Influential Psychologists Vol.1: Carl Jung, The Sage of the Depths

 

I. Introduction

Do you ever wake up and remember a particularly profound dream? Do you ever notice recurring themes within them? Some of the early psychoanalytic psychologists took notice of this phenomenon. Carl Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, beginning as a student of Sigmund Freud. He founded the school of analytical psychology (or Jungian psychology) to distinguish it from Freud's psychoanalytic theories. His work is known for its complexity. Despite its complexity, this post will aim to explain some of his key contributions to psychology. 

II. Psychological Types

Jung's theory of psychological types are likely his most well-known concept. If you have ever taken the MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator) test, you have come into contact with these types.  Jung proposed these types as a framework for understanding how people perceive the world and make judgments. His theory includes two key components: attitudes and functions. 

The attitudes that Jung describes are: 

- Introversion (I): Energy is directed inward toward thoughts, feelings, and reflections. Introverts tend to be reserved, reflective, and draw energy from their solitude. 

- Extraversion (E): Energy is directed outward toward people, objects, and experiences. Extraverts tend to be outgoing, action-oriented, and draw energy from interacting with others. 

These terms should look familiar as well. Everyone has an idea of which attitude they prefer. However, no one is purely extraverted or introverted. One of these attitudes is dominant, while the other is compensatory. 

In tandem, functions dictate the way we experience and process information. They are: 

- Thinking (T): Making decisions using logic, reason, and analysis to understand the world

- Feeling (F): Making decisions based on values, emotions, and subjective experience. 

- Sensation (S): Focuses on information gathered through the senses, detail-oriented and grounded

- Intuition (I): Perceiving possibilities, patterns, and future implications beyond sensory information. 

Jung considered Thinking and Feeling to be rational functions, Sensation and Intuition are irrational functions. Similar to the attitudes, everyone makes use of all of these functions, but one function will be more dominant than the others. These attitudes and functions combine to make a psychological type. There are eight in total, but they will not be described here for the sake of brevity. 

III. The Collective Unconscious

The collective unconscious refers to a vast reservoir within the human psyche that carries the ingrained patterns of human experience, passed down from our ancestors. It contains a deep-seated knowledge of fundamental human themes and motifs that resonate across culture and time. This idea suggests that there is a profound connectedness between all human beings on a psychological level. Although this part of our mind is unconscious, Jung believed that it could be accessed through dreams. Within the collective unconscious, there exist archetypes. 

IV. Archetypes

Archetypes are universal patterns through which we understand and interpret the world. They can be understood as templates that are shaped by an individual's life experiences. Consequently, they often form the basis of many common themes that appear in stories, myths, and dreams across time. There are many archetypes, including the Hero, the Mother, the Trickster, the Wise Old Man, and the Shadow (more on the Shadow later). Take a moment to consider some characters in the stories you know. 

To paint an example of the archetypes in action, we will use examples of characters from the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

The Hero: Frodo

Frodo is the embodiment of the Hero in this story. He was an ordinary Hobbit that was called to an extraordinary task: to ensure the Dark Lord Sauron would not regain the One Ring of Power. His journey is one of growth and sacrifice, fundamental to the Hero archetype. 

The Wise Old Man: Gandalf

Gandalf serves as the guide, mentor, and possessor of wisdom and magical power. He embodies the Wise Old Man archetype and serves to offer guidance to the Hero. He can be thought of as a mentor, an individual that is instrumental to your growth and development. 

Hopefully these examples provided some clarity on this concept. These archetypes are not just abstract ideas, they can influence our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. They can emerge in our dreams as powerful symbols and shape the narratives we have on our life experiences. 

V. The Shadow

Let us give special consideration to the Shadow, my favorite of Jung's ideas. The Shadow is a representation of the repressed and negatively perceived aspects of our personality. These are traits or desires that we deem unacceptable and try to hide from ourselves and others. Traits commonly suppressed into the Shadow include aggression, greed, selfishness, and jealousy. The Shadow is typically embodied by the antagonist of a story (Sauron, in Lord of the Rings). It can also manifest itself in dreams or in waking life as the qualities you dislike in others, known as projection. 

Recognizing the Shadow marks a pivotal moment in one's life. It disrupts the self-image that the ego has attempted to maintain. Rather than projecting these unwanted qualities onto others, one begins to understand that these qualities exist within oneself. This painful yet necessary confrontation is a process Jung calls individuation. 

VI. Individuation

Individuation is the process by which a person becomes a wholly integrated Self. Rather than considering it an endpoint, it is a dynamic process that occurs throughout one's lifetime. Jung believed this process involves bringing the conscious and unconscious components of our psyche into balance (see the image under 'Collective Unconscious'). 

Jung also believed that dreams and active imagination could offer valuable insights into the individuation process. He interpreted dreams as messages from the unconscious featuring archetypes in symbolic form. Recognizing these patterns can allow one to connect their personal experience with universal human themes. Ultimately, interpreting these processes can contribute to the development of the Self. 

Jung theorized that an individuated person would possess certain characteristics. He believed it leads to a heightened sense of self-awareness, increased authenticity, and improved relationships with others. Individuation provides a framework for understanding and pursuing personal development, while also emphasizing the inner journey towards meaning and purpose in one's life.

VII. Conclusion 

In this post, we have discussed Carl Jung, the founder of analytical psychology and one of the most influential psychologists of all time. His key ideas discussed are his psychological types, the collective unconscious and its archetypes, the Shadow, and the path to individuation.