Carl Jung is one of the most important, most complex, and most controversial psychological theorists. Jungian psychology focuses on establishing and fostering the relationship between conscious and unconscious processes. Dialogue between the conscious and the unconscious aspects of the psyche enriches the person, and Jung believed that without this dialogue, unconscious processes can weaken and even jeopardize the personality.
Katharine was an avid reader and writer. One room of her home was designated her study, where she wrote articles and essays on child-rearing and education. As she cared for her only daughter, Isabel, she formulated strong opinions on the proper methods for raising children. She believed children were innately curious and that education should foster their natural instinct to learn. After a brief and unsatisfying encounter with traditional schooling, she brought Isabel home to educate her daughter herself, and encouraged her to spend long hours reading and writing on whatever topics interested her.
Isabel Briggs Myers, with a bachelor's degree in political science and no academic affiliation, was responsible for the creation of what has arguably become the most widely used and highly respected personality inventory of all time. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI®) instrument, now taken by at least two million people each year-and translated into sixteen languages-was developed over a period of more than forty years, progressing from Isabel Myers' dining room to a cottage industry, to the prestigious Educational Testing Service, and to its current publisher, CPP, Inc.
The University of Florida has established a digital collection of papers from Isabel Briggs Myers, which encompasses a large variety of material pertaining to the her family life and personal writings; additional information is available on their libguide, courtesy of the UF George A. Smathers Libraries.