CARL JUNG AND ANALYTICAL PSYCHOLOGY:Carl Gustav Jung

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History and Systems of Psychology PSY502

Lesson 31

CARL JUNG AND ANALYTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

Carl Gustav Jung (1870-1961)

Carl Gustav Jung

Carl Gustav Jung was born in Switzerland in 1870. Jung wanted to study archaeology at university, but his

family was too poor to send him further than Basel, where they did not teach this subject, so instead Jung

studied medicine at the University of Basel. Towards the end of studies here he decided to specialize in

psychiatric medicine. He later worked in a psychiatric hospital in Zurich.

Following World War I, Jung became a worldwide traveler. He visited Northern Africa shortly after, then

New Mexico and Kenya in the mid-1920s. In 1938, he delivered lectures on Psychology and Religion, at

Yale University. During this period of his life Jung visited India. His experience in India led him to become

fascinated and deeply involved in Eastern philosophies and religions, helping him to come up with key

concepts of his ideology, including integrating spirituality into everyday life and appreciation of the

unconscious.

Jung was impressed with Freud; he met Freud, worked and delivered lectures with him, but disagreed and

developed his own theoretical framework and method of treatment, called Analytical Psychology. Jung died

in 1961 in Zurich, Switzerland.

Like Freud, Jung also divided the mind into conscious and unconscious parts, but according to him

unconscious has different layers.

The upper layer is the personal unconscious.

And the deeper layer is the collective unconscious.

The personal unconscious has repressed materials, and the collective unconscious has experiences of

forefathers and generations in the form of archetypes. The collective unconscious could be thought of as

the DNA of the human psyche. Just as all humans share a common physical heritage and predisposition

towards specific physical forms (like having two legs, a heart, etc.) so do all humans have a common

psychological predisposition. However, unlike the quantifiable information that composes DNA, the

collective unconscious is composed of archetypes.

In contrast to the objective material world, the subjective realm of archetypes can not be fully understood

through quantitative modes of research. Instead it can be revealed more fully through an examination of the

symbolic communications of the human psyche in art, dreams, religion, myth, and the themes of human

relational/behavioral patterns. Devoting his life to the task of exploring and understanding the collective

unconscious, Jung theorized that certain symbolic themes exist in every individual. These themes, according

to Jung, are called archetypes.

History and Systems of Psychology PSY502

Some archetypes given by Jung are:

Anima (woman in man) and Animus (man in woman)

Shadow

Jung identified the anima as being the unconscious feminine component of men and the animus as the

unconscious masculine component in women. However, this is rarely taken as a literal definition; in modern

era many Jungian practitioners believe that every person has both an anima and an animus. Jung stated that

the anima and animus act as guides to the unconscious unified self.

The shadow is an unconscious complex that is defined as the repressed and suppressed aspects of the

conscious self. There are constructive and destructive types of shadow. On the destructive side, it often

represents everything that the conscious person does not wish to acknowledge within themselves. For

instance, someone who identifies as being kind has a shadow that is harsh or unkind. Conversely, an

individual who is brutal has a kind shadow. The shadow of persons who are convinced that they are ugly

appears to be beautiful. On the constructive side, the shadow may represent hidden positive influences. So a

total personality is the result of personal unconscious and collective unconscious with the influence and

impact of all the archetypes.

Based upon his experiments, observations and clinical practice, he formulated his personality theory. He

stated that personality has two types:

Introvert

Extrovert

The extrovert orientation "finds meaning outside the self", in the surrounding world, whereas the introvert

is introspective and finds it within.

He also theorized that personality has four functions:

Sensory function

Thinking function

Emoting function

And intuiting function

The sensory function refers to the rational part of the personality, where logic plays the dominant part.

Emoting functions refers to the emotional part of the consciousness. The intuiting function refers to the

ability to foresee things.

Therefore, according to Jung, there are eight personality types, depending upon introversion or extroversion

and the four functions of each type namely:

Introverted Sensory

Introverted Thinking

Introverted Emoting

Introverted Intuiting

Extroverted Sensory

Extroverted Thinking

Extroverted Emoting

Extroverted Intuiting

These were some of the contributions of Carl Jung.

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