Attitude

## 1. Etymology

**Attitude** names a **readiness of the psyche to act or react in a certain way**—expectation with selective direction. Related: [typology](/index/typology/); [introversion](/index/introversion/); [extraversion](/index/extraversion/); the four function-attitudes.

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## 2. Plain summary

**Attitude** is how the psyche is already poised before a content arrives. Habitual attitude orients the whole psychology of a person; when a function predominates, a typical attitude appears (thinking, feeling, sensation, intuitive). Collective “-isms” can stamp social attitudes that outweigh the individual ones. Attitude is not identical with [affect](/index/affect/), though a strongly feeling-toned content can hold the field of expectation.

**Examples (exhaustive house list for this Index lemma — common attitude motifs named across Jung’s essays and standard Jungian lexica; not a claim that Jung’s CW contains only these):**

readiness / expectation; selective direction; habitual orientation of psychology; function-attitudes; introverted / extraverted attitudes; collective “-isms”; vs apperception; constellation of contents; [typology](/index/typology/) types as specimens of attitude; [libido](/index/libido/) directedness.

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## 3. Academic elucidation

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## 4. Lexicon

**Sharp (1991)**

> Attitude. A readiness of the psyche to act or react in a certain way. … The whole psychology of an individual even in its most fundamental features is oriented in accordance with his habitual attitude.

(Sharp, 1991, p. [provisional — unverified]; Sharp also points CW 6 ¶835 / ¶¶690f)

> … attitudes of consciousness …

(Samuels, Shorter, & Plaut, 1986, pp. **153–155**)

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## 5. CW concordance — sample, not exhaustive

> For us, attitude is a readiness of the psyche to act or react in a certain way. … To have an attitude means to be ready for something definite, even though this something is unconscious …

(Jung, 1921/1971, CW 6, p. 577, ¶687)

> The whole psychology of an individual even in its most fundamental features is oriented in accordance with his habitual attitude.

(Jung, 1921/1971, CW 6, pp. 579–580, ¶690)

> When a function habitually predominates, a typical attitude is produced. … There is thus a typical thinking, feeling, sensation, and intuitive attitude.

(Jung, 1921/1971, CW 6, p. 581, ¶691)

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**See also:** [typology](/index/typology/); [introversion](/index/introversion/); [extraversion](/index/extraversion/); [feeling](/index/feeling/); [thinking](/index/thinking/); [sensation](/index/sensation/); [intuition](/index/intuition/); [affect](/index/affect/); [libido](/index/libido/).

## References

Jung, C. G. (1971). Psychological types [Definitions]. In H. Read, M. Fordham, G. Adler, & W. McGuire (Eds.), *The collected works of C. G. Jung* (R. F. C. Hull, Trans.) (Vol. 6, pp. 577–581, ¶¶687, 690–691). Princeton University Press. (Original work published 1921)

Samuels, A., Shorter, B., & Plaut, F. (1986). *A critical dictionary of Jungian analysis*. Routledge.

Sharp, D. (1991). *Jung lexicon: A primer of terms & concepts*. Inner City Books.

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