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Theories of personality based on a dichotomy of types have consistently appeared in psychology and psychiatry. Such theories are of particular interest to the analytical psychologist, for the concept of type is central to Jung's theory of personality.
This paper sets out some examples of experimental evidence which support the concept of dichotomy in personality, especially the notion of extraversion-introversion which is predominant in Jung's psychology. After presenting the evidence the paper will also try to assess how useful this evidence might be to the analytical psychologist, in that it permits him to formulate or refine concepts which contribute to the treatment of patients. No attempt is made to give a detailed account of the theories of personality, or indeed to present a comprehensive review of the experimental evidence bearing on extraversion-introversion, for this evidence has been reviewed only recently (Carrigan, 1960).
Historically, it seems that the dichotomy of types was first noted by psychiatrists attempting to classify illnesses, and subsequently developed by psychologists in search of some theory of personality.
Eysenck (1947), in the introduction to his book Dimensions of personality, provides a very clear tabulation of the current dichotomous typologies. He classifies them in four groups:
(i) The psychotic types
(ii) The neurotic types
(iii) The personality types
(iv) The constitutional types.
Under psychotic types we have, first, according to Kraepelin (1899), the manic-depressive psychosis in opposition to dementia praecox, and later,