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

74 Introversion and the Four FunctionsCasual acquaintances of introverted thinkers may find theminconsiderate and domineering, but those who appreciate akeen mind tend to value their friendship very highly. In thepursuit of their ideas they are generally stubborn, not amenableto influence. This contrasts strongly with their suggestibilityin personal matters; they are typically quite naive andtrusting, and so others may easily take advantage of them.Since they pay scant attention to outer reality, this type isthe proverbial "absent-minded professor," the "forgetfulJones." This can be quite charming, but less so the more theybecome single-mindedly attached to their own ideas or innerimages. Then their convictions become rigid and unbending,their judgment cold, inflexible, arbitrary. In the extreme case,they may lose all connection with objective reality and so becomeisolated from friends, family and colleagues.This is the difference between extremes of introvertedthinking and extraverted thinking. "Whereas the latter sinks tothe level of a mere representation of facts," writes Jung, "theformer evaporates into a representation of the irrepresentable,far beyond anything that could be expressed in an image." 89In both cases, further psychological development is stifled,and the generally positive thinking process usurped by theunconscious effects of the other functions—sensation, intuitionand feeling. Normally these are a healthy compensationfor one-sided thinking. In the extreme, where theircompensatory influence is resisted by consciousness, thewhole personality is colored by negativity and primitive affect,bitterness, oversensitivity and misanthropy.The Introverted Feeling TypeFeeling in the introverted attitude is determined principally bythe subjective factor. In its unconcern with the object it is as89 Ibid., par. 630.