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On June 6, 1961 Carl Jung, Swiss Psychiatrist (founder of analytical psychology), died at the age of 85. From the article:
"Carl Jung | Biography, Theory, & Facts
Carl Jung, in full Carl Gustav Jung, (born July 26, 1875, Kesswil, Switzerland—died June 6, 1961, Küsnacht), Swiss psychologist and psychiatrist who founded analytic psychology, in some aspects a response to Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalysis. Jung proposed and developed the concepts of the extraverted and the introverted personality, archetypes, and the collective unconscious. His work has been influential in psychiatry and in the study of religion, literature, and related fields.
Top Questions
When was Carl Jung born?
Carl Jung was born on July 26, 1875.
When did Carl Jung die?
Carl Jung died on June 6, 1961.
Why is Carl Jung important?
Carl Jung was the Swiss psychologist and psychiatrist who founded analytic psychology. His work has been influential in psychiatry and in the study of religion, literature, and related fields.
Where was Carl Jung educated?
Carl Jung attended the University of Basel (1895–1900) and the University of Zürich (M.D., 1902).
Early life and career
Jung was the son of a philologist and pastor. His childhood was lonely, although enriched by a vivid imagination, and from an early age he observed the behaviour of his parents and teachers, which he tried to resolve. Especially concerned with his father’s failing belief in religion, he tried to communicate to him his own experience of God. In many ways, the elder Jung was a kind and tolerant man, but neither he nor his son succeeded in understanding each other. Jung seemed destined to become a minister, for there were a number of clergymen on both sides of his family. In his teens he discovered philosophy and read widely, and this, together with the disappointments of his boyhood, led him to forsake the strong family tradition and to study medicine and become a psychiatrist. He was a student at the universities of Basel (1895–1900) and Zürich (M.D., 1902).
He was fortunate in joining the staff of the Burghölzli Asylum of the University of Zürich at a time (1900) when it was under the direction of Eugen Bleuler, whose psychological interests had initiated what are now considered classical studies of mental illness. At Burghölzli, Jung began, with outstanding success, to apply association tests initiated by earlier researchers. He studied, especially, patients’ peculiar and illogical responses to stimulus words and found that they were caused by emotionally charged clusters of associations withheld from consciousness because of their disagreeable, immoral (to them), and frequently sexual content. He used the now famous term complex to describe such conditions.
Association with Freud
These researches, which established him as a psychiatrist of international repute, led him to understand Freud’s investigations; his findings confirmed many of Freud’s ideas, and, for a period of five years (between 1907 and 1912), he was Freud’s close collaborator. He held important positions in the psychoanalytic movement and was widely thought of as the most likely successor to the founder of psychoanalysis. But this was not to be the outcome of their relationship. Partly for temperamental reasons and partly because of differences of viewpoint, the collaboration ended. At this stage Jung differed with Freud largely over the latter’s insistence on the sexual bases of neurosis. A serious disagreement came in 1912, with the publication of Jung’s Wandlungen und Symbole der Libido (Psychology of the Unconscious, 1916), which ran counter to many of Freud’s ideas. Although Jung had been elected president of the International Psychoanalytic Society in 1911, he resigned from the society in 1914.
His first achievement was to differentiate two classes of people according to attitude types: extraverted (outward-looking) and introverted (inward-looking). Later he differentiated four functions of the mind—thinking, feeling, sensation, and intuition—one or more of which predominate in any given person. Results of this study were embodied in Psychologische Typen (1921; Psychological Types, 1923). Jung’s wide scholarship was well manifested here, as it also had been in The Psychology of the Unconscious.
As a boy Jung had remarkably striking dreams and powerful fantasies that had developed with unusual intensity. After his break with Freud, he deliberately allowed this aspect of himself to function again and gave the irrational side of his nature free expression. At the same time, he studied it scientifically by keeping detailed notes of his strange experiences. He later developed the theory that these experiences came from an area of the mind that he called the collective unconscious, which he held was shared by everyone. This much-contested conception was combined with a theory of archetypes that Jung held as fundamental to the study of the psychology of religion. In Jung’s terms, archetypes are instinctive patterns, have a universal character, and are expressed in behaviour and images.
Character of his psychotherapy
Jung devoted the rest of his life to developing his ideas, especially those on the relation between psychology and religion. In his view, obscure and often neglected texts of writers in the past shed unexpected light not only on Jung’s own dreams and fantasies but also on those of his patients; he thought it necessary for the successful practice of their art that psychotherapists become familiar with writings of the old masters.
Besides the development of new psychotherapeutic methods that derived from his own experience and the theories developed from them, Jung gave fresh importance to the so-called Hermetic tradition. He conceived that the Christian religion was part of a historic process necessary for the development of consciousness, and he also thought that the heretical movements, starting with Gnosticism and ending in alchemy, were manifestations of unconscious archetypal elements not adequately expressed in the mainstream forms of Christianity. He was particularly impressed with his finding that alchemical-like symbols could be found frequently in modern dreams and fantasies, and he thought that alchemists had constructed a kind of textbook of the collective unconscious. He expounded on this in 4 out of the 18 volumes that make up his Collected Works.
His historical studies aided him in pioneering the psychotherapy of the middle-aged and elderly, especially those who felt their lives had lost meaning. He helped them to appreciate the place of their lives in the sequence of history. Most of these patients had lost their religious belief; Jung found that if they could discover their own myth as expressed in dream and imagination they would become more complete personalities. He called this process individuation.
In later years he became professor of psychology at the Federal Polytechnical University in Zürich (1933–41) and professor of medical psychology at the University of Basel (1943). His personal experience, his continued psychotherapeutic practice, and his wide knowledge of history placed him in a unique position to comment on current events. As early as 1918 he had begun to think that Germany held a special position in Europe; the Nazi revolution was, therefore, highly significant for him, and he delivered a number of hotly contested views that led to his being wrongly branded as a Nazi sympathizer. Jung lived to the age of 85.
The authoritative English collection of all Jung’s published writings is Herbert Read, Michael Fordham, and Gerhard Adler (eds.), The Collected Works of C.G. Jung, trans. by R.F.C. Hull, 20 vol., 2nd ed. (1966–79). Jung’s The Psychology of the Unconscious appears in revised form as Symbols of Transformation in the Collected Works. His other major individual publications include Über die Psychologie der Dementia Praecox (1907; The Psychology of Dementia Praecox); Versuch einer Darstellung der psychoanalytischen Theorie (1913; The Theory of Psychoanalysis); Collected Papers on Analytical Psychology (1916); Two Essays on Analytical Psychology (1928); Das Geheimnis der goldenen Blüte (1929; The Secret of the Golden Flower); Modern Man in Search of a Soul (1933), a collection of essays covering topics from dream analysis and literature to the psychology of religion; Psychology and Religion (1938); Psychologie und Alchemie (1944; Psychology and Alchemy); and Aion: Untersuchungen zur Symbolgeschichte (1951; Aion: Researches into the Phenomenology of the Self). Jung’s Erinnerungen, Träume, Gedanken (1962; Memories, Dreams, Reflections) is fascinating semiautobiographical reading, partly written by Jung himself and partly recorded by his secretary.
In 2009 the “Red Book,” a manuscript that Jung wrote during the years 1914–30, was published. It was, by Jung’s own account, a record of his “confrontation with the unconscious.” Containing both his account of his imaginings, fantasies, and induced hallucinations and his own colour illustrations, The Red Book also includes an extensive introduction and a translation into English."
"Carl Jung | Biography, Theory, & Facts
Carl Jung, in full Carl Gustav Jung, (born July 26, 1875, Kesswil, Switzerland—died June 6, 1961, Küsnacht), Swiss psychologist and psychiatrist who founded analytic psychology, in some aspects a response to Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalysis. Jung proposed and developed the concepts of the extraverted and the introverted personality, archetypes, and the collective unconscious. His work has been influential in psychiatry and in the study of religion, literature, and related fields.
Top Questions
When was Carl Jung born?
Carl Jung was born on July 26, 1875.
When did Carl Jung die?
Carl Jung died on June 6, 1961.
Why is Carl Jung important?
Carl Jung was the Swiss psychologist and psychiatrist who founded analytic psychology. His work has been influential in psychiatry and in the study of religion, literature, and related fields.
Where was Carl Jung educated?
Carl Jung attended the University of Basel (1895–1900) and the University of Zürich (M.D., 1902).
Early life and career
Jung was the son of a philologist and pastor. His childhood was lonely, although enriched by a vivid imagination, and from an early age he observed the behaviour of his parents and teachers, which he tried to resolve. Especially concerned with his father’s failing belief in religion, he tried to communicate to him his own experience of God. In many ways, the elder Jung was a kind and tolerant man, but neither he nor his son succeeded in understanding each other. Jung seemed destined to become a minister, for there were a number of clergymen on both sides of his family. In his teens he discovered philosophy and read widely, and this, together with the disappointments of his boyhood, led him to forsake the strong family tradition and to study medicine and become a psychiatrist. He was a student at the universities of Basel (1895–1900) and Zürich (M.D., 1902).
He was fortunate in joining the staff of the Burghölzli Asylum of the University of Zürich at a time (1900) when it was under the direction of Eugen Bleuler, whose psychological interests had initiated what are now considered classical studies of mental illness. At Burghölzli, Jung began, with outstanding success, to apply association tests initiated by earlier researchers. He studied, especially, patients’ peculiar and illogical responses to stimulus words and found that they were caused by emotionally charged clusters of associations withheld from consciousness because of their disagreeable, immoral (to them), and frequently sexual content. He used the now famous term complex to describe such conditions.
Association with Freud
These researches, which established him as a psychiatrist of international repute, led him to understand Freud’s investigations; his findings confirmed many of Freud’s ideas, and, for a period of five years (between 1907 and 1912), he was Freud’s close collaborator. He held important positions in the psychoanalytic movement and was widely thought of as the most likely successor to the founder of psychoanalysis. But this was not to be the outcome of their relationship. Partly for temperamental reasons and partly because of differences of viewpoint, the collaboration ended. At this stage Jung differed with Freud largely over the latter’s insistence on the sexual bases of neurosis. A serious disagreement came in 1912, with the publication of Jung’s Wandlungen und Symbole der Libido (Psychology of the Unconscious, 1916), which ran counter to many of Freud’s ideas. Although Jung had been elected president of the International Psychoanalytic Society in 1911, he resigned from the society in 1914.
His first achievement was to differentiate two classes of people according to attitude types: extraverted (outward-looking) and introverted (inward-looking). Later he differentiated four functions of the mind—thinking, feeling, sensation, and intuition—one or more of which predominate in any given person. Results of this study were embodied in Psychologische Typen (1921; Psychological Types, 1923). Jung’s wide scholarship was well manifested here, as it also had been in The Psychology of the Unconscious.
As a boy Jung had remarkably striking dreams and powerful fantasies that had developed with unusual intensity. After his break with Freud, he deliberately allowed this aspect of himself to function again and gave the irrational side of his nature free expression. At the same time, he studied it scientifically by keeping detailed notes of his strange experiences. He later developed the theory that these experiences came from an area of the mind that he called the collective unconscious, which he held was shared by everyone. This much-contested conception was combined with a theory of archetypes that Jung held as fundamental to the study of the psychology of religion. In Jung’s terms, archetypes are instinctive patterns, have a universal character, and are expressed in behaviour and images.
Character of his psychotherapy
Jung devoted the rest of his life to developing his ideas, especially those on the relation between psychology and religion. In his view, obscure and often neglected texts of writers in the past shed unexpected light not only on Jung’s own dreams and fantasies but also on those of his patients; he thought it necessary for the successful practice of their art that psychotherapists become familiar with writings of the old masters.
Besides the development of new psychotherapeutic methods that derived from his own experience and the theories developed from them, Jung gave fresh importance to the so-called Hermetic tradition. He conceived that the Christian religion was part of a historic process necessary for the development of consciousness, and he also thought that the heretical movements, starting with Gnosticism and ending in alchemy, were manifestations of unconscious archetypal elements not adequately expressed in the mainstream forms of Christianity. He was particularly impressed with his finding that alchemical-like symbols could be found frequently in modern dreams and fantasies, and he thought that alchemists had constructed a kind of textbook of the collective unconscious. He expounded on this in 4 out of the 18 volumes that make up his Collected Works.
His historical studies aided him in pioneering the psychotherapy of the middle-aged and elderly, especially those who felt their lives had lost meaning. He helped them to appreciate the place of their lives in the sequence of history. Most of these patients had lost their religious belief; Jung found that if they could discover their own myth as expressed in dream and imagination they would become more complete personalities. He called this process individuation.
In later years he became professor of psychology at the Federal Polytechnical University in Zürich (1933–41) and professor of medical psychology at the University of Basel (1943). His personal experience, his continued psychotherapeutic practice, and his wide knowledge of history placed him in a unique position to comment on current events. As early as 1918 he had begun to think that Germany held a special position in Europe; the Nazi revolution was, therefore, highly significant for him, and he delivered a number of hotly contested views that led to his being wrongly branded as a Nazi sympathizer. Jung lived to the age of 85.
The authoritative English collection of all Jung’s published writings is Herbert Read, Michael Fordham, and Gerhard Adler (eds.), The Collected Works of C.G. Jung, trans. by R.F.C. Hull, 20 vol., 2nd ed. (1966–79). Jung’s The Psychology of the Unconscious appears in revised form as Symbols of Transformation in the Collected Works. His other major individual publications include Über die Psychologie der Dementia Praecox (1907; The Psychology of Dementia Praecox); Versuch einer Darstellung der psychoanalytischen Theorie (1913; The Theory of Psychoanalysis); Collected Papers on Analytical Psychology (1916); Two Essays on Analytical Psychology (1928); Das Geheimnis der goldenen Blüte (1929; The Secret of the Golden Flower); Modern Man in Search of a Soul (1933), a collection of essays covering topics from dream analysis and literature to the psychology of religion; Psychology and Religion (1938); Psychologie und Alchemie (1944; Psychology and Alchemy); and Aion: Untersuchungen zur Symbolgeschichte (1951; Aion: Researches into the Phenomenology of the Self). Jung’s Erinnerungen, Träume, Gedanken (1962; Memories, Dreams, Reflections) is fascinating semiautobiographical reading, partly written by Jung himself and partly recorded by his secretary.
In 2009 the “Red Book,” a manuscript that Jung wrote during the years 1914–30, was published. It was, by Jung’s own account, a record of his “confrontation with the unconscious.” Containing both his account of his imaginings, fantasies, and induced hallucinations and his own colour illustrations, The Red Book also includes an extensive introduction and a translation into English."
Carl Jung | Biography, Theory, & Facts
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One of several people we had to study on in Psychology class 101.
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Introduction to Carl Jung - The Psyche, Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious
Become a Supporting Member and get access to exclusive videos: https://academyofideas.com/members/ ======== In the first part of our introduction to Jung (li...
Thank you my friend SGT (Join to see) for making us aware that on June 6, 1961 Swiss Psychiatrist Carl Jung died at the age of 85. During his lifetime, he founded analytic psychology and was influential in not only psychiatry but also anthropology, archaeology, literature, philosophy, and religious studies. He developed the paradigm of introvert and extrovert.
Image: Sigmund Freud (front left) and Carl Jung (front right) at Clark University in 1909
Background from psychologistworld.com/cognitive/carl-jung-analytical-psychology
"Carl Jung: Archetypes and Analytical Psychology
Exploring the realm of Carl Jung's collective unconscious and the archetypes that live within it.
Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung (1875-1961) was interested in the way in which symbols and common myths permeate our thinking on both conscious and subconscious levels.
Jung initially worked with fellow psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, whose 1899 work The Interpretation of Dreamshad attached significance to the recurring themes and motifs in people's dreams, and sought to understand their relevance to subjects' psyches and their mental wellbeing.
However, Jung and Freud later took different paths, with the former disagreeing with Freud's emphasis on the influence of biological factors such as libido on behavior and personality.
Instead, Jung looked at areas of the mind that constitute the psyche, and the way in which they influenced one another. He distinguished the persona, or the image of ourselves that we present to the world, from our shadow, which may be comprised of hidden anxieties and repressed thoughts. Jung also noted the relationship between our personal unconscious, which contains an individual's personal memories and ideas, and a collective unconscious, a set of memories and ideas that is shared amongst all of humanity. Shared concepts, which Jung described as archetypes, permeate the collective unconscious and emerge as themes and characters in our dreams and surface in our culture - in myths, books, films and paintings, for example.
Jung felt that disunity among thoughts in the personal subconscious and the conscious could create internal conflicts which could lead to particular personality traits or anxieties. Such inner conflicts could be resolved, claimed Jung, by allowing repressed ideas to emerge into the conscious and accommodating (rather than destroying) them, thus creating a state of inner harmony, through a process known as individuation.
In this article we will look at Jung's theories on psychoanalysis and the most significant of his archetypes and will see how his ideas influenced modern psychology.
Personal Unconscious
Jung's idea of the personal unconscious is comparable to the unconscious that Freud and other psychoanalysts referred to. To Jung, it is personal, as opposed to the collective unconscious, which is shared amongst all persons.
The personal unconscious contains memories which are unaware we still possess, often as a result of repression.
As we exist in a conscious state, we do not have direct access to our personal unconscious, but it emerges in our dreams or in a hypnotic state of regression.
Collective Unconscious
The collective unconscious is key to Jung's theories of the mind as it contains the archetypes.
Rather than being born as a tabula rasa (a 'blank slate' in Latin) and being influenced purely by our environment, as the English philosopher John Locke believed, Jung proposed that we are each born with a collective unconscious. This contains a set of shared memories and ideas, which we can all identify with, regardless of the culture that we were born into or the time period in which we live. We cannot communicate through the collective unconscious, but we recognise some of the same ideas innately, including archetypes.
For example, many cultures have cultivated similar myths independently of one another, which feature similar characters and themes, such as the creation of the universe.
Archetypes
Jung noted that within the collective unconscious there exist a number of archetypes which we can all recognise. An archetype is the model image of a person or role and includes the mother figure, father, wise old man and clown/joker, amongst others. The mother figure, for example, has caring qualities; she is dependable and compassionate. We all hold similar ideas of the mother figure and we see her across cultures and in our language - such as the term 'mother nature'.
Archetypes are often incarnated as characters in myths, novels and films - in the James Bond spy series, 'M' embodies the mother archetype, whom the spy trusts and returns to. Similar, archetypes permeate the cards of a Tarot deck: the mother archetype is seen in the qualities of the Empress card, whilst the Hermit embodies the wise old man archetype.
The Persona
Distinct from our inner self, Jung noted that we each have a persona - an identity which we wish to project to others. He used the Latin term, which can refer either to a person's personality the mask of an actor, intentionally, as the persona can be constructed from archetypes in the collective unconscious, or be influenced by ideas of social roles in society. For example, a father may adopt traits which he considers to be typical of a father - serious or disciplining, for example - rather than those which reflect his actual personality.
Philip Zimbardo's study of social roles in a prison situation (1971) further demonstrated the effect that our role has on our persona. Assigned a role, such as that of a prison guard, people often behave as they would expect someone in their role to act.
As the persona is not a true reflection of our consciousness, but rather an idealised image which people aspire to, identifying too much with a persona can lead to inner conflicts and a repression of our own individuality, which Jung claimed could be resolved through individuation.
Shadow archetype
"Taken in its deepest sense, the shadow is the invisible saurian tail that man still drags behind him. Carefully amputated, it becomes the healing serpent of the mysteries." Carl Jung in The Integration of the Personality (English translation).3
The shadow archetype is composed primarily of the elements of ourselves that we consider to be negative. We do not show this side of the self to the outside world as it can be a source of anxiety or shame. The shadow may contain repressed ideas or thoughts which we do not wish to integrate into our outward persona, but these must be resolved in order to achieve individuation. However, it may also include positive traits, such as perceived weaknesses (for example, empathy) which may not fit into the 'toughness' that a person wants to present as a part of their persona.
In literature, the shadow is often presented as a villainous character - for instance, as the snake in the Garden of Eden or The Jungle Book. Jung also observed Hyde, whom Dr. Jekyll transforms into, as representing the character's shadow in Robert Louis Stevenson's 1886 novella The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
Anima/Animus archetypes
The anima (in males) or animus (in females) represents the opposite gender to a person's self. As a person develops a gender identity, such as that of being male, they repress the aspects of their personality which might be considered to be feminine, such as empathy in social situations. Whilst these traits form part of the true, united self, they are held back from our persona and are represented in the form of the feminine archetype anima in males or the masculine archetype animus in females.
The anima and animus are idealised impressions of the male or female, which emerge from the collective unconscious in dreams and inform our ideas of the opposite gender. As we age, they bring us into touch with the aspects of our personality repressed during the formation of a gender identity. For example, a man may allow their empathy to show more after the development of their masculine persona.
The anima and animus can be found throughout our culture - Jane Austen's novel Pride and Prejudice, for example, presents the anima archetype as the idealised Mr Darcey.
Wise Old Man archetype
Through his age and frailty, the Wise Old Man represents the power of peaceful contemplation in the absence of physical prowess. The wise old man, through quiet thought, foresees the future and offers guidance in turbulent times.
The wise old man is a prophetic archetype and can often be seen in stories as a wizard, such as Gandalf in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.
Great Mother
The Great Mother archetype embodies the idealised qualities of the mother figure. She is caring, compassionate, dependable and loving and, like the Wise Old Man, she may offer guidance when asked.
The stock character of the 'fairy godmother' often embodies the Great Mother in literature.
Other archetypes
The archetypes that we have looked at in this article are just a few of those which Jung believed to populate our collective unconscious.
Many more archetypes may be recognised, possessing non-exclusive qualities which may be held by multiple archetypes to different extents. Other archetypes include the magician, the child, the creator and the caregiver, among others.
Individuation
Jung believed that by acquiring the qualities of an archetype from the collective unconscious, we repress those attributes of our true self which do not conform to the archetype. To achieve individuation and realise our true self, he claimed that, rather than repressing these traits, we must 'integrate' them by allowing them to surface from the shadow and to coexist with those in the ego, or true self. Analytical psychologists may encourage this integration, or individuation, through therapy including free association.
Introvert and Extrovert Personalities
Aside from the theories of the workings of the psyche described above, Jung also believed the people could be divided by their personality type. He identified the introvert and extrovert personality types. Introverts, though quiet and sometimes unsociable, take the time to think over problems, whilst extroverts may be popular among their peers and unhesitant in expressing themselves.
Jungian psychology today
Although his theories are discussed to a lesser extend than Freud's psychodynamic approach, Carl Jung's ideas carry an influence whose effects can still be felt today.
The idea that we project in our personas not our true personality but an aspirational, idealised version of who we would like to be, and Jung's distinction between inward-looking introvert and outgoing extrovert personality types, have lead to the development of numerous personality tests which are still used today, including that of Katharine Cook Briggs and Isabel Briggs Myers.
Jung's theories have also impacted on the field of analytical psychology, which is commonly referred to as Jungian psychology."
Introduction to Carl Jung - The Psyche, Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious
"Carl Jung and the Shadow - 33 minute video episude =================================================
In the first part of our introduction to Jung we look at Jung’s ideas on the conscious and unconscious realms of the mind, his distinction between the personal and collective unconscious and his theory of archetypes."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0KzUS0b_uc
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Image: Sigmund Freud (front left) and Carl Jung (front right) at Clark University in 1909
Background from psychologistworld.com/cognitive/carl-jung-analytical-psychology
"Carl Jung: Archetypes and Analytical Psychology
Exploring the realm of Carl Jung's collective unconscious and the archetypes that live within it.
Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung (1875-1961) was interested in the way in which symbols and common myths permeate our thinking on both conscious and subconscious levels.
Jung initially worked with fellow psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, whose 1899 work The Interpretation of Dreamshad attached significance to the recurring themes and motifs in people's dreams, and sought to understand their relevance to subjects' psyches and their mental wellbeing.
However, Jung and Freud later took different paths, with the former disagreeing with Freud's emphasis on the influence of biological factors such as libido on behavior and personality.
Instead, Jung looked at areas of the mind that constitute the psyche, and the way in which they influenced one another. He distinguished the persona, or the image of ourselves that we present to the world, from our shadow, which may be comprised of hidden anxieties and repressed thoughts. Jung also noted the relationship between our personal unconscious, which contains an individual's personal memories and ideas, and a collective unconscious, a set of memories and ideas that is shared amongst all of humanity. Shared concepts, which Jung described as archetypes, permeate the collective unconscious and emerge as themes and characters in our dreams and surface in our culture - in myths, books, films and paintings, for example.
Jung felt that disunity among thoughts in the personal subconscious and the conscious could create internal conflicts which could lead to particular personality traits or anxieties. Such inner conflicts could be resolved, claimed Jung, by allowing repressed ideas to emerge into the conscious and accommodating (rather than destroying) them, thus creating a state of inner harmony, through a process known as individuation.
In this article we will look at Jung's theories on psychoanalysis and the most significant of his archetypes and will see how his ideas influenced modern psychology.
Personal Unconscious
Jung's idea of the personal unconscious is comparable to the unconscious that Freud and other psychoanalysts referred to. To Jung, it is personal, as opposed to the collective unconscious, which is shared amongst all persons.
The personal unconscious contains memories which are unaware we still possess, often as a result of repression.
As we exist in a conscious state, we do not have direct access to our personal unconscious, but it emerges in our dreams or in a hypnotic state of regression.
Collective Unconscious
The collective unconscious is key to Jung's theories of the mind as it contains the archetypes.
Rather than being born as a tabula rasa (a 'blank slate' in Latin) and being influenced purely by our environment, as the English philosopher John Locke believed, Jung proposed that we are each born with a collective unconscious. This contains a set of shared memories and ideas, which we can all identify with, regardless of the culture that we were born into or the time period in which we live. We cannot communicate through the collective unconscious, but we recognise some of the same ideas innately, including archetypes.
For example, many cultures have cultivated similar myths independently of one another, which feature similar characters and themes, such as the creation of the universe.
Archetypes
Jung noted that within the collective unconscious there exist a number of archetypes which we can all recognise. An archetype is the model image of a person or role and includes the mother figure, father, wise old man and clown/joker, amongst others. The mother figure, for example, has caring qualities; she is dependable and compassionate. We all hold similar ideas of the mother figure and we see her across cultures and in our language - such as the term 'mother nature'.
Archetypes are often incarnated as characters in myths, novels and films - in the James Bond spy series, 'M' embodies the mother archetype, whom the spy trusts and returns to. Similar, archetypes permeate the cards of a Tarot deck: the mother archetype is seen in the qualities of the Empress card, whilst the Hermit embodies the wise old man archetype.
The Persona
Distinct from our inner self, Jung noted that we each have a persona - an identity which we wish to project to others. He used the Latin term, which can refer either to a person's personality the mask of an actor, intentionally, as the persona can be constructed from archetypes in the collective unconscious, or be influenced by ideas of social roles in society. For example, a father may adopt traits which he considers to be typical of a father - serious or disciplining, for example - rather than those which reflect his actual personality.
Philip Zimbardo's study of social roles in a prison situation (1971) further demonstrated the effect that our role has on our persona. Assigned a role, such as that of a prison guard, people often behave as they would expect someone in their role to act.
As the persona is not a true reflection of our consciousness, but rather an idealised image which people aspire to, identifying too much with a persona can lead to inner conflicts and a repression of our own individuality, which Jung claimed could be resolved through individuation.
Shadow archetype
"Taken in its deepest sense, the shadow is the invisible saurian tail that man still drags behind him. Carefully amputated, it becomes the healing serpent of the mysteries." Carl Jung in The Integration of the Personality (English translation).3
The shadow archetype is composed primarily of the elements of ourselves that we consider to be negative. We do not show this side of the self to the outside world as it can be a source of anxiety or shame. The shadow may contain repressed ideas or thoughts which we do not wish to integrate into our outward persona, but these must be resolved in order to achieve individuation. However, it may also include positive traits, such as perceived weaknesses (for example, empathy) which may not fit into the 'toughness' that a person wants to present as a part of their persona.
In literature, the shadow is often presented as a villainous character - for instance, as the snake in the Garden of Eden or The Jungle Book. Jung also observed Hyde, whom Dr. Jekyll transforms into, as representing the character's shadow in Robert Louis Stevenson's 1886 novella The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
Anima/Animus archetypes
The anima (in males) or animus (in females) represents the opposite gender to a person's self. As a person develops a gender identity, such as that of being male, they repress the aspects of their personality which might be considered to be feminine, such as empathy in social situations. Whilst these traits form part of the true, united self, they are held back from our persona and are represented in the form of the feminine archetype anima in males or the masculine archetype animus in females.
The anima and animus are idealised impressions of the male or female, which emerge from the collective unconscious in dreams and inform our ideas of the opposite gender. As we age, they bring us into touch with the aspects of our personality repressed during the formation of a gender identity. For example, a man may allow their empathy to show more after the development of their masculine persona.
The anima and animus can be found throughout our culture - Jane Austen's novel Pride and Prejudice, for example, presents the anima archetype as the idealised Mr Darcey.
Wise Old Man archetype
Through his age and frailty, the Wise Old Man represents the power of peaceful contemplation in the absence of physical prowess. The wise old man, through quiet thought, foresees the future and offers guidance in turbulent times.
The wise old man is a prophetic archetype and can often be seen in stories as a wizard, such as Gandalf in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.
Great Mother
The Great Mother archetype embodies the idealised qualities of the mother figure. She is caring, compassionate, dependable and loving and, like the Wise Old Man, she may offer guidance when asked.
The stock character of the 'fairy godmother' often embodies the Great Mother in literature.
Other archetypes
The archetypes that we have looked at in this article are just a few of those which Jung believed to populate our collective unconscious.
Many more archetypes may be recognised, possessing non-exclusive qualities which may be held by multiple archetypes to different extents. Other archetypes include the magician, the child, the creator and the caregiver, among others.
Individuation
Jung believed that by acquiring the qualities of an archetype from the collective unconscious, we repress those attributes of our true self which do not conform to the archetype. To achieve individuation and realise our true self, he claimed that, rather than repressing these traits, we must 'integrate' them by allowing them to surface from the shadow and to coexist with those in the ego, or true self. Analytical psychologists may encourage this integration, or individuation, through therapy including free association.
Introvert and Extrovert Personalities
Aside from the theories of the workings of the psyche described above, Jung also believed the people could be divided by their personality type. He identified the introvert and extrovert personality types. Introverts, though quiet and sometimes unsociable, take the time to think over problems, whilst extroverts may be popular among their peers and unhesitant in expressing themselves.
Jungian psychology today
Although his theories are discussed to a lesser extend than Freud's psychodynamic approach, Carl Jung's ideas carry an influence whose effects can still be felt today.
The idea that we project in our personas not our true personality but an aspirational, idealised version of who we would like to be, and Jung's distinction between inward-looking introvert and outgoing extrovert personality types, have lead to the development of numerous personality tests which are still used today, including that of Katharine Cook Briggs and Isabel Briggs Myers.
Jung's theories have also impacted on the field of analytical psychology, which is commonly referred to as Jungian psychology."
Introduction to Carl Jung - The Psyche, Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious
"Carl Jung and the Shadow - 33 minute video episude =================================================
In the first part of our introduction to Jung we look at Jung’s ideas on the conscious and unconscious realms of the mind, his distinction between the personal and collective unconscious and his theory of archetypes."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0KzUS0b_uc
FYI COL Mikel J. Burroughs Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen Lt Col Charlie Brown LTC Greg Henning LTC Jeff Shearer Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. Maj William W. 'Bill' Price Maj Marty Hogan CPT Scott Sharon CWO3 Dennis M. SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL SSG William Jones SP5 Mark Kuzinski PO1 H Gene Lawrence PO2 Kevin Parker PO3 Bob McCord SPC Margaret Higgins
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