Somatic Typology

Physiological typology endeavours first and foremost to ascertain the outward physical features by means of which individuals can be classified and their residual qualities examined. Kretschmer's researches have shown that the physiological peculiarities may determine the psychic conditions.

Jung distinguishes physiological (somatic) typology from psychological typology, granting that bodily features can determine psychic conditions while arguing that psychological typology works from inner principles rather than outward characteristics.

Jung, Carl Gustav, The Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche, 1960thesis

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There have also been attempts to link the eight Jungian function-attitudes and sixteen MBTI type profiles to a new notion of temperament (Keirsey & Bates, 1984; Berens, 1998), Sheldon's body types (Arraj & Arraj, 1988), the DSM-IV personality disorders (Ekstrom, 1988).

Beebe documents integrative attempts to correlate Jungian typological frameworks with somatic constitutional typologies such as Sheldon's body types, situating somatic typology within a broader interdisciplinary project.

Beebe, John, Energies and Patterns in Psychological Type: The Reservoir of Consciousness, 2017supporting

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Jung's began as a typology of temperament and developed over a period of years into one of consciousness. The core idea of Jung's typology is that there are four

Beebe traces the developmental arc of Jungian typology from temperament — a category with constitutional and somatic resonances — toward a fully psychological typology of consciousness.

Beebe, John, Energies and Patterns in Psychological Type: The Reservoir of Consciousness, 2017supporting

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In 1921 Jung published a volume describing eight personality typologies, representing the different ways in which we might process reality. His terms introversion and extraversion have entered our common language.

Hollis situates Jungian typology as a system for categorizing reality-processing styles, implicitly distinguishing it from somatic classification while acknowledging the same underlying project of mapping human difference.

Hollis, James, The Middle Passage: From Misery to Meaning in Midlife, 1993supporting

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Half of the analysts who replied found typology helpful in clinical practice and three-quarters thought that typology is of importance to Jungian psychology.

Samuels reports clinical survey data affirming typology's ongoing relevance in Jungian practice, providing context for understanding how somatic and psychological typologies are evaluated by practitioners.

Samuels, Andrew, Jung and the Post-Jungians, 1985supporting

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As Plaut suggested, some post-Jungians are using typology in a different way: to argue various theses about the nature of man and the structure of his psyche.

Samuels identifies a post-Jungian shift in which typology becomes a vehicle for broader theorizing about psychic structure, a move that opens space for somatic considerations to enter the discourse.

Samuels, Andrew, Jung and the Post-Jungians, 1985supporting

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a typology is a great help in understanding the wide variations that occur among individuals, and it also furnishes a clue to the fundamental differences in the psychological theories now current.

Sharp articulates the heuristic and meta-psychological functions of typology, implicitly framing somatic and psychological typologies as parallel tools for ordering human individual difference.

Sharp, Daryl, Personality Types: Jung's Model of Typology, 1987aside

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it would be incorrect to think that typological delimitation, which dealt primarily with doctrine, mood, and style, could be carried out apart from historical reference.

King's methodological argument — that typology cannot be abstracted from its historical ground — offers an analogical caution applicable to somatic typology's risk of decontextualizing constitutional categories.

Karen L. King, What Is Gnosticism?, 2003aside

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