
For intuitives, change can be a thrilling undertaking. A preference for sensing, by contrast, tends to be associated with a step-by-step process to change that is anchored in what is known, as well as what is necessary and practical. If acculturation is viewed as a process of change, intuitive individuals possess a greater propensity for reconciling different cultural identities.
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Stephen T. Weed
31 / Research, Theory, and History
Tags: Beebe model, function couplings, function pairs, function-attitude couplings, INFJ, ISTJ, John Beebe, John Giannini, Robert McAlpine, Stephen Weed, Trickster, type development, type research
July 6, 2017

Giannini’s model differs importantly from Myers’ in that it does not restrict us to just one predominant function pair associated with one’s preferred perceiving and judging processes. His model provides a greater degree of flexibility in the developmental expression of type-related behaviors as well as enhanced adaptive power for engaging and responding to our various environments.
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Steve Myers
26 / Research, Theory, and History
Tags: ambivalence, ambiversion, Axiom of Maria, caduceus, Carol Shumate, centroversion, collectivity, constructivism, differentiation, Erich Neumann, Freud, individuation, Isabel Briggs Myers, reductionism, Self, Steve Myers, transcendent function
January 14, 2016

Type as a problem needs to be rediscovered. Although from Jung’s point of view moderate one-sidedness does not usually cause major difficulties and is a stage of development to go through, ultimately being a type is a problem whereas contemporary type theory generally views it as a virtue. This has resulted in the transcendent function being overlooked.
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Is differentiation of an ego-syntonic function-attitude somehow different from differentiation of an ego-dystonic FA? Or maybe differentiation works the same for all function-attitudes and it’s just in the subsequent integration process that the distinction between ego-syntonic and ego-dystonic comes into play. Do we need a more refined understanding of typological development?
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25 / Culture and Cultural Typology / Research, Theory, and History
Tags: alchemy, Buddhism, cauda pavonis, color symbolism, individuation, Intuition, Kiley Laughlin, mandala, psychoid, quaternity, Secret of the Golden Flower, Wolfgang Pauli, yoga
October 7, 2015

Jung believed that colors symbolize dynamic psychic factors that evolve with consciousness. An analysis of his color studies suggests that the psyche uses color as a way to distinguish different kinds (i.e., functions) of consciousness. “The personality passes through many transformations which show it in different lights and are followed by ever-changing moods.“
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Marlowe Embree
22 / Culture and Cultural Typology / Research, Theory, and History
Tags: Artisans, Baby Boomers, conservativism, cyclicity, Democrat, election politics, Generation X, Great Depression, Guardians, Idealists, Intuition, Keirsey, liberalism, Marlowe Embree, Millennials, moral foundations, presidents, Rationals, Republican, saecular cycle, Sensing, Silent Generation, Strauss-Howe model, Temperament
January 7, 2015

Independent of the historical cycle, Republican presidents tend more toward Sensing, while Democratic presidents tend more toward Intuition, as predicted by theory. This calls to mind G. K. Chesterton’s famous remark, “The job of liberals is to keep making new mistakes, while the job of conservatives is to make sure that old mistakes never get corrected.”
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Carol Shumate
18 / Research, Theory, and History
Tags: Adler, Carol Shumate, Freud, Introverted Intuition, introverted sensation, John Beebe, John Giannini, Jung, Jungians, observer effect, Sonu Shamdasani
February 5, 2014

A separation exists between psychology and typology. Many psychologists and even many Jungians ignore Jung’s major work, Psychological Types, and the concepts underlying it. The field has been left mostly to lay practitioners, who use the MBTI® instrument for training, coaching, and other pragmatic applications. What reasons do you see for the divide?
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Jung’s approach is based on pairs of polarities. Getting eight functions with such a ‘binary approach’ requires three levels of dichotomy. Jung clearly explained his split of the rational functions into two opposite functions and the same for the irrational functions; but he never provided a theoretical context for a third “dimension” of psychological type.
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Marlowe Embree
16 / Culture and Cultural Typology / Research, Theory, and History
Tags: Allen Hammer, Bob Beckel, Cal Thomas, conservative, Democrat, Jean Kummerow, John Giannini, Jonathan Haidt, liberal, libertarian, Marlowe Embree, morality, NF, politics, Republican, SJ, theory of moral foundations, values
September 3, 2013

Since Sensing and Feeling are not typologically opposed preferences, this may suggest that, contrary to what conventional wisdom might dictate, political liberalism and conservativism may not be logical opposites either. This may suggest a means by which the perspectives of the two political orientations can be bridged.
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Mark Hunziker
15 / Research, Theory, and History
Tags: Anima, Animus, archetype, attitude, auxiliary, conscious, Critical Parent, Demon, development, dominant, ego, egodystonic, egosyntonic, Eternal Child, extraverted thinking (Te), Father, function-attitude, Hero, Heroine, hierarchy, inferior, introverted thinking (Ti), Mark Hunziker, Mother, Opposing Personality, preference, Puella, Puer, Senex, shadow, tertiary, Trickster, unconscious, Witch
June 5, 2013

Our often-used shorthand illustration with a line drawn between the four allegedly conscious function-attitudes and the four “unconscious” ones is misleading because consciousness is not a sufficiently reliable characteristic for distinguishing these two sides of the psyche’s typology. It’s related to what distinguishes them, but only as a secondary and fairly unpredictable characteristic.
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Adam Frey
12 / Professional Development for Type-Practitioners / Research, Theory, and History
Tags: Adam Frey, attitudes, Barack Obama, Extraversion, extraverted feeling (Fe), extraverted sensing (Se), inner, Introversion, introverted thinking (Ti), Mitt Romney, object, Other, outer, personal, presidential debate, public, Self, subject
November 1, 2012

Introverted thinking is more concerned with satisfying a subtle, personally perceived standard of truth—like Barack Obama in his first debate with Mitt Romney. People saw Obama hesitating and looking away from his opponent. I read that as him double-checking to make sure that what he was about to say would meet a benchmark of critical thinking.
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Robert McAlpine
11 / Research, Theory, and History
Tags: archetype, auxiliary, C. G. Jung, Critical Parent, dominant, ENFJ, ESTJ, extraverted sensation (Se), extraverted thinking (Te), function-attitudes, inferior, introverted sensation (Si), introverted thinking (Ti), Isabel Myers, ISTJ, ISTP, John Beebe, MBTI, mental processes, Opposing Personality, preferences, Robert McAlpine, Sensing, tertiary, thinking
September 5, 2012

The type code had another unintended effect, which was to elevate the E-I and the J-P dichotomies to the same level as the functions. I had always thought of myself as an Introvert and nothing else. I had also been taught that I was a Judging type and I had been told that “J’s decide quickly,” but that was not true for me. So there were holes in my preference framework where my experience did not fit what I was taught.
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