Carl Gustav Jung Research Paper

Carl Gustav Jung was born in Kessewil, Switzerland. He lived between 1875 and 1961 and was the only son of his father, a protestant clergyman. His extended family had good educational background and although quite a number of them were clergymen, he plumped for higher education. Jung became a Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist who developed analytical psychology. Owing to his personal experience, he postulated the concepts of introversion and extraversion personality, collective unconscious and individuation resulting in the study of integration and wholeness.

As Jung climbed the educational ladder, he carried out his first research in 1904 where he studied word association in patients. The outcomes of his research brought him close to Freud’s work so their relationship was more of collaboration as Jung himself asserted on many occasions. Many anticipated Jung would continue Freud’s psychoanalysis, but never transpired because both held varying concepts of the unconscious. According to Freud, the unconscious was mainly the repressed instinctual urges of which the sexual drive was most prominent. Jung, in contrast believed the unconscious comprised of both personal and collective unconscious. The collective unconscious was the reason for their breakup because Freud did not accept the depth proposed by Jung to the human psyche. It is rather unfortunate the collaboration between these two geniuses collapsed due to such basic difference.

In Jung’s theory, he claimed the dialogue between the conscious and unconscious aspects of the psyche enriches a person. In the absence of this discourse, the unconscious processes can put in danger the personality. In this respect, Jung conceptualized individuation which ...

... middle of paper ...

...lities. Rather, the different functions exist in a hierarchy in which one will take a superior effect over the others.

An assessment of Jung’s theory reveals that as though the arguments he presents has a lot in common with other neo- Freudians, it is still traced from Freud’s ideas because he emphasizes on the unconscious even more than the Freudians do. Moreover, personality and life in general seem to be over- emphasized due to a number of ideas he postulates concerning them. In spite of the critiques revealed, Carl’s theory on a brighter side remains a gem in the field of psychology. His concepts of introversion and extroversion have made notable impact on personality psychology and influenced psychotherapy. Also, emphasis on the drive toward psychological growth and self-realization projected some of the ideas of humanistic perspective in personality.