About Carol
Carol Shumate (ENFP) PhD , taught the course “Psychological Types” at Pacifica Graduate Institute for ten years starting in 2013 when she co-taught it with John Beebe. She uses film and video to help individuals assess their own MBTI types, and Jungian principles to identify a trajectory of personality development. The goal is to demonstrate to individuals that the inner self is larger and more capable than they may have realized.
Carol was a partner in Bob McAlpine’s Type Resources, Inc., the first organization to sponsor regular workshops led by John Beebe on his eight-function model, in which they collected information that reported how each type tends to express the eight functions and their corresponding archetypes. This material was published for the first time in her book Projection and Personality Development via the Eight-Function Model, Routledge, 2021, which synthesizes decades of research on the unconscious functions. In 2020 she co-founded the Depth Typology Center, created to archive scholarly resources at the interface of depth psychology and psychological type.
She was a journalism major at Texas Christian University, and earned her doctorate at the University of Colorado-Boulder in comparative literature, writing her dissertation on enantiodromia in medieval literature. Subsequently, she taught at the University of Connecticut, Eastern Connecticut State University, and Yale University. She has also had a career as a professional editor, see Publications. She has lived abroad in France, Italy, United Kingdom, Israel, and New Zealand, and now lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
She is currently working on a book on the trickster.
Contact Carol
Testimonials
“If you are looking for in-depth, scholarly expertise on Psychological Types, … Carol is phenomenal. As evidenced in her book Projection and Personality Development via the Eight-Function Model as well as the direct teaching I have personally received from her, Carol can help you both in the discovery of your own psychological type as well as in any goal to better understand the breadth of current applicability and the developmental premise of Jung’s model of attitudes and functions in psychological types.” – Stephanie Pluschkell (INTP), InScope Coaching & Consulting LLC
“I really come away with 1) a better understanding that ALL 8 functions are within me and can be/should be developed to the best of my abilities, per the Lincoln examples in the book, and 2) how much more precise this model is compared to the Myers Briggs. It’s going to take me some time to really absorb this, particularly the shadow functions, and be able to apply it, but I am grateful to have met you and for your guidance throughout this weekend.” – Alexa Michl, psychologist, New York
“Dr. Shumate demonstrates a deep yet approachable mastery of psychological types, both the theory and the clinical application. Her ability to quickly grasp the subtle typological characteristics affecting a consultation is remarkable and is paired with insightful avenues for further exploration and growth. It is no surprise that her best-selling book, Projection and Personality Development via the Eight-Function Model, is required reading for anyone interested in going beyond the output of a typical personality “test” or wondering, at a more substantive level, how to appreciate and integrate a Jungian approach to type in understanding the Self.” – Logan Hegg (ENTP), PsyD
“Thank you for sharing your expertise in such an energizing way. The energy doesn’t die out when the academic course ends with you! Your students carry it onwards, and the gift you gave us continues to unfold.” – Lauren Morgan Wuest (INFJ), Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist, Soulful Psychotherapy
“This course was incredibly illuminating. I have had a very surface level understanding of types since I was in high school. This course totally blew my mind. Reading about some of the functions that are not my most used was like learning a foreign language with an entirely different alphabet and grammatical structure. I want to thank you, Dr. Shumate, for taking the time every week to respond in such in depth to all of us and to continue to engage in the conversation afterwards. I imagine it was a lot of work given how many of us there are, but it really made this feel so much more like a personal dialogue compared how removed the virtual learning can sometimes feel at times. – Heather Shields (INTJ), actor
“Carol, thank you so much for this course. It’s hard for me to convey my admiration and appreciation enough. As I continue to understand the history and nuance of this tradition, I am awed in a way by the position of this course, your book, and what feels like a tenuous thread that links humanities’ consciousness about the structure and function of psyche to the future of our species. That seems to overstate things in an overly dramatic manner, but, as the APTi languishes and trait psychology dominates the academic viewpoint, the enantiodromia of type is in a reversal; a small beachhead of understanding is eroding. I’m not sure how much that matters in the grand scheme of things but given the role of understanding for those who have an affinity for Ti, it matters to me. So, thank you for everything you’ve done and accomplished. Thank you for helping illuminate the depths of the human soul. Your labors in this field are admirable indeed.” – David Pool (INTP), MSc, Pacifica doctoral candidate
Artwork by Phil Samulski, Web creation by Lars Sahl.