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The Developing Child: Using Jungian Type to Understand Children
Using personality type as theorized by Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung to help in understanding differences in children, this book gives adults an opportunity to examine some suggested paths for developing positive relationships with the children in their lives. Examples are used to show how psychological type theory applies to daily life. By understanding each of the sixteen psychological types, adults can increase their awareness of more effective ways to help children grow and develop their special gifts and talents.
The more that children and adults understand one another, the better their chances of building strong relationships. Each generation passes its knowledge on to another. This generation of adults can be the initial thread in the cloth that is woven to create enhanced relationships with children, and The Developing Child reveals practical strategies for nurturing the bonds between adults and young people.
The more that children and adults understand one another, the better their chances of building strong relationships. Each generation passes its knowledge on to another. This generation of adults can be the initial thread in the cloth that is woven to create enhanced relationships with children, and The Developing Child reveals practical strategies for nurturing the bonds between adults and young people.
- GenresNonfictionParenting
168 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 25, 1992
About the author
Elizabeth Murphy
9 booksElizabeth Murphy, Ph.D., is a psychologist who has worked with type concepts since the early 1980s. Her research focuses on verifying, with video support, the development of normal personality differences according to the theory of psychological type. Dr. Murphy works extensively with families and teams of people to improve communication and resolve relationship needs. She is an internationally recognized educational authority.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 18, 2012
I have read a number of books about Personality and have used on-line MBTIs, but have had some difficulty working out the types of my children. This has been the most useful book in this regard, as the examples are very helpful, clear and relate to daily life. I can now tell if my children are extrovert or introvert, sensing or intuitive, thinking or feeling and judging or perceiving. The discussion of the types relates to these preferences and does not include each individual type eg ESFP. The advice on how to deal with each type is also good, if a little repetitive. I will certainly be making use of the suggestions.
May 18, 2026
A book which gives tips for how to honor the type differences of children. It is based on experience rather than research (1-2).
I like many of these tips, but I disagreed with some of the info in the book.
The author calls i/e and j/p “attitudes” and s/n and f/t “functions.” The preference for the attitudes is evident from an early age and doesn’t fluctuate. Moreover, it comes naturally to the person; isn’t brought about by environmental influence (12).
Differences found among teachers of different “functions”: “sensing teachers focus on the details of the information they present to students, intuitive teachers design broad essay questions, thinking teachers focus on why and punishment issues, and feeling teachers design questions that revolve around the way things affect people” (81).
“Introverts among close friends will appear behaviorally to act extraverted. Among close friends, the introvert will enjoy interacting as much as the extravert. The difference seems to be that the introvert *enjoys* the opportunity for interaction with friends and the extravert *needs* an opportunity for these interactions” (27).
“Introverts sometimes think back for hours and days about what they could have said or should have said in a past situation” (28). This is true of me, but I’m not sure it’s true of all introverts. It may be only introverted feelers.
The book gave an example of how sensing teachers and intuitive teachers taught vocabulary words on p. 80. The sensors had the students analyze and definethe word, insert the word into prewritten sentences, and compose three new sentences using the words. The intuitives created a story using the words and hoped to teach the words through context.
“Type should never be used as an excuse for not meeting educational expectations” (87).
If a student doesn’t know what to do, the teacher should present the child with choices in the form of questions such as “Do you want to make a painting or a drawing?” And other questions to help narrow it down (112).
If giving kids rewards, it shouldn’t be for a specific task but rather for learning new skills. That way the skills can always be updated to involve something harder (144).
The book recommends that perceiving kids be taught to schedule their time by working backward from a deadline, so that they can do their work at the last possible minute without it conflicting with other things that they may not remember (132). I don’t think this is good advice. Perceivers should be taught to do things right away even if that’s unpleasant. Introverts have to learn how to be social even though it’s unpleasant. We can’t live our lives being catered to. If perceivers are always going to wait until the last minute to do things, then give them a shorter deadline. Make a project due tomorrow instead of next week. My guess is that they’ll still fail because that’s just the way they are.
Other things I disagreed with:
The author said that I/E and J/P are established early while S/N nd F/T develop as people age (12). I think J/P is one of the last to solidify because all kids start out as P types. N/S and F/T can be seen early.
Introverts are energized by ideas (22). No, that would be intuitives.
“Sensing children tend to work at a steady pace until they complete their work” (31). No, that’s J types. SP types procrastinate and don’t finish.
“Type can help us understand behaviors we have observed and helps us define better ways to teach and communicate, but it does not predict behaviors” (74). I think knowing one’s personality (even without typology labels) works very well to predict future behavior. If you know someone’s lazy, you can predict that they will procrastinate, won’t finish their work, may be late paying their bills, probably be broke or poor, make irresponsible spending choices, overeat and be fat, etc.
When the author describes S types vs. N types on p. 32, it’s really describing Si vs. Ne. Same with this sentence: Intuitives “like to be involved in many different projects at one time and are willing to abandon one project to begin a new project that appears more interesting to them” (40).
“Sensing children also tend to read directions, while intuitive children tend to assume that they know what to do” (37). No, this is P/J.
The T vs. F chart on p. 46 is more about Ti vs. Fe.
The book advises that teachers give students a choice on which skills they work on (88), but I think that this would only enable kids to choose whichever they are already naturally good at, and wouldn’t help them learn to get better at what they’re not as good at.
I like many of these tips, but I disagreed with some of the info in the book.
The author calls i/e and j/p “attitudes” and s/n and f/t “functions.” The preference for the attitudes is evident from an early age and doesn’t fluctuate. Moreover, it comes naturally to the person; isn’t brought about by environmental influence (12).
Differences found among teachers of different “functions”: “sensing teachers focus on the details of the information they present to students, intuitive teachers design broad essay questions, thinking teachers focus on why and punishment issues, and feeling teachers design questions that revolve around the way things affect people” (81).
“Introverts among close friends will appear behaviorally to act extraverted. Among close friends, the introvert will enjoy interacting as much as the extravert. The difference seems to be that the introvert *enjoys* the opportunity for interaction with friends and the extravert *needs* an opportunity for these interactions” (27).
“Introverts sometimes think back for hours and days about what they could have said or should have said in a past situation” (28). This is true of me, but I’m not sure it’s true of all introverts. It may be only introverted feelers.
The book gave an example of how sensing teachers and intuitive teachers taught vocabulary words on p. 80. The sensors had the students analyze and definethe word, insert the word into prewritten sentences, and compose three new sentences using the words. The intuitives created a story using the words and hoped to teach the words through context.
“Type should never be used as an excuse for not meeting educational expectations” (87).
If a student doesn’t know what to do, the teacher should present the child with choices in the form of questions such as “Do you want to make a painting or a drawing?” And other questions to help narrow it down (112).
If giving kids rewards, it shouldn’t be for a specific task but rather for learning new skills. That way the skills can always be updated to involve something harder (144).
The book recommends that perceiving kids be taught to schedule their time by working backward from a deadline, so that they can do their work at the last possible minute without it conflicting with other things that they may not remember (132). I don’t think this is good advice. Perceivers should be taught to do things right away even if that’s unpleasant. Introverts have to learn how to be social even though it’s unpleasant. We can’t live our lives being catered to. If perceivers are always going to wait until the last minute to do things, then give them a shorter deadline. Make a project due tomorrow instead of next week. My guess is that they’ll still fail because that’s just the way they are.
Other things I disagreed with:
The author said that I/E and J/P are established early while S/N nd F/T develop as people age (12). I think J/P is one of the last to solidify because all kids start out as P types. N/S and F/T can be seen early.
Introverts are energized by ideas (22). No, that would be intuitives.
“Sensing children tend to work at a steady pace until they complete their work” (31). No, that’s J types. SP types procrastinate and don’t finish.
“Type can help us understand behaviors we have observed and helps us define better ways to teach and communicate, but it does not predict behaviors” (74). I think knowing one’s personality (even without typology labels) works very well to predict future behavior. If you know someone’s lazy, you can predict that they will procrastinate, won’t finish their work, may be late paying their bills, probably be broke or poor, make irresponsible spending choices, overeat and be fat, etc.
When the author describes S types vs. N types on p. 32, it’s really describing Si vs. Ne. Same with this sentence: Intuitives “like to be involved in many different projects at one time and are willing to abandon one project to begin a new project that appears more interesting to them” (40).
“Sensing children also tend to read directions, while intuitive children tend to assume that they know what to do” (37). No, this is P/J.
The T vs. F chart on p. 46 is more about Ti vs. Fe.
The book advises that teachers give students a choice on which skills they work on (88), but I think that this would only enable kids to choose whichever they are already naturally good at, and wouldn’t help them learn to get better at what they’re not as good at.
November 16, 2018
My go to book for Type and children
This is my favorite reference book for Type in children. It is clearly written and well organized. I have it in both Kindle and paperback formats so I can refer to it often and anywhere.
This is my favorite reference book for Type in children. It is clearly written and well organized. I have it in both Kindle and paperback formats so I can refer to it often and anywhere.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews