fei75766_ch04_107-148.indd 143  02/19/20 09:00 AM
Chapter 4    Jung: Analytical Psychology143
service of the point that typing can foster positive feelings, presenting results of a study 
suggesting that parenting is improved when parents think their children belong to a cov -
eted zodiac type (Stein &Swan, 2019).
Allofthese criticisms oftheMBTI havehadlittleifanyimpact onitspopular -
ity.Theabove quote maybe helps usunderstand why.How many ofushavetaken 
“quiz” afterquizthrough ourFacebook orInstagram feeds todetermine which “type” 
of[insert justabout anycharacteristic, from “Game ofThrones” character, todog
owner] weare?Thegeneral public seems toloveaquizthatclaims togetatour“true 
self”andprovide uswithatypewithwhom toidentify. There maybetwohuman ten-
dencies feeding intothepersistence of“MBTI-style thinking” (Stein &Swan, 2019): 
essentialism andthefallacy ofpersonal validation. 
Research onpsychological essentialism shows thatpeople believe thatthings 
havedeep, unobservable essences. Furthermore, themore positive afeature ofper-
sonality is,themore itis“essentialized,” thatis,seenaspartofthetruenature ofwho
someone is(Haslam, Bastian, &Bissett, 2004). Thismayaccount forwhytheMBTI 
issopopular: itsclaims toreveal the“true self”arebolstered byhumans’ belief in
essentialism andthesatisfaction wegetwhen awidely usedtoolconfirms our“true 
type.” After all,none ofthe16types ischaracterized asnegative orimmoral. These 
vague andpositive descriptions ofeachoftheMBTI typedescriptions likely lend
themselves tothefallacy ofpersonal validation (Forer, 1949), where anynumber of
them seems likeitfitsour“true type.”
Critique of Jung
CarlJung’s writings continue tofascinate students ofhumanity. Despite itssubjective 
andphilosophical quality, Jungian psychology hasattracted awideaudience ofboth
professional andlaypeople. Hisstudy ofreligion andmythology mayresonate with
some readers butrepel others. Jung, however, regarded himself asascientist and
insisted thathisscientific study ofreligion, mythology, folklore, andphilosophical 
fantasies didnotmake himamystic anymore thanFreud’s study ofsexmade Freud 
asexual pervert (Jung, 1975).
Nevertheless, analytical psychology, likeanytheory, must beevaluated against 
thesixcriteria ofauseful theory established inChapter 1.First, auseful theory 
must generate testable hypotheses anddescriptive research, andsecond, itmust have
thecapacity foreither verification orfalsification. Unfortunately, Jung’s theory, like
Freud’s, isnearly impossible toeither verify orfalsify. Thecollective unconscious, the
coreofJung’s theory, remains adifficult concept totestempirically.
Much oftheevidence fortheconcepts ofarchetype andthecollective uncon -
scious hascome from Jung’s owninner experiences, which headmittedly found dif-
ficult tocommunicate toothers, sothatacceptance ofthese concepts restsmore on
faiththanonempirical evidence. Jung(1961) claimed that“archetypal statements 
arebased upon instinctive preconditions andhavenothing todowithreason; theyare
neither rationally grounded norcantheybebanished byrational argument” (p.353). 
Such astatement maybeacceptable totheartist orthetheologian, butitisnotlikely 
towinadherents among scientific researchers faced withtheproblems ofdesigning 
studies andformulating hypotheses.Final PDF to printer