The instinctive introvert is ruled by his emotions and impulses. These form the subjective side of instinctual life, just as sensation represents its objective side. The attention of the introvert is not directed primarily to the source of sensation (as communicated to {31} him through his sense-organs), but to its so-called “feeling-toneâ€, and to his own impulses. It depends upon the extent to which he is stirred, whether a given experience will make a big impression on him, not upon the intensity of the sensation itself. This aspect of susceptibility to emotion may occasionally, under certain conditions, prevail in anyone, but here it dominates all the other functions. Inherited disposition and early experience have produced a certain susceptibility to impressions and a certain need for emotional experience, and in these cases the whole mental life is directed by these two factors. Adjustment along these lines may, under favourable circumstances, provide for such people a satisfying existence, so long as these needs are met. Since in most cases there is little external evidence of this inner satisfaction, the lives of these people may sometimes appear to others as anything but happy, arousing compassion, for which there is no real reason.
Children of this type are frequently noted for a certain gentleness and receptiveness, but also for periods of timidity and monosyllabic reserve. There is something a little vague and passive about them. They are attached to people in their environment who are kind to them. They love nature, animals, beautiful things, and an environment with which they have become familiar. Anything strange or new has at first no attraction for them; but they offer little active resistance to it and soon learn to accept the good in it. They are often friendly and easy to get on with, but a little lazy and impersonal. When older, too, these people usually give an outward impression of being reserved, quiet, and somewhat passive. Only in rare cases, for example, in artists, does the distinctive and personal quality of their inner emotion come to expression. In other cases, however, their whole behavior reveals their peculiar characteristics, although it is not easy to define these.
People of this type have well-developed sense-organs, but they are particularly receptive to anything having lasting value for human instinctual needs. This lends to their lives a certain solid comfort, although it may lead to somewhat ponderous caution, if instinct becomes too deeply attached to all kinds of minor details. The advantages and disadvantages of this type are well brought out in the reserved and conservative farmer, with his care for his land and his beasts, and his tendency to carry on everything, down to the smallest detail, in the same old way. The same is true of the sailor. He also shows a passive resistance to anything new, which can only be overcome by absolutely convincing experience. Other examples of this type are the naturalist, devotedly observing in minutest detail the lives of plants and animals, the lonely collector of beautiful {32} or interesting things, the worker in applied art, and the painter, who manage to express a deep experience in the presentation of ordinary things. In their own field these people are usually very much at home, having a good mastery of the technical side of their calling, but without regarding this as any special merit. They accept both what they can, and what they cannot, do, as simple facts, but they tend on the whole to under-estimate rather than to over-estimate themselves. Pretense and bluff in others may irritate them to the point of protest, which is probably connected with their own difficulty in understanding their own potentialities and worth. These people usually strike one as very quiet and somewhat passive. Except in relation to persons and things in their own immediate sphere, to which they are bound by their instinctual reactions, they show little inclination to activity; they never readily depart from their routine. If anything gets in their way, they put up a peculiarly passive resistance, although under exceptional circumstances there may be an outbreak of wrath. If their environment is not favorable, they will nevertheless try to adapt themselves to it; in such circumstances, they are inclined to regard their emotions, in so far as they differ from other people’s ideas, as morbid. At the same time, they feel extraordinarily helpless and inferior. Or they may turn away from the world and give themselves up entirely to their own emotions. Where this is the case, they see any adaptation to other people as a mere pretense, and may develop remarkable skill in belittling the motives and ideals of others.
The development of reason also follows the same lines here as the general attitude to life. Facts are its point of departure, and particularly certain fundamental facts, which are subjected to exact and thorough investigation. Observations and ideas are matter-of-fact and clear. There is nothing contemplative about people of this type. Moreover, they prefer to stick to the familiar, and find it difficult to adopt anything new. This is connected with their need to see things in a clear setting. If they can bring themselves to accept anything new, they tend to occupy themselves with it until it has become absolutely clear to them. Here is revealed the obstinacy of instinct, with its ever-renewed attack until it has learned to control its object. Circumstances, however, have to be favorable. In more abstract matters, they find it difficult to form an opinion of their own, and follow those authorities {33} which, by a knowledge of facts, give them the impression of being thorough. Even so, they do not feel any confidence, and are easily upset if drawn into discussion in this field, or if the value of their authorities is questioned. On the other hand, they have few prejudices, and their view of things is calm and temperate.
Feeling may also make itself felt here, in which case it is, by the influence of instinct, attached to concrete objects. But the emphasis does not rest on the object, as with the extravert of this type, but on its feeling-tone, on the reactions of the subjective personality. Here there is something compulsive in the reaction. It appears as something unalterable, and the feelings which arise therefrom are also experienced as something unavoidable, and are accepted with a certain fatalism. The attitude is, “I was born that way, and I cannot change my natureâ€. As a result, those people and circumstances are sought out which are congenial to them, and no attempt at adaptation is made if this search is not immediately successful. Feelings are therefore specially developed within a personal sphere to which the individual is attached and which reminds him of home. Within such a sphere, these people may occasionally be able to emanate a certain warmth and cosiness around themselves, and their love is frequently concentrated on beautiful things and on animals within this sphere. If they do not succeed in creating such a personal sphere for themselves, they may become very depressed and unhappy. In the realm of sex their feelings are strongly colored by sensual manifestations, with the result that they may become deeply attached to the object of their attraction. This predominance of the sexual instinct causes sexual attraction to play a larger part in their sentimental relationships with the opposite sex than is the case with people of other types. Masculinity and femininity are accordingly strongly emphasized in the emotional life of such people.
As regards intuition, it is a concept which this type of instinctive individual also finds very difficult to grasp, and he regards its activity in others with misgiving. He cannot take it seriously. At the same time, the intuitive views of leading spirits on matters, for example, of religion and politics are accepted by him, provided they appear in traditional form. The somewhat passive attitude towards life of these people then exerts an influence, in that factors of predestination and fate are likely to play a large part in their philosophy. This latter is not much affected by their personal life, since abstract vision and practical adaptation are for them two entirely different things. This lack of a comprehensive {34} vision, and their introversion, stand in the way of a satisfactory external adaptation. They are less able than the extraverts of this type to make use of helpful circumstances, and in this respect they have, as a rule, to get help from others, who, recognizing their good qualities, manage to find an environment for them where these can come to expression.
