Yes it’s true. Many women will immediately know what this anklet signifies. That’s why I wear it everywhere I go. Of course it is quite embarrassing for him, but that’s not my problem. I enjoy the stares from other women. The knowing smile. The giggles. The compliments. The braver even approach and ask questions, which I’m happy to answer. A couple have even asked hubby how it feels and then laugh when he turns beet red. Be PROUD. Male chastity is becoming more and more common. It is a fact of life and something that white hubbies are learning to accept. They really have no choice.
“This work sprang originally from my need to define the ways in which my outlook differed from Freud’s and Adler’s. In attempting to answer this question, I came across the problem of types; for it is one’s psychological type which from the outset determines and limits a person’s judgement. My book, therefore, was an effort to deal with the relationship of the individual to the world, to people and things. It discussed the various aspects of consciousness, the various attitudes the conscious mind might take toward the world, and thus constitutes a psychology of consciousness regarded from what might be called a clinical angle.”
- C.G. Jung, Memories, Dreams, Reflections.
Not everybody approaches the world in the same way. In fact, most people seem to differ from each other greatly – sometimes it seems like a miracle that we can even get along at all! In attempting to explore this problem, Jung devised a system of types that – although not as scientifically rigorous as modern personality inventories like the Big 5 or the MMPI – was simple, elegant, and deep. This should be repeated: Jung’s typology, although rooted in practical experience, is intuitive and symbolic in nature. It is meant firstly as a therapeutic tool and not as a strictly scientific theory.
Jung’s typology is made up of six elements. The first are two attitudes: IntroversionandExtroversion. These represent the direction of interest of the psyche and the movement of its energy, whether inwards or outwards. The others are four functions: Thinking,Feeling,SensationandIntuition. These are modes of operation that, between the four of them, roughly encompass your conscious experience. The shorthand goes like this: Sensation tells us that something is there; Thinking tells us what it is; Feeling tells us if it is agreeable or not; Intuition tells us from where it came and to where it might go.
Introversion is an inwards-turning of energy. It’s an orientation that expresses the supremacy of subjective part of life; one’s inner thoughts, feelings, personal experiences, and the deep unconscious*. This does not mean that introverts are always introspective – instead, their relation to the outside world is coloured by their subjective view in such a way that their perceptions and judgements hinge more on their private inner reality than on the shared reality of the objective world. Because their energy moves away from the object (and towards the subject), they tend to be relatively reserved, inscrutable, and shy.
*Footnote to Introversion: The “deep unconscious” here refers to the Collective Unconscious, which is covered in another article. To summarise, the subject isn’t only made up of personal experiences or memories. Just as we all have an inherited body that is only superficially different between individuals, so do we have an inherited psyche that has evolved over millions of years. Introversion relies particularly heavily on inherited, instinctual images and patterns of thought. Pushed to the extreme, these manifest as a mythological or religious quality of thought, since myths are just the collective expression of these inner archetypes through stories.
Extroversion is an outwards-turning of energy. Here the objective part of life is the most important. Extroverts think and act in a way that corresponds more directly to external conditions. They aren’t necessarily perfectly adjusted – extroversion is no guarantee of good social skills, and furthermore, neglecting their inner life often results in grief for the extrovert. However, they are constantly impelled to relate to the outer world in some way, and in turn to be affected by it, whether that means they’re on good terms with everybody, or that they pick fights with everybody. In general they are relatively open, sociable, jovial, or at least friendly and approachable.
The four functions are made up of two pairs of opposites. Sensation and Intuition make up the first pair. These are the “irrational” orperceiving functions. Sensation takes in impressions of the material world via the five senses, which often results in a pragmatic, grounded, or aesthetically-minded personality. Intuition is a subconscious or subliminal perception that, roughly speaking, presents the user with a whole where only a part is objectively visible. This often results in a speculative, flighty, or imaginative personality. Thinking and Feeling are the “rational” or judgingfunctions. Thinking takes a detached, mechanistic view of problems, and seeks to put the world in conceptual or at least logical terms. Feeling recognises and imparts subjective value onto things, deciding whether or not they are agreeable and good.
However, these functions are never developed and used in an individual to the same extent. As a rule, one becomes the person’s primary approach to life – thedominantfunction. Its incompatible opposite is partially repressed as a result. This becomes theinferiorfunction. The two other functions are in a middle-state of differentiation, and therefore are less harshly polarised. One is usually theauxiliaryfunction, which supports and counterbalances the dominant – a functional sidekick. This is not a hard rule, though: both could be auxiliaries, or both could be undifferentiated inferior functions. However, the most common arrangement consists of two conscious functions, the dominant and main auxiliary, and two unconscious inferior functions.
Fig. 1 - A Thinking dominant, Feeling inferior arrangement. The two middle functions, Sensation and Intuition, are halfway between consciousness and unconsciousness. They can be developed auxiliaries or underdeveloped inferiors.
These dominant-auxiliary combinations begin to paint familiar pictures – the practical problem-solver with Thinking and Sensation, the esoteric creative artist with Feeling and Intuition, etc. The inferior function also tends to be recognisable. We all know people who have terrible difficulties with Feeling, or for whom material reality is always a stumbling block thanks to inferior Sensation.
Finally, in any given function type, a certain attitude will also dominate. This attitude does not exist on its own, but applies to the dominant function, so that the Thinking of a Thinking type might actually be Introverted or Extroverted. The opposite attitude, however, is repressed and combines with the inferior function. The middle functions are again in a more mercurial middle state; they often have the capacity to shift either way. This results in a distinct set of types, which are described in my Jung Abridged series.
To recap: Two attitudes, Introversion and Extroversion. Four functions: two perceiving, that is Sensation and Intuition, and two judging, that is Thinking and Feeling. One is dominant and conscious; its opposite is inferior and unconscious. The other two functions can be either conscious auxiliaries or unconscious inferiors. The dominant function has a characteristic attitude; the inferior takes the opposite attitude. Those are the basics – from here you can check out any of my other articles, which deal with many aspects of this schematic in greater depth. Enjoy!
Recently this funny video of a Millennial being interviewed for a job has been trending around, so I picked it up from my LinkedIn feed and watched it with two expectations: it’s going to be very amusing, it’s going to have some truth. I wasn’t disappointed and that’s what happened, because if you have worked in different environments you will immediately catch the drift.
The interview is a stereotypical gag of a busy young Millennial girl who is being interviewed by a Baby Boomer while using her smartphone. Standard questions on competences comes in on what tech skills the candidate has, but they are not your typical Microsoft Office package as the girl lists all social platforms she knows how to use.
One thing that struck me there is the gap between the two roles which represents the two sided of software each comes with: old VS new, spreadsheets VS tweets. It’s obvious the difference of tech understanding instantly pops out to highlight a current phenomena in the workplace.
The video continues with the stereotype of the easily-distracted Millennials that cannot put a way for a second the phone: it’s their totem that convey their social and communicative power and without it they are like Superman with Kryptonite. However, there’s a subtle message in this video which is not what appears to be the constant use of technology, but rather the inability for those two generations to connect and come to terms with their differences.
Please, don’t see this as a pernicious way to defame Millennials, but rather to point the fingers over those who despite their age haven’t caught up with how society interacts with the presents whether old or young. Side effects on the personal behavior can impact those who drown in technology or starve from it.
My personal experience with some Millennials struck me at different levels where young adults working in retail are lacking the social skills to communicate their knowledge. I’m writing about retail because that’s where you would see Millennials working while interacting with the public, places like the hardware store, the local restaurant, the supermarket; that’s where their early work experience starts.
Millennials might be introverted and awkward, it also comes with the age they are in; however, there is a large portion of them which has been living in a sheltered environment from their birth, overly protected by their parents and their early educational system, unable to experience the sour side of life. The result is the entitlements and high demands many wait to receive on the workplace.
This is not a trial on who is bad and who is not, but rather an instance to understand how to resolve this issue. Parents cannot expect to raise their kids without disappointing them or even without them to fail at some point in their life. It’s part of being human to let your guard down or to miss the target. What’s important is to get back on track and learn from what went wrong.
On a darker tone the last portion of the video highlights the worst part some Millennial might exhibit: pandering to imaginative external elements to justify their shortcomings. Blaming others without justification is the line of defense to use to make up for the lack of principles or knowledge and eventually personal responsibilities.
The Millennial girl asks to speak to a HR director for assistance after facing the fact she is not qualified for the position the job interview required. Millennials don’t take well rejection because difficult situations have been fixed by their parents during their years at school -if there’s a problem call the manager or mod and dad-.
