Information metabolism - Definition

Information metabolism is a psychological theory of human social interactions based on information processing. It was developed in Eastern Europe from the work of Carl Jung, Antoni Kepinski, and Aushra Augustinavichiute.

Personality types

Western psychologists often use the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. In the late 1970s, Aushra Augustinavichiute (from Lithuania) created a personality typology based on the typology of Carl Jung and the theory of information metabolism of Antoni Kepinski, a Polish psychiatrist interested in Schizophrenia.

According to Augustinaviciute, humans can be classified in terms of types of information processing, or "information metabolism". Psychological features such as attention, interests, memory and motivation are components of this theory of information metabolism. This theory of information metabolism is built upon an analogy to energy metabolism. According to this analogy, information that arrives as signals from outside an organism are availablet for information metabolism just as food is available for energy metabolism. The brain is the key information metabolism system. The brain and information metabolism deal with a two-way flow of signals: metabolism of input signals results in the production of output. Just as enzymes can constructively interact only with structurally specific substrate molecules, brains can only constructively metabolize information that is correctly "tuned" to the brain. By assigning "energy values" to the various psychological components of information metabolism, Augustinaviciute created a mathematical theory of thinking.

In this theory of information metabolism there are 16 personality types. Each personality type exists within a "diad" with one other type. The theory also includes "quadra", groups of four personality types that are important for the dynamics of small groups. In turn, quadras can join to form "SOCIONs" of 16 personality types.

See also

• Socionics