VARIABLES INFLUENCING THE EXPRESSION OF SELF-ESTEEM

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CHAPTER 3: PERSONALITY PREFERENCES

This chapter focuses on the construct of personality preferences as a variable that influences the employability of individuals. Personality preferences will be discussed within the context of the paradigmatic perspective of Analytical Psychology and more specifically from the vantage point of the personality type theory of Carl Jung (1921, 1959, 1971, 1990) and the personality type theory conceptualised by Myers and Briggs (Myers, 1987). The aim is to determine which aspects of personality make certain individuals more employable than others. This is in line with step 2 of phase 1 of the research method as identified in chapter 1 of this study.
This chapter also aims to address the second literature review research aim, which is to theoretically conceptualise the construct of personality preferences as a career meta-competency. This chapter therefore focuses on explaining the concept of personality preferences by exploring the basic literature and research on personality and personality preferences. An integrated model of personality preferences from the Analytical Psychology perspective is proposed in order to explain the theoretical relationship between the variables of personality preferences, self-esteem, emotional intelligence and employability attributes. In addition, the theoretical research implications for career counselling and the field of Industrial and Organisational Psychology are discussed.

THEORETICAL MODELS

Two theories of personality are discussed, namely Jung’s (1971) theory of psychological types and the Myers-Briggs (Myers 1987) theory of personality type. In the following section, use was made of the account by Coetzee (2005).

Jung’s theory of psychological types

Jung (1921, 1959, 1971, 1990) used information from a wide spectrum of disciplines such as psychology, psychiatry, theology, philosophy, biology, physics, chemistry, archaeology, literature, history, anthropology and mythology in order to understand the psychological functioning of an individual. Furthermore, Jung’s (1971) theory of personality is very influential and complex (Feist & Feist, 2009; Meyer, Moore, & Viljoen, 1997). Jung (1921, 1959, 1971) recognised three dimensions in any person. Firstly, there is the psychological dimension, which postulates that all physical aspects (such as breathing, hunger, thirst and sex) are important for the survival of any human being. Secondly, there is the social dimension, which includes interaction with other people. Lastly, there is the psychic dimension, which includes the acceptance and rejection of irrational experiences. Irrational experiences are any experiences that cannot be explained by human beings. Jung (1921) developed three dimensions by which to explore individual cognitive styles. These included:
(i) the manner in which an individual approaches life, (ii) the manner in which an individual becomes aware of the world and, lastly, (iii) the manner in which an individual comes to a conclusion about the world (Higgs, 2001). Jung’s (1921,1959, 1971) theory is based on dichotomies. The dichotomies will be discussed in greater detail in the sections that follow.
Figure 3.1 outlines the dichotomies of Jung’s (1971) theory. Jung (1971) suggested that every individual has an inborn, natural preference for one of the opposites on each of the first three dichotomies. Myers (1987) added the Judging-Perceiving dichotomy to the theory.

Basic assumptions

Jung (1921) articulated various assumptions during the development of his personality theory framework. These assumptions include the following:
Each opposite pole in the dichotomy is important and at times essential in its own area of operation. All types can deal successfuly with life in general and with life in their own areas of potential talent in particular (Myers, McCaulley, Quenk & Hammer, 2003).
All types are required in a multifaceted world that relies on diversity and specialisation to progress towards important personal and societal goals (Myers et al., 2003).
True preferences exist and can be more effectively identified in persons with a good type development than in persons with an inadequate type development. However, any measure of preferences must optimise the probability that people who are unsure about their preference will be correctly assigned to their type (Myers et al., 2003).
Any person can directly or indirectly indicate their preference on a self-report inventory (Myers et al., 2003).
Past experiences, and expectations about the future, influence behaviour and personality (Higgs, 2001).
Individuals are able to develop constantly and creatively (Higgs, 2001).
Personality is an open system and is receptive to inputs and exchanges (Higgs, 2001).

The structure of personality

Jung (1921, 1959, 1971) believed that every individual is motivated both by their personal experiences and by emotionally toned experiences from the past. Jung (1921, 1959, 1971) labelled these past experiences the collective unconscious, which he considered to include those elements that we have never experienced ourselves but which have come down to us from our ancestors. Jung (1921, 1959, 1971) noted furthermore that some elements of the collective unconscious are highly developed; he referred to these as the archetypes. Quenk (1993) described the archetypes as universal human experiences and patterns of responses to experencies such as birth, death, mother, father and hero. These archetpyes unite humans and their ancestors and provide a vital link to the past, present and future of individuals as a species. The most inclusive archetype is the notion of self-realisation. Self-realisation can only be achieved by attaining a balance between various contrasting forces of personality. Jung’s (1921, 1959, 1971) theory is thus a theory of opposites. People are both extraverts and introverts, rational and irrational, male and female, conscious and unconscious and while they are pushed by past events they are also pulled by future expectations.
(a) Conscious
According to Jung (1921, 1959, 1971), the centre of one’s field of consciousness is the ego and consciousness is essential for the development of the ego. The ego is what humans refer to as the ―I‖ and includes all conscious aspects of functioning, including sensations, observations, feelings, thoughts, evaluations and memory. The ego is not the whole personality, but must be complemented by the more comprehensive self, the centre of personality that is largely unconscious. In a psychologically healthy person, the unconscious self takes the primary position and the ego takes the secondary position. The consciousness therefore plays a small role in analytical psychology, and an overemphasis on expanding one’s conscious psyche may lead to a psychological imbalance. It therefore seems that psychologically healthy individuals are in contact with their conscious world while also allowing themselves to experience their unconscious selves. This helps them achieve individuation. Individuation is a process whereby a person becomes a complete individual, in other words, unique and different from other individuals or groups. The individuation process is a lifelong process and involves the gradual integration of unconscious elements into consciousness (Quenk, 1993).
The ego functions within an internal and an external world (Jung, 1960; Meyer et al., 1997). In external functioning, the ego helps the individual to structure reality through the senses and therefore to facilitate interaction with the external world. It is the ego that not only enables an individual to recognise the physical and social world, but also to function within the physical and social world. When functioning within the internal world, the ego structures a person’s self-recognition in order to give the person an individual identity (Quenk, 1993).
(b) Personal unconscious
Every individual has a unique personal unconscious, which is seen as the personal store for individual experiences and interactions with the world as well as the interpretations of these experiences. It therefore houses all the forgotten memories, all the respressed and unacceptable desires, thoughts, feelings, experiences and impulses (McGuiness, Izard, & McCrossin, 1992). The content of the personal unconscious is usually accessible to the conscious and a continuous interaction takes place between the personal unconscious and the ego. However, some images in the personal unconscious can be accessed easily, whereas others can be recalled only with difficulty or may not even be recalled at all, therefore may be beyond the reach of the consious mind (Jung, 1921, 1959, 1971; Meyer, Moore, & Viljoen, 1997).
The contents of the personal unconscious are referred to as complexes. A complex is an emotionally toned mass of connected ideas. For example, a person’s experience with the father may become grouped around an emotional core so that the person’s own father, or even the word ―father‖ triggers an emotional response that blocks the smooth flow of thought. Complexes are usually personal, but it is possible that they may be partly derived from humanity’s collective experience. In the example, the father complex stems not only from an individual’s personal experience but also from all human experience with the father figure. In addition, the father complex is partly formed by a person’s conscious image of a father. Therefore, complexes may be partly conscious and may stem from both the personal and the collective unconscious (Jung 1928, 1960).
(c) Collective unconscious
In contrast to the personal unconscious, which is the product of individual experiences, the collective unconscious is the product of the inherited experiences of the entire human species. It is a sort of blueprint which is not individual but rather universal for all humanity and is therefore more or less the same for people in all cultures (Jung 1921, 1959).
The contents of the collective unconscious do not remain concealed; the collective unconscious is rather active and has an influence on a person’s thoughts, emotions and reactions. The collective unconscious does not mean that people inherit ideas from the past, but rather that any human has an inborn tendency to react in a particulary way whenever their experiences stimulate a biologically inherited response tendency. In other words, humans come into the world with inherited predispositions to act or react in a particular way if their present experiences touch on these biologically based predispositions. According to Jung (1921, 1959), people have as many of these inherited tendencies as they have typical situations in life. Numerous repetitions of these situations made them part of the human biological creation. In the beginning, they are forms without content which merely represent the possibility of a certain type of perception and action. As more and more repititions occur, they develop into independent archetypes.
Archetypes are ancient or archaic images that derive from the collective unconscious (Jung, 1921, 1959). They are similar to complexes in that they are emotionally toned collections of associated images. However, archetypes are universal and originate from the contents of the collective unconscious whereas complexes are individualised components of the personal unconscious. Archetypes themselves cannot be directly represented, but when  activated, they express themselves through several mediums, such as dreams, fantasies and delusions (Jung, 1921, 1959).
Although many archetypes exist, only a few have developed to the point where they can be conceptualised. The most notable of these include the persona, the shadow, the anima, the animus, the great mother, the wise old man, the hero and the self. The persona is the side of personality that people show to the world. The shadow represent the archetype of darkness and repression. It relates to those qualities that people do not wish to acknowledge and attempt to hide from others and even from themselves. Jung (1921, 1959, 1971) believed that all humans are psychologically bisexual and therefore possess both a masculine and a feminine side. The feminine side of men originates in the collective unconscious as an archetype and remains very resistant to entering the conscious mind. A very small proportion of men become well acquainted with their anima because it requires great courage to do so; it is even more difficult than becoming familiar with their shadow.
The masculine archetype in women is called the animus. The anima represents irrational moods and feelings, while the animus symbolises thinking and reasoning. The great mother and the wise old man are derivatives of the anima and the animus. Every individual (man and woman) possesses a great mother archetype. The concept of the great mother is seen as both positive (fertility and nourishment) and negative (power and destruction). The wise old man archetype is seen as wisdom and meaning, as well as deceptiveness, and symbolises human preexisting knowledge of the mysteries of life. The hero is an unconscious image of a person who conquers an evil enemy but who also has a tragic flaw. Finally, Jung believed that each person has an inherited tendency to move towards growth, perfection and completion, which is the self and the true centre of the personality (Jung, 1954). This structure of the psyche is visually displayed in Figure 3.2:

Development of personality

According to Jung (1956), personality develops through a series of stages that result in individuaiton, or self-realisation. Jung (1956) focused on the period after age 35–40, when an individual has the opportunity to bring together the different aspects of personality and to achieve self-realisation. However, the potential for disintegration or rigid reactions is also present during this time. The psychological health of middle-aged people is associated with their ability to achieve a balance between the poles of the various opposing processes. This ability is proportional to the success achieved in journeying through the previous stages of life (Jung, 1956).
(a) Self-actualisation
Self-actualisation is a very rare phenomenon and is only achieved by a handful of individuals. Self-actualisation is reached when a person is able to incorporate their unconscious into their total personality. Self-actualised people are able to assert both their external and their internal worlds (Jung, 1959).
(b) Stages of personality development
Jung (1969) grouped the stages of life into four general periods, namely childhood, youth, middle life and old age. Jung (1931, 1960) argued that values, ideals and modes of behaviour suitable for the early part of life are not suitable for the second part of life. People must therefore learn to find new meaning in their declining years.
(i) Childhood
Childhood can be divided into three substages, namely the (1) anarchic, (2) monarchic and (3) dualistic stages. The anarchic phase is typically characterised by chaotic and sporadic consciousness. ―Islands of consciousness‖ may exist, but there is no link between the islands. Experiences of this stage may at times enter the consciousness as a primitive image, but are not accurately verbalised (Jung, 1960).
The monarchic phase is characterised by the development of the ego. This is also the stage during which logical and verbal thinking begins. During this stage, children see themselves objectively and may refer to themselves in the third person. The island of consciousness becomes larger and more islands appear. A primitive ego is present on these islands. Although the ego is recognised as an object, it is not yet aware of itself as the perceiver (Jung, 1960).
The ego as the perceiver only arises during the dualistic phase of childhood. The ego is then divided into the objective and the subjective. Children are now aware of their existence as separate individuals and refer to themselves in the first person. During this stage, the islands of consciousness become a continuous land, inhabited by an ego-complex that recognises itself as both object and subject (Jung, 1960).
(ii) Youth
This stage extends from puberty to midlife. Young people strive towards independence from their parents, find a partner, start a family and make their own place in the world. It is characterised by a period of increased activity, maturing sexuality, growing consciouness and also the realisation that the problem-free stage of childhood is now over. Jung also identified the conservative principle, which is the desire of a person to live in the past because he or she is clinging to childhood. A middle-aged or eldery person who is trying to hold onto their youthful values faces a crippled second half of life. They will be unable to achieve full self-realisation and will be unable to establish new goals and to seek new meaning in life (Jung, 1960; Myers & Kirby, 1994).
(iii) Midlife
According to Jung (1960), midlife begins at approximately 35 or 40 years of age. Their advancing age can cause middle-aged people a lot of anxiety, but this is also a period of great opportunity. If middle-aged people hang onto the social and moral values of their early life, they may become rigid and fanatical in trying to hold onto their physical attractiveness. This phase is characterised by the expansion of the conscious through new experiences and knowledge. The focus furthermore shifts from the conscious to the unconscious. Individuals in this phase typically begin to pay attention to those inner aspects of themselves which they had previously neglected. Their task in this phase is to gain insight into those dimensions of themselves of which they had been unaware of (Jung, 1960).
(iv) Old age
According to Jung (1960), this stage begins at approximately 60 or 65 years of age. During this phase, the individual has a great opportunity for individuation. Because these individuals have experienced a lot of situations during the stages they have passed through, they develop a balance or harmony by reconciling the opposite forces. This harmony (and thus self-realisation) also arises from the reconciliation of the opposites of life and death (Jung, 1960).

Theory of psychological type

Apart from the levels of psyche and the dynamics of personality, Jung (1960) also recognised various psychological types that grow out of a union of two basic attitudes which include introversion and extraversion, as well as four different functions, including thinking, feeling, sensing and intuiting.
(a) Attitudes
Attitude is a tendency to act or react in a characteristic direction (Jung, 1921, 1971). Every individual has both an introverted and an extraverted attitude, although one of the attitudes may be conscious and the other one unconscious. Introversion and extraversion are opposing forces and serve to complement one another. Jung believed that his theory is balanced and able to accommodate both the objective and the subjective (Feist & Feist, 2009).
(i) Introversion
Introversion is inward psychic energy with a direction towards the subjective. Introverts are oriented into their inner worlds, with all their biases, fantasies, dreams and individualised perceptions. Although introverts do perceive the outer world, they do so very selectively and from their own subjective viewpoint (Jung, 1921, 1971).
(ii) Extraversion
In contrast to introversion, in extraversion the psychic energy is directed outwards towards the objective. Extraverts are more influenced by their surroundings than by their inner world and they tend to focus on the objective attitude rather than on the subjective attitude (Jung, 1921, 1971).
(b) Functions
The psychological type theory proposed by Jung (1921, 1971, 1990) is concerned with the conscious use of the functions of perception and decision making (or judgment), as well as the areas of life in which these functions are used. In addition to having a dominant attitude (introversion or extraversion), each person has a particular way in which he or she observes the world and assigns meaning to each experience. The conscious mental functions that a person uses to assign meaning to something are the two judgment processes (Thinking or Feeling), and the two perception processes (Sensing and Intuition). Introversion and extraversion can both be combined with any or several of the four functions (Jung, 1921, 1971, 1990). These combinations go to make up eight possible orientations or types. The four functions can briefly be defined as follows:
(i) Thinking
Thinking is a judgment function and is the logical intellectual activity that produces a chain of ideas (Feist & Feist, 2009). Dependening on a person’s basic attitude, the thinking may be either introverted or extraverted. Extraverted people typically rely on concrete thoughts, but they may make use of abstract ideas if the ideas have been passed on to them from outside, for example by their teacher or parents (Jung, 1921, 1971). Introverted people react to external stimuli, but the interpretation and meaning they attach to events are based more on the internal meaning they supply themselves than on the facts (Jung, 1921, 1971).
(ii) Feeling
Thinking is also a judgment function and refers to the process of evaluating an idea or event (Jung, 1921, 1971). Feist and Feist (2009) are of the opinion that valuing is a more appropriate word to use as it is less likely to be confused with either sensing or intuiting. For example, when someone says a surface feels smooth, they are using their sensing function. However, when a person says he is feeling lonely today, he is intuiting, not feeling. Feeling should furthermore be distinguished from emotion. Feeling is the evaluation of every conscious acitivity, even activities rated as indifferent. Most of the evalutions have no emotional connotation; however, emotion may be involved if a person increases the intensity to the point of stimulating internal psychological changes (Feist & Feist, 2009).
Extraverted feeling people typically use objective data to make evaluations. They are guided by external values and commonly acceptable standards of judgment rather than by their subjective opinion. They are probably relaxed and comfortable in social situations and typically know what to say, when to say it and how to say it. People usually like extraverted feeling people, but in their attempts to conform to social standards, they may appear to be shallow, fake and unreliable (Jung, 1921, 1971). In contrast, introverted feeling people tend to base their value judgments on subjective perceptions rather than objective facts. These people typically ignore traditional opinions and beliefs and other people often feel uncomfortable around them because of their virtual indifference to the objective world (including people) (Jung, 1921, 1971).
(iii) Sensing
Sensing is the function whereby people receive physical stimuli and transmit them to perceptual consciousness. The information received through sensing is not always exactly the same as the physical stimulus, but rather the individual’s perception of the sensory impulses. These perceptions do not depend on logical thinking or feeling; they merely exist because of the unconditional, basic facts within each person. Extraverted sensing people perceive the external stimuli very objectively, very much as they exist in reality. Their sensations are therefore not much influenced by their subjective attitudes (Jung, 1921, 1971). Introverted sensing people are greatly influenced by their subjective sensations. They are guided by their interpretations of the stimuli and not by the stimuli themselves (Jung, 1921, 1971).
(iv) Intuiting
Intuition involves perception beyond the working of consciousness. Intuition (like sensing) is based on the perception of total basic facts, ones that provide the raw material for thinking and feeling. However, intuition differs from sensing in that it is more creative, often adding or subtracting elements from conscious sensation. Extraverted intuitive people tend to be oriented towards facts in the external world. They merely perceive the facts subliminally, rather than fully sensing them. Because strong sensory stimuli interfere with intuition, intuitive people suppress many of their sensations and are directed by hunches and guesses that are contrary to the sensory data (Jung, 1921, 1971). Introverted intuitive people are guided by the unconscious perception of facts that are practically subjective and bear little or no resemblance to external reality. Their subjective intuitive perceptions are often extremely strong and capable of motivating decisions to a great degree. Jung believed that introverted intuitive people may not understand their own motivations, but they are nevertheless intensely encouraged by them (Jung, 1921, 1971).
Jung (1921, 1971, 1990) refers to Thinking and Feeling as rational functions because they involve evaluation. In contrast, Sensing and Intuition are referred to as irrational functions as they involve passively recording, but not interpreting experience.
The four functions typically appear in a hierarchy, where one function occupies a superior or dominant position, a second function occupies a secondary position and the other two functions occupy inferior positions. Most people develop only one function, so they typically approach a situation relying on their dominant or superior function. Some people develop two functions but very few develop three. Only a person who has theoretically achieved self-realisation or individuation would have all four functions highly developed (Feist & Feist, 2009). Figure 3.2 illustrates the four functions, which are like the points of a compass, with the self in the centre facing a given direction, but with all four points being used as guides (Jung, 1971).
Jung (1921, 1959, 1971) based his theory on clinical observations and consequently portrays each mental process in the sharpest focus and with maximum contrast between extraverted and introverted forms.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION 
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 
SUMMARY 
CHAPTER 1 : SCIENTIFIC OVERVIEW OF THE RESEARCH
1.1BACKGROUND TO AND MOTIVATION FOR THE RESEARCH
1.2PROBLEM STATEMENT
1.3AIMS OF THE RESEARCH
1.4STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE
1.5RESEARCH MODEL
1.6PARADIGMATIC PERSPECTIVE OF THE RESEARCH
1.7RESEARCH DESIGN
1.8RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
1.9CHAPTER DIVISION
1.10CHAPTER SUMMARY
CHAPTER 2: METATHEORETICAL FRAMEWORK: THE CONTEMPORARY EMPLOYMENT CONTEXT
2.1THE CHANGING EMPLOYMENT CONTEXT
2.2INDIVIDUAL ACCOUNTABILITY AS A RESPONSE TO THE CHANGING CONTEXT
2.3TOWARDS A CAREER META-COMPETENCY MODEL FOR SUSTAINED EMPLOYABILITY
2.4CONCLUSION
2.5CHAPTER SUMMARY
CHAPTER 3: PERSONALITY PREFERENCES
3.1THEORETICAL MODELS
3.2VARIABLES INFLUENCING THE EXPRESSION OF PERSONALITY PREFERENCES
3.3EVALUATION
3.4IMPLICATIONS FOR CAREER COUNSELLING
3.5THEORETICAL INTEGRATION
3.6CHAPTER SUMMARY
CHAPTER 4: SELF-ESTEEM
4.1CONCEPTUAL FOUNDATIONS
4.2THEORETICAL MODELS
4.3VARIABLES INFLUENCING THE EXPRESSION OF SELF-ESTEEM
4.4EVALUATION
4.5IMPLICATIONS FOR CAREER COUNSELLING
4.6THEORETICAL INTEGRATION
4.7CHAPTER SUMMARY
CHAPTER 5: EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
5.1CONCEPTUAL FOUNDATIONS
5.2THEORETICAL MODELS
5.3VARIABLES INFLUENCING EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
5.4EVALUATION
5.5IMPLICATIONS FOR CAREER COUNSELLING
5.6THEORETICAL INTEGRATION
5.7CHAPTER SUMMARY
CHAPTER 6: EMPLOYABILITY ATTRIBUTES
6.1CONCEPTUAL FOUNDATIONS
6.2THEORETICAL MODELS
6.3VARIABLES INFLUENCING EMPLOYABILITY ATTRIBUTES
6.4EVALUATION
6.5IMPLICATIONS FOR CAREER COUNSELLING
6.6THEORETICAL INTEGRATION
6.7CHAPTER SUMMARY
CHAPTER 7: EMPIRICAL RESEARCH
7.1DETERMINATION AND DESCRIPTION OF THE SAMPLE
7.2CHOOSING AND JUSTIFYING THE CHOICE OF THE PSYCHOMETRIC
7.3ADMINISTRATION OF THE PSYCHOMETRIC BATTERY
7.4SCORING OF THE PSYCHOMETRIC BATTERY
7.5FORMULATION OF RESEARCH HYPOTHESES
7.6STATISTICAL PROCESSING OF THE DATA
7.7CHAPTER SUMMARY
CHAPTER 8: RESEARCH RESULTS
8.1DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS
8.2CORRELATIONAL STATISTICS
8.3INFERENTIAL AND MULTIVARIATE STATISTICS
8.4CONCLUSIONS REGARDING THE RESEARCH HYPOTHESES
8.5INTEGRATION AND DISCUSSION
8.6CHAPTER SUMMARY
CHAPTER 9: CONCLUSIONS, LIMITATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
9.1Conclusions
9.2LIMITATIONS
9.3RECOMMENDATIONS
9.4EVALUATION OF THE RESEARCH
9.5CHAPTER SUMMARY
RESEARCH
REFERENCES
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