NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Jungian archetypes

According to Swiss psychologist Carl Jung and his school of analytical psychology, archetypes are innate universal pre-conscious psychic dispositions that form the substrate from which the basic themes of human life emerge. Being universal and innate, their influence can be detected in the form of myths, symbols and psychic aptitudes of human beings the world over. The archetypes are components of the collective unconscious and serve to organize, direct and inform human thought and behaviour. Carl Jungs partially autobiographical work Memories , Dreams, Reflections, Fontana edition â€œKarl Jungâ€ redirects here. ... Analytical psychology is part of the Jungian psychology movement started by Carl Jung and his followers. ... Collective unconscious is a term of analytical psychology originally coined by Carl Jung. ...

Archetypes hold control of the human life cycle. As we mature the archetypal plan unfolds through a programmed sequence which Jung called the stages of life. Each stage of life is mediated through a new set of archetypal imperatives which seek fulfillment in action. These may include being parented, initiation, courtship, marriage and preparation for death.^[1]

Introduction

Virtually alone among the depth psychologists of the twentieth century, Jung rejected the tabula rasa theory of human psychological development, believing instead that evolutionary pressures had dictated the basic structures and functions of the human psyche. He believed that human experience was directed by a priori aptitudes. He wrote: Tabula rasa (Latin: scraped tablet or clean slate) refers to the epistemological thesis that individual human beings are born with no innate or built-in mental content, in a word, blank, and that their entire resource of knowledge is built up gradually from their experiences and sensory perceptions of the...

The archetypes form a dynamic substratum common to all humanity, on the basis of which each individual builds his own experience of life, developing a unique array of psychological characteristics. Thus while the archetypes themselves may be conceived as relatively few innate nebulous forms — heralding possibilities — from these may arise innumerable images, symbols and patterns of behaving. While the emerging images and forms are solid and conscious, the archetypes which they point to are elementary structures which are unconscious and more difficult to apprehend. Being unconscious, the existence of archetypes can only be deduced indirectly by examining behaviour, images, art, myths, etc. They are inherited potentials which are actualized when they enter consciousness as images or manifest in behaviour on contact with the outside world. The archetype is a crucial Jungian concept. Its significance to analytical psychology has been likened to that of gravity for Newtonian physics.^[3]

Chronology

The intuition that there was more to the psyche than individual experience could put there, began in Jung's childhood. The very first dream he could remember was that of an underground phallic god. His researches in schizophrenia later confirmed his early intuition that universal psychic structures exist which underlie all human experience and behaviour. Jung first referred to these as "primordial images" - a term he borrowed from Jacob Burckhardt. Later in 1917 he called them "dominants of the collective unconscious". It was not until 1919 that he first used the term "archetypes" in an essay titled Instinct and the unconscious. Jacob Burckhardt in 1892 Jacob Burckhardt (May 25, 1818, Basel, Switzerland â€“ August 8, 1897, Basel) was a Swiss historian of art and culture, fields which he helped found. ...

Origins

The origins of the archetypal hypothesis date back as far as Plato. Jung himself compared archetypes to Platonic ideas. Plato's ideas were pure mental forms originating in the minds of the gods. They were collective in the sense that they embodied the general characteristics of a thing rather than its specific peculiarities. For a thought or concept, see idea. ...

Examples and conceptual difficulties

Although the general idea of an archetype is well recognized, there is considerable confusion as regards their exact nature and the way they result in universal experiences. The confusion about the archetypes can partly be attributed to Jung's own evolving ideas about them in his writings and his interchangeable use of the term "archetype" and "primordial image". Strictly speaking, archetypal figures such as the hero, the goddess and the wise man are not archetypes, but archetypal images which have crystallised out of the archetypes-as-such.

Jung described: archetypal events: birth, death, separation from parents, initiation, marriage, the union of opposites etc., archetypal figures: mother, father, child, God. trickster, hero, wise old man etc. and archetypal motifs: the Apocalypse, the Deluge, the Creation, etc.

However the precise relationships between images such as, for example, "the fish" and its archetype were not adequately explained by Jung. Here the image of the fish is not strictly speaking an archetype. However the "archetype of the fish" points to the ubiquitous existence of an innate "fish archetype" which gives rise to the fish image. In clarifying the contentious statement that fish archetypes are universal; Anthony Stevens explains that the archetype-as-such is at once an innate predisposition to form such an image and a preparation to encounter and respond appropriately to the creature per se. This would explain the existence of snake and spider phobias, for example, in people living in urban environments where they have never encountered either creature.^[4] Anthony Stevens is a well-known Jungian analyst and psychiatrist who has written extensively on psychotherapy and psychology. ...

Jung also proposed the existence of the Self, the anima, the animus and the shadow as psychological structures having an archetypal nature. Self might refer to various different things: Look up self on Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Look up anima in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The Official Website of Animus - Art Rock Group According to Carl Jung, the animus is the masculine side of a womans personal unconscious. ... Shadows on pavement A shadow is a region of darkness where light is blocked. ...

Actualisation and complexes

Archetypes seek actualisation within the context of an individuals environment and determine the degree of individuation. Jung also used the terms 'evocation' and 'constellation' to explain the process of actualisation. Thus for example, the mother archetype is actualised in the mind of the child by the evoking of innate anticipations of the maternal archetype when the child is in the proximity of a maternal figure who corresponds closely enough to its archetypal template. This mother archetype is built into the personal unconscious of the child as a mother complex. Complexes are functional units of the personal unconscious, in the same way that archetypes are units for the collective unconscious. Individuation comprises the processes whereby the undifferentiated becomes or develops individual characteristics, or the opposite process, by which components of an individual are integrated into a more indivisible whole. ...

Psychoid archetype

Jung proposed that the archetype had a dual nature - it exists both in the psyche and in the world at large. He called this non-psychic aspect of the archetype, the ' psychoid ' archetype. It represents his boldest contribution to the resolution of the mind-body problem. He illustrated this by drawing on the analogy of the electromagnetic spectrum. The part of the spectrum which is visible to us corresponds to the conscious aspects of the archetype. The invisible infra-red end of the spectrum corresponds to the unsconscious biological aspects of the archetype that merges with its chemical and physical conditions^[5] He suggested that not only do the archetypal structures govern the behaviour of all living organisms, but that they were continuous with structures controlling the behaviour of organic matter as well. The archetype was not merely a psychic entity, but more fundamentally, a bridge to matter in general ^[6] Jung used the ancient term of unus mundus to describe the unitary reality which he believed underlay all manifest phenomenon. He concieved archetypes to be the mediators of the unus mundus - organising not only ideas in the psyche, but also the fundamental principles of matter and energy in the physical world.

It was this psychoid aspect of the archetype that so impressed Nobel laureate physicist Wolfgang Pauli. Embracing Jung's concept Pauli believed that the archetype provided a link between physical events and the mind of the scientist who studied them. In doing so he echoed the position adopted by German astronomer Johannes Kepler. Thus the archetypes which ordered our perceptions and ideas are themselves the product of an objective order which transcends both the human mind and the external world. ^[7] This article is about Austrian-Swiss physicist Wolfgang Pauli. ... Johannes Kepler (December 27, 1571 â€“ November 15, 1630) was a German Lutheran mathematician, astronomer and astrologer, and a key figure in the 17th century astronomical revolution. ...

Parallels and developments

Although the term "archetype" did not originate with Jung, its current use has largely been influenced by his conception of it. The idea of innate psychic structures, at one time a relative novelty in the humanities and sciences has now been widely adopted. Related concepts arguably include the work of Claude Levi Strauss, an advocate of structuralism in anthropology, the concept of 'social instincts' proposed by Charles Darwin, the 'faculties' of Henri Bergson and the isomorphs of gestalt psychologist Wolfgang Kohler. In 1965 Noam Chomsky's ideas of human language accquisition being based an 'innate accquisition device' became known to the world. This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... For other people of the same surname, and places and things named after Charles Darwin, see Darwin. ... Henri-Louis Bergson (October 18, 1859â€“January 4, 1941) was a major French philosopher, influential in the first half of the 20th century. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Wolfgang Köhler (Reval, January 21, 1887 - New Hampshire, June 11, 1967) was a gestalt psychologist. ... Avram Noam Chomsky (Hebrew and Yiddish: ××‘×¨× × ×•×¢× ×—×•×ž×¡×§×™) , Ph. ...

See also

Notes and references

Category: Jungian psychology Psychology (from Greek: ÏˆÏ…Ï‡Î®, psukhÄ“, spirit, soul; and Î»ÏŒÎ³Î¿Ï‚, logos, knowledge) is an academic/ applied discipline involving the scientific study of mental processes and behavior. ... Image File history File links Psi2. ... The history of psychology as a scholarly study of the mind and behavior dates, in Europe, back to the Late Middle Ages. ... A psychologist is a scientist and/or clinician who studies psychology, the systematic investigation of the human mind, including behavior and cognition. ... Quantitative psychological research is psychological research which performs statistical estimation or statistical inference. ... In the broadest sense qualitative research is research which uses only dichotomous data â€” that is, data which can take only the values 0 (zero) and 1 (one). ... Biological psychology, sometimes referred to as psychobiology or biopsychology, is a subfield of psychology. ... Cognitive Psychology is the school of psychology that examines internal mental processes such as problem solving, memory, and language. ... Comparative psychology, taken in its most usual, broad sense, refers to the study of the behavior and mental life of animals other than human beings. ... This article includes a list of works cited or a list of external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations. ... Evolutionary psychology (abbreviated ev-psych or EP) is a theoretical approach to psychology that attempts to explain certain mental and psychological traitsâ€”such as memory, perception, or languageâ€”as evolved adaptations, i. ... Experimental psychology is an approach to psychology that treats it as one of the natural sciences, and therefore assumes that it is susceptible to the experimental method. ... Neuropsychology is a branch of psychology and neurology that aims to understand how the structure and function of the brain relate to specific psychological processes. ... Personality psychology is a branch of psychology which studies personality and individual differences. ... Physiological psychology is sometimes related to psychiatry, and in fact may end up becoming the parent branch which contains psychiatry. ... Social psychology is the scientific study of how peoples thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others (Allport, 1985). ... Positive psychology is the scientific study of human happiness. ... Psychopathology is a term which refers to either the study of mental illness or mental distress, or the manifestation of behaviors and experiences which may be indicative of mental illness or psychological impairment. ... Psychophysics is the branch of cognitive psychology dealing with the relationship between physical stimuli and their perception. ... Psychological testing or psychological assessment is a field characterized by the use of samples of behavior in order to infer generalizations about a given individual. ... The Greek letter Psi is often used as a symbol of psychology. ... Counseling psychology is an application of the basic professional skills in psychology to a population that has been more located in schools rather than hospitals and clinics. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Industrial and organizational psychology (also known as I/O psychology, work psychology, work and organisational psychology, W-O psychology, occupational psychology, or personnel psychology) concerns the application of psychological theories, research methods, and intervention strategies to workplace issues. ... Relationship counseling is the process of counseling the parties of a relationship in an effort to recognize and to better manage or reconcile troublesome differences. ... Educational psychology or school psychology is the psychological science studying how children and adults learn, the effectiveness of various educational strategies and tactics, and how schools function as organizations. ... Behaviorism (also called learning perspective) is a philosophy of psychology based on the proposition that all things which organisms doâ€”including acting, thinking and feelingâ€”can and should be regarded as behaviors, and as such can be described scientifically without recourse either to internal physiological events or to hypothetical constructs... In psychology, cognitivism is a theoretical approach to understanding the mind, which argues that mental function can be understood by quantitative, positivist and scientific methods, and that such functions can be described as information processing models. ... A Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a psychotherapy based on modifying everyday thoughts and behaviors, with the aim of positively influencing emotions. ... Existential psychotherapy is partly based on the existential belief that human beings are alone in the world. ... Family therapy, also referred to as couple and family therapy and family systems therapy, and earlier generally referred to as marriage therapy, is a branch of psychotherapy that works with families and couples in intimate relationships to nurture change and development. ... Feminist Therapy Code of Ethics* (Revised, 1999) Preamble Feminist therapy evolved from feminist philosophy, psychological theory and practice, and political theory. ... Gestalt Therapy is a psychotherapy which focuses on here-and-now experience and personal responsibility. ... Humanistic psychology is a school of psychology that emerged in the 1950s in reaction to both behaviorism and psychoanalysis. ... Psychoanalysis is a family of psychological theories and methods based on the work of Sigmund Freud. ... Analytical psychology is part of the Jungian psychology movement started by Carl Jung and his followers. ... It has been suggested that Psychodynamic psychology be merged into this article or section. ... Transpersonal psychology is a school of psychology that studies the transpersonal, the transcendent or spiritual aspects of the human mind. ... Drawing of B. F. Skinner Burrhus Frederic B. F. Skinner (March 20, 1904 â€“ August 18, 1990) was an American psychologist and author. ... Piaget, by AndrÃ© Koehne Jean Piaget [] (August 9, 1896 â€“ September 16, 1980) was a Swiss philosopher, natural scientist and developmental psychologist, well known for his work studying children and his theory of cognitive development. ... Sigmund Freud (born Sigismund Schlomo Freud) May 6, 1856 â€“ September 23, 1939; (IPA: ) was an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist who co-founded the psychoanalytic school of psychology. ... Otto Rank (April 22, 1884 â€“ October 31, 1939) was an Austrian psychologist. ... Albert Bandura (born December 4, 1925 in Mundare, Canada) is a Ukrainian-Canadian psychologist most famous for his work on social learning theory (or Social Cognitivism) and self efficacy. ... Leon Festinger Leon Festinger (May 8, 1919 â€“ February 11, 1989) was a social psychologist from New York City who became famous for his Theory of Cognitive Dissonance (Festinger, 1957). ... Carl Ransom Rogers (January 8, 1902 â€“ February 4, 1987) was an influential American psychologist, who, along with Abraham Maslow, was the founder of the humanist approach to psychology. ... Stanley Schachter was born on April 15, 1922, to Nathan and Anna Schachter in Flushing, New York. ... Neal E Miller was born in Milwaukee in 1909. ... Edward Lee Thorndike (August 31, 1874 - August 9, 1949) was an American psychologist who spent nearly his entire career at Teachers College, Columbia University. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Gordon Willard Allport (November 11, 1897 - October 9, 1967) was an American psychologist. ... Erik Erikson June 15, 1902 - May 12, 1994 Erik Homburger Erikson (June 15, 1902 â€“ May 12, 1994) was a German developmental psychologist and psychoanalyst known for his theory on social development of human beings, and for coining the phrase identity crisis. ... Hans Eysenck Hans JÃ¼rgen Eysenck (March 4, 1916 - September 4, 1997) was an eminent psychologist, most remembered for his work on intelligence and personality, though he worked in a wide range of areas. ... For other people named William James see William James (disambiguation) William James (January 11, 1842 â€“ August 26, 1910) was a pioneering American psychologist and philosopher. ... David McClelland (1917-1998). ... Raymond Bernard Cattell (20 March 1905 - 2 February 1998) was a British and American psychologist who theorized the existence of fluid and crystallized intelligences to explain human cognitive ability. ... John Broadus Watson (January 9, 1878â€“September 25, 1958) was an American psychologist who established the psychological school of behaviorism, after doing research on animal behavior. ... Kurt Zadek Lewin (September 9, 1890 â€“ February 12, 1947) was a German psychologist and one of the pioneers of social psychology. ... Donald Olding Hebb (July 22, 1904-August 20, 1985) was a Canadian psychologist who was influentian in the area of neuropsychology, where he sought to understand how the function of neurons contributed to psychological processes such as learning. ... George A. Miller (born February 3 1920) is a famous professor of psychology at Princeton University, whose most famous work was The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two: Some Limits on our Capacity for Processing Information, which was published in 1956 in In the linguistics community, Miller is well... Clark Leonard Hull (1884-1952) was an influential American psychologist and behaviorist who sought to explain learning and motivation by scientific laws of behavior. ... Jerome Kagan (born 1929) was one of the key pioneers of developmental psychology. ... Carl Jungs partially autobiographical work Memories , Dreams, Reflections, Fontana edition â€œKarl Jungâ€ redirects here. ... Ivan Petrovich Pavlov (Russian: ) (September 14, 1849 â€“ February 27, 1936) was a Russian physiologist, psychologist, and physician. ... link title Headline text --Cknuth7 16:35, 3 April 2006 (UTC) This page aims to list articles related to psychology. ... These are some of the sub-fields within the field of psychology: Abnormal psychology Activity theory Analytical psychology Applied psychology Asian Psychology Behavior analysis Behavioural medicine Behavioural psychology Biobehavioural health Biological psychology Biopsychology Cognitive neuropsychology Cognitive psychology Cognitive neuroscience Community psychology Comparative psychology Clinical psychology Counselling psychology Critical psychology Developmental... This is a list of psychiatric drugs used by psychiatrists to treat mental illness or distress. ... This is a list of major and frequently observed neurological disorders (e. ... List of organizations and societies in psychology. ... A very wide range of research methods are used in psychology. ... The psychological schools are the great classical theories of psychology. ... This list includes notable psychologists and contributors to psychology, some of whom may not have thought of themselves primarily as psychologists but are included here because of their important contributions to the discipline. ... This is an alphabetical List of Psychotherapies. ... This is a list of important publications in psychology, organized by field. ... This is a timeline of psychology. ...

Contents

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