Introverted and Extraverted Thinking Attitudes in Jungian Typology

"The world appears dull and lifeless to the individual who does not know how to channel his energy to outer stimuli" -Carl Jung


For the purposes of this explanation, the Myers-Briggs types culled up for this essay will be INTP and ENTP. The main differences between the types are the attidues of introverted vs. extroverted thinking.

Introverted thinking in the INTP is characterized by abstract, theoretical constructions of reality which serve to the world for the individual. Introverted thinking is impersonal and scientific, it deals with abstract concepts created by modeling the environment at in its essence. For example, the INTP might characterize the outside world as immaterial and not worth getting into, and prefers to delve into theoretical insights far off from perception based reality, or of the senses. This makes the INTP aloof and detached-- with a tendency to be absent minded & unaware of his surroundings.

THe ENTP however is using his/her thinking preferences to define things in the outer world, yet they are colored by the intuition preference just enough so they dont because concrete performers. The ENTP is in touch with his surroundings at all times and tends to diffuse situations with wit and humor. These preferences are unconscious and represent deep ingrained personality traits.

The way for an INTP to become an ENTP is for the subject to channel his thinking proces to his immediate environment. This can be done consciously by defining stimuli that crosses the subject's path. In the INTP the subject is normally unaware of his surroundings because of his penchant for thinking of other things. If he were to start consciously defining his surroundings he would find himself in an entirely different world. Social interaction would now be a peice of cake, tension easily diffused by quick wit and observational humor.

When one is utilizing Extroverted thinking such as in the ENTP, word associations and memories flow from the unconscious freely due to his power of intuition. Introverted thinking is mainly concerned with theoretical abstracts and often oversimplifies the immediate environment. Consequently, the INTP doesn't know how to fit his abstract thoughts into social contexts.

As a condition of the two preferences, two different types of memory are used. In the INTP, the subject remembers his own thought processes the most and stores almost no enviromental cues except for a vague "atmosphere" feeling. Memories of own thought processes can get complicating if reason alone in the situation will not suffice.

The ENTP on the other hand remembers his environment in terms of obervations of connections between people and stimuli.

And that is about as abstract as I'd like to get.