Archetypes

1934

Carl Gustav Jung (1875–1961)

The theories of C. G. Jung were drawn from many sources, including religion, myth, Eastern philosophies, anthropology, psychology, and folklore. Out of these sources, Jung created complex psychology, or depth psychology. Like Sigmund Freud’s Psychoanalysis, complex psychology assumes a personal psychological unconscious; Jung, however, proposed a collective unconscious, grounded in human evolution, that is fundamental to human psychological functioning. The collective unconscious serves as the universal background that informs and shapes the personal, individual life. In his 1934 volume, The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious, Jung wrote that archetypes are primordial or archaic images that are indigenous to the collective unconscious and help give shape to individual experience. As such, archetypes may take on a variety of symbolic expressions. Jung did not indicate that there were a fixed number of archetypes, but some common examples are the primordial mother, the sage, the trickster, and the hero. Because they are symbols of the human experience over time, archetypes appear in all cultures, although their form and expression will vary in each culture and era. The truth component of myths, religions, and fairy tales lies in their relation to archetypes.

Aspects of individual psychology are also archetypal, Jung argued. The persona (our social face), the animus/anima (male/female principle), the shadow, the ego, and the self are archetypes, but expressed uniquely in each person. The ego is the center of human consciousness and provides a sense of continuity in our conscious lives. The self is the deepest aspect of human personality and is the central archetype that knits the conscious and unconscious together, providing order and balance among all the psychic elements. The shadow contains the repressed and unfavorable aspects of the personality. For Jung, the goal of psychological development is what he termed individuation. In the process of individuation, which becomes more important in midlife and beyond, the challenge is to integrate the ego and the self, thus leading to psychological wholeness and freedom. It is more often a journey than an arrival.

SEE ALSO Jungian Psychology (1913), The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949)

Created by Carl Andersson in 1912, this Swedish bronze sculpture depicts “Puck,” a mischievous sprite from English folklore and an expression of the Jungian archetypal trickster figure.