The Dimensions of Environmental Types
Like Jung's psychological typology,
this taxonomy has been built on four underlying dimensions that serve
as the warp and weft of environmental
types.
Extraversion and Introversion
When examining the differences in
presses or demands of environments, as related to personal extraversion
and introversion, a type of duality is evidenced in the bipolar nature
of the relative obtrusiveness. This pull/push of psychic energy by
the environment has been tied directly to an individual's ability
to make perceptions and interpretations.
An
extraverted environment is full of salient stimulus
energy and requires the attention and participation of the
people in
it. This type of environment "pulls" people into it and openly
manages the exchange of psychic energy. The environment serves
as a catalyst for a broad array of events and actions. It may
be loud, noisy, bright and social. |
An introverted
environment allows individuals to regulate the level of
the stimulation that they receive. By "pushing" management
of the exchange of psychic energy back to the person, this
type
of environment would is more facilitative of private actions
and individual functioning. It might be described as subdued,
quiet, sedate, and reserved. |
Judging and Perceiving
As related to individual perception
and evaluation, environments also employ two interactive functions
within the exchange: construction of a recognizable repertoire of
elements and maintenance of a predictable level of organization. In
other words, our individual perceptions must have some source of energy
and our evaluations must make sense within a shared context.
A
perceiving environment accentuates the elements that
serve as sources of energy or stimulation. In some perceiving
environments, the task of establishing a repertoire could be
sufficiently challenging as to thwart any efforts at maintaining
a consistent reality. Disorder and change would be conspicuous.
As is sometimes the case with newly formed groups, environmental
perception can provide confusion, as well as opportunities for
growth. |
A judging
environment manifests orderliness and/or "plannedness",
both in operation and organization. An environmental system
(e.g., laws or customs) would function to maintain a coherent,
collective reality. Occasionally, these systems could be so
pervasive as to possess a life of their own. Modifying a judging
reality could be difficult, if not impossible, in some instances. |
Sensing and Intuition
The
distinguishing characteristic of these two perceptive environmental
functions follows a convergence/divergence
dichotomy. In order that individuals are able to interact with it,
does the environment require them to step-up and "sense the trees"
or to step-back and "intuit the forest"?
The
direct stimulus energy offered by existent environmental elements
( e.g., people, things, facts, or values) drives the sensing
environment, and no movement occurs beyond them. Elements
are identified for their immediate, practical applications and
honed to the task. A primitive judging process would attempt
to facilitate efficiency of operation, but might be quite tedious
to learn. |
By
contrast, intuitive environments diverge from a focus
on existent elements. Instead, energy flows from the broader
relationships among elements. Diversity and experimentation
would serve to stimulate continued generation of new environmental
intuitions. Change may occur often because the "tried and true" would
be rejected as confining. Creativity would be aided by a loose
and simplistic judging reality. |
Thinking and Feeling
For people to be able to make judgments
about their behaviors, environments must maintain an underlying set
of guidelines that govern their operation. Two approaches for maintaining
a collective reality within an environment have been noted. One is
the predominantly accepted, logical/ empirical approach to truth.
The other is the lesser-discussed, value-oriented pole on the scale.
A
thinking environment contains an objective set of logical
operations that is based on a central, depersonalized truth
or science. In the hierarchical thinking environment, psychic
energy is treated as a finite resource. Competitiveness, skepticism
and distrust might be conspicuous in this type of environment. |
Feeling environments stress "connectiveness" in
making judgments and are concerned with values and interpersonal
interactions. A basic
trust and warmth would be evident. This type of environment
might be described as socially oriented, humanistic, or sentimental. |