Cross - Cultural Differences in Temperament among Representatives of Different Cultures

This essay will present a topic about the temperament and its differences among the cultures in order to highlight some interesting and useful details. First of all most common psychological types by C.G. Jung will be presented and commented then some cultural differences will be compared and finally proved by real examples.

In order to understand the cultural differences author of this essay would like to present the main psychological types by C.G. Jung. C.G. Jung's psychological types are not based on set descriptions that real people must be fit into, but on basic elements which, when combined together, can be used to describe the differences among people. A type is a group of characteristics that stands midway between the universal traits common to us all and those which are uniquely our own. For example, we all have eyes. Yet our own eyes are unlike anyone else's. But between these two poles there are groupings of blue-eyed people, brown-eyed people, etc. Types are a bridge between the universal and the particular. Every temperament can be abused in order to deny the universal or the unique in man, but a good temperament is a powerful aid to a deeper understanding of who we are. In psychology, Temperament is the general nature of an individual's personality, such as introversion or extraversion, it derives from the theory of the humours.

The extravert is someone whose energy and attention is directed outward to the people and things in the world around him, and those objects are decisive in the adaptation he makes and the actions he takes. For the extravert, the world around him is the real world and he adapts himself to it. His own inner world is less real to him and a secondary Influence on his conduct.
In contrast, the introvert's energy and attention are directed inwardly. His own inner world is the real world which he adapts himself to and which determines his behavior. He strives to protect this inner world from too strong an influence from the outer world. This outer world is less real for him and therefore of less influence than the inner world. Extraversion and introversion form a pair of opposite basic attitudes to life. Each of us is both extraverted and introverted, for we relate both to the world around us and the world within, but we tend to favor one attitude over the other. In order to deeper understand who we are Jung summarized the 4 functions that describes different kinds of introversion and extraversion.…