Superior Function

The superior function — also called primary, dominant, or leading — is the function in carl-jung‘s typology most fully differentiated from its unconscious matrix and most reliably available to the will. It is the function the ego trusts and through which the personality has built its adaptation. “Besides the conscious, primary function there is a relatively unconscious, auxiliary function which is in every respect different from the nature of the primary function” (Jung 1921, ¶669).

The superior function names what an individual is good at; the inferior-function names what the same individual cannot help being bad at. The two stand at opposite ends of the typological cross. The hold of the superior over the inferior is structural: when a person tries to meet the fourth, the superior function “like an eagle seizing a mouse, tries to get hold of the inferior function and bring it over into the realm of the main function” (von Franz 1993). The eagle’s seizure is the typical failure of the typological work — an attempted assimilation that domesticates the fourth and forfeits its compensatory power.

The superior function therefore secures adaptation at the cost of one-sidedness. It is the necessary tyranny that midlife is built to undo.

Relationships

• jung-psychological-types
• inferior-function
• carl-jung
• ego
• persona

Primary sources

• jung-psychological-types (Jung 1921, ¶669)
• Psychotherapy (von Franz 1993)