The Architecture of Choice as a Bounded Universe: Empirical Evidence for Jung’s Sixteen‑State Coordinate System and Behavioural‑Economic Implications

Abstract

Behavioural economics requires a coordinate architecture that can link intrinsically private experience to publicly observable behavioural commitment without collapsing subjective privacy into mechanism. This paper advances a bounded‑universe claim: Jung’s Psychological Types (1921) provides a discrete 16‑position coordinate system (15 differentiated positions plus an integrative whole) that can be instantiated empirically as a complete probability space. Using Roy Morgan national probability sample distributions, we demonstrate closure (the full lattice sums to the stated base), non‑degeneracy (no state is empty), and partition invariance (the same lattice supports multiple independent behavioural and demographic partitions) across large Australian samples. A multi‑year summation table (n = 325,701) confirms stable population mass across all sixteen positions with sex splits. A one‑year extract (header base n = 327,119) is further expressed through independent coded partitions—technology adoption, social direction, spending intensity, housing tenure, children under 16, and socio‑economic status—each retaining the same 4×4 coordinate geometry. These results support an “architecture of choice” interpretation: the sixteen‑state lattice supplies a bounded coordinate space within which preferences, commitments, and constraints can be measured and compared. We interpret the lattice as an empirically grounded bridge across the explanatory gap highlighted in contemporary consciousness debates (e.g., Chalmers): experience remains private in its intrinsic character while exhibiting stable, measurable footprints in population distributions and behavioural correlates. The paper concludes with a reproducible methodological program for further validation and invites replication and critique from behavioural economics, social science measurement, and consciousness studies.