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# Attitude
- URL: https://www.descentpress.com/index/attitude/
- Published: 2026-09-05T04:40:52.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-07T20:42:42.000Z
- Description: Attitude — Descent Press Index (entry forthcoming).
- Author: Jae Botávn
- Tags: #index, #Import 2026-09-04 23:45

\## 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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