Question

How is Meyers-Briggs related to the work of CG Jung?

Answer 1

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is based on the theory of psychological types described by C. G. Jung which understandable and applicable in people's lives.

Jung's theory proposed the existence of two dichotomous pairs of cognitive functions
-- The “rational” ( referring to judging) or the decision making functions: thinking and feeling

--The “irrational” (referring to perceiving) or the information gathering functions: sensation and intuition

Tese functions are expressed in either an introverted or extraverted form as suggested by Jung.

According to Jung, the psyche consists of a number of different psychic functions that are:

SENSATION—perception by means of immediate apprehension of the visible relationship between subject and object

INTUITION—perception of processes in the background; e.g. unconscious drives and/or motivations of other people

THINKING—function of intellectual cognition and the forming of logical conclusions

FEELING—function of subjective estimation, value oriented thinking

Thinking and feeling functions are rational, while sensation and intuition are nonrational.

Jung distinguished several psychological types or temperaments.
Extravert
Introvert
Extraversion means “outward-turning” and introversion means “inward-turning”.
These can operate in the external world of behavior, action, people, and things (extraverted attitude) or the internal world of ideas and reflection (introverted attitude).

DOMINANT FUNCTION- According to Jung, people use all four cognitive functions - sensation, intuition, thinking, feeling. Out of which one function is generally used in a more conscious and confident way. This dominant function is supported by the secondary (auxiliary) function, and to a lesser degree the tertiary function. The fourth is the least conscious function.

The four functions operate in conjunction with the attitudes (extraversion and introversion). Each function is used in either an extraverted or introverted way. A person whose dominant function is introverted intuition, for example, uses intuition very differently from someone whose dominant function is extraverted intuition.

Perception involves all the ways of becoming aware of things, people, happenings, or ideas. Judgment involves all the ways of coming to conclusions about what has been perceived. If people differ systematically in what they perceive and in how they reach conclusions, then it is only reasonable for them to differ correspondingly in their interests, reactions, values, motivations, and skills.

LIFESTYLE PREFERENCES: Judging and perception
Myers and Briggs added another dimension to Jung's typological model by identifying that people also have a preference for using either the judging function (thinking or feeling) or their perceiving function (sensing or intuition) when relating to the outside world (extraversion).

Therefore, the MBTI instrument is based on Carl Jung's ideas about perception and judgment, and the attitudes in which these are used in different types of people. Its aim is to identify, from self-report of easily recognized reactions, the basic preferences of people in regard to perception and judgment, to determine the effects of each preference.