|
Carl-Gustav Jung's View on Human Psycholoy |
CG Jung was born on July 26, 1875 in Switzerland and died on June 6, 1961. He was a Swiss psychiatrist, psychologist, author and mystic.
Jung’s theories are based on clinical observations and studies on other cultures. Jung was interested in myths from various cultures. He mixed in elements as astrology and alchemy in his analysis of the human collective unconscious. He as an early follower of Sigmund Freud, however, broke with him due to his different opinion on psychoanalytic theory.
The psychologists who follow C G Jung’s theories are called Jungians and their practice called Jungians psychology or analytic psychology.
Jung introduced a theory for various types of personalities based on their psychological orientation (introvert – extrovert), and based on four functions: (thought and feeling - the rational), and (perception and intuition – the irrational).
Thoughts and feelings are each other’s opposition, likewise the perception and the intuition. People develop differently and one of these four functions becomes a primary function for the individual, which leads to that the opposite function remains undeveloped and primitive.
Some functions in the other pair can also be developed more, in order to become a supporting function. With other words, the individual will be able to handle a couple of functions in a mature and conscious way.
Jung’s personality model can be explained in a number of layers.
The outmost layer is the conscious, which means having self-knowledge – the way we know ourselves.
The next layer is the personal unconscious with a number of unconscious complexes, plus the Shadow, the Persona, and the Anima or the Animus (depending whether the person is male or female). The content of this layer is unique for every individual and what complexes one has developed, depend partly on what genetics one has, what has one experienced, and how has one handled those experiences!
The third layer is the collectively unconscious, in common with other people. Here is our basic conception of life. They reach the surface in forms of dreams, poems, and myths – archetypes. Examples for the archetypes are, the eternal young man, the old man, the mother, and God, etc. Examples for archetypical events are, birth, death, moving away from parents, propose, marry, and divorce, etc. Example for archetypical objects are, sun, moon, fire, and water, etc.
In this layer there is also the Persona, which is our defence towards the world around, something like a Greek theatre mask. Plus, the Shadow, which represents the repressed or unconscious side of oneself - good and bad. The person himself can’t see these hidden sides but those around can, to a certain degree, notice them.
In this layer there are also the Anima or the Animus. Anima is the feminine part in a man’s personality. Animus is the masculine part in a woman’s personality. Those who learn their anima & animus, reach a balanced personality, means Jung. One example can be when a woman does not know her inner man; then her projection of the inner man might express itself as the constant seeking of the knight of the shining armament. The attraction between a man and a woman depend thus on inner soul quality.
The deepest core in Jung’s personality model, is the archetype “the self” who stands for the entirety and the unity in the personality.
An important theme in Jungian psychology is the projections. The projections occur continuously as the unconscious is inevitably being projected on the surroundings, i.e. one transfers parts of his unconscious on the world around. A child, for example, projects the inborn father archetype on his father or other masculine figure close by. In much similar way, a newly hatched duck follows what is close by, for example, a broom, believing it is its mother. Projections are necessary to give the individual an incitement to get up from bed in the morning.
There are projections that cause trouble to mankind. They are projections of the shadow. When the shadow (the unconscious ego) projects on the people around, one transfers one’s own dark side on the others. An immature individual is unaware of his shadow, and therefore his shadow is projected on people around him. That is why, Jung in his books always reminds us of the fact of our awareness of our own shadow. If one becomes aware of it, it is no longer in his unconscious and thus not being projected unintentionally. And so one has control over his own dark side, and it does not trouble the people around him.
It is the shadow problem that is behind the scapegoat syndrome in the working places and the schools. One very serious from of shadow projection is, when the collective shadow, that is, the entire people’s shadow, is being projected on entire other people, like discrimination.
|
|