Jungian Analytical Psychology- Essay, Research Paper

Jungian Analytical Psychology-

Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961) was a son of a minister in

Switzerland. He was born on July 26, in the small village of Kesswil

on Lake Constance. He was named after his grandfather, a professor of

medicine at the University of Basel. He was the oldest child and only

surviving son of a Swiss Reform pastor. Two brothers died in infancy

before Jung was born. Jung’s mother was a neurotic and often fought

with his father. Father was usually lonely and very irritable. When

the child could not take his mother’s depressions and his parents’

fights, he sought refuge in the attic, where he played with a wooden

mannikin. Carl was exposed to death early in life, since his father

was a minister and attended many funerals, taking his son with him.

Also, Jung saw many fishermen get killed in the waterfalls and also

many pigs get slaughtered. When he was eleven, he went to a school in

Basel, met many rich people and realized that he was poor, compared to

them. He liked to read very much outside of class and detested math

and physical education classes. Actually, gym class used to give him

fainting spells (neurosis) and his father worried that Jung wouldn’t

make a good living because of his spells. After Carl found out about

his father’s concern, the faints suddenly stopped, and Carl became

much more studious.

He had to decide his profession. His choices included

archeology, history, medicine, and philosophy. He decided to go into

medicine, partly because of his grandfather. Carl went to the

University of Basel and had to decide then what field of medicine he

was going to go into. After reading a book on psychiatry, he decided

that this was the field for him, although psychiatry was not a

respectable field at the time. Jung became an assistant at the

Burgholzli Mental hospital in Zurich, a famous medical hospital. He

studied under Eugen Bleuler, who was a famous psychiatrist who defined

schizophrenia. Jung was also influenced by Freud with whom he later

became good friends. Freud called him his crown-prince. Their

relationship ended when Jung wrote a book called “Symbols of

Transformation.” Jung disagreed with Freud’s fundamental idea that a

symbol is a disguised representation of a repressed wish. I will go

into that later. After splitting up with Freud, Jung had a 2 year

period of non-productivity, but then he came out with his

“Psychological Types,” a famous work. He went on several trips to

learn about primitive societies and archetypes to Africa, New Mexico

to study Pueblo Indians, and to India and Ceylon to study eastern

philosophy. He studied religious and occult beliefs like I Ching, a

Chinese method of fortune telling. Alchemy was also one of his

interests. His book, “Psychology and Alchemy,” published in 1944 is

among his most important writings. He studied what all this told about

the human mind. One of his methods was word association, which is when

a person is given a series of words and asked to respond to them.

Abnormal response or hesitation can mean that the person has a complex

about that word.

His basic belief was in complex or analytical psychology. The

goal is psychosynthesis, or the unification and differentiation of

the psyche (mind). He believed that the mind started out as a whole

and should stay that way. That answered structural, dynamic,

developmental questions. I will attempt to restate the major ideas and

terms in this book in a pseudo-outline. It will make the understanding

a bit more clear.

—

STRUCTURE

Jung said that there are three levels of mind. Conscious,

Personal Subconscious, and Collective Subconscious. The conscious

level serves four functions. The following are the functions of people

(not types!): A. Thinking: connecting ideas in ordered strings. B.

Feeling: evaluating ideas upon feelings about them. C. Sensing:

wanting to get experiences. D. Intuiting: following unfounded ideas.

A & B are called rational, and C & D are called irrational. If

they don’t make much sense, they will be explained in more detail

after explaining Types. There are also 2 classes of conscious

behavior:

A. Introverted, which are people who are content to stay within their

own psyche. They base their whole life on analyzing their mind.

B. Extroverted, which are people who seek out other people. They care

about the outside world and adjust to it.

Also, one of the two classes usually dominates, and rarely

does one see an individual with perfectly balanced classes of

behavior. Jung said that an ego is a filter from the senses to the

conscious mind. All ego rejections go to the personal subconscious.

The ego is highly selective. Every day we are subjected to a vast

number of experiences, most of which do not become conscious because

the ego eliminates them before they reach consciousness. This differs

from Freud’s definition of ego, which we studied in class. The

personal subconscious acts like a filing cabinet for those ego

rejections. Clusters of related thoughts in the personal subconscious

form Complexes. One type of complex we have talked about in class is

the Oedipus Complex. For example, if one has a mother complex, (s)he

can not be independent of his/her mother or a similar figure.

Complexes are often highly visible to people, but unfelt by the

individual who has the complex. As already mentioned, complexes can be

revealed by word association, which will cause hang-ups, if mentioned.

A strong or total complex will dominate the life of a person, and weak

or partial complex will drive a person in a direction of it, but not

too strongly. A complex, as Jung discovered, need not be a hindrance

to a person’s adjustment. In fact, quite the contrary. They can be and

often are sources of inspiration and drive which are essential for

outstanding achievement. Complexes are really suppressed feelings. Say

you want to be a fireman, but your parents don’t let you, so you might

have suppressed feelings about it and let it drive you, so you might

think that firemen are heroes, because you never could be one.

The Collective Subconscious is hereditary. It sets up the

pattern of one’s psyche. A collection of so called primordial images

which people inherit, also called archetypes are stored here. They are

universal inclinations that all people have in common somewhere by

means of heredity. The four important archetypes that play very

significant roles in everyone’s personality are Persona, Anima(us),

Shadow, and the Self. Here is a brief explan ation of each. Persona –

from Latin word meaning “mask.” Something actors wore to portray

a certain personality. In Jungian psychology, the persona

archetype serves a similar purpose; it enables one to portray a

character that is not necessarily his own. The persona is the mask or

facade one exhibits publicly, with the intention of presenting a

favourable impression so that society will accept him. This is

necessary for survival, for the reason that it enables us to get along

with people, even those we diskike, in an amicable manner. Say, you

have to get a job, and what is expected of you is such personal

characteristics such as grooming, clothing, and manners, so even if

you don’t exhibit those at home, you have to demonstrate them at work,

in order to get this job. A person may also have more than one

persona. Anima, Animus – Jung called the persona the “outward face” of

the psyche because it is that face which the world sees. The “inward

face” he called the anima in males and the animus in females. The

anima archetype is the female side of the masculine psyche; the animus

archetype is the masculine side of the female psyche. Man has

developed his anima archetype by continous exposure to women over many

generations, and woman has developed her animus arch etype by her

exposure to men. Anima and animus archetype, like that of the persona,

have strong survival value. If a man exhibits only masculine traits,

his feminine traits remain unconscious and therefore these traits

remain undevel oped and primitive. This, if you will remember, is like

Jack, who was a macho guy, and was encouraged to discard all feminine

traits. Jung said that since this image is unconscious, it is always

unconsciously projected upon the person of the beloved, (i.e.

girlfriend) and is one of the chief reasons for passionate attraction

or aversion. So, for example, if I always thought that women were

nagging, then I would project that notion onto my wife, and think that

she is nagging, although she is perfectly customary. If he experiences

a “passionate attraction,” then the woman undoubtedly has the same

traits as his anima-image of woman. Western civilization seems to

place a high value on conformity and to disparage femininity in men

and masculinity in women. The disparagement beings in childhood when

“sissies” and “tomboys” are ridiculed. Peter was expected to be kind

and gentle, which would bring derision. Boys are simply expected to

conform to a culturally specified masculine role and girls to a

feminine role. Thus, the persona takes precedence over and stifles the

anima or animus. The Shadow – This is another archetype that

represents one’s own gender and that influences a person’s

relationships with his own sex. The shadow contains more of man’s

basic animal nature than any other archetype does. Because of its

extremely deep roots in evolutionary history, it is probably the most

powerful and potentially the most dangerous of all the archetypes. It

is the source of all that is best and worst in man, especially in his

relations with others of the same sex. In order for a person to

become an integral member of the community, it is necessary to tame

his animal spirits contained in the shadow. This taming is

accomplished by suppressing manifestations of the shadow and by

developing a strong persona which counteracts the power of the shadow.

For example, if a person suppresses the animal side of his nature, he

may become civilized, but he does so at the expense of decreasing the

motive power for spontaneity, creativity, strong emotions, and deep

insights. A shadowless life tends to become shallow and spiritless.

The shadow is extremely persistent and does not yield easily to

suppression.

Say, a farmer was in spired to be a psychology teacher.

Inspirations are always the work of the shadow. The farmer does not

think this inspiration is feasible at the time, probable since his

persona as a farmer is too strong, so he rejects it. But the idea

keeps plaguing him, because of the persistent pressure exerted by the

shadow. Finally, one day he gives in and turns from farming to

teaching psychology. When the ego and the shadow work in close

harmony, the person feels full of life and vigor. The Self – The

concept of the total personality or psyche is a central feature of

Jung’s psychology. This wholeness, as pointed out in the discussion of

the psyche, is not achieved by putting the parts together in a jigsaw

fashion; it is there to begin with, although it takes time to mature.

It is sometimes manifested in dreams, it leads to self realization,

its the driving force to be a complete person! The self is the central

archetype in the collective unconscious, much as the sun us the center

of the solar system. It unites the personality. When a person says he

feels in harmony with himself and with the world, we can be sure that

the self archetype is performing its work effectively.

There are three ways how your psyche works together. One

structure may compensate for the weakness of another structure, one

component may oppose another component, and two or more structures may

unite to form a synthesis. Compensation may be illustrated by the

contrasting attitudes of extraversion and introversion. If

extraversion is the dominant or superior attitude of the conscious

ego, then the unconscious will compensate by devel oping the repressed

attitude of introversion. Compensation also occurs between function,

which I briefly mentioned earlier. A person who stresses thinking or

feeling in his conscious mind will be an intuitive, sensation type

unconsciously. As we studied in class, this balance, which

compensation provides us with, is healthy. It prevents our psyches

from becoming neurotically unbalanced. We need to have a little Peter

and Jack in all of us. Opposition exists everywhere in the

personality: between the persona and the shadow, between the persona

and the anima, and between the shadow and the anima. The contest

between the rational and irrational forces of the psyche never ceases

either. One’s integrity of “self” can actually determine whether or

not this opposition will cause a shattering of a personality. Must

personality always by a house divided against itself, though? Jung

thought not. There can always be a union of opposites, a theme that

looms very large in Jung’s writings.

—

DYNAMICS

The psyche is a relatively closed system that has only a fixed

amount of energy also called Values, which is the amount of energy

devoted to a component of the mind. There are some channels into the

psyche through which ene rgy can enter in form of experiences. If the

psyche were a totally closed systems, it could reach a state of

perfect balance, for it would not be subjected to interference from

the outside. The slightest stimulus may have far-reaching consequences

on one’s mental stability. This shows that it is not the amount of

energy that is added, but the disruptive effects that the added energy

produces within the psyche. These disruptive effects are caused by

massive redistributions of energy within the system. It takes only the

slightest pressure on the trigger of a loaded gun to cause a great

disaster. Similarly, it may take only the slightest addition of energy

to an unstable psyche to produce large effects in a person’s behavior.

Psychic energy is also called Libido. It is not to be confused with

Freud’s definition of libido. Jung did not restrict libido to sexual

energy as Freud did. In fact, this is one of the essential differences

in the theories of the two men. It can be classified as actual or

potential forces that perform psychological work. It is often

expressed in desires and wants for objects. The values for things are

hidden in complexes.

The psyche is always active, yet it is still very difficult

for people to accept this view of a continuously active psyche,

because there is a strong tendency to equate psychic activity with

conscious activity. Jung, as well as Freud, hammered away at this

misconception, but it persists even today. The source of psychic

energy is derived from one’s instincts and diverted into other uses.

Like a waterfall is used to create energy, you have to use your

instincts to turn into energy as well. Otherwise, just like the

waterfall, your instincts are completely fruitless. For example, if

you think that to get a beautiful wife, you have to be rich, so you

direct your sexual drive into a business persona, which will bring you

money.

There are two principles of psychic dynamics. What happens to

all that energy?

1. Principle of Equivalence. Energy is not created nor destroyed. If

it leaves something, it has to surface. For example, if a child

devoted a lot of energy to reading comics, it might be redirected into

a different persona, som ething like being Mr. Cool Dude! He then will

loose interest in reading comics. Energy also has an inclination to

carry tendencies of its source to its destination.

2. Principle of Entropy. Energy usually flows from high to low. If you

have a highly developed structure (persona, for example), instead of

equalizing, it may start drawing values from other systems to boost

itself even higher. Such highly energized systems have a tendency to

go BOOOOM! So, entropy can destroy those high energy systems if they

get too big. The operation of the entropy principle results in an

equilibrium of forces. Just like two bodies of different temperatures

touching each other would soon equalize temperatures. The hotter one

will transfer heat to the cooler one. Once a balance is reached in

your psyche, according to Jung, it will be then difficult to disturb.

Those two principles influence the following:

Progression and Regression. Progression is the advance of

psychological adaptation. For example, if you need a shadow

(creativity, perhaps), you will try to develop one. When conflicting

traits loose power, your psyche enters regression. Say, your persona

and shadow are in opposition and because they are in opposition, they

both would be suppressed, because neither would get enough libido, or

energy.

—

DEVELOPMENT

Jung stated that there are basically four stages of life. They

are Childhood, Youth and Young Adulthood, Middle Age, and Old Age. In

the beginning (childhood), a person’s psyche is undefferentiated and

this person becomes a projection of the parents psyche. Children are

not individuals in the beginning of their life, because their ir

memories don’t have too much stored in them and they lack a sense of

continuity because of that. As they gain experience, they realize that

they are their own person and not their parents’ projection. The stage

of youth and adulthood is announced by the physiological changes that

occur during puberty. During this stage, an individual establishes

his/her position in life. His vocation and marriage partner are

determined. A person usually uses his Anima and Shadow to decide those

things. Values are channeled into his establishment in the outside

world. Once one is independent, even a small experience can influence

him greatly. The Middle Age is the one often neglected by

psychiatrists. Lots of people have problems in this stage. They

usually don’t know what to do with the energy left over that was

devoted to establishing positions in society as youth. As the

principle of entropy suggests, the energy is conserved, so once an

adult put it to use, he must redirect it elsewhere. Jung stated that

those left-over energies can be usefully diverted into spiritual

contemplation and expansion. Nothing much happens in old age. People

have so much energy of experiences in their psyche that even a major

experience won’t upset their psychological balance.

Often, society will force people to assume prefered types.

Types are categories of classifications of psyches which

are non-absolute and have no definite boundaries. There are eight

“types.” Types are combinations of functions and attitudes (page 3).

The following are the eight main types:

1. Extraverted Thinking Type. This type of man elevates objective

thinking into the ruling passion of his life. He is typified by the

scientist who devotes his energy to learning as much as he can about

the objective world. The most developed extraverted thinker is an

Einstein.

2. Introverted Thinking Type. This type is inward-directed in his

thinking. He is exemplified by the philosopher or existential

psychologist who seeks to understand the reality of his own being.

He may eventually break his ties with reality and become

schizophrenic.

3. Extraverted Feeling Type. This type, which Jung observes is more

frequently found in women, subordinates thinking to feeling.

4. Introverted Feeling Type. This type is also more commonly found

among women. Unlike their extraverted sisters, introverted feeling

persons keep their feelings hidden from the world.

5. Extraverted Sensation Type. People of this type, mainly men, take

an interest in accumulating facts about the external world. They are

realistic, practical, and hardheaded, but they are not particularly

concerned about what things mean.

6. Introverted Sensation Type. Like all introverts, the introverted

sensation type stands aloof from external objects, immersing himself

in his own psychic sensations. He considers the world to be banal and

uninteresting.

7. Extraverted Intuitive Type. People of this type, commonly women,

are characterized by flightiness and instability. They jump from

situation to situation to discover new possibilities in the external

world. They are always looking for new worlds to conquer before they

have conquered old ones.

8. Introverted Intuitive Type. The artist is a representative of this

type, but it also contains dreamers, prophets, visionaries, and

cranks. He usually thinks of himself as a misunderstood genius.

Variations in the degree to which each of the attitudes and

functions are consciously developed or remain unconscious and

undeveloped can produce a wide range of differences among individuals.

This book is an extremely valuable source of thought provoking

logic. Jung wrote with common sense, passion, and compassion, and the

reader experiences a “shock of recognition”; he will recognize truths

he has known, but which he has not been able to express in words. This

book made me think about myself, and people in general. How people’s

minds work, including my own. I found a lot of “truth” or at least I

though I did in Jung’s teachings. I could relate some of the reading

material to elements studied in class. One will be astounded by the

number of Jung’s ideas that anticipated those of later writers. Many

of the new trends in psychology and related fields are indebted to

Jung, who first gave them their direction. The book is also

interesting, because of its challenging nature. I suppose that not all

people would enjoy reading such type of literature, since many people

in this world are sensational types. I certainly did enjoy it, and

have found out some things about myself in the process. The book is

very well written. It has many good analogies and explanations which

even the most sensational type would understand. The collection of

information is tremendous. There is so much information bundled in 130

pages, that it makes you think that 500 pages would not be enough to

really explain deeply the subject matter. This book can be faultlessly

used as a textbook, which could prove to be salutary in psychology

classes. I strongly recommend reading this book to all audiences that

want to. A person, content with the world around him, not wishing to

challenge the puzzles of nature, should not. This book is a treasure

for all who seek to explore the human mind.