Review of the Socionic Model of Information Metabolism at Individual, Interpersonal and Societal Levels

Abstract

Various aspects of socionics, a theory of psychological types and their relationships, were critically reviewed. Philosophical underpinnings of the theory were discussed, including problematic concepts such as information and its metabolism. The mechanism of intertype relationships was explained with examples. The cybernetic structure of information transfer between all psychological types was presented and its possible implications for real societies were briefly discussed. The status of socionics as scientific theory was evaluated and the examples of its applications were briefly reviewed. Although there are doubts regarding its scientific foundation, socionics has interesting connections with modern philosophy of the mind and cognitive sciences. Some of its findings may be useful in the fields of occupational psychology and social analysis.

Keywords: information, information metabolism, socionics, analytical psychology, anthropology