' IDRlabs – Page 32 – Individual Differences Research

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French, German and English Philosophy in Terms of Jungian Type

A classic joke from 1929 about the difference between French, German and English philosophy runs as follows: A Frenchman, an Englishman, and a German each undertook a study of the camel. The Frenchman went to the zoo, spent half an hour there, questioned the staff, threw bread to the camel, poked it with the front[…] Continue Reading

Machiavelli was Actually a Democrat

This post is not so much about Machiavelli’s psychology as it is about his philosophy. This post briefly argues that Machiavelli was a democrat, at least by the standards of his time, and that his foremost contributions to political philosophy was that he stressed conflict within states as something desirable as well as helping to[…] Continue Reading

Why Socrates is ENTP (and anti-social)

In order to discuss Socrates‘ type, there are two things for us to mention before we can start: (1) Socrates never wrote anything himself. Thus, what we do have on him, we have from three sources: Aristophanes, Plato and Xenophon. The puzzle of piecing together a picture of the “true Socrates” from these sources is[…] Continue Reading

Review of the Book: “The Introvert Advantage”

– By a friend of the CT admins – I’ve always been a staunch proponent of evidence-based knowledge and as such it is ironic that psychology has become one of my passions, as the discipline is a veritable minefield of flimsy “discoveries”. The essence of psychology is unscientific speculation which one then seeks to “prove”[…] Continue Reading

The Qualities of Sensing and Intuition

Do you put more stock in facts than in flighty theory and philosophy? Do you prefer to do something every day? Are you results-oriented? Then you are probably Sensing. Or would you rather ignore immediate events in favor of discussing ideas and abstract concepts? Do you find the sports channel boring? Do you have a[…] Continue Reading

Why Karl Marx is INTJ

A dialogue between Ryan (admin) and Aleksey (author of ‘Principles of Typology’): Aleksey: Marx – When he did not hold a job and was supported by Engels led a very non-structured lifestyle and showed few if any tendencies towards an attempt to establish a clear-cut organized schedule. I’d say INTP, not INTJ. Ryan: I think[…] Continue Reading

Jungian Functions at a Glance

In this post we are going to flesh out the difference between the directional Jungian Functions (i.e. ‘Extroverted Sensing’ vs. ‘Introverted Sensing’). Below you will find some defining words about each of the eight functions. Intuition Ne vs. Ni Springy vs. Dogged Cognizant vs. Visionary Including vs. Excluding Observing vs. Envisioning Chromatic vs. Wraith-like Ever-inquisitive[…] Continue Reading

Romantic Matches and Type

Of course it is true that type alone does not in itself determine if two people make a good match. Far from it. The systems detailed here are the ones that have been observed and postulated by professionals in the field. I have heard some people say that they don’t think of Jungian typology as[…] Continue Reading

Why Barack Obama is ENTP

We admit this one is tricky. We understand that many of you believe that Obama is an NF type, but nonetheless we believe that he is an ENTP (and thus, contrary to popular opinion, not a Feeling type). Apart from some Keirsians, who believe that Obama is an INTJ, the majority opinion seems to be[…] Continue Reading

Jung’s Portrait of the ENTJ / ESTJ Types

Jung did not distinguish between the ENTJ and ESTJ types. Instead he focused on what was common to these two types as both were dominated by Extroverted Thinking (Te). Jung has been noted by many to be a forbidding and inaccessible writer and reading him is indeed difficult. Jung’s Portrait of the ENTJ / ESTJ[…] Continue Reading