Psychological Functions

The four psychological functions — thinking, feeling, sensation, intuition — are the structural axes of Jung’s typology, set out systematically in Psychological Types (CW 6) and first diagrammed in [[jung-red-book|The Red Book]] as the 1913 Elijah–Salome–serpent cross. Each function has a directed valence (introverted or extraverted), a differentiated pole (the dominant function, consciously available), and an undifferentiated opposite (the inferior function, remaining in the unconscious and often carrying archetypal charge).

The four functions are the native form of the quaternity in individual psychology: the mandala of consciousness. Differentiation of the fourth — the inferior function — is the signature task of the second half of life, because it requires the ego to integrate what it has most strongly excluded. See four-functions-quaternity and auxiliary-function.

Relationships

• carl-jung
• four-functions-quaternity
• quaternity
• inferior-function-as-fairy-tale-fourth