{"id":1834,"date":"2013-04-14T00:51:44","date_gmt":"2013-04-14T00:51:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.idrlabs.com\/articles\/?p=1834"},"modified":"2020-06-20T22:38:55","modified_gmt":"2020-06-20T22:38:55","slug":"jung-identified-adler-as-both-introverted-and-extroverted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.idrlabs.com\/articles\/2013\/04\/jung-identified-adler-as-both-introverted-and-extroverted\/","title":{"rendered":"Jung identified Adler as both Introverted and Extroverted"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Jung\u2019s Early Statement on Adler\u2019s Type<\/strong><\/p>\n

In Psychological Types<\/em> (1921), Jung makes the following statements on Adler\u2019s type:<\/p>\n

\u201cFreud would like to ensure the undisturbed flow of instinct towards its object; Adler would like to break the baleful spell of the object in order to save the ego from suffocating in its own defensive armour. Freud\u2019s view is essentially extraverted, Adler\u2019s introverted. The extraverted theory holds good for the extraverted type, the introverted theory for the introverted type.\u201d (\u00a791)<\/p>\n

In other words, according to Jung, Adler is an introvert and Freud is an extrovert<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Jung\u2019s Later Statements on Adler\u2019s Type<\/strong><\/p>\n

However, it soon appeared to onlookers that Adler wasn\u2019t really an introvert in any meaningful sense. (And certainly, Adler wasn\u2019t afraid to have his ego consciousness overwhelmed by the force of external objects in the way that is so characteristic of Jungian introverts.)<\/p>\n

Later in life, in 1941, Jung addressed this question in a private letter to Robert Loeb (to our knowledge, Jung never strove to correct his prior assertion of Adler as an introvert in public, but this could well be because of the fact that Jung\u2019s later public work didn\u2019t deal with typology).\u00a0 Here Jung says the following of Adler\u2019s type:<\/p>\n

“I discriminate between the ordinary ego-consciousness of the man and his creative personality. Very often there is a striking difference. Personally a creative man can be an introvert, but in his work he is an extravert, and vice versa. \u2026 Adler, whom I met as a young man, being of my age, gave me the impression of a neurotic introvert, in which case there is always the doubt as to the definite type. \u2026 Freud as well as Adler underwent a change in their personal type. \u2026<\/p>\n

Adler, I suppose, was never a real introvert, therefore as soon as he had a certain success he began to develop an extraverted behavior. But in his creative work he had the outlook of an introvert. The power complex which both of them had showed in Freud\u2019s personal attitude, where it belonged. In Adler\u2019s case it became his theory, where it did not belong. This meant an injury to his creative aspect.” (Jung: Letters<\/em>, vol. 1, Princeton University Press 1973, p. 301).<\/p>\n

So here at this later date, Adler-the-man <\/em>is extroverted, while Adler\u2019s theory<\/em> is introverted. As in the case of Freud<\/a>, Jung thought that Adler had changed his type, or possibly that he had gotten his assessment of Adler wrong the first time around. We leave it to the reader to decide.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

However, later still, in 1955, Adler was introvert again, when Jung was asked about it in an interview.<\/strong><\/p>\n

C.G. Jung, quoted in C.G. Jung Speaking p. 257, Princeton University Press 1987:<\/em><\/p>\n

Interviewer: “You’re an introvert … and Adler?”<\/p>\n

Jung: “Adler is equally introverted.”<\/p>\n

So to sum up Jung’s statements on Adler’s type:<\/strong><\/p>\n