Auxiliary Function

The auxiliary functions are the two partially-differentiated functions that flank the superior in carl-jung‘s typology. Their nature must not be opposed to the superior — a thinking type’s auxiliaries are the irrational functions, sensation and intuition, never feeling. They “hardly ever attain the same degree of differentiation as the main function, that is, the same degree of applicability by the will. Accordingly they possess a higher degree of spontaneity than the main function, which displays a large measure of reliability and is amenable to our intentions” (Jung 1959, ¶238, cited in Quenk 2002).

The auxiliary occupies a middle position: more conscious than the inferior-function but less obedient than the superior-function. It is the function through which the ego ordinarily reaches out from its dominant orientation toward what the situation actually requires. The auxiliary widens the cone of competence; it does not, however, supply the compensation that only the fourth can deliver.

Post-Jungian disputes — documented by andrew-samuels in samuels-jung-postjungians — turn on whether the auxiliary is as sharply distinguishable from the superior as Jung claimed. Bradway and Detloff have argued for relaxing the distinction. The doctrinal point survives the dispute: between the function that adapts and the function that compensates lies the function that assists.

Relationships

• jung-psychological-types
• superior-function
• inferior-function
• carl-jung

Primary sources

• jung-psychological-types (Jung 1921, ¶669)
• the-archetypes-and-the-collective-unconscious (Jung 1959, ¶238)
• samuels-jung-postjungians (Samuels 1985)