In his book Psychological Types, Swiss psychologist Carl G. Jung suggested that we can sort typical mental habits among opposite poles of three personality dimensions. The first and perhaps most
pervasive dimension pertains to the primary source and direction of a person’s energy. According to Jung’s theory, the primary direction of psychological energy is focused toward either the outer
world or the inner world. Jung used the terms extroversion and introversion to describe this distribution of energy. The second dimension, which he referred to as a mental or cognitive function, has to do with how we perceive information and what kind of information is initially attractive to us. The two poles of this dimension are sensing, a preference for sensory data that we recognize via our five senses, and intuition, a preference for relational, abstract data that we recognize via our intuition. Jung’s third dimension, also referred to as a mental or cognitive function, pertains to our typical patterns for making decisions or judgments about the information we have perceived. One pattern, thinking, involves decisions based
on interest in and attention to an object with cause-and-effect
analysis. The other pattern, feeling, involves equally rational decisions
based on personal values and relational impact.
