly complete indifference to the objective world (including people)
often causes persons around them to feel uncomfortable and to cool their attitude to-
ward them (Jung, 1921/1971).
118 Part II Psychodynamic Theories