Lecture21_Fa09.pdf

7/28/2009 1 Theories of Personality as Reflections of Their Authors? Personalities Case in point: CARL JUNG AND THE COLLECTIVE UNCONSCIOUS 7/28/2009 2 7/28/2009 3 We have already discussed the conditions under which Gordon Allport determined that traits were the best units of analysis in personality psychology. We know (or are pretty sure) that Freud projected aspects of his own life into his study of Leonardo Da Vinci. Now we ask the question about the degree to which Carl Jung?s discovery of the collective unconscious was the result of his personal search for a lost sense of self? A review of a few of Jung?s basic concepts ? The collective unconscious ? Archetypes ? Persona ? Anima, Animus, Shadow, etc. ? Self ? Mandala ? Human kind?s connection to the eternal binding force 7/28/2009 4 Jung?s Childhood ? Swiss, born in 1875 ? Father (and 8 uncles) all ministers ? Blissful first 3 years of life ? Mother is hospitalized ? Carl reacts badly, feels abandoned, decides to never trust the word ?love? Early Searches for mother substitute ? Rehearsal of bedtime prayer ? Incident with Jesuit ? Dream of underground ?God? ? Bed time visions of glowing circular objects ? Two symbols of unity ? fire and stones ? Carves and hides a manikin School Years ? Ridiculed by peers ? Poor at math and gym ? Hits head on curve, stays home, recovers, ?now I am myself? ? Two selves, really ? incompetent school boy and knower of all things ? The Cathedral Episode?.Jung completes a thought?.God lands turd on the cathedral roof, smashes it, father?s preachings were wrong, grace came upon Jung Jung as two people 1. Personality #1 (everyday persona) 2. Personality #2 (connected to all things for all time, ?being? the sun, the moon, the stars, and looking down from above 7/28/2009 5 Jung?s Adult Life ? Seeks to merge with Freud ? Seeks to merge with myths, writes Symbols of Transformation ? Experiences glory in the highest at age 69 Basic argument is Jung?s discovery of the Collective Unconscious was the result of a life-long mission to locate a permanent substitute for a mother who had psychologically abandoned him. Lecture 25 Theories of Personality as Reflections of Their Authors? Personalities