Digesting Jung: Food for the Journey - Inner City Books

A Psychological Compass 19
tests concretize what is inherently variable, and thereby overlook
the dynamic nature of the psyche.
Any system of typology is no more than a gross indicator of
what people have in common and the differences between them.
Jung’s model is no exception. It is distinguished solely by its parameters—the
two attitudes and the four functions. What it does not
and cannot show, nor does it pretend to, is the uniqueness of the
individual. Also, no one is a pure type. It would be foolish to even
try to reduce an individual personality to this or that, just one thing
or another. Each of us is a conglomeration, an admixture of attitudes
and functions that in their combination defy classification. All
that is true, and emphatically acknowledged by Jung—
One can never give a description of a type, no matter how complete,
that would apply to more than one individual, despite the fact that in
some ways it aptly characterizes thousands of others. Conformity is
one side of a man, uniqueness is the other. 13
—but it does not obviate the practical value of his model, particularly
when one has run aground on the shoals of his or her own
psychology.
Whether Jung’s model is “true” or not—objectively true—is a
moot point. Indeed, is anything ever “objectively” true? The real
truth is that Jung’s model of psychological types has all the advantages
and disadvantages of any scientific model. Although lacking
statistical verification, it is equally hard to disprove. But it accords
with experiential reality. Moreover, since it is based on a fourfold—
mandala-like—way of looking at things that is archetypal, it is psychologically
satisfying.
As mentioned earlier, one’s behavior can be quite misleading in
determining typology. For instance, to enjoy being with other people
is characteristic of the extraverted attitude, but this does not
automatically mean that a person who enjoys lots of company is an
extraverted type. Naturally, one’s activities will to some extent be
13 Psychological Types, CW 6, par. 895.