Neither...as usual in type theory, it's how they prefer. Mature people do what a situation calls for. .
How they prefer needs to be explained with greater clarity. It seems to me that you're describing people's natural preferences or internal dispositions rather than behaviors. The type theory that you have in mind is much more similar to the second notion rather than the first. It is a study of cognitive dispositions rather than behavior.
They have these preferences no matter what the context, but mature people again know whether to act on those preferences..
I think it is important to further separate the innate preferences from behaviors that are significantly influenced by nurture. For example, introversion is the innate tendency to be energized by peaceful, low-energy activity, however the preference for being quiet in most conversations is not. The former is generally a result of the innate dispositions, yet the latter often isn't. A person can have a preference for being quiet in a conversation for reasons other than natural introversion. Such reasons could simply be a low self-confidence for example. The natural preference for extroversion would still be exhibited by this person, but in a different manner rather.
In short, prefering to be loud is not a natural preference and isn't typological entity. Its important that we don't confuse preferences people have acquired mostly through experience with preferences of temperament.
T/F doesn't represent how people make judgments but how they prefer to do it...
In the strictest sense, T/F does not even do that. Being empathetical, just like being loud, is not an innate preference, to a great degree, it is learned. What is innate is the tendency to look for structure in the world T or the tendency to be emotive (F). Often in the western culture people with the former learn to become more logical than empathetic, and the vice versa for the latter, however, such preferences are not necessary entailments of temperament. These entailments do happen frequently, however, they must not occur in all cases.
Therefore, your claim should be revised to this: T/F represents how people tend to prefer to make their judgments, or the manner of judging that they naturally gravitate towards in the Western culture.
Clearly, a person who has not been influenced by his culture at all would have neither the ability to make judgments in either fashion described.
And you're spot on that many people use type theory without ever grasping this basic tenant--it doesn't predict or even describe behavior but preferences....
Yes, though again, we have to be very careful by what we mean by preferences. If the preferences in question are such as being loud over quiet or being logical over being emotiononal, MBTI type does not describe that either. It only describes the natural preference towards forming such preferences.
If one is looking at a toddler, one might see the innate preferences. ....
Thank you for using the term 'innate preference', it clarifies your position significantly.
They aren't under conscious control.....
Yes, that is the definition of type as I conceived of it in Principles of Typology, or solidified cognitive habits that are upheld in a person's psyche without his conscious maintenance; such habits are also likely innate to a high degree.
Maturity is about sound development of a perceiving function and a judging function, and then moving to developing the less preferred ones so as to have access to them when a situation calls for it......
A person who is mature, or cognitively developed in the Jungian sense, unlike the person who is immature; comfortably shifts from a naturally preferred function to a less preferred. In fact developing a function could be defined as simply becoming more comfortable using it or overcoming a natural discomfort one previously had for that cognitive faculty.