Freud and Jung Essay -- Psychology

Freud and Jung The psychological genre as it relates to sociological and medicinal matters has gained an increasing amount of scientific approval. Impartiality and the scientific method are both integral components to a psychologist’s mode of practice. However, even the most esteemed of psychologists can only speculate at what makes human beings act the way they do. Absolutes play no function in psychology. Everything is relative and open to conjecture. Theologians give us their visions or thoughts about life. In the field of psychology, there have been many different regions of interest and speculation. Psychoanalysis has been the pinnacle of arenas to examine within the vast field of psychology. Psychoanalysis has been an area that Carl Jung has explored, critiqued and perfected in his lifetime. Jung was not alone in his exploration of the psyche; there were many other psychoanalytic perspectives as well. Carl Jung was said to have been a magnetic individual who drew many others into his circle. Sigmund Freud was Carl Jung’s greatest influence. Although he came to part company with Freud in later years, Freud had a distinct and profound influence on Carl Jung’s psychoanalytic perspectives, as well as many others. Within the scope of analytic psychology, there exist two essential tenets. The first is the system in which sensations and feelings are analyzed and listed by type. The second has to do with a way to analyze the psyche that follows Jung’s concepts. It stresses a group unconscious and a mystical factor in the growth of the personal unconscious. It is unlike the system described by Sigmund Freud. Analytic psychology does not stress the importance of sexual factors on early mental growth. The best understanding of Carl Jung and his views regarding the collective unconscious are best understood in understanding the man and his influences. In keeping with the scope and related concepts of Carl Jung, unconscious is the sum total of those psychic activities that elude an individual’s direct knowledge of himself or herself. This term should not be confused either with a state of awareness, that is, a lack of self knowledge arising from an individual’s unwillingness to look into himself or herself (introspection), nor with the subconscious, which consists of marginal representations that can be rather easily brought to consciousness. Properly,... ...s. Freud's assumption that sex is the driving force behind everything could also be a product of his times. Sexual feelings were often repressed. The problem with paradigmatic assumptions is that each person grows up in a different culture and some theories don't apply to everyone. The problem with psychology remains that it is not an exact science. Though Jung’s ideals may have been molded by Freud and further critiqued and perfected, it may further be perfected in the future. And such is the arena of science, an ever-changing, dynamic field that undergoes much scrutiny and much refinement. Works Cited Carl Gustav Jung: BK. Rev. The Economist, Vol. 340 September 14, 1996 Coon, Dennis. Introduction to Psychology: Exploration and Application, 7th Edition. Minnesota: West Publishing Company, 1995. Ellenberger, Henri F. The Discovery of the Unconscious. The History and Evolution of Dynamic Psychiatry. New York: Basic Books, 1970. Freud, Sigmund. The Basic Writings of Sigmund Freud. Brill, A. A.: Dodd, Mead and Company, Inc., July 1979. Piaget, Jean, et al. The Psychology of The Child. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, Ltd., 1972.