CARL JUNG-4 MAIN ARCHETYPES

1. PERSONA

The Jungian persona defines the different masks we wear in a social context. Who we are with our family
is different from who we are at work. Our persona takes different forms based on our culture, upbringing
and general environment.

With its origin in theatrical masks, a persona reflects how we adapt to our surroundings—whether to fit
in or protect ourselves

2. THE SHADOW

Jung believed that humans had a light side and a dark side. The dark side is what we choose to repress—
this is our shadow. There are aspects of our personality we don’t appreciate or aren’t even aware of.
They reside in our unconscious state—this was built on Sigmund Freud’s ‘unconscious mind’ based on
repressed memories and thoughts realized in the form of automatic responses. Biases and prejudices
stem from our shadow. They arise unconsciously, without warning. For example, in the workplace, we
may think we’re better than most, unintentionally looking down on others.

3. ANIMA/ ANIMUS

Culture, upbringing and our experiences shape our perception of the world. Jung believed that these
perceptions give way to the ideal man or woman within us. The anima or woman and the animus or man
is a reflection of the opposite gender—the ideal. The anima represents femininity in a man’s psyche
while the animus represents masculinity in a woman’s psyche. Society often forces us to suppress these
opposing constructs. Some examples of the anima and animus are Eve from the Garden of Eden and
Tarzan as the robust male archetype, respectively.

4. SELF

The ego merges with the conscious and unconscious states to give rise to the self. The self is the whole
representing Jungian individuation. Individuation is similar to individuality, in which each person is
unique and there are no two personalities that are the same. Unique experiences throughout a person’s
life lead to individuation. Respecting the individual, weighing each person’s strengths and weaknesses in
isolation and customizing marketing efforts to suit individual users are a reflection of this.
ARHETIPOVI

Njihova važna karakteristika je da se ne razvijaju u svakom čovjeku pojedinačno, nego se generiraju kroz
utjecaj sociokulturnog konteksta svakog pojedinca. Pojedina osoba ne razvija arhetip prema svojim
osobnim iskustvima, već prema društvenim iskustvima zajednice u kojoj živi. Generacijskim prijenosom
stvara se niz zajedničkih arhetipova za sve ljude. Iz navedenih razloga, Jung je tvrdio da svi ljudi imaju
zajednički supstrat u svojoj psihičkoj strukturi. Odnosno, da svaka osoba razvija niz arhetipova na temelju
iskustava svojih predaka

U Jungovu učenju kolektivno nesvjesno sadrži četiri glavna arhetipa ili univerzalna praoblika ili obrasca:
jastvo, animus, anima i sjena, iako Jung navodi da arhetipova ima bezbroj. Svi arhetipovi su obrasci koji
se pojavljuju u svim kulturama kroz različite izraze.

Animus je praslika muškarca u ženi, a anima je praslika žene u muškarcu. One posreduju između Ja i
unutrašnjeg svijeta čovjeka. Junga je posebno zanimao odgovor na pitanje: U kojoj mjeri muškarac nosi
psihičku ženu u sebi, odnosno nosi li svaka žena u sebi i neki psihički otisak muškarca? Ovu potrebu za
nutarnjom cjelovitošću Jung je nazvao anima i animus, smatrajući ih arhetipskim vrijednostima. Kroz
svoje izražavanje u čovjeku, animus i anima mogu imati pozitivne i negativne karakteristike, a cilj je
uspostavljanje njihove ravnoteže.

Sjena je središnja zapreka koja koči i uništava pojedinca, suma autodestruktivnih energija nesvjesnoga,
mračna strana naše prirode. Predstavlja aspekt ličnosti koji je usko povezan s osobom, tj. s njezinim
psihološkim funkcijama koje nisu dovoljno razvijene. Zato dijete nema sjenu, već je ona karakteristična za
razvijenu svijest odrasle osobe. Sjenu, kao i sve ostale nesvjesne sadržaje, najčešće percipiramo kroz
projekciju. Dok nismo svjesni svoje sjene, uvijek nalazimo krivce izvan sebe.

Uzeti u obzir sjenu znači izgraditi filozofski stav prema samom sebi. Jer, sjena se sastoji od instinkata i
nagona te želja koje su neuskladive sa sviješću osobe. Persona je zamaskira, stoga sjena nije vidljiva u
vanjskom svijetu, ali ako ostane potisnuta, direktno ili indirektno sjena tjera na osvještavanje. Međutim,
osvještavajući sjenu, upoznajemo tamni dio psihe, što kao rezultat ima širenje naše svijesti i jačanje
jedinstva u sebi. Tako sjena ima i svoju vrijednost jer suočiti se sa sjenom znači upoznavati sebe.

Persona je opći način ponašanja čovjeka prema svojoj okolini. Ona predstavlja sustav psihičkih reakcija i
odnosa prema vanjskom svijetu. Izvorno značenje grčke riječi persona je maska. Ona je kompromis
između unutarnjeg i vanjskog svijeta. Dojam o sebi koji održavamo i želimo ostaviti u vanjskom svijetu
glavna je funkcija persone.

Freud's personality theory (1923) saw the psyche structured into three parts (i.e., tripartite), the id, ego
and superego, all developing at different stages in our lives.

According to Freud's psychoanalytic theory, the id is the primitive and instinctual part of the mind that
contains sexual and aggressive drives and hidden memories, the super-ego operates as a moral
conscience, and the ego is the realistic part that mediates between the desires of the id and the super-
ego.

Although each part of the personality comprises unique features, they interact to form a whole, and
each part makes a relative contribution to an individual's behavior.

ID
The id is a part of the unconscious that contains all the urges and impulses, including what is called the
libido, a kind of generalized sexual energy that is used for everything from survival instincts to
appreciation of art. The id is also kind of stubborn, for it responds only to what Freud called the pleasure
principle (if it feels good, do it), and nothing else.

The id is the impulsive (and unconscious) part of our psyche which responds directly and immediately to
basic urges, needs, and desires. The personality of the newborn child is all id and only later does it
develop an ego and super-ego.

The id remains infantile in its function throughout a person's life and does not change with time or
experience, as it is not in touch with the external world. The id is not affected by reality, logic or the
everyday world, as it operates within the unconscious part of the mind
The id engages in primary process thinking, which is primitive, illogical, irrational, and fantasy oriented.
This form of process thinking has no comprehension of objective reality, and is selfish and wishful in
nature.

EGO

The ego is 'that part of the id which has been modified by the direct influence of the external world.'
(Freud, 1923, p. 25)

The ego is the only part of the conscious personality. It's what the person is aware of when they think
about themselves, and is what they usually try to project toward others.

The ego develops to mediate between the unrealistic id and the external real world. It is the decision-
making component of personality. Ideally, the ego works by reason, whereas the id is chaotic and
unreasonable.

The ego operates according to the reality principle, working out realistic ways of satisfying the id’s
demands, often compromising or postponing satisfaction to avoid negative consequences of society. The
ego considers social realities and norms, etiquette and rules in deciding how to behave.

Like the id, the ego seeks pleasure (i.e., tension reduction) and avoids pain, but unlike the id, the ego is
concerned with devising a realistic strategy to obtain pleasure. The ego has no concept of right or wrong;
something is good simply if it achieves its end of satisfying without causing harm to itself or the id.

Often the ego is weak relative to the headstrong id, and the best the ego can do is stay on, pointing the
id in the right direction and claiming some credit at the end as if the action were its own.

Freud made the analogy of the id being a horse while the ego is the rider. The ego is 'like a man on
horseback, who has to hold in check the superiour strength of the horse.'

(Freud, 1923, p. 15)

If the ego fails in its attempt to use the reality principle, and anxiety is experienced, unconscious defense
mechanisms are employed, to help ward off unpleasant feelings (i.e., anxiety) or make good things feel
better for the individual.

The ego engages in secondary process thinking, which is rational, realistic, and orientated towards
problem-solving. If a plan of action does not work, then it is thought through again until a solution is
found. This is known as reality testing and enables the person to control their impulses and demonstrate
self-control, via mastery of the ego.

According to the Freudians, some types of abnormal upbringing (particularly if there is a cold, rejecting
‘schizogenic’ mother) can result in a weak and fragile ego, whose ability to contain the id’s desires is
limited. This can lead to the ego being ‘broken apart’ by its attempt to contain the id, leaving the id in
overall control of the psyche.

SUPEREGO

The superego incorporates the values and morals of society which are learned from one's parents and
others. It develops around the age of 3 – 5 years during the phallic stage of psychosexual development.
The superego is seen as the purveyor or rewards (feelings of pride and satisfaction) and punishments
(feelings of shame and guilt) depending on which part (the ego-deal or conscious) is activated.

The superego is a part of the unconscious that is the voice of conscience (doing what is right) and the
source of self-criticism. It reflects society's moral values to some degree, and a person is sometimes
aware of their own morality and ethics, but the superego contains a vast number of codes, or
prohibitions, that are issued mostly unconsciously in the form of commands or "don't" statements.

The superego's function is to control the id's impulses, especially those which society forbids. It also has
the function of persuading the ego to turn to moralistic goals rather than simply realistic ones and to
strive for perfection.

The superego consists of two systems: The conscience and the ideal self.

The conscience is our 'inner voice' that tells us when we have done something wrong. The conscience
can punish the ego through causing feelings of guilt. For example, if the ego gives in to the id's demands,
the superego may make the person feel bad through guilt.

The superego is also somewhat tricky, in that it will try to portray what it wants the person to do in
grandiose, glowing terms, what Freud called the ego-ideal, which arises out of the person's first great
love attachment (usually a parent).

The ideal self (or ego-ideal) is an imaginary picture of how you ought to be, and represents career
aspirations, how to treat other people, and how to behave as a member of society.

The assumption is that children raised by parents experience love conditionally (when they do
something right), and the child internalizes these experiences as a series of real or imagined judgmental
statements.

Behavior which falls short of the ideal self may be punished by the superego through guilt. The super-
ego can also reward us through the ideal self when we behave ‘properly’ by making us feel proud.

Guilt is a very common problem because of all the urges and drives coming from the id and all the
prohibitions and codes in the superego. There are a variety of ways an individual handles guilt, and these
are called defense mechanisms.

If a person’s ideal self is too high a standard, then whatever the person does will represent failure. The
ideal self and conscience are largely determined in childhood from parental values and how you were
brought up.
EGO-JUNG

According to Jung, the ego represents the conscious mind as it comprises the thoughts, memories, and
emotions a person is aware of. The ego is largely responsible for feelings of identity and continuity.

PERSONAL UNCONSCIOUS

Like Freud, Jung (1921, 1933) emphasized the importance of the unconscious in relation to personality.
However, he proposed that the unconscious consists of two layers.

The first layer called the personal unconscious is essentially the same as Freud’s version of the
unconscious. The personal unconscious contains temporality forgotten information and well as repressed
memories.

Jung (1933) outlined an important feature of the personal unconscious called complexes. A complex is a
collection of thoughts, feelings, attitudes, and memories that focus on a single concept.

The more elements attached to the complex, the greater its influence on the individual. Jung also
believed that the personal unconscious was much nearer the surface than Freud suggested and Jungian
therapy is less concerned with repressed childhood experiences. It is the present and the future, which
in his view was the key to both the analysis of neurosis and its treatment.

The Collective Unconscious

However, by far the most important difference between Jung and Freud is Jung’s notion of the collective
(or transpersonal) unconscious. This is his most original and controversial contribution to personality
theory.

The collective unconscious is a universal version of the personal unconscious, holding mental patterns, or
memory traces, which are shared with other members of human species (Jung, 1928). These ancestral
memories, which Jung called archetypes, are represented by universal themes in various cultures, as
expressed through literature, art, and dreams.

The form of the world into which [a person] is born is already inborn in him, as a virtual image’ (Jung,
1953, p. 188).

According to Jung, the human mind has innate characteristics “imprinted” on it as a result of evolution.
These universal predispositions stem from our ancestral past. Fear of the dark, or of snakes and spiders
might be examples, and it is interesting that this idea has recently been revived in the theory of prepared
conditioning (Seligman, 1971).

However, more important than isolated tendencies are those aspects of the collective unconscious that
have developed into separate sub-systems of the personality. Jung (1947) called these ancestral
memories and images archetypes.

Jungian Archetypes

Jungian archetypes are defined as images and themes that derive from the collective unconscious, as
proposed by Carl Jung. Archetypes have universal meanings across cultures and may show up in dreams,
literature, art or religion.

Jung (1947) believes symbols from different cultures are often very similar because they have emerged
from archetypes shared by the whole human race which are part of our collective unconscious.

For Jung, our primitive past becomes the basis of the human psyche, directing and influencing present
behavior. Jung claimed to identify a large number of archetypes but paid special attention to four.

The Persona

The persona (or mask) is the outward face we present to the world. It conceals our real self and Jung
describes it as the “conformity” archetype. This is the public face or role a person presents to others as
someone different to who we really are (like an actor).

The Anima/Animus
Another archetype is the anima/animus. The “anima/animus” is the mirror image of our biological sex,
that is, the unconscious feminine side in males and the masculine tendencies in women.

Each sex manifests attitudes and behavior of the other by virtue of centuries of living together. The
psyche of a woman contains masculine aspects (the animus archetype), and the psyche of a man
contains feminine aspects (the anima archetype).

The Shadow

Next is the shadow. This is the animal side of our personality (like the id in Freud). It is the source of both
our creative and destructive energies. In line with evolutionary theory, it may be that Jung’s archetypes
reflect predispositions that once had survival value.

The Self

Finally, there is the self which provides a sense of unity in experience. For Jung, the ultimate aim of every
individual is to achieve a state of selfhood (similar to self-actualisation), and in this respect, Jung (like
Erikson) is moving in the direction of a more humanist orientation.