Personality types: Jung's model of typology - Inner City Books

66 Introversion and the Four FunctionsThe introvert is not forthcoming, he is as though in continualretreat before the object. He holds aloof from external happenings,does not join in, has a distinct dislike of society as soonas he finds himself among too many people. In a large gatheringhe feels lonely and lost. The more crowded it is, thegreater becomes his resistance. He is not in the least "with it,"and has no love of enthusiastic get-togethers. He is not a goodmixer. What he does, he does in his own way, barricadinghimself against influences from outside. . . . He is easily mistrustful,self-willed, often suffers from inferiority feelings andfor this reason is also envious. He confronts the world with anelaborate defensive system compounded of scrupulosity, pedantry,fru-gality, cautiousness, painful conscientiousness, stifflippedrectitude, politeness, and open-eyed distrust. . . . Undernormal conditions he is pessimistic and worried, because theworld and human beings are not in the least good but crushhim. . . .His own world is a safe harbour, a carefully tended andwalled-in garden, closed to the public and hidden from pryingeyes. His own company is the best. 73No wonder the introverted attitude is often seen as autoerotic,egocentric, egotistical, even pathological. But in Jung'sopinion, this simply reflects the normal bias of the extravertedattitude, which is by definition convinced of the superiority ofthe object.We must not forget—although the extravert is only too proneto do so—that perception and cognition are not purely objective,but are also subjectively conditioned. The world existsnot merely in itself, but also as it appears to me. . . . By overvaluingour capacity for objective cognition we repress theimportance of the subjective factor. 74By the "subjective factor," Jung understands "that psychologicalaction or reaction which merges with the effect pro-73 Ibid., pars. 976f.74 Ibid., par. 621.