Carl Jung's theory of personality
 

Seniors and members please help me out in understanding Carl jung's theory of personality.i've tried to go through the main points from following different books and also googled it but concepts of "archetypes" and "introversion and extroversion" are still vague and unclear to me;

feldman's understanding pschology
Morgan's intro to pschology
pschology by wayne witten

Would you kindly elaborate this theory in simple words.

regards

introversion: people whose personality is self-centred, silent,dont talk much,very careful in taking big steps

Extroversion:personality of that people who are open,expressive,takltive,smiley

archetype: it is actually concept of collective unconscious much like evolutionary theory of darwin.e.g interest in arts,paintings,nature are not only in one personality but it share in personality of many people at a time thats why he called it collective unconsioiusness

i hope you understand .u can ask me question if there is any ambugity.

Yeah, to a large extent.if you have gone through Freudian and Neo freudian, how would you compare and contrast them? And which theory,according to you,better fits in today's contemporary perspective?

Regards!

Carl Jung classified all human beings basically into two distinct types:

1)Introverts: The persons whose psychic energy is primarily channeled internally (basic orientation is inner), towards their self. They can be identified by their hesitated, shy and cautious behavior.

2)Extroverts: The persons whose psychic energy is channeled primarily towards outside world (basic orientation is outward in nature). they are sociable, lively, active, assertive etc.

The collective unconscious includes a common set of ideas. feeling, images, and symbols that we inherit from our relatives, the whole human race. This collective unconscious is shared by everyone and is displayed in behavior that is common across diverse cultures. For example the belief in God, love of mother etc.

3) Archetype is a part of the collective unconscious according to Jung. It is the symbolic representation of a particular person, object or experience. Take for example a mother archetype, the symbolic representation of mother round the globe, which contains reflections of our ancestors' relationships with mother figures and the feeling or idea of mother is merged in our unconscious mind, and is suggested by the prevalence and value of mothers in various aspects like art, religion, and literature.

Freud's theory of personality is based on the premise that the mind is topographical and dynamic, i.e. there are divisions which are always moving and interrelated. The human mind has three main divisions in the form of conscious, subconscious and unconscious. These three levels of the human mind continuously clash and compromise to shape the types of behavioural characteristics leading to a particular type of Personality. Besides this Freud believes the anatomy of our personality is built around the three unified and interrelated systems Id, Ego and Superego. Freud tried to provide an explanation of the development of human personality through his ideas about sex. He emphasized that Sex is a life energy. The sexual needs of a person are the basic needs which have to be satisfied for a balanced growth of the personality. So much was his emphasis on sex, that he linked the whole development of the personality with the sex behaviour by putting his theory of psycho-sexual development.

The important Neo-freudian theories were those of Alfred adler and Carl Jung.

Adler opposed the Freudian structure of personality. he said that sex is not the life energy or the center of human activity, rather power motive is the central urge. Human beings are motivated by the urge to be important or powerful.

Carl Jung on the other hand, stressed on replacing the sex urge by the more important comprehensive term the life urge driven by psychic energy. He believed that instead of early childhood experiences having the major role on personality, the human personality is guided by future goals and past experiences.