Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Eight or Four Is Enough
Some argue that psychological type is about four functions that are manifest in two psychological attitudes (e.g. Sening that is Extraversion and Sensing that is Introversion) while others argue that their are eight functions (e.g. Introverted Sensing, Extraverted Sensing, etc.). How do we measure this and does it make a difference?
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Jung first discovered two attitudes (E, I) which are directions of attention and interest towards objects and events of interest to the person. Everyone needs to be able to use the E-external extraverted or the I-internal introverted attitude as needed to place attention on where objects and events of interest are located. If a person has an habitual interest or strong preference for using one these two attitudes, then they would tend to be described by an accurate Self-Report as an extraverted or introverted attitude type.
ReplyDeleteJung later discovered the four psychological functions of human consciousness (S-Sensation, T-Thinking, F-Feeling, N-Intuition). Although these functions are sometimes viewed as theoretical constructs, Jung was quick to point out that he discovered them in his psychological practice with patients.
There are eight Jungian psychological functions (Se, Si, Te, ti, Fe, Fi, Ne and Ni) of consciousness because a conscious person has the freedom to place attention on private or subjective objects (introverted attitude) that only that person can notice in their direct experience of the moment. For example, as I took a short walk around the block this morning I saw (Se-extraverted sensation function) the homes and felt the muscle sensations (Si-introverted sensation) in my legs as I was walking. If I labeled any "homes" seen during my walk - with their conventional name (yellow, ranch style, a Voyager model in Sunrise Bay adult community) then these english language labels are learned contents given by the extraverted thinking function-Te. If a person is walking and observing with bare attention, then there is no need to give names to things - but just see them as they are as perceptual objects of your well placed attention.
It makes a huge difference whether we treat the four Jungian categories of functional information content in working memory as only four or eight function-types of consciousness. A measurement strategy must be designed to identify each of the eight function-types.
MBTI has been very successful in popularizing the Jungian psychology of four functions (S, T, F, N) and two attitudes of interest (E, I). MBTI made a unique contribution to Jungian theory by discovering the J-P attitudes of action in the world. Although the J-P attitude was invented to point to the favorite category of extraverted function, it is much more than that. J-P has independent status as one scale of the NEOAC Five Factor Model, as are S-N, T-F and E-I.
These eight psychological function types can be measured by a well designed test instrument that includes the correct consciously observed information content for each of the eight function-types. These eight function types can also be demonstrated by introspection and the experimental method of contrastive phenomenology [Barr, Bernard J.].