An evaluation of Jung’s psychological types and their relationship to psychopathology

Abstract

This paper compares Jung’s original conception of psychological types with the modern Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and the Big Three and Big Five personality traits in order to evaluate their relationship to various forms of psychopathology. In doing so it becomes apparent that Jung’s original conception of psychological types are fundamentally different to both the MBTI and the Big Three and Big Five personality traits. Modern personality research focuses on categorisation for the purposes of defining diagnostic categories and treatment strategies but this was not Jung’s purpose in describing the types. Jung’s differentiation of the two psychological types and the four functions did not imply any value judgement or that one was more prone to psychopathology than another. Furthermore, Jung’s understanding of the introverted and extraverted types as fundamentally different ways of perceiving and comprehending the world has been overlooked by modern personality trait psychology,possibly to the detriment of the introverted type in our extravert-oriented society.