What Is the Collective Unconscious?

Swiss psychologist and founder of Analytical Psychology, Jung (1875-1961 ^[1] ), an analytical psychology term. Refers to the universal human spirit, which is accumulated in the deepest layer of psychology by countless similar types of experience retained by heredity. Proposed in the article "On the Relationship between Psychology and Poetry" in 1922. According to Jung, the unconsciousness of man has two levels: individual and non-individual (or super-individual). The former only reaches the level of the infant's earliest memory, which is the unconsciousness composed of impulses, desires, vague consciousness, and experience; the latter includes the entire time before the baby actually starts, that is, including the remnants of the ancestors' life. Found in the mind, with universality, it is called "collective unconscious".

Collective unconscious

The concepts of collective unconsciousness and prototype became terms in later literary criticism, which promoted

1. The psychological motivation of artistic creation is not only based on the individual occurrence history of the artist, but also the grand and solid foundation of the germline occurrence history of human beings. "The artist goes back to the unconscious original image with tireless efforts, which provides the best compensation for the deformity and one-sided development of modern people." Art represents the self-regulating activity in the life of the nation and the era, and it is fighting against The aspects of alienation and maintaining the integrity of human nature have an irreplaceable ecological role.

2. The structural unit of the myth is the original image or archetype that exists in the unconscious mind. The rational development of the civilized person completely obscures and covers the unconscious with a strong consciousness. Only when the consciousness is asleep (dream) or weakened by disease (spirit) Anomalies), the collective unconscious can be re-emerged by the appearance of the prototype. For civilized people, this state of normal consciousness breaking is exactly the same as the original state of consciousness, or the unconscious spontaneous thinking state of primitive people.

Psychoanalysis of Collective Unconscious Jung

Attracted by the idea that power and unconsciousness influence human behavior, Jung argues that unconsciousness includes more Freud's theory of repressive and aggressive impulses. According to Jung, unconsciousness is not only individual but also collective. The internal mental energy and image from a common development history define collective unconsciousness. Jung is particularly interested in the symbolic model of general concepts, the original model. All people in this model have something in common.

Collective unconscious personality theory

The main point of the Jungian personality concept is a united or holistic view. For Jung, the whole is represented by the spirit, including all thoughts, feelings and behaviors as well as consciousness and unconsciousness. Individuals' struggles to develop their entirety run through their lives. Jung sees himself as the center and the whole of the whole personality. The other side of personality includes the attitudes of individuals and the way they act mentally. The concept of degradation and progress expresses this movement of energy.

Collective unconscious level

In explaining individual personality, Jung identifies three levels of consciousness. The concepts of soul, thought, and spirit exist at all levels of consciousness and include cognition, emotion, and behavior. The level of consciousness refers only to the level that an individual can directly sense. From birth, it grows continuously throughout life. As they grow older, they are distinguished from others. This process Jung calls "individualization." As individual consciousness grows, they also develop a stronger individualization. The center of the consciousness process is the self. The ego refers to the way in which conscious thoughts are organized. The ego chooses perception, thinking, memory, and emotions, which will become conscious things.

Collective unconscious individual unconscious

Experiences, thoughts, emotions, and consciousness that are not self-recognized are preserved in personal unconsciousness. Personal conflict, unresolved moral anxiety, and emotional thoughts are an important part of personal unconsciousness. They are also suppressed or difficult for individuals. Accepted. Usually these factors appear in the dream as the individual unconscious east and west, and play an active role in the performance of the dream. Sometimes thoughts and feelings are interconnected or represent a theme. When it forms an emotional conflict with an individual, it is called a "complex". Because the individual has no consciousness of the complex, the goal of the therapist is to make the complex conscious. Not all complexes are negative, and some complexes may be positive.

Collective unconscious

The biggest difference between Jung's theoretical concept of psychotherapy and other theoretical concepts lies in the collective unconsciousness. The term collective refers to information that is common to all human beings and has important significance for human beings. Collective unconsciousness refers to formation A mythological theme symbolizes a genetic tendency of human thought. These symbols are changeable without losing their basic model. "Jung argues that certain thoughts and concepts tend to be hereditary, and the collective unconscious content includes instincts and archetypes. . Instinct is the driving force of behavior, and archetypes are the way to comprehend and build experience.

Collective unconscious archetype

Prototype is not experience, its impression is experience. The prototype is expressed in the original image. According to Jung, the most important in the prototype personality combination are people, Anima (female image of men), Animus (male image of women), omen and self. Among these personality combinations, the person is the prototype most relevant to the daily function of the personality, and the self-prototype is the most important one of the inherent functions of the personality. Shadow is the potentially most dangerous and powerful archetype. It represents the part of personality that differs most from self-conscious awareness. Shadow includes unacceptable sexual impulses, animal impulses, and aggressive impulses. Jung argues that men tend to project their own shadows (denial and animal emotions) on other men, which has caused unpleasant feelings between men. Women cast their shadows on other women impulsively. Society expects to be a stable person, or to hide a shadow to express itself. More broadly, shadow can be projected on many objects by both sexes. Although these shadows are portrayed as a negative archetype, shadows also have positive aspects, and proper expression of shadows can serve as a source of creativity, vitality and inspiration. However, if the shadow is suppressed, the individual may feel constrained, feel disconnected from their own push, and feel afraid. For such individuals, the goal of treatment is to help them bring the shadow into their consciousness.

Collective unconscious symbol

Prototypes are images that have form but no content. Symbolism is the external expression of content and archetype. Prototypes are represented only through symbols that appear in dreams, fantasy, imagination, legend, fantasy story, art, and so on. Symbols expressed in various ways contain human wisdom that can be applied to the future. Jung has devoted a lot of effort to understanding the wide range of symbols that are found in different cultures as typical archetypes.