Jungian archetypes
Jungian archetypes are a concept from psychology that refers to a universal, inherited idea, pattern of thought, or image that is present in the collective unconscious of all human beings. As the psychic counterpart of instinct, archetypes are thought to be the basis of many of the common themes and symbols that appear in stories, myths, and dreams across different cultures and societies.
Some examples of archetypes include those of the mother, the child, the trickster, and the flood, among others. The concept of the collective unconscious was first proposed by Carl Jung, a Swiss psychiatrist and analytical psychologist.
According to Jung, archetypes are innate patterns of thought and behavior that strive for realization within an individual's environment. This process of actualization influences the degree of individuation, or the development of the individual's unique identity. For instance, the presence of a maternal figure who closely matches the child's idealized concept of a mother can evoke innate expectations and activate the mother archetype in the child's mind. This archetype is incorporated into the child's personal unconscious as a "mother complex", which is a functional unit of the personal unconscious that is analogous to an archetype in the collective unconscious.
Introduction
rejected the tabula rasa theory of human psychological development, which suggests that people are born as a "blank slate" and their experiences shape their thoughts, behaviors, and feelings. Instead, Jung believed that there are universal experiences that are inherent to the human experience, such as belongingness, love, death, and fear. These experiences, which he called the "collective unconscious," are expressed in what he called "archetypes." Jung believed that these archetypes are influenced by evolutionary pressures and manifest in the behaviors and experiences of individuals. He first introduced the concept of primordial images, which he later referred to as archetypes, to explain this idea. In his 2010 paper on reconsidering the innateness of Jungian archetypes, Goodwyn posits that archetypes are innate and based on universal emotional circuits, but are expressed dynamically depending on how environmental factors shape them.According to Jungian psychology, archetypes are innate potentials that are expressed in human behavior and experiences. They are hidden forms that are activated when they enter consciousness and are shaped by individual and cultural experiences. The concept of archetypes is a key aspect of Jung's theory of the collective unconscious, which suggests that there are universal experiences that are inherent to the human experience. The existence of archetypes can be inferred from various cultural phenomena, such as stories, art, myths, religions, and dreams.
Jung's concept of archetypes was influenced by the theories of Immanuel Kant, Plato, and Arthur Schopenhauer. Jung's idea of archetypes differs from Plato's concept of Ideas in that they are dynamic and constantly seeking expression in an individual's personality and behavior. He believed that these archetypes are activated and given form in the encounter with empirical experiences.
For Jung, "the archetype is the introspectively recognizable form of a priori psychic orderedness". "These images must be thought of as lacking in solid content, hence as unconscious. They only acquire solidity, influence, and eventual consciousness in the encounter with empirical facts."
According to Jungian psychology, archetypes form a common foundation for the experiences of all humans. Each individual builds their own experiences on top of this foundation, influenced by their unique culture, personality, and life events. While there are a relatively small number of innate and amorphous archetypes, they can give rise to a vast array of images, symbols, and behaviors. While the resulting images and forms are consciously recognized, the underlying archetypes are unconscious and cannot be directly perceived.
Jung believed that the form of the archetype was similar to the axial system of a crystal, which determines the structure of the crystal without having a physical existence of its own. The archetype is empty and purely formal, and the specific way in which it is expressed depends on the circumstances in which it is activated. The representations of the archetype are not inherited, only the forms, and they correspond to the instincts. The existence of the instincts and the archetypes cannot be proven unless they manifest themselves concretely.
A study published in the journal Psychological Perspective in 2017 examined the ways in which Jungian representations are expressed in human experiences. The article summarized the findings of the study,
Early development
Jung's intuition that there was more to psyche than individual experience may have originated in his childhood. He had dreams that seemed to come from a source outside himself, and one of his earliest memories was of a dream about an underground phallic god. Later in life, Jung's research in Burghölzli Hospital on psychotic patients and his own self-analysis supported his belief in the existence of universal psychic structures that underlie all human experience and behavior. He discovered that the dreams of his patients followed certain patterns and had elements of myths, legends, and fairy tales. Jung initially referred to these as "primordial images" – a term he borrowed from Jacob Burckhardt, later referring to them as "dominants of the collective unconscious" in 1917.Jung first coined the term "archetypes" in his 1919 essay "Instinct and the Unconscious". The word is derived from Greek, with the first element, "arche," meaning "beginning, origin, cause, primal source principle," as well as "position of a leader, supreme rule, and government." The second element, "type," means "blow and what is produced by a blow, the imprint of a coin, form, image, prototype, model, order, and norm." In modern usage, the term signifies "pattern underlying form, primordial form."
Later development
In later years, Jung revised and broadened the concept of archetype, conceiving them as psycho-physical patterns existing in the universe, given specific expression by human consciousness and culture. This was part of his attempt to link depth psychology to the larger scientific program of the twentieth century.Jung proposed the archetype contained a dual nature, existing both in the psyche of an individual and the world at large. The non-psychic element, or "psychoid" archetype, is a synthesis of instinct and spirit and is not accessible to consciousness. Jung developed this concept with the collaboration of Austrian quantum physicist Wolfgang Pauli, who believed that the psychoid archetype was crucial to understanding the principles of the universe. Jung also saw the psychoid archetype as a continuum that includes what he previously referred to as "archtypal tendency", or the innate pattern of action.
The archetype is not just a psychic entity, but is more fundamentally a bridge to matter in general. Jung used the term unus mundus to describe the unitary reality that he believed underlies all manifest phenomena, observable or perceivable things that exist in the physical world. He conceived of archetypes as the mediators of the unus mundus, organizing not only ideas in the psyche, but also the fundamental principles of matter and energy in the physical world. The psychoid aspect of the archetype impressed Nobel laureate physicist Wolfgang Pauli, who embraced Jung's concept and believed that the archetype provided a link between physical events and the mind of the scientist studying them. This echoed the position adopted by German astronomer Johannes Kepler. Thus, the archetypes that order our perceptions and ideas are themselves the product of an objective order that transcends both the human mind and the external world.
Examples
Jung identified various archetypes in human psychology. These include events such as birth, death, and marriage; figures such as the mother, father, and child; and motifs such as the apocalypse and the deluge. Although the number of archetypes is limitless, there are a few particularly notable, recurring archetypal images, "the chief among them being" "the shadow, the wise old man, the child, the mother... and her counterpart, the maiden, and lastly the anima in man and the animus in woman". Alternatively he would speak of "the emergence of certain definite archetypes... the shadow, the animal, the wise old man, the anima, the animus, the mother, the child". The persona, anima and animus, the shadow, and the self are four of the archetypes that fall under the separate systems of the personality.The father represents the patriarchal qualities of the persona. Some of these qualities may include strength, anger, protector, provider, and wisdom. The father archetype can be seen in many forms such as, kings, chiefs, and the biological father.
The mother represents the nurturing, forgiving and protective aspect of the female figure. It is often associated with the qualities of love, compassion, patience and caring. The mother archetype can manifest itself in a variety of forms, such as a biological mother, a maternal figure in a person's life, or even a motherly aspect within one's own personality.
The self designates the whole range of psychic phenomena in people. It expresses the unity of the personality as a whole. According to Jung, this archetype manifests during middle age - the stage when all systems of the personality had developed and the individual is already concerned with his wholeness and self-fulfillment.
The shadow is a representation of the personal unconscious as a whole and usually embodies the compensating values to those held by the conscious personality. It is the hidden, suppressed side of the persona. The shadow's characteristics are in direct opposition to the persona. Thus, the shadow often represents one's dark side, those aspects of oneself that exist, but which one does not acknowledge or with which one does not identify. This is also described as the animalistic and sinister aspects of all people. Even though the shadow may seem to be a negative archetype, one that would degrade and destroy the ego, the opposite is true if the shadow is integrated properly. If the shadow is not integrated properly and suppressed there can be negative effects that can affect the individual and those around them.
The anima archetype appears in men and is his primordial image of woman. It represents the man's sexual expectation of women but also is a symbol of a man's feminine possibilities, his contrasexual tendencies. The animus archetype is the analogous image of the masculine qualities that exist within women. In addition, it can also refer to the conscious sense of masculine qualities among males.
Any attempt to give an exhaustive list of the archetypes would be a futile exercise since they tend to combine with each other and interchange qualities, making it difficult to decide where one archetype ends and another begins. For example, qualities of the shadow archetype may be prominent in an archetypal image of the anima or animus. One archetype may also appear in various distinct forms, thus raising the question of whether four or five distinct archetypes should be said to be present or merely four or five forms of a single archetype.