INTRODUCTION
It is a pleasure to review Lenore Thomson's Personality Type - An Owner's
Manual, A Practical Guide to Understanding Yourself and Others Through
Typology 1in this issue of
'The Enneagram and the MBTI'. This is an exciting time in the Personality Type world since several new books that advance knowledge considerably are being published. The Center on the Application of Psychological Type (CAPT) has published new books that emphasize whole
type principles, and David Keirsey has published his new temperament book.
2
Lenore Thomson's Personality Type - An Owners Manual is outstanding
in several respects. In one sweeping movement Thomson has set a new
standard for explaining Jungian psychology as it applies to everyday
life via Personality Type. Each of the 16 Jungian Personality Types
are explored in depth with great clarity and understanding. Furthermore,
each personality type is explained in terms of a hierarchy of eight Jungian
personality functions that emphasize the interleaving of J-P and E-I personality
functions in a way that mirrors the latest findings on brain structure.
Thomson follows a logically consistent Jungian approach, and backs that up
with personality type descriptions that are elegant and beautiful in their
simplicity. This is a very useful, easy-to-read book that rests on a solid theoretical
foundation that is not obscure. The theory is made clear by great stories
that catch the reader's interest and imagination, and give a chuckle at the
same time. That's a winning combination.
Lenore Thomson's 1998 book will likely have the same sort of impact as
did Naomi Quenk's 1993 book Beside Ourselves - Our Hidden Personalities in
Everyday Life.3 Quenk's book brought the Jungian inferior function into MBTI type descriptions in a systematic, insightful way. Thomson's book gives us much food for thought on the eight Jungian personality functions
and how all eight functions are structured as they contribute to a single
whole personality type.
Aside from that tour-de-force, Personality Type - A User's Manual
includes a self-scoring 56 question test for the Jungian E-I, S-N, T-F and
J-P parameters in Chapter 2. This test originated as the Maidenbaum
Personal Identity Test in a 1989 issue of McCall's magazine. Aryeh
Maidenbaum, Ph.D was assisted then by Lenore Thomson, who was the
managing editor of 'Quadrant: The Journal of Contemporary Jungian Thought'
- a publication of the C.G. Jung Foundation of New York City. Lenore
continued to work closely with Aryeh, and Personality Type- A Users Manual
is a fine book to launch Shambhala's 'Jung On The Hudson Book Series'. Aryeh
is Director of the New York Center for Jungian Studies that sponsors JUNG ON THE
HUDSON seminars annually.
Here is a brief sample of what's in store for readers of this very
user-friendly book.
CHAPTER 1: THIS DOOR IS NOT THE DOOR includes a short history of the
psychological triangle with Freud, Adler, and Jung. Jung came to the
conclusion that "each of us sees reality according to his or her own
psychological 'type'". 4This explained Jung's disagreement with Freud's
emphasis on the sexual motivation and Adler's emphasis on the power
motivation for behavior.
CHAPTER 2: CASTING TYPES presents a useful Personality Type questionnaire.
This meets the original objective of Aryeh Maidenbaum to write a book on
the topic that 'would include a self-scoring type test and that would
make psychological type understandable and accessible to a wide audience.'
5
CHAPTER 3: INTERPRETING THE TYPE EVALUATOR RESULTS includes the 16
Personality types in the table below. Thomson notes that psychological
type theory is concerned with modeling 'the development of conscious
awareness - the sensations, perceptions, moods, and mental formations that
interact to compose an everyday understanding of reality.' 6 The P and J rows are shown to be correlated with patterns of right-side and left-side brain functioning in later chapters. The left-side, right-side
approach to the flow of information via functions of consciousness gives a
surprising coherence and clarity to the type descriptions that follow in
the rest of the book. The information flow model would still be powerful,
even if correlations with brain layout were not present.
CHAPTER 4: THE FIRST TYPE CATEGORY explores our primary attitude of
extraversion (E) or introversion (I). Beginners to type will benefit from
Lenore's original and creative approach. Even 'old-timers' will find
concepts expressed in new and insightful ways. Among other things,
extraverts 'act before reflecting' while introverts 'reflect before
acting'. 'Although most of us feel comfortable with one attitude or the
other, all of us are Introverted in some ways, and Extraverted in others.
We have to be. The brain is set up that way.' 7
CHAPTER 5: OUR TWO STRONGEST FUNCTIONS gives an overview of the S-N
perceiving functions, and the T-F judging functions. The Perceiving
functions are used for receiving information. The Judging functions help
to classify information so our behaviors can be organized for effective
results that are predictable. 'Types who prefer Sensation generally focus
on direct sensory experience. Types who prefer Intuition generally ignore
the material surface of things and consider the larger picture.' Among
other things, Sensation gives us the 'inability to believe or rely on
something without sensory evidence' while Intuition gives the 'inability
to feel motivated unless something new can be anticipated.' 'Among other
things Thinking gives us the ability to make decisions impersonally, based
on logic, analysis, and effective tactics, while Feeling gives us the
ability to make decisions personally, based on shared values and
relationship." 8
CHAPTER 6: THE FOURTH CATEGORY - PERCEIVING AND JUDGING explains the P or J
character at the end of the type name. 'Whether we're Extraverted or
Introverted types, we all use our Extraverted function to fit into society
and to carry out our goals. Among other things, P types may experience
emotions as physical states and become run down, while the J types may not
be aware of their physical needs until they have a real problem.' 9
CHAPTER 7: OUR DOMINANT AND SECONDARY FUNCTIONS explains the basics for
Extraverted Perception (EP)types, Extraverted Judgment (EJ) types,
Introverted Perception (IP) types, and Introverted Judgement (IJ) types.
The Extraverted Perception types use 'Extraverted Sensation or Extraverted Intuition
most of the time, which moves them to react immediately to external stimulation.'
The Extraverted Judger types 'use Extraverted Thinking or Extraverted Feeling most of
the time, and they depend on rational predictability for their primary experience of life.
These types make it their business to know how things are supposed to
happen.'
The Introverted Perceiver types are like Extraverted Perceivers who
'understand outward reality by way of direct experience, and they may have
a similar resistance to limiting their options in area that interest them.
Their inner world, however, is characterized by Introverted Judgment
(Introverted Feeling or Introverted Thinking), which determines their
primary motives.'
The Introverted Judgers IJ types are like Extraverted Judgers who 'feel
most comfortable when they can establish predictable reference points in
the external world. Their inner world, however, is characterized by
Introverted Perception (Introverted Sensation or Introverted Intuition),
which determines their primary motives.' 10
CHAPTER 8: PERSONALITY TYPES ARE ALSO BRAIN TYPES organizes the eight
personality functions into four quadrants that have a correspondence with
brain neural activity. Thomson notes that 'to speak of a function's locus
of activity is an extreme generalization. Roughly speaking, however, PET
technology indicates that our functional capacities are distributed as
follows:' 11 The Extraverted Thinking and Extraverted Feeling functions
are located in the Front Left-Brain. Introverted Sensation and
Introverted Intuition functions are located in the Back Left-Brain.
Extraverted Intuition and Extraverted Sensation functions are located in
the Front Right-Brain, Introverted Thinking and Introverted Feeling
Functions are located in the Back Right-Brain. All functions for the
eight J types are shown on the Left-Brain side, and all functions for the
eight P types are shown on the Right-Brain side.
CHAPTER 9: WHAT HAPPENS TO THE FUNCTIONS WE DON'T PREFER?
Lenore uses great metaphors and compares the functions we prefer less to
lower layers in a slab of lasagna. Conscious awareness is a top-down
lasagna. The dominant function is the first lasagna layer and 'governs
most of our conscious behavior, is subject to our will, and encourages
traits that feel like us.' The secondary function is our next layer 'is
less conscious, but supports and advances our dominant aims and goals.'
The tertiary and inferior functions are the least conscious bottom two
layers and are 'directly opposed to the top two.' The type lasagna for
each of the 16 types is summarized, and uses the same MBTI convention of
alternating E-I attitudes for each level of functions. 12
Lenore uses the terms 'dominant', 'secondary', 'tertiary', and 'inferior' for the
first four functions. The term 'secondary' is typically called the
'auxiliary' function by other authors. The secondary function helps us grow
because it provides the two attitudes that are excluded by the dominant's
first two attitudes. E and I are two attitude choices, and J and P are also two
attitude choices - for a total of four attitudes.
CHAPTER 10: TYPE DYNAMICS IS A MAJOR INNOVATION. Thomson introduces a
structure that accounts for all eight Jungian personality functions comprising
a type, and illustrates this structure with the ESTJ, as shown below. 13
Lenore's tour-de-force is in the way that she has slipped in the other four
functions and billed them as 'The Functions-in-Between'. This is a deceptively
simple but brilliant triple hitter as we see in the ESTJ example. First, the E-I
attitudes alternate E-I-E-I-E-I-E-I for the eight functions in a
reasonable Jungian yin-yang scheme. Second, the bottom functions are the
two functions normally assumed for an MBTI type. There is debate whether
the tertiary attitude should be the same as the inferior as Isabel Brigg's
Myers originally specified, or should be opposite attitude to the inferior
as Grant assumed them to be. Lenore agrees with Grant and Beebe who use
the alternating E-I scheme. The third clever move is sliding the missing
four functions in between the dominant-auxiliary and the tertiary-inferior
combination.
The ESTJ's 'crow's nest' functions are the top two 'in between' functions -
Extraverted Feeling (EF) and Introverted Intuition (IN). 'These top two occupy
the crow's nest on our typological ship. Their perspectives compete with
our preferred way of seeing life, but when we run into problems our
dominant skills can't handle, they're the first functions we turn to for
solutions.'
The ESTJ's 'double agent' functions (ES and IT) are below the 'crow's nest' functions, but
above the tertiary and inferior functions. The double agents act as a
maintenance crew, activate the opposite brain hemisphere, and tend to
mutiny if given a chance.
Thomson does not point this out (or if so I missed it), but the thing
that makes this a home-run for me is that her scheme provides intrinsic
J-P priority for J types and P-J priority for P types. The concept of J-P
balance for whole types is not compromised. In fact, J-P balance becomes a
cornerstone. In other words, ESTJ's first four functions are those used
for any J type, and the last four functions are those used for any P type.
This is quite important because J-P is a fundamental MBTI concept.
This produces a process (ship sailing) oriented Jungian structure for the
16 personality types. This P-J alternating sequence is completely
compatible with my Enneagram of Consciousness sequence of Jungian
functions. 14
This latter process model was designed to be compatible
with Jungian type, enneagram personality type, and MBTI type concepts. For
example, a true ESTJ type has dominant well differentiated Jungian
Extraverted Thinking (ET One), and this is the Jungian function gift at
Point One on the Geldart Enneagram of Consciousness.
CHAPTER 11: THE TERTIARY PROBLEM IS DIFFERENT FOR
EXTRAVERTS THAN INTROVERTS 15 Inferior Introversion from inferior function is
self-centered and defensive in an Extraverted personality. Inferior
Extraversion from inferior function is other-centered and aggressive in an
introverted personality. When the inferior function (I attitude) pulls
the Extravert's dominant function (E attitude) away from its dominant
identity, then the tertiary function (E attitude) tries to restore their
self-image. When the inferior function (E attitude) pulls the Introvert's
dominant function (I attitude) away from its dominant identity, then the
tertiary function (I attitude) tries to protect their self-image.
The tertiary function can overrule well-developed secondary attitudes in
many circumstances, and 'tertiary rationalizations defend us against
psychological conflict by encouraging a fight-or-light mentality.'
CHAPTER 12: GETTING ALONG WITH OTHER TYPES 'It should be apparent by now that cooperation with other types is not a
matter of following the Golden Rule. If we treat other types the way we
ourselves would like to be treated, the result is likely to be disaster.'
A Thinking type's logic is not the preference for a Feeling type's values,
and vice versa. Types generally do not grasp 'the approach to life a
competing function encourages, the expectation it fosters, the needs it
creates.' 16
CHAPTERS 13-21: A CLOSER LOOK AT THE ATTITUDES AND FUNCTIONS
examine the Extraverted and Introverted Attitudes in detail (Chapter 13),
the eight types with dominant or secondary Perceiving Functions (Chapters 14-17), and
the eight types with dominant or secondary Judging Functions (in Chapters 18-21).
It is significant to see what types are discussed as pairs below. 17
The Perceiving Functions
Chapter 14 Extraverted Sensation - ESTP and ESFP Types
The Judging Functions
Chapter 18 Extraverted Thinking - ESTJ and ENTJ Types
There is an advantage in Lenore Thomson's approach. The sixteen
Personality types are presented in a way that emphasizes the common
Jungian function shared by two types. Instead of eight Jungian Personality
types that have no secondary, we see sixteen types with two different
secondary functions. It was Jung's relative neglect of the auxiliary
function that Katharine Cook Briggs and Isabel Briggs Myers corrected with
their brilliant theory and MBTI instrument. Jung devoted only three pages
to the auxiliary function role. 18 Lenore brings us full circle in a way that is fully compatible with Jung by emphasizing the eight Jungian personality functions that are included in each whole personality type.
Jung's General Description of the Types (Chapter X) covers 77 pages in
Psychological Types. Thomson's book is a hefty 415 pages that does great
credit to Jung's original work. She achieves her success by virtue of many
gifts and skills. Lenore's approach somewhat follows the approach in Jung's book.
For example, in discussing the Extraverted type Jung described
first the Extraverted attitude of Consciousness, second the introverting
character of the unconscious type, third the thinking function in the
extraverted attitude, fourth the extraverted thinking type that forms when
extraverted thinking is excessive, fifth the feeling function, sixth the
extraverted feeling function, seventh a summary of the extraverted
rational types, eighth the sensation function, ninth the extraverted
sensation type, tenth intuition, eleventh the extraverted intuition type,
and twelfth the extraverted irrational types. The Introverted types are
discussed in a similar way. Jung's approach is systematic, with logical
groupings.
Jung makes it clear that the two extraverted rational types (EJ) should be
discussed together because they logically belong together. Thomson
locates them together on the Front Left-Brain based on PET scans. Jung
describes the two extraverted irrational (empirical) types (EP) in terms
of their common traits. Thomson locates the EP empirical types on the
Front Right-Brain. The Two introverted rational types (IJ) and the two
introverted irrational types (IP) also uses the same integrative groupings
of Jung. Thomson's approach to function grouping is very sound and
meaningful, and this contributes the great clarity of her book, which will
be much appreciated by readers.
Conclusions
Lenore Thomson has crafted a masterful book. To her ESTJ father 'who
doubts that type means much of anything', we say it does when explained by
Lenore. To her INFP mother 'who fervently hoped that Lenore would write a
book on the Enneagram', we say she came close. After all, many people are
beginning to be convinced that Jungian type has much in common with
enneagram personality when viewed correctly.
In my view the eight Jungian types get an 'enneagram life' by partying in
unusual and 'excessive' ways to bring up the inferior on a regular basis.
To her ENFP husband 'who can't believe I'd invest so much time in one
project', we say your marriage survived those long years - but the payoff
is that hundreds of couple's relationships will, with the help of this fine
book, be helped for years by a few hours reading; it's a true labor of love.
To Jungian analyst Aryeh Maidenbaum, Ph.d, we say thank you for this first
book in Shambhala's Jung-on-the-Hudson Series. To quote you from the
Foreword, 'Lenore Thomson has given us a rare gift. This book will close
the door to such arguments that one need be a particular type or from a
specific field to understand, appreciate, and most important, apply Jung's
concepts of type to daily life and professional activities.'
[Editor's note - See also 'A Conversation with Lenore Thomson Bentz' in the second issue of 'The Enneagram and the MBTI'.]
1.Lenore Thomson, Personality Type - An Owner's Manual, A Practical
Guide to Understanding Yourself and Others Through Typology, Shambhala,
1998, 415 pages.
back to text
2.Walter Geldart, What's New In Type and Temperament, Issue 3, The
Enneagram and the MBTI, October 1998.
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3.Naomi Quenk, Beside Ourselves - Our Hidden Personalities in Everyday
Life, Davis Black, 1993, 292 pages.
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4.Thomson, Op. Cit, pp.4-5.
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5.Aryeh Maidenbaum, Op. Cit, Foreword, page xi.
6.Thomson, Op. Cit, page 26.
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7.Thomson, Op. Cit. pp.27, 30.
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8.Thomson, Op. Cit. pp. 34, 35.
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9.Thomson, Op. Cit. pp. 46, 49.
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10.Thomson, Op. Cit. pp. 59, 60, 65, 67.
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11. Thomson, Op. Cit. pp. 69.
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12.Thomson, Op. Cit. pp. 78, 79.
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13.Thomson, Op. Cit. pp. 86-95.
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14.W. J. Geldart, The Process Enneagram of Consciousness and RHETI Data,
Issue 3, EMBTI .
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15. Thomson, Op. Cit. pp. 99,106, 110.
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16. Thomson, Op. Cit. pp. 114-115.
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17. Thomson, Op. Cit., pp. 145-365.
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18. C. G. Jung, The Collected Works, Volume 6, Princeton/Bollingen, 1990,
pp. 330-407.
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