Uni Reading List
Index / 001 EN
Psychological Types cover

Psychology

Psychology

Psychological Types

Carl Gustav Jung

Jung's seminal 1921 work introducing the concepts of introversion and extraversion, along with the four psychological functions, forming the foundation of analytical psychology and modern personality theory.

Difficulty Level
Advanced
Academic Level
Graduate
analytical psychologypersonality typesintroversion extraversioncognitive functionsjungian psychology

01 / Reading Guide

Reading Guide

Citation

Jung, C. G. (2008). Psychological Types (Collected Works of C. G. Jung, Vol. 6; G. Adler & R. F. C. Hull, Eds.; R. F. C. Hull, Trans.). Princeton University Press. (Original work published 1921 as Psychologische Typen.)

Chapter Summary

The Princeton volume runs to about 640 pages. Before the eleven numbered chapters come an editorial note, forewords to the first Swiss edition and to the Argentine edition, and an introduction; after them come an epilogue, an appendix of four papers on psychological typology, a table correlating paragraph numbers, a bibliography and an index. Jung described the book as the fruit of nearly twenty years of work in practical psychology, and in his autobiography said it grew out of a need to define how his outlook differed from Freud's and Adler's: the psychological type, he concluded, determines and limits a person's judgment from the start.

Context and Argument

The publisher's description presents the book as an account of the relationship of the individual to the world, to people and to things: the various aspects of consciousness and the attitudes the conscious mind may take toward the world. Jung relied less on formal case data than on impressions drawn from treating nervous illness, from contact with people of every social level and from analysing his own nature, and the book draws widely on literature, aesthetics, religion and philosophy.

Chapters I–IX: The Type Problem in History and in the Disciplines

The first nine chapters follow the question of types through a series of fields. The titles are: I. The Problem of Types in the History of Classical and Medieval Thought; II. Schiller's Ideas on the Type Problem; III. The Apollinian and the Dionysian; IV. The Type Problem in Human Character; V. The Type Problem in Poetry; VI. The Type Problem in Psychopathology; VII. The Type Problem in Aesthetics; VIII. The Type Problem in Modern Philosophy; IX. The Type Problem in Biography. Taken in order, they move from classical and medieval thought and from two major literary and philosophical sources (Schiller, and the Apollinian-Dionysian contrast) to character, poetry, psychopathology, aesthetics, modern philosophy and biography.

Chapter X: General Description of the Types

The publisher singles out this chapter, together with the next, as an extended statement and a key document in analytical psychology. Coming after the nine chapters on the type problem in history and the disciplines, it is where the types themselves are described.

Chapter XI: Definitions

The second of the two extended chapters defines Jung's principal psychological concepts. Because it fixes his vocabulary, it is useful to consult before or after reading the descriptions.

Epilogue and Appendix: Four Papers on Psychological Typology

An epilogue follows the eleven chapters, and the appendix collects four further papers on psychological typology. A table correlating paragraph numbers sits after the appendix, and the volume ends with a bibliography and an index.

Key Concepts

  • The type problem: the question, traced through Chapters I–IX, of why people's judgments and theories divide along recurring lines.
  • Psychological type as a limit on judgment: Jung's own formulation of why he wrote the book, according to his autobiography.
  • Attitudes of consciousness: the stance the conscious mind takes toward the world, the publisher's framing of the book's subject.
  • The Apollinian and the Dionysian: the contrast taken up in Chapter III.
  • General description of the types: Chapter X's account of the types themselves.
  • Definitions of principal concepts: Chapter XI's statements of Jung's terms.

Critical Analysis

Strengths

  • A broad intellectual base. The chapter list shows the argument built from classical and medieval thought, Schiller, poetry, aesthetics, modern philosophy and biography as well as psychopathology, and the publisher notes the wealth of material from literature, religion and philosophy. Readers interested in how ideas about temperament entered psychology will find the historical chapters rewarding.
  • A defined vocabulary. Chapter XI is devoted to definitions, so the book supplies its own reference for terms that Jung uses elsewhere in specialised ways.
  • An authoritative scholarly edition. The Collected Works volume has editorial apparatus: an editorial note, a bibliography, an index, a paragraph-number correlation table and the appendix of four papers.
  • Clear statement of purpose. Jung's autobiographical remark, quoted by the publisher, makes plain that the work is a response to disagreement with Freud and Adler, which helps place the book within the history of psychology.

Limitations

  • Method and evidence. The publisher states that Jung relied on impressions from clinical practice, social contact and self-analysis rather than formal case data. Readers looking for the controlled studies of modern personality research will not find them here, and the later empirical literature on traits has to be read separately.
  • Length and historical detour. Nine of the eleven chapters survey the type problem across fields before the systematic chapters begin, so the central account does not arrive until Chapter X.
  • Edition. The Collected Works volume is a 640-page scholarly edition numbered by paragraph, which is why it includes a table correlating paragraph numbers. Readers who also use another edition or translation will need that table to find passages.

Where It Fits in the Course

For the personality course this is the primary-source classic, written in 1921 and unlike the other items on the list in being a founding text rather than a textbook. Daniel Nettle's Personality: What Makes You the Way You Are and Stanley Gaines's Personality Psychology: The Basics are short introductions for newcomers. Funder's The Personality Puzzle and Larsen and Buss's Personality Psychology: Domains of Knowledge About Human Nature are undergraduate textbooks that survey the field's approaches, with evidence from current research. Matthews, Deary and Whiteman's Personality Traits is a research-based account of the trait approach.

Read one of the textbooks first to have the modern picture, then take up Jung for the origin of a typological way of thinking and to see how a historical argument about opposites became a theory of personality. It is best treated as a text to be read critically alongside the empirical works rather than as a statement of current findings.

How to Use This Book

This is a graduate-level primary source for readers who already have a grounding in personality psychology or in the history of psychology. Some acquaintance with Freud and Adler is useful given the book's origin.

A practical plan:

  • Start with the foreword, introduction and Chapter X to see what the argument is, then read Chapter XI for the definitions.
  • Read Chapters I–IX selectively. Chapter III (the Apollinian and the Dionysian), Chapter VI (psychopathology) and Chapter VIII (modern philosophy) give a good sample of the method; the rest can be taken as interest requires.
  • Use the epilogue and the appendix of four papers for further statements on typology.
  • Keep a short glossary from Chapter XI while reading, and compare it with how a textbook from the course defines personality constructs.