We all have heard of the id, ego, and superego – famous from Freuds psychoanalytic theory. But have you heard of the other three aspects of the psyche; the ego, personal unconscious and collective unconscious.
Carl Jung gave the perspective that the total personality, or psyche, is composed of several distinct systems or structures that can influence one another. Jung also argued that we are shaped by our future as well as our past, compared to Freuds view that humans are prisoners or victims of past events.
Carl Jung also disagreed with Freud on the role of sexuality. Jung broadened Freud’s definition of libido by redefining it as a more generalized psychic energy that includes sex but is not restricted to it.
Rather than minimizing the role of the unconscious, Jung placed an even greater emphasis on it than Freud did. He probed more deeply into the unconscious and added a new dimension: the collective unconscious proposing the idea that there was not only a personal unconscious but also a collective unconscious from which certain universal symbols and patterns have arisen throughout history.
The ego:
The ego resembles Freud’s theory of consciousness. The ego is essentially the conscious thoughts that a person has about themselves. Your identity, thoughts, feelings, and memories. It only functions selectively, allowing only some of the stimuli we are exposed to enter our consciousness, and it has to do with our awareness of self. The core of the personality is not the ego, even though it is in the heart of consciousness. According to Jung, healthy people are in tune with their conscious environment, but they also give themselves permission to experience their unconscious selves, which leads to “individuation.”
The personal unconscious:
Freud’s preconscious and unconscious are combined in the personal unconscious. It consists of things that were once conscious, such people’s memories, ideas, desires, and impulses, but have since been suppressed or forgotten. We start to organise events into complexes as we accumulate more and more information into our own unconscious. A complex is a central theme or arrangement of feelings, memories, perceptions, and desires. For instance, a person may be said to have a complex regarding status or power if they are so consumed by that topic that it affects their thoughts and actions.
The collective unconscious:
This is a concept that encompasses all of the experiences that people have had throughout history. It is not solely the possession of one individual; it is part of the “collective.” Its existence is solely due to inheritance.
Simply said, our personalities are shaped by the experiences that are universal, meaning they are reproduced mostly unaltered by generations that follow. The foundation of the human psyche comes from our earliest history, which shapes and influences our behaviour today. We have a tendency to act and feel in ways that others have always acted and felt. The particular experiences that each of us has in life determine whether the natural tendency emerges.
For example, humans have always experienced birth and death. They have dreaded evil, chased power, and been afraid of mysterious horrors in the dark. Each of us is imprinted at birth by the universality of these experiences across infinite evolving generations, which shapes our perceptions and responses to the environment.
Jung coined these recurrent themes or patterns “archetypes,” which are manifestations of the ancient experiences that are stored in the collective unconscious. He also used the term primordial images which refers to universal mental images.
Jung proposed 4 main archetypes; The persona, the shadow, the anima/animus, and the self. Jung did not restrict and said that there was no limit to the number of archetypes and many other archetypal patterns exist in dreams, myths, art and literature. E.g. Hero, wise old man, great mother.
The persona:
The persona is the role we play and the face we present to the outside world. It is based on the masks that early theatre performers wore.
The persona may be beneficial, but it may also be detrimental. We might start to think that the character is a true reflection of who we really are. We might become that role rather than just acting it. As a result, we will be unable to develop other areas of our personalities preventing us from reaching self-realization as we remain unaware of our uniqueness.
Jung states that we must find a balance between our true selves and the expectations of society if we want to become psychologically healthy.
The shadow:
The shadow is a metaphor for the unknown aspect of the psyche and is the archetype of repression and darkness. It stands for the traits we try to conceal from both ourselves and other people and do not want to admit.
According to Jung, our first test of courage is to always work towards understanding our shadow if we are to be whole. Unfortunately, most of us only notice the positive aspects of ourselves and never recognise our shadow. However, Jung pointed out that the shadow is the also a source of life, spontaneity, creativity, and emotion. Therefore, the mind will be lifeless and dull if the shadow is completely suppressed.
Anima/animus:
Jung recognised that all people have both a masculine and a feminine side, which is reflected in the anima and animus archetypes. Men’s psyches have feminine elements known as the anima archetype, while women’s psyches have masculine elements known as the animus archetype. Both the anima and the animus must be expressed, according to Jung, or else these essential qualities will stay dormant and undeveloped, resulting in a one-sided personality.
The self:
According to Jung, everyone has an inherent drive to strive for growth, fulfilment, and perfection. The self archetype stands for the harmony, consistency, and unity of the entire psyche. Because it brings the other archetypes together and unifies them in the process of self-realization, it is the most complete archetype – the archetype of archetypes.
The ultimate symbol is the ‘mandala’. It is important to distinguish the self from the ego, which is just conscious. The self, the core of the personality, combines the conflicting aspects of the psyche—male and female, good and evil, light and dark forces—and comprises both the conscious and unconscious minds.
Jung’s views were not as popular as Freud’s, and he may have received more criticism due to their mystical and opaque nature. Yet, Jungian archetypes continue to be an insightful concept and tool within modern clinical psychology. Universal archetypal themes are not one-size-fits-all and can actually vary depending on an individual’s experiences over the course of their lifetime. These archetypes can serve as a framework for comprehending human behaviour and motivations, providing a deeper understanding of the human psyche’s complexities.
